| Kinner
Kailsah Circuit (5242 m)
Surting
to Charang :- Evening
in mountains are very short ...very soon we were enveloped
in clouds and by the very colour of it...I knew that
we may face bad weather...(ironically,it become true
). I was very pleased to see that. Gurpreet had exceptional
cooking sense and those were the days when I had experience
of one of the best preparation of rice...and God knows
what else he put in that...but it was a nice feeling
to see everybody involved . By now we had encountered
Mr. Dhruv Kumar from ITBP and it was nice meeting him...we
got valuable information about area. After dinner for
a long time...we talked about our day...we had planned
to leave Bahadur (porter ) behind and walk upto village
Charang...4-5 Kms. from Surting...an ancient monastry...which
is believed to be built by Pandavas...we started around
8.0 and by 12.0 we were in Charang...slight boulder
climbing ...on way to charang...I was carrying camera
so I tried to cover every detail, about the trek.We
saw the monastery built of logs which are available
only way back in Thangi...so it was shocking experience
.We saw ancient war instruments...and paid homage to
Lord Buddha. Photography inside the building is not
allowed. After meeting ITBP personals,,we started our
back journey...weather was showing its teeth...but we
three reached back to Surting just in time. Next day
,we had planned to cross Lalanti, a pasture where uncle
our friend (Yogesh Boras fromThangi) resides for his
summer grazing of sheep's.
Surting
to Lalanti :- We started early ,around 6.30 after
tea and sweats with ITBP friends but by 8.0 ,
a bad news was waiting for us. Our lecturer friend was
having dysentries...a common problem in mountains for
those who are not used to jungle life. Somehow he managed
to pull on and after having lunch of porridge and coffee...we
reached lalanti at 4.0 PM .I met with my shepherd
uncle and it was a emotional moment for me.as I was
meeting the"old man" after two years...so we talked
about mountains,weather,climbing etc etc. We
decided to push some more Kms. and by 6.0 we pitched
tent near raging stream.By now it was raining...all
night it was drizzling...we experienced downfall in
night temperature and sudden change in air and altitude.Surting
is approx. 3000 Mars above sea level and Lalanti is
4100 Mars. Lalanti
to ? (20 mtrs. below the Pass (5242 mtrs.)
We
started in cloudy weather, I was worried about my friends
who were new to such type of situations.at high altitudes
weather effects human body like some magicians act...and
it need experience and attitude to tackle problems related
to situations arising due to this factor. and ultimately
we had our time...it all started when I was filming
a fossil...My lecturer friend god sever diarrhea and
he expressed his inability to lift his rucksack...me
and Gurpreet shifted his wt. in our sacks and we kept
on pushing..slowly slowly...although I have to wait
for my sick friend who was struggling with his problem.We
had only two options...either to go back or to move
ahead and we all decided that if any one us is not suffering
from High altitude Sickness then we will complete the
circuit. And we pushed and by now it started raining...with
temperature going down and clouds coming down...after
following cairens...we decided that cairns have brought
us in relatively dangerous situation...it was heavy
boulder area and it was getting wet and slippery...and
with no place for rest/shelter from wind and rain ..it
was only alternative left ..to push ahead...Gurpreet
(Pharmacist) is comparatively much stronger than I thought
of him.He succeeded in maintaining very good pace which
ultimately brought us near to the moraine of glacier
from where stream originates.Here , we took rest of
20 minutes remember drinking chilled water and I looked
back...our sick friend was way back..but moving and
making bit positive steps...we started our crucial work...climbing
on scree...It was already 5.20 PM and by experience
I knew that it is not good to tackle such job at this
time...but there was no other way left...with a sick
man on my tail...i decided to push the heaviest barrier
in our way..the 5242 Ht.Very soon I realized that our
progress is not upto my calculation...bahadur was having
very light wt. by now as he gave heavier load at lalantti
and he cleared the pass without much difficulty.
Later
on I have to call him down .I knew what can happen in
such type of situations...so I kept Gurpreet ahead of
me...but he encountered severe problem in finding a
firm foot.I remember telling him where to keep his left/right
and many times have to put my wrist under his shoe.
By now it was looking like fight for survival as were
both struck up on steep scree slope...up we were not
getting and down was looking terrific .
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