A HORIZON TO REMEMBER.......
The rain subsided sometime after midnight but I continued to be bitterly cold. Throughout the night I lay shivering, waiting for dawn. I don't know when I fell asleep but as I opened my eyes ..... I thought it was another dream.
The window on the opposite end of the room revealed the top of the pines- orange, in the first light of the sun and a cloudless blue sky beyond. I stared at the scene and it took me quite some time to realise that Tsering's prediction had turned out to be true. Suddenly ... knock knock ... Tsering was standing at the door, smiling. I just raised my fingers towards the window ..... he nodded his head and told me to get ready. It was 5:45 in the morning and still horribly cold but I couldn't resist going out in my sandals. Though the peaks were not visible from Molley( being situated in a depression in the mountain), I knew what to expect once we reached the ridge top. The idea of staying at Molley and the hardships previous night had payed off handsomely.I went back to the room, woke others up. This was not a time to sleep. We set out at 6:20 after a hurried breakfast. We virtually ran up the trail to Sabarkhum( on the main trail form sandakphu to Phalut) and just beyond the place where we discussed Physics last evening, it was there...... The pic below was the first shot of the day. It does not represent even 1% of the actual grandeur of the scene. We stopped speechless.

The spell was broken by sound of bells.... a group of yaks were approaching. We moved aside and continued watching. Then we continued up. It took us about half an hour to reach Sabarkhum. From here, the whole horizon opens up. The pic below shows the Sleeping Buddha. The sleeping pose is fairly easy to note- head on the left(formed by the peak Jannu in Nepal), the body formed by the Kanchenjunga massif and Pandim on right forming the feet. Though it may not be apparent from the pic below but K is the biggest (not tallest) mountain in the world (i.e in terms of volume). We were about a 100km from the massif but still it filled a considerable part of our field of view. Somewhere behind the clouds near the base of Pandim lies Goecha la, a pass on the teminal moraine of the Talung glacier from where K fills up the entire horizon. It is over there , that the true magnitude of K can be appreciated.

We moved on along the ridge top. As we looked back, the hut tops at Sandakphu could be seen glowing in the sunlight. I let others go forward while I sat on the trail and absorbed the scene. The dream that I had at Sandakphu has indeed come true.I waited for the others to vanish from view and then started walking. The silence was breathtaking-only the sound of my boot hitting the ground, and so was the scene. The feeling of being all alone in such a place cannot be described in words. You feel it only if you are actually there, walking the deserted trial. Since we had moved above treeline, the only vegetation there were grass and scrubs. The grass had a parched appearance.

After sometime I found the others were taking a break- just to stare at mountains. I found Burhan staring at K, spellbound.He turned back when the shutter of the cam clicked!!!
In the pic above, the Singalila pass can also be seen below the throat of Sleeping buddha, in the shadows.
All this time I have been talking about K but there are other places like Pelling from where K appears just as beautiful. The main reason behind the popularity of this trail is the fact that 4 of the 5 highest peaks in the world can be seen from here(K2 in Pakistan is too far away to be seen). While K dominates the horizon in the north, the left side in graced by the Supergiants of Khumbu district of Nepal-Everest, Lhotse(4th tallest) and Makalu(5th). In the pic below, Everest appears as a non descript cone peeping over Makalu(in the foreground) and Lhotse on the left. They would have been splendid sights at other places but over here in the company of K, they are just an anticlimax( especially Everest -in Bishu's words it looks like the transient of a dischraging capacitor!!!!)

Everest- the Summit of Ambitions
As we moved forward, the huts of Phalut came into view. It was about 8 an the clouds were rising from the valley. The pic below shows the summit of K partially engulfed by the clouds.

The trail goes up and down- from one mountain to another. On the way we came across a couple of yak herders, one of whose yaks had charged at me. The problem of being chased by yaks is that you can't escape from them by climbing onto higher grounds- the yaks themselves are excellent climbers and can reach places where you least expect them to reach( I realised this while standing on a narrow ledge to avoid them but found one of them climbed up from behind and was quietly standing behind me!!!) Luckily it was not the one that was chasing me. I was about to jump of, when the yakherder came to my rescue!!!!!!

Since there are no villages in this trail on the Indian side, these yak herders must have been from Nepal. As we dropped below treeline, the dwarf rhodos appeared. Tsering showed the buds that would bloom in the spring. Then this place would be transformed- snow and the 32 species of rhododendrons(mostly red or orange in colour).


We reached Phalut at around 9:30. The hut was deserted except for the maintainance staff. By this time the clouds had covered up K completely. We had tea and breakfast there after which Burhan and I went for Phalut top. Burhan came back from half the way but I decide to continue.
What appeared to be just 20m away, took me 20 mins to climb. It was very windy there.
Once on the top(by the prayer flags in the pic below) I had difficulty maitaining my balance due to the wind. The slopes plunged beneath my feet into a valley beyond which the the trail to the Singalila pass rose at a fierce angle. Just to give it a theatrical finish, I spread my hands, closed my eyes and felt the wind blowing me away. Unfortunately there was no one around to take a pic of mine!!!!! Time to return- with K behind clouds, I gave Everest one last glance and then started climbing down.

While coming down, I also studied the plants on the slopes for sometime. The pic below shows the flowers of Aconite( the leaves are extremely poisonous).

The trekkers hut at Phalut can be seen (out of focus) along with the wildflowers( resembling sunflower), while coming down from Phalut top.

This uninterrupted mountain view for a few hours made all the trouble worthwhile.The morning was so clear and cloudless that we could even see the peaks of Western Nepal lying in our line of vision as well as the sacred Siniolchu in Bhutan.Though I am not sure of it and Tserin gcould not confirm it, I think the peaks that we saw beyond everest resembled the ones from Annapurna Sanctuary in Nepal, with one looking like the Macchapuchare. I didn't have my binoculars with me, so I can't be very sure myself.
But nonetheless, these few hours made our entire trek a great success. It was really a horizon to remember.......
From now on it was down hill. After leaving Phalut we descended rapidly below the treeline and soon entered the forests of Hemlock and pine.The trail became incraesingly steep and very slippery at places.The walking stick helped us negotiate them without much trouble but Chick with the sole of his shoe as smooth as a mirror did have trouble at a few places. The shortcuts were very treacherous and we avoided most of them. After a while the angle eased and we could concentrate on the magnificinet flora. I bombarded Tsering with questions about the trees and thanks to his knowledge of the local flora, he did satisfy my curiosity most of the time.
There were innumerable variety of trees- pine, hemlock, cherry, magnolia etc. There were also wild strawberries!! Tsering promised to show me orchids the next day. He pointed out tracks of wild boars and said that even leopards, red panda and sloth bear can be found in these forests but they rarely come in contact with human beings.
We decided to stay at Gorkey that day so followed a shortcut that will directly take us there. Once again the slope increased and we had to equip our sticks. Walking downhill is a lot more difficult for the legs and as we approached Gorkey I had trouble taking tricky shortcuts. More than once I used the trees as support while taking a shortcut. This continued for about an hour and the pain in my legs got worse each minute.
The first sight of Gorkey blew us off. The thick forest and steep slopes demanded a lot of concentration, so we had virtually forgotten about the view around.Taking a left turn we came to an opening in the dense treeline- and through this door in the forest, Gorkey revealed itself in the dying light of the day.............. Wow .... was all that we could say. Surrounded by high mountains and dense forest, Gorkey is a small village consisting of a dozen families living in scattered houses on the slopes. The entire village is surrounded by cornfields and the Gorkey Khola(river) flows through the middle of it.Towards the northwestern side another river joins it. Beyond the river the are the hills of Ribdhi in Sikkim, that merges with the Varsey Rhododendron Sanctuary. But before all these there was a slope to negotiate. Beyond our feet, the trail plunged at almost 70 degrees to the river through the cornfields.The trail was made of loose and sharp rocks which made walking difficult.It was harvesting season and all around we could see ripe corn eady to be eaten. We were given a nice cottage,behind which there was a heap of ripe corn and a few chicken enjoying them!!!!
Burhan smiled at the sight and told "Aaj to corn bhi khayenge aur chicken bhi khayenge".After occupying the cottage I had my first bath in 4 days.It was really refreshing.All cleaned up, I went to the kitchen for some coffee.
There is nothing like having coffee, after a hard day, served by a beautiful hostess!!!!! I had heard about them but now I saw one before my eyes. The fame of the Chinkis of Gorkey has spread far and wide, and believe me .... they are absolutely true. In the kitchen,we also came across a group from Kolkata-2 elderly doctors and their brother-in-law.They had travelled widely in the mountains and one of them has been to Sandakphu 14 times. He seemed to know everyone along the way and asked Tsering about his old friends.
Later, Tsering told us about the girls of Gorkey who had married trekkers.Sensing an opprotunity, Chick immediately asked Tsering whether he knew someone who was still a maiden!!!In my mind I visualised Chick in a shining armour(ehhhh.... I think red undie would be more appropriate!!) seeking the hand of a Chinki by the Gorkey khola.... man, what a scene that would be!!
After coffee I went to the river and sat on a large boulder above a rapid. I spotted a couple of Robins and a few other birds hunting for fish.Darkness and the cold forced me return to the cottage and put on a jacket.That night we celebrated our success with a nice dinner(had chicken for the first time on the trek) and Thupka(local barley beer served in a wooden cylinder and drunk with a bamboo straw).It tasted like apple juice and was slightly sour. Tsering told us it was quite a strong drink but we could feel nothing. The Thupka was refilled a number of times and we enjoyed this much publicised but rarely available drink.
The sound of the river,the exhaustion of walking 23 km,the food and a good drink created a magical environment. The kitchen was illuminated by candles and by the light of the fire, our hostess looked ........ very tempting!!!!( No offence) For a long time I stared at her, lost in thoughts - the sound of the rushing water and the crackle of the fire filled the room. Outside the door, the valley was flooded with light of the full moon.
I stood on the bridge over the river- the slopes,treetops,the boulders on the river,the houses appeared to be made of glass.Coming to this place was indeed an eye opener. People travel thousands of km to Switzerland to enjoy the delicate beauty of the Alps. But over here right in our backyard are places untouched by the light of modern civilization, whose beauty is far far greater than anything in the Alps. Nestled between the mountains lies a village whose beauty is so gentle and inviting.

Bishu and I took a walk in the moonlight through the cornfields and talked about all that happended that day. After sometime,we returned to Burhan and Chick who were also having a chat in the cottage by the light of a flickering candle. That night we talked till the candle lasted. Then we went to bed... tired but very very satisfied.

Coming up next- the last day of the trek,the doctors,Sri Khola, Rimbik, a grand dinner and whiskey!!!

THE HIGH ROAD......
The warmth of the soft bed and the cozy room brought in good dreams but in the morning the scene was very different from the dream.

DAY 3: The diffuse glow of first rays of the sun fell on a poster of K. Outside the scene was very different. K was still hidden behind a thick blanket of cloud but the sky had cleared considerably. The condition was similar on the Nepal side and the Everest region was yet to reveal itself. Though K was not visible, the partial clearing of the clouds had raised our spirit considerably.

We were having breakfast, when K opened up for the first time. I grabbed my cam and sprinted to the nearest observation point. At 12000ft even the short sprint had puncutered my lungs and on reacing the point, I could scarcely hold my cam still. The place was absolutely exposed and my gloves back at the breakfast table, my fingers went numb. On the top of that the cam shutter malfunctioned and after a few shots it locked. I came back crestfallen and the prospect of completing the trek without my cam, was reason enough to spoil the excellent morning. But the blue sky had brought smile to everyones face and soon I joined the others at the top of a rocky outcrop near the observation point.
The picture below shows Burhan in his "Timberland" hat, all ready to set out for Molley.

The first view of all the summits of K from the top of the rock at the observation point.

The trekkers hut at Sandakphu with the mountains forming the horizon. The solar panels can be seen on the top of the hut. The summit of K is partially hidden behind the clouds while Pandim can be to its right, just below the large elliptical cloud.

A baby yak on the Sandakphu Phalut road.

The main bulk of traffic to Sandakphu either returns to ManB or goes down to ShriKhola via Gurudum. We decided to continue towards Phalut and stay at Molley just to increase our chances to viewing K in all her glory.
After breakfast we set out of Sandakphu. The scene suddenly changed - the jeep road was replaced by a dirt track and the vegetation consisted mostly of dwarf rhododendrons and pine. On this stretch, there are no villages so we had to carry food for the day. We were walking on top of the ridge that marked the border between India and Nepal. The lush green hills around were a pure delight to look at. The trail was more or less level for sometime and then suddenly plunged for a few hundred meters to a valley. I virtually ran down this stretch accompanied by a yankee who was separated from his group. His group was waiting for him near a fallen tree trunk near the floor of the valley. There were signs of some heavy landslide and once again the walking stick proved to be of great help. I was a unique experience walking on a road like this, with just 2 groups following the trail. There was a proffusion of wild berries and beautiful violet coloured aconite flowers(its leaves are extremely poisonous and used for making medicine).
After some rest, we started uphill once again. By this time I was comfortable with the walk,breath and walk style, so had more time to appreciate the surroundings. The far off villages in Nepal came into view. The roof of the houses reflected back the sunlight, giving them the appearance of dew drops. On the Indian side, the hills of Varsey rhododendron sanctuary were visible at a distance. After sometime, we came across a shallow green lake on the ridge top. We continued past it and entered a U shaped valley. Walking on the rim of the valley, we could hear the stream flowing through the valley floor. The slope leading to the stream was covered in yellow wildflowers and red berries. By this time,it was getting cloudy again which livened up the shade of green adding more saturation to it. The top of the pine canopy was gradually being covered by clouds. We had a second breakfast here- it consisted of Tibetan bread, jam and chocolates along with the ice cold water from the stream. This natural mineral water tasted really good.
We reached the head of the valley and looked down at the vast amphitheatre formed by the spurs. Here, we split from the main trail to Phalut and took a short cut to Molley. Bishu insisted on taking a short break, so leaving behind Tsering with Bishu and Chick, I set out with Burhan. Since it was a little known wild shortcut through the forest, Tsering repeatedly told us to stop whenever we were in doubt and wait for him to signal. This indeed proved to the most exciting and challenging(even though it was almost level) stretch of the entire trek.
The entry to the trail(an obscure dirt track and less than a feet wide at places) was guarded by thorny bushes. The trail opened up a Pandora's box- here hidden from the sun, there was a riot of colours even during autumn. Wildflowers of all colour and shape adorned the path along with small streams. Crossing them were tricky at places - the trail was less than a feet wide and very slippery and the log bridges( rather two logs placed side by side) were in a bad state. The moss grown boulders were not very reliable either. Almost throughout the shortcut, the thorny wildberry bushes formed an impenetrable wall on the left, while on the right, the trail plunged to the valley floor. The shortcut actually followed the head of the U shaped valley and joined the the trail from Sabarkhum( on the road to Phalut) just above Molley.
Tsering was whisteling at fixed intearvals to help us keep track of him( one of many funda that we learned from him). There were so many variety of flowers that I think it would be worth spending an entire week exploring this 1 km stretch of the trail. I even saw what appeared to be a kind of Pitcher plant( insectivorous).
The trail then took a left turn and entered a series of narrow gullies that led us to the top of a ridge that branched off the main road to Phalut. We rested for sometime under a weak sun. But this warmth was a welcome relief after the dark damp shortcut. Molley was about 500m away and we reached there in about 15mins. A new surprise was awaiting us there .........
The trekkers hut at Molley in situated alongside the Army outpost there.It is surrounded by high trees and is located at the base of a depression. The caretaker of the hut was not there but luckily a jawan at the outpost had the keys to the hut and the kitchen. We found 2 more groups there- Mr and Mrs Biswas, and , Subhomoy, Debaditya and Tania. They were preparing to cook lunch and we joined them and helped them in whatever way we could. They effort was led by general Subhomoy and talkative Tania acted as his spokesperson(though both of them hardly did any work, especially general who did nothing other than puffing bidi and coming up with redundant advice). While I was cleaning the rice and dal, Tania's continuous chattering pissed me off( I prefferd to be quiet and ignore her as politely I could). This done I offered my help at the kitchen ( yeah, I can cook !!!!!) but Mr Biswas told us that he can manage it singlehandedly.
He along with Debaditya,Tsering prepaed a great lunch- Khichdi, fried squash,papad and pickle.
And it tasted ....... heavenly.This was indeed lucky that we could have such a great lunch, more so because Debaditya offered to fix the shutter problem in my cam ( it was done in about 15mins!!!).
After lunch, Bishu, Subhomoy and I, went up the ridge and sat on a rock below one of the many towering pine trees. It was very windy and cold - we sat there quitely for sometime and then started discussing Physics!!!!!!! Yup, our discussion ranged from statistical mechanics to the cycloid problem, form Narlikar to Feynman. What a place to discuss all these things!!
When the cold became unbearable, we returned to the hut. Then I talked to Debaditya regarding the cam and after thanking him for the help, came back to my bed ( which was cold as an ice block and the blanket lacked any warmth). We discussed about the room at Sandakphu by the light of a single candle. Soon it started raining and the temperature plumeted. We were shivering under a couple of blankets when Tsering came up and told us that next morning it would clear and we would be able to get good views of the mountain. I took it merely as an attempt to console us and went to Mr and Mrs Biswas to listen to their travel experience.
We talked to them for more than an hour and returned to bed at about 8:30. By now it was horribly cold, and since there was no arrangement for heating, we went to the kitchen to warm oursleves.
That night we were all alarmed by Tania's moans - apparently she suffered from a cold shock but the sound seemed all too familiar ( Chick jumped up from his bed and yelled out " arre threesome hochhe naki????"). The moans subsided after sometime but the temperature was falling continuously which made it impossible for me to sleep. I kept shivering through the night but fell asleep just before sunrise. I had hardly slept for about half an hour, when I suddenly woke up and there outside the window ...........


Coming up next- a dream come true, the most glorious day of the trek, Sleeping Buddha,the Summit of Ambitions and a piece of heaven hidden away from civilization by high mountains and thick forest.

SANDAKPHU
The night at Jaubari was very uncomfortable. The insects, the rain and fog along with the cold wind lowered our morale. People were pretty frusst and Bishu even suggested hiring a car to complete the remaining 15km to Sandakphu!!! We were more than happy to leave Jaubari and take the downhill road to Gairibas, after having tea. The condition of the road was very bad, especially after the recent rain and landslide. We had to be very careful and for the first time realised the importance of a walking stick to negotiate these downhill slopes.

The clouds began to lear on the Nepal side, raising our hopes. The above pic shows the foothills of Nepal along with a stretch of blue sky. The slope behind us dropped sharply for about 200m to a thickly forested floor. The loose boulders and the slippery ground made walking difficult. It took us about 40mins to cover the 2km to Gairibas, where we had our breakfast. Incidentally, this marks the entry point into India and we found jawans at the outpost enjoying a volleyball match!!
On the Indian side of the border, the scene was gloomy. The visibility was very poor due to the clouds, and though the road was better( as the above pic shows ), all walk and no view, made the entire process very tiring. 4km of gradual uphill walk took us to Kanyakata, where we refilled our water bottles and geared up for the comparatively steep stretch to Kalpokhri.
Just before leaving, we encountered 2 French girls. They were carrying heavy sacks and moving at a good pace. Their technique seemed to be perfectly suitable to for me..... taking 10 steps, halt for a deep breath and carry on with this cycle. This way I could walk for much longer duration of time with having to rest. As we approached Kalpokhri, the clouds closed in and a very chilly wind started blowing. Just before Kalpokhri( Black Lake ), visibility was reduced to a few feet and I had difficulty finding the way. The apparent feeling walking alone and being lost in the clouds was awesome. I was standing by the lake, when all of a sudden, Tsering appeared from the clouds. It took me quite a bit to realise that it was Tsering and not someone (something!!) else. The picture below shows the huts of Kalpokhri beyond the meadows.

We found the French girls having lunch there, and Burhan standing outside in the cold, facing the other side!!!! They were also heading for Molley the next day. After lunch, our hostess gave Tsering a kind of local fruit, which he shared with us. He told that its local name was "Theki fal". It has an olive green skin and a green soft interior, and tasted slightly sour. As we were ready to set out, Tsering pointed out a Hoopey that was sitting on a fence. As we approached it, it flew away into the mist.

Outside the place where we had lunch at Kalpokhri.

The next 2km to Bikhaybhanjang was more or less flat and we covered it in one go. It was about 12:30 and Sandakphu was 3km away but the road ahead was steep(in fact very steep at places). Since the road was easy to follow, we decided to split up and walk at our own pace. We were at 3200m and the remaining 3km would take us to 3636m. Taking the winding jeep road would mean covering more distance, so the steeper shortcuts are preferred and this stretch had many. A few of them rose at almost 70 degrees but usually cut down the distance by more than half. The first 1km posed no problem, especially after the rest at Bikhaybhanjang but almost half a way through, the effect of altitude and the load of my sack started showing its effect. I had to rest for about 10mins before I could start off again.
This time, I was more eager to take the shortcuts that were not supposed to be taken. In one such shortcut, I walked into a narrow gully which was so steep that I had to use my hands to navigate through it. It brought me to a meadow- the floor was filled with white and yellow wildflowers. Surrounded by clouds and unable to see beyond 5m, I stood still at that place just to soak myself with the awesome view. I roamed about the meadow, closely examining the wildflowers. I don't know how long I stayed there but soom I realised that I couldn't make out the direction from which I had come. The clouds made every direction appear the same. I searched for about 15mins before finding the head of the gully that I had climbed before. It was a welcome relief. I continued across the meadow and reached another gully, which I scrmabled up in a similar way to reach the jeep road. And all of a sudden a milestone showed Sandakphu was just a km away. That shortcut must have reduced the distance by about 300m!!! I felt the tempo back in me and though I was very tired, I covered the remaining distance along the jeep road and stayed away from anymore shortcuts. Getting lost once was enough for a day!!!!
When I was about 200m from Sandakphu, I saw Tsering and Burhan waving at me. It took me quite an effort to cover the remaining distance but there at the end of the road ...... Sandakphu was waiting. Sherpa Chalet welcomed us with warm coffee and momos. After the insect ridden room at Jaubari; the clean room, spotless white sheets and the coffee at Sandakphu was heavenly.
Just after Bishu and Chick entered the hotel, it started drizzling. After the snack, we went to our room and in the warmth of the blanket talked to each other about our experience. Tsering told us that the rain might bring in good weather and after 2 days of clouds, were more than eager to believe that he was true.
That night we had yak meat and after dinner, we talked to the sons of the hotel owner in their kitchen.

Tsering(center) having his dinner with the hotel owner's elder son on the right and Burhan behind the camera.
We were talking about HMI's mountaineering course, when the owner's younger son told us that Tsering was a mountaineering instructor, with extensive experince on the Rathong glacier. This was too good a chance to miss and I bombarded with all sorts of questions. I also asked him about the possibility of a trek to Goecha la, next year. Tsering then told us of his experience on the glacier and about the snow leopard that he had seen above Chaurikhang (HMI base camp).
We talked for about 2.5hrs and 10 amidst the rain, went back to our room. The warm blanket and cozy bed brought in good sleep and dreams. In it I saw myself sitting on the edge of a cliff, watching the morning sun setting K ablaze.

Coming up next- a glimpse of K, the high road, shortcut to Molley, the unique experinece at there and new friends.