Day 7,8 and 9 -
We started off at 9 am after many cups of chai. Today's trek seemed more tiring as we were ascending. It was exhausting as we walked slower up the mountain accompanied with slight headaches and uneasiness. The landscape hadn't changed and was as charming as ever ,we additionally saw the ibex,mountain goats and the Himalayan Marmot,a small beaver-like creature resident of the Himalayas. It was getting colder,and aggravating my blocked nose with sore throat .The altitude ascending seemed to be affecting everyone as we huffed and puffed more than usual. We reached the base camp at 15,500ft approximately,at 3 pm. The base camp was crowded! So many people intending to summit Stok Kangari! We searched for camping spots and the staff pitched tents for us. We had hot Maggi again (not much of an option) and fell asleep almost instantly. I slept for an hour before the heat started giving me a splitting headache,the sun was direct and scorching the tent! I was annoyed and uncomfortable by it. The tentative plan included an acclimatization walk for the evening,but it eventually got scrapped. Towards late evening, Bariy started throwing up the food he had eaten , blood as well as bile juice. He insisted it was nothing but a stomach ulcer. Tarle decided that he should descend to Mankorma, PV and Negi accompanied him. Vidya and I shifted tents. It was not an agreeable night for me, I knew I was catching a fever as I shivered through the night,even though I had four layers of clothing on. Poba and Vidya were God sent angels, they were trying to keep me warm by offering all the help they could. We woke up at 1am and I had a full fledged fever by now. Poops,Tarle and Hari bhai suggested that I take a tablet and if my fever wasn't very bad,I should attempt to summit . I decided to do so. Before Vidya and I got dressed ,packed and got out of the tent,everyone else had left. That was a huge let down . I realized harshly that it was going to be a solitary conquest for all . I panicked. Shabu, Vidya and I started off at the middle of the moonlit night. The magnificent moonlight shone sufficiently ,obviating the need for flashlights. We went slow and steady and I met Pobu on the way. After a while, we met Hari bhai who motivated us a little more .It was seriously tiring, after walking for almost an hour and half,I was really fatigued, Vidya decided to return after sometime so she and Shabu started descending . I thought I'll try going a little further . Further on, I met Poops and Gannu, Gannu was in a tearing hurry to leave and carry on further. I was left discussing with Poops on whether I should carry on. We continued. I was slower than Poops and he went ahead. So for about 30 minutes I was walking alone, and was more fatigued than ever. I was already demotivated by 50%. Every ten steps required me to stop and inhale heavily. I looked up to see the illuminated peak of Stok Kangari glistening in the moonlight . As much as it was tempting to conquer, the inevitable happened, my will broken, I gave up. I didn't want to push myself further. I retraced the path and descended alone,I was frightened. On my way back,I met Shabu and Vidya, and the three of us made out way back to Base Camp,defeated by Stok . The Dolo 650 I had taken earlier that day was effective in putting me to sleep as soon as we reached base camp. Vidya and I were awakened by Vivek,who came to our camp at 9 am,with their stories of how they turned back after crossing the glacier. Further ahead 100meters from where I had given up, a huge glacier was to be crossed, It would generally require crampons,which we were carrying,but the snow was kind enough on the glacier, after taking a tiring 45 minutes to cross the relatively small glacier,they were at the foot of the summit. A rude 45 degree incline staring down upon them , they were greatly fatigued and gave up. On their way back,Gannu,Vivek and Velu got lost. Poba went a little ahead to start ascending the summit where he gave up . Tarle gave up 200 m from the summit. There was only one hero who summit Stok , Hari Bhai. Hats off to you !. Everyone assembled at Base camp by 12 noon. We slept though the hard hitting heat inside our tents. My fever had worsened ,to an extent I felt lethargic in everything I did. I was horribly lazy to even get out of my tent.
We started on our descent at 3pm, and were at Mankorma(First base camp) in just an hour and half. Descent is always easy,but since all of us were tired,it was still a huge ordeal. We continued down to the Stok village, covering what we took two days to ascent in about 6 hours . It was a lazy, calm,silent descent,all of us zapped of energy,the stream gurgling to our right and the clouds playing hide and seek ,painting beautiful shadows on the mountains. It got dark by 8pm ,we had managed to descend at-least 80% by then. The last bit of the trek was difficult as we waded through the stream with flashlights and were dying to reach our destination. Shabu went well ahead of us and booked three taxis to get us to Leh for the night .We reached the guest house at 9pm ,had a heavy dinner and silently slept that night .It was the end of the failed attempt at Stok Kangari.
No comments:
Post a Comment