Day 5 of Goechala Trek, 13,630 ft atop the Dzongri Top
The alarm chimes in at 3:00 am at our Dzongri campsite. I slowly slither out of the tight strait jacketed sleeping bag, yes like a snake shedding its skin & wonder who else wakes up at this unearthly hour. My tent-mate Sanjay Hosali is still asleep but his aircraft idling on the runway like snores makes me jump outta the tent in a flash. Complete darkness surrounds me. I realize it is our Hindu New year & I whisper Happy New year to my family a good 1200 kilometers away. The Mercury reads a few notches below freezing and I pull my four layers of clothing closer to the skin. The sky has cleared up all the fog & mist of the earlier evening & the hike to the Dzongri Top to have our first eyeful of the grand Mount Kanchenjunga looks promising.
Our group assembles in half an hour & we start the early morning grind up to the Dzongri Top. The long line of headlight-bearing zombies silently walk in a single file up the mountain. No one is talking or singing like the previous noon hike. It is too freaking cold & spooky. I stop periodically, get my racing pulse rate down, inhale & exhale ten times & continue to climb up the mountain. The younger lot slowly overtakes me one by one. In spite of the Type A Personality that I am otherwise, here on the mountain I do not get annoyed at them outdistancing me. The mountain teaches you to be patient! It does! :D
The double hill climb is a long drawn one & needs some careful steps as there is a deep fall on the left. The dawn slowly glows from the eastern banks of the Himalaya. It is almost an hour & a half or maybe more. I hear the squeals of joy as our group has summited the Dzongri Top. I stop for the last time, look at the light around, wipe the frozen sweat, or maybe the nose dribble off my lips & pump up that last bit of Adrenaline & Testosterone through my engorged veins & speed up.
13,630 feet. Dzongri Top at last. The mighty Kanchenjunga & his family of massifs break into applause. I take a bow in front of these majestic mountains as I quickly set my tripod.
Lots of photographs quickly get registered on the memory card but the one that will stay with me for a long time is this photo of two trekkers returning back from the frosty top, somehow symbolizing the ups & downs of life.
Day 5 of Goechala Trek, 13,630 ft atop the Dzongri Top
The alarm chimes in at 3:00 am at our Dzongri campsite. I slowly slither out of the tight strait jacketed sleeping bag, yes like a snake shedding its skin & wonder who else wakes up at this unearthly hour. My tent-mate Sanjay Hosali is still asleep but his aircraft idling on the runway like snores makes me jump outta the tent in a flash. Complete darkness surrounds me. I realize it is our Hindu New year & I whisper Happy New year to my family a good 1200 kilometers away. The Mercury reads a few notches below freezing and I pull my four layers of clothing closer to the skin. The sky has cleared up all the fog & mist of the earlier evening & the hike to the Dzongri Top to have our first eyeful of the grand Mount Kanchenjunga looks promising.
Our group assembles in half an hour & we start the early morning grind up to the Dzongri Top. The long line of headlight-bearing zombies silently walk in a single file up the mountain. No one is talking or singing like the previous noon hike. It is too freaking cold & spooky. I stop periodically, get my racing pulse rate down, inhale & exhale ten times & continue to climb up the mountain. The younger lot slowly overtakes me one by one. In spite of the Type A Personality that I am otherwise, here on the mountain I do not get annoyed at them outdistancing me. The mountain teaches you to be patient! It does! :D
The double hill climb is a long drawn one & needs some careful steps as there is a deep fall on the left. The dawn slowly glows from the eastern banks of the Himalaya. It is almost an hour & a half or maybe more. I hear the squeals of joy as our group has summited the Dzongri Top. I stop for the last time, look at the light around, wipe the frozen sweat, or maybe the nose dribble off my lips & pump up that last bit of Adrenaline & Testosterone through my engorged veins & speed up.
13,630 feet. Dzongri Top at last. The mighty Kanchenjunga & his family of massifs break into applause. I take a bow in front of these majestic mountains as I quickly set my tripod.
Lots of photographs quickly get registered on the memory card but the one that will stay with me for a long time is this photo of two trekkers returning back from the frosty top, somehow symbolizing the ups & downs of life.