Mesmerizing Kantha

It was around 5 in the morning, I was shivering, with no control sitting over the boulder on top of the peak in the crux of watching the sunrise. Somebody on the way said the temperature would be around minus 15 to minus 17.

It all began on Jan 30th, starting at the base camp of Kedarkantha, Sankri. We had reached sankri on the previous night and had to hit the bed soon after our sumptuous dinner.

Dec 30th 2019

We started at 8 in the morning after a few instructions from the guide arranged by Thrillophilia. I had all the necessary equipment to proceed without any hassle except for the stick. I had to borrow an umbrella with a sharp point at its end as a replacement to the stick.

The day was pretty bright and the trial was very natural, with an average inclination of 30 to 40-degree. There was nothing to be awestruck during the entire journey except that we had a telescopic view of the misty might mountains. We took around an hour to reach a tea point in a midway.

“You want to have some Maggi?”, Rinku asked

“Sure”, I replied

We had the hot Maggi paying fivefold the actual rate.

Juda-Ka-Talab (A naturally formed lake)

It was midday when we reached this place. We were exhausted as it was our first day out there at that temperature.

Pretty much everything in there was covered with snow except the 1-foot width trial which everyone took to ascend the hill to the next base point. I was all fine till I reached there, very few minutes after being there, I started to freeze. I did not feel this chillness while I trekked, because of the bodily movements that kept me warm.

I immediately put on some extra t-shirt, finished the rice and dal and wrapped myself under the sleeping bag inside the tent. I spent the rest of the day acclimatising and reading the novel.

“What is so wrong with you in here?”, Rinku questioned seeing me reading the novel despite shivering like a flu patient

I have this strange habit of reading novels in afternoons especially when I am on a trip. I will be insomniac if I rest in the afternoon.

By late evening, the darkness took over the sky and stars decorated it. The panoramic view of the mighty mountains under the illuminated sky from our tents with a glass of rum, it felt almost heaven. Do you think you could ever find a perfect solace evening than this?

“Rinku, I should have come with my girlfriend rather than you”, I whined.

“Same feeling, Cheers”, he held his glass up

“Cheers”

Delicious rice, rasam and payasam for the dinner. I tell you, it was a boon for us to have such tasty food at that altitude. It was around 9100 feet.

Kudos to the cook.

Dec 31st 2019

Again like a ritual, we started soon after breakfast, following the trial led by our guide.

We passed by an oak forest spread out over a range of mountain though it was not pretty dense, it was very scenic. I and Rinku never bothered about opening up our DSLRs or GoPros. We enjoyed every part of the trek without taking much of the pictures.

The weather was more chilled than the previous day as obvious. I had put an extra layer upon my thermals to withstand it. The trial was very moderate which was even easier than the trial to Juda, but this trial was completely on snow.

We slid despite our crampons. Gaiters were of good use by not allowing the snow inside our shoes and make us feel annoyed.

We reached there early afternoon around 1, hardly took us two hours to reach there. We helped our guides to set up tents and made our ways inside the sleeping bags.

The altitude up there was somewhere 11,250. We were given only two litres of water every day to keep ourselves hydrated and getting drinking water is difficult despite surrounded by snow. They use to transport water and other cooking materials with the help of Mules.

We sipped little extra rum today to keep us warm, no matter how much you take, you’re back to freeze mode within an hour.

We somehow spent our afternoon chilling out there. In the evening, to our surprise, there were pre-new year celebrations amid minus degree temperature with frozen honey cake. Yes, the cake was arranged by our guide. We had to bite hard like a rock to enjoy it. It was fun though.

“Woah, what the heck is this?”, Rinku said as soon as he stepped into the tent.

The tents were put up on the soft snow and as we entered inside the tents, the pressure on the snow made it to be an uneven surface. I had to somehow spend the entire night leaning on to my backpack. I never expected the nightmare of the Kedarkantha base camp.

New Year 2020

“Where the fuck is everyone”, I said to my inner-me.

It was around 30 past 3 and hardly 5 out of the entire troop is all set and stood outside for the start.

At 4, we started and we all knew today is going to be the hardest day. We had to hike up to 12,500 feet and not just going up, we had to get down to second base camp Juda-Ka-Talab.

Despite the sleepless night on the previous day, the crux of reaching the peak made me get going. It was very cold and I could not withstand the cold if I stood at a place for more than 30 seconds. We had to stop by after an hour of hike at the tea stall.

“Maggi?”, Rinku asked.

“No, you can have one if you need”, I replied biting my lips and shivering

“You sure its gonna be the best sunrise?”, I questioned him seeing the long single line queue from the place we stood till the top of the peak.

“Let’s see, we got no option to escape”, he murmured.

We both were on a heartbreak. We hated the crowded place and thought the worst decision we ever made to reach a peak on the very first day of the year 2020.

People screaming made us feel the disparity even more. I wanted to enjoy the calmness and vibrance of it without any noises screaming aloud.

We were almost there while we walked one step at a time. The wind blew so fast, we all were sliding to the sides of the hill. We had to still ourselves with the stick we had carried.

My umbrella was my life saviour :)

Kedarkantha Peak

It was just half a kilometer distance to the peak and we managed to reach within fifteen minutes.

I and my cousin always loved being away from the crowds, we found one boulder just before the peak and made our way there couching ourselves.

The sky started to change its colors, slowly it decorated with turquoise blue, followed by a layer of orange. It was such a mesmerizing scene, I felt assured that it’s going to be the best start for the year 2020. I forgot all the creepy feeling that I had after seeing the crowd. My sleepless night, freezing to cold everything vanished within seconds.

Did I ever mention it was a heavenly feeling? Yes, it seemed to be.

My eyes had the best feast savoring the entire sunrise.

I could take very few pictures, both my phone and GoPro’s battery drained out quickly. We joined the rest of the team after a while.

Getting down will be super exciting as we can slide down the snow. Some resisted sliding as they were not in their snow trek pants, the snow trek pants will be slightly water-resistant and you wouldn't get wet while sliding. I were anyway in my water-proof clothing and slid all the way from top to the tea stall where we had stopped by en route.

Btw, sliding can be dangerous too, if you slide in the wrong path.

We descended back to kedarkantha base and back to Juda-Ka-Talab by late afternoon.

Jan 2nd 2020

We descended back to base camp Sankari where we had to stay for a day and leave to Dehradun on the following day. I was in no mood to continue my stay anymore there. Nevertheless, I was acclimatised but I wanted to get going and halt in Dehradun where I would get my phone signal and spend some peaceful time to sip alcohol without thinking of going anywhere further.

So we left soon after reaching Sankri.

PS,

Few things are hard to describe, this is just the least I could :)

Special Thanks

Rithesh Katta aka Rinku (co-traveler), Decision Scientist, ZS Associates

Gopi & Team (co-travellers), Vishakapatnam

Ashish(trek leader) & Team, Sankari

Thrillophilia (organiser)

Thanks for reading. Have a great day.