The Sar Pass Trek 2011: Day 9

June 4th: Biskerithatch - Bhandakthatch

Bhavin lining up for the "rappel"

Slept like a log the previous night. Felt super fresh and was raring to go. As usual, everyone took their own sweet time to get ready. We started off at around 9.30 AM after cleaning up the camp site. I have to say something about all the litter that I saw during the whole trip. Why do people have to litter? WHY? Why do they have to spoil something so clean and pure? If you're reading this and are thinking what you could do, you could carry the waste with you (especially plastic) and throw it in dustbins at camps or at places where the trash will be properly taken care of. Try it once. It really isn't hard. I take a moment here to thank everyone who did their bit by not littering and who picked up a lot of trash themselves. Anyway, we quickly reached the point from where we were supposed to "rappel" down (pic. above). I just climbed down normally. Was too easy now :P. Immediately after this, we had our lunch point. Took a short break here, had lunch and started off with a small group again. Reached a point from where we had to climb for about 15-20 minutes to the camp. My mind just couldn't accept any more climbing and especially when it was hot! Slowly dragged myself up the last few feet and reached the camp. We were told that it was the best camp site of all and that it was almost like Switzerland. Yes, it was nice. Had very nice views etc.. But I thought the Nagaru camp site was a better location. This camp has only 4 tents as against the 5 at every other camp. WTF? This created a little panic among everyone and we were finally assured by the camp leader that we would be provided comfortable shelter somehow. We then taught the two doctors, a couple of girls and a few guys Wolf and played a few games sitting outside the tents, enjoying the nice views. Was really awesome fun. While we were at it, we got news that a girl from the Indore group had just collapsed after the final climb and the two doctors who were playing with us rushed to help her and it turned out to be a case of lack of Calcium which had caused her difficulty in breathing. Eventually, after a little bit of treatment, it was decided that she would be better off at a hospital and then she was carried down on the porter's back to the hospital (which was about 2 hours away) in the dark! The people and porters especially are really strong. They literally run up and down the hills with heavy loads! And this guy who had carried the girl down, came back up the same night to climb down with us the next morning!

The sunset at Bhandakthatch

After this incident, I think I should do a basic life support course. This can happen to anyone, anytime and if there aren't any doctors around, the BLS information might be really handy. Also, I felt that the organizers of any treks in the Himalayas should be able to arrange for helicopter rescues within a short duration. Could really save lives. 

The Sar Pass Trek 2011: Day 8

June 3rd: Nagaru - Biskerithatch

Just after we left Nagaru. My favourite pic from the whole trip!

We could hardly sleep that night and were up at 2 AM. The temperature must have been 0 degrees (felt worse because of the wind). Tea was supposed to be at 2.30 AM and we never looked forward to it more. Most of the guys from our tent finished answering nature calls while the guys in the other tents were happily sleeping. The sky was 100% clear. I will never forget the number of stars I had seen that night. That was probably the most beautiful sky I had ever seen. I got ready by about 3.15 AM when tea was finally served. Gulped down two full tumblers and then a little breakfast. We were given some dry stuff for lunch. 4 AM. No signs of starting yet. People took their own sweet time to get ready and the few people who were ready stood there in the cold. Waiting. I was really pissed off now. We finally started and as always, slowest people first and no passing. We were moving at a snail's pace for a long time before I decided to move up ahead in the line. Before long, I was climbing just after the first group. One should always climb at a pace they're comfortable with. Like the Ratapani day, I climbed at my own pace and it was really fun. The terrain, unlike anything before, was 100% snow now and it helped that the snow was hard. Reached the top soon and found a few guys who had just reached. The maximum height we reached was about 4000m (~14000 feet). Surprisingly, most people very quickly arrived at the top with the guide, the sherpa and the porters helping a few. This sherpa, Lakhpa, had climbed Everest in 2007. I got my bakra for the walk! I asked him an innumerable number of questions and he patiently answered all of them. His accent was hard to understand at first but I got used to it later on. Very nice guy. We soon reached the so called "Biskeri Top" after a testing 50 feet climb of an incline of 70-80 degrees. This last climb was one of the most challenging and enjoyable ones during the whole trek. From here, we are supposed to slide down as far down as possible towards the lunch point. We were VERY thirsty by now and I could have downed a couple of litres of water. Was time for the much talked about slide now. I was the first one to take the first slide. I slid for a bit and then stopped because there wasn't a real slide path yet. I walked down to the next slide. I let a couple of guys do the second slide before me so that some sort of path would be there for me to slide when I got my turn. The second slide was better but very bumpy. Was completely wet waist down. Reached a stream after god knows how long. Drank a LOT of water. Had a mild headache by then. Walked on ahead to the lunch point. We were instructed to wait at the LP until everyone came. However, after an hour or so there, I decided to go on along with a few others. After a long but fun walk, we reached the Biskerithatch camp.

At the top of Tilalotni

With Lakhpa who climbed Everest in 2007.

At Sar Pass

The plan for the day was to just relax and luckily, we had a chilled out camp leader here. We finally sat down to play a few games of Wolf and as expected, everyone liked it. Pulkit turned out to be quite the pro. Went through the usual routine of Tea, soup and dinner before crashing for the night.