Page 21 - 1996 AMA Spring

ARMY MOUNTAINEER
development inThe Garhwal India
as far as the eye can see. It’s at this time that one starts to reflect at the seclusion of this area, especially as the Himalayan vultures and Lamegaiers circle over head. Our journey now headed down into the village of Wan. Here we managed our first real wash, stood naked under a water fall of a near by mountain stream. Naked white people are quite a spectacle for the local passers by to whom a European is still quite a novelty.
The first week nearly over and we began our ascent which was to take us to the highest part of the route. The first night on the route up was spent at Bedni a rest stop on the pilgrimage route to Roopkund. It consisted of a number of small stone built shacks at about 3200m. The following day took us over the first pass 4200m to Bagwpassa where there was another stone hut in which to spend the night. By now temperatures at night were dropping to 15 degrees below, a might chilly. This tends to make sampling rivers a little cold. Anchor ice had formed on the river beds making sam­ pling a difficult task. At this point the ravages of Indian food in the form of rice and lentils, a cold and mild adema took its toll on me. The porters refused to go on over the snow covered pass beyond Roopkund lake and so it was decided to amend the route. After a cold night the rest of the team having come this far decid­ ed to go to Roopkund lake (4778m) and the top of the pass below the high Trisul massif. I remained behind spending the day feel­ ing deeply unwell sharing the stone hut with a collection of ver­ min. It’s times like this you think why am I here? and then you
look out from on top of the world and it all makes sense. The lake at Roopkund has been referred to as the ‘mystery lake’ this is because of the human skeletons found here. I was told that these were visible where the snow had been blown away. From Bagwpassa the journey was downwards to Sutol. Impressive views of both Trisul and Nanda Ghunti were afforded for the next few days as we walked down the ridge to the valley. From Sutol the journey was a straight forward walk down the valley to Ghat sam­ pling as we went. A fortnight after we had begun, our journey ended in Ghat all that remained the two day journey back to Delhi.
For anyone thinking of travelling to this area the Garhwal Himalaya provides a beautiful, unspoilt area for trekking. The mountains are magnificent each rising in splendid isolation. Trekking routes tend to follow established paths between villages or pilgrimage routes. Most of them go above 3000m to cross pass­ es, though lowlevel routes are available, but longer. Guides are best hired in a centre such as Nanital unless your Hindi is fluent. Food is an important consideration, if you go native Dal-Bat (rice and lentils) is the staple diet and can prove very monotonous. A plentiful supply of ketchup, peanuts and sweets proved invaluable. October is a good time to travel as it’s dry though it does tend to become chilly above 3500m. A magical place and a trip which will remain in my memory for years to come.
Looking north from Palballa to Nando Ghunti.