Sar Pass lapse
Nowhere close to infinity, we were at 13,800 ft. A few foot steps on the canvas of snow, imprinted memories deep within, lived an experience.
It was life beyond comforts. Limits pushed themselves harder everyday, and one fine morning, we're above the limits.
An embarking journey started off from Delhi to Bhuntar on a smooth night ride. Eyes open to an early morning concert.
Parvati river, in it's almighty, tuning the beautiful rhythms, unique birds of Himalayas singing from the dense forests, chorus echo from the snow peaked mountains. Sun rising high slowly, water cheering up with colorful dance moves.
The concert is long. Giving life for several cute little things. I entered their tribe from Kasol.
Parvati Valley makes the bonds. High peaks make it stronger. As the heart of valley, Kasol makes splendid bonds. You meet enthusiasts, down to earth, naturally charismatic folks. The tiny creatures here, have only one thing in common. They all aim high and Heights don't scare them.
Lovely to be one such tiny creature. Heights need you prepared. They need your strengths at their best. A 3 day acclimatization builds the desired strength, tightens the bonds, washes away the worries from Parvati.
With all the strength and happiness, we take ourselves up to Grahan. An altitude gain from 6000ft to 9000ft. Altitude is more than numbers, words.
Never take Altitude with casual attitude. It demands attention, give it enough.
About 5 hours of walk amidst beautiful waterfalls, dense forests..we reach this small village Grahan. Gaze the stars when clouds are clear, touch the clouds when they're near.
Kids commute from Grahan to Kasol for school everyday. They definitely learn a lot from jungles we'd never be able to.. speak in a language the birds would understand.. respect their nature the way it should be.
Next sunrise, we dive straight into the valley of Padri.
It gets darker as we step forward.
Padri sits in the lap of snow peaks. Sun often rises high to see Padri, awaits clouds to clear.. to get a sight of Padri. As bright as padri shines, the beauty Echoes from mountains around. You can spot rough peaks.. when the sun sets on padri, a distant star shines gold. Stars aren't far away, they're up there with mountain tips.
With the conflict of sadness to leave Padri and excitement to go above the clouds to Minc Thatch, we've started our next day. The patch is rough terrain, with altitude playing us. The dense forests hiding the light, made us shine bright in fear and joy. Monc Thatch is a beauty set in the corner. A peek out of our tent, and we see the beautiful pine trees all the way down. Looking at the valley, my eye lashes refused to blink.
Climb from Minc Thatch to Nagaru isn't for weak hearted, but we were all strengthened by mountains so far. The non-uniform rocks and the vertical heights take us from the lush green meadows to the snow capped campsite. Wind started dancing wild on our arrival to Nagaru, as a token of welcome and joy of seeing us.
A little walk over snow in darkness, sun found it's way through peaks to come forward.. the gold shine of mountain tips still make me wonder who could carve such beauties. We were at highest altitude, next to a frozen lake and the pass is what we'd call heaven.
At an altitude of 13,800ft, learning about every peak around, looking at origins of Parvati river and beautiful ranges, the next few targets of life were visible. With all the adrenaline rush, despite the sun taking a toll, the snow slide was out of a fiction movie we're all dreaming.
During the descent to Biskeri, there comes a hail storm challenging us to get past the beauty, constantly reminding us we didn't conquer the mountain, the mountain conquered us.
On the way back to Biskeri, a circular rainbow shows itself. Biskeri is setup in a large grass meadow, with a beautiful view of peaks.
A quick journey back to the base, amidst the dry forests, pretty waterfalls making us understand you shall fall down quicker than the time you took to reach heights..
Beautiful nature teaching us the basics. This beauty makes us aim high. Aims make the journey uncomfortable, inevitably. At a height, our only way is to go up. And mountains make us live down to earth, we're nothing merely in front of giant nature. We're all just tiny creatures who believe we're not afraid of heights, yet we just didn't go high enough.
