Felt like a cloud ......

The Himalayas are enchanting, mesmerizing and grand. They are the highest and one of the youngest mountain ranges in the world. The highest mountain peak outside Himalayas at around 7000m is in Andes. Himalayas have more than 100 peaks greater than that height. That’s the grandeur of Himalayas
A trek to Himalayas tests attitude, patience, stamina and most of all mental toughness. One needs to have the right amount of confidence and will. Though if you are over-confident and don’t respect the mountain, it can prove fatal.
Recently i went on an expedition to climb a peak in the Garhwal Himalayas called the Darwa Top , close to 14000 feet above see level. The journey took me through various villages, mountain peaks and forests along the banks of the Asi Ganga.
The first few days before the trek are essential. I spent the first 4 days in the base camp to acclimatize to the conditions and to prepare myself for the tough road ahead. My Journey started from the base camp in Uttarkashi at a height of around 4500 feet. We trekked to a village called Sangam Chetti and then to a village called Majhi.This portion of the trek gave me practical lessons on issues that are threatening our very existence today – Global Warming and Forest Fires .Observing the flora and fauna of the forest ravaged by fire and the streams that form the Ganga devoid of water was distressing. The forest fires many times are caused by human interference /negligence and global warming too can largely be attributed to human activities . Global warming is especially serious as it is leading to the melting of lot of glaciers including the glacier from which the Ganga originates. The haunting black forest presented a stark contrast with the lush green forests around.
Next day was a relatively easier trek of 5kms to a place called Dodi Tal . Although Lord Ganesha was born in this place it does not attract a lot of tourists because of the high altitude and inaccessibility by road.At around 10,000 feet the Lake /Tal provided a scintillating view of the flowers on its banks with the snow capped mountain peaks in the background. We attended the Aarti at the temple near the lake and devoured the aloo paranthas at the makeshift dhaba.This would be the last dhaba /eating joint on the way to the top.
It snowed that night and the himalyan weather showed its fury . The thunderstorms were so loud that we thought we were caught in the middle of a landslide. Hail fell onto our tents like stones .Luckily our tent did not fall / leak. A lot of other trekkers had to put up in the temple or the dhaba to protect themselves from the cold as their tents could not hold in the thunderstorm. In the middle of the night I woke up tucked inside an inner inside my sleeping bag .I saw lightening making our tent appear in different shades.Luckily the night went without more dramatics of nature
Up at 5 am and ready with our packed lunch we started to march towards the destination – Darwa Top – 13,550 feet. Walking uphill on ice was tough as the surface was very slippery. I saw flowers blossoming on the snow and small streams flowing along the trekking path. It was like another world. After 12,500 feet the vegetation started to disappear. The oxygen content in the air reduced and we felt some fatigue. Finally we reached the first checkpoint – Darwa Pass. There was enough snow there to slide on our rain sheets and enjoy and relax for a while. We ate our lunch, emptied our water bottles to get back the oxygen and prepared ourselves for the last few kms of the uphill climb. These last kms were very tricky. We had to walk on a small ridge . One small step astray and that’s it .We decided to let the slowest amongst us set the pace and formed a human chain.There are chances that due to the small pathways and great heights a person lose consciousness. Altitude sickness is also not uncommon at these heights. After an hour of walking in a human chain we reached Darwa peak#1. Happiness.............. Most of us thought that this was the end of our journey but the pathways did not end here.
We saw another peak that seemed far off. That was to be our final destination. The winds were blowing hard. Some of us did not have the physical stamina to proceed further. But it boiled down to mental toughness and will to go on. Mind over matter. Some of us decided that we will go further to conquer the last mile.What a great decision that proved to be!The last portion of the trek was actually rather straightforward and easier than the more arduous trek in the early morning.
30 minutes later we were staring at the greater Himalayas all around us. The winds were chilly. We could see a lot of great Himalayan peak atop the Darwa Top.The view was spectacular. After reaching the top, i went to the edge looked at the clouds under me and raised my hands and breathed. “I FELT LIKE A CLOUD”
3 days later i was sitting in the train coming back to Delhi and I had a single thought in my mind– I wanted to go on another trek right away – Base camp of Mt Everest ( Kala Pathar)