Goech La Trek: Day 4

Day 4

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Tsoka (9685 ft) to Dzongri (12947 ft)

Distance: 7.65 kms Time: 5 hrs 26 mins

Today the call was 6-7-8. Trail till Dzongri is very steep with total height gain of more than 3000 ft. We gathered in the dining area at 7 for the breakfast. It was a special day for Atul...yes, his birthday. I brought special home made (thanks to Anagha) fresh mango barfi for his birthday celebration.

Winding up of the campsite

Breakfast menu

Team on the way

We left the Tsoka site at 8:05 am! Today we had to carry pack lunch.

The way till Phedang was very steep and tiresome. It goes through dense forest of rhododendrons. Half of the trail was ladded with wooden planks. Mules were crossing us on the way, and we had to give way to them. One thing I learned during my Amarnath yatra last year - stick to the mountain side when mules are crossing!

Trail towards Phedang

Pink Rhododendrons

Phedang

Few of us (Advait, Atul, Brahma, Vinit, Viraj and I) were sprinting really fast (as compared to others) and we hit Phedang (11715 ft) within 2 hours. There is only 1 hut available to sit and relax. We quickly grabbed the place before IH team. It was not the good time for lunch, hence we ate only partial of our tiffin. Weather suddenly turned from sunny to cloudy. Hence after the rest, we decided to move further instead of waiting for the rest of our group. We played oxygen oxygen game as oxymeter was with handy with Vinit and here Mohan gave us a shocker (momentarily) when his readings were 54 !! We asked him to not to measure immediately, take rest and then come.

Our next stop was Devarali top (12830 ft). Phedang to Devarali top was again steep ascent and breathing was getting tougher with small height gain. We had frequent stops on the way to regain our breathe. Weather here was very much pleasant and we took some rest here as well.

Devarali Top

We did stone pyramid at Devarali

@ Devarali Top

From here, the pathway till Dzongri was very easy with mix of small ascent and descent. After reaching our campsite, we (except Vinit, who was busy enquiring for something else!!!. ... no, no..not about the gorgeous girlfriend!!) quickly rushed into our tents and relaxed for a while. We also finished our remaining lunch. Within 15-20 minutes, all the members joined the campsite, and we came out of our tents for stretching exercise!

Team engaged in stretching exercise

Dzongri campsite hut

Everyone jumped on the hot (गरमागरम) maggie and tea made by Tashi before going out for some walk. Tsoka to Dzongri walk was tiresome with significant amount of height gain. Hence we did not dwelve ourself with further height gain for acclimatization! Vinit gave me one more shocker when he mentioned that Viraj had feelings like omitting. Though it may seemed like a symptom for AMS, he did not look that way. May be overeating had caused it.

After maggie at 5 and soup at 7, we did not have much space left in stomach for a full dinner. Hence we requested Tashi to prepare only rice (dal khichadi) for us. At the same time, we did not say no to Gulab jamun as well!

Shital, Suhas, Atul, Viraj, Vinit, Samip

Ishani, Mohan, Amit, Sheetal, Sushma, Bharati

 Evening soup time photos of the group. You can clearly make out 

from the faces how much everyone was tired :)

Babu, Prateek and MP

Dal Khichadi for dinner (Gulam jabun not in pic)

Most of us ate (though little) due to fear of AMS whereas few ate as if they were hungry from morning!!

We had 1 more day of stay here for acclimatization. We got to know from earlier batch about the beautiful view from Dzongri top. Prateek briefed us about it during lunch and we planned to leave for it at 3:30 in the morning!

My stats for the day:

Pulse: 85. O2: 95. Breathing rate: 19

Garmin trail details:

Tsoka to Dzongri Trail

#मम