Goech La Trek: Day 8

Day 8

Sunday 7 May 2017

Thansing (12900 ft) to Goech La view point 1 (15200 ft) 

                                         ..... and back to Thansing

Distance traveled: 15.6 kms

This day would be memorable for each and everyone. The efforts we put in practice and preparation would be paid off and we were eagerly waiting for it. Everyone responded the midnight wake up call, quickly freshened up (their minds only... It was too cold to make contact of water with face) and assembled in the dining area with their bags. Our kitchen staff was very prompt and were ready with our packed breakfast and hot water to refill our bottles. They even prepared the hot porridge, which we ate just to gain more energy.
We started at 12:30 am with first target in mind - reaching Lamuney campsite in 2 hours. Some portions of the trail, especially near all water streams, were very slippery due to conversion of snow into ice. With careful walk and head light assistance, all the team reached Lamuney (13500 ft) well in time. After a small break, we quickly marched to our next milestone of Samiti lake (14100 ft), which we crossed at 4:10 am. Now the time was running very fast with sunrise expected to be at 5 am. Here we got divided and the runners hastily moved towards view point. They had now a single aim, reach the view point to get first sight of the golden yellow peaks during sunrise. As soon as the team realized that they would be short by 10 minutes, they suddenly ran towards left on a small hill. The view from here was simply mind blowing.

First view of the golden peaks

L: Forked peak R: Mt. Kanchenjunga

After witnessing the beautiful sunrise, team marched to summit the view point 1. (Visiting view point 2 and further is banned due to presence of snow leopards). The pathway towards it was little dangerous, however enthusiasm overcame the fear and we reached the view point 1 (15200 ft). The temperature was definitely below zero, however everybody had mouth and eyes wide open in awe with the astonishing view of Mt. Kanchenjunga and surrounding mountains. (Click here for the video) 

Pug marks of snow leopard

With Nerba at View point 1

  

Everything else looked minuscule in front of these mountain range. We tried to store as much as possible in our mind and cameras and started returning back. Now crossing the slippery path looked like a herculean task. Our sherpa, Napula and Nerba, steered us smoothly. (I have a beautiful story to narrate. Whenever you meet me in person, do ask for it!!)

Returning back from View point

Samiti Lake at downside

Now the return path, which we literally ran in the morning seemed little tough due to snow. We came down to Samiti lake, had finished our breakfast and spent time capturing the mirror perfect reflection of the mountains in the steady water. Everyone was feeling not to go back to campsite and stay as much time as possible near the Samiti lake. However we heard the weather changes here so frequently and it was not a wise idea to stay longer. Hence unwanted though, we started our return path. Now reaching Lamuney and Thansing looked like a distant task as we started dragging ourselves. 

      Breakfast time at Samiti Lake

The beautiful reflections at Samiti Lake

After crossing Lamuney, Mohan and I thought to sit in the water and relax. Samip, Suhas, MP and Babu too joined us and we spent close to 30 mins in the chilled glacier water. We were fortunate today as weather was bright with sun shining over the head. We reached campsite post noon, relaxed and enjoyed our lunch. We hardly slept in the afternoon as our minds were still roaming in the mountains. 


 View of the valley & river

 

We celebrated teams success during dinner time. Now 2 days remaining of our trek, 2 days of long walk - from the most serene place to the civilized place. Tomorrows call was 6-7-7:30. Everyday whenever we went to bed, we slept thinking about the next day. Now the situation got reversed. We went to bed, however were thinking about the Mt. Kanchenjunga and other peaks only.

My stats for the day:
Pulse: 86.  O2: 92.  Breathing rate: 21

Garmin details:
Thansing to View Point 1

View Point 1 to Samiti Lake

Samiti Lake to Thansing
#मम

Goech La Trek: Day 7

Day 7

Saturday 6 May 2017

Rest day at Thansing

Surprised by reading the day title as rest day? I bet you will be !! Cause we also got surprised by weather as well. Follow the story to know about it in detail.

As mentioned in previous day blog, we had to move our campsite from Thansing to Lamuney which was very close, hardly 4 kms of walk for 2 hrs. Though the days call was 9-10-11, almost all got up and were ready by 6. The weather was nice and we enjoyed photography outside. 

Morning view of Thansingkhay

Beautiful view of Mt. Pandim at sunrise

Mt. Kanchenjunaga view (right tail) from Thansing

Post breakfast, when we were busy packing our bags, we noticed the change in weather. It became overcast and slowly snowfall was started. (इथेच आमच्या काळजाचा ठोका चुकला!!). Snowfall continued to grow as time progressed. 

Snowfall at Thansing

We all were sitting in a room thinking about what to do. There are no wooden huts availabke at Lamuney campsite and one has to use tents only for stay. Everyone was in the comfort zone with wooden huts, and were little dicy opting for tents. Hence we decided to continue our stay at Thansing. This meant skipping the stay at Lamuney and directly visiting Goechela view point. Earlier batch did the same previous day, so we preferred the same way.

What to do now ??

Discussion

Now the big question in front of us - what to do with the available time? We cant go out due to snowfall, most of us were not interested to play either dumb c or 'who is C?'. We then checked with our kitchen staff and got a pack of playing cards from them. We played the game 'judgement' in 5 teams with 2 members in a team. After the first round was over, girls also joined us for the game. 

Team enjoying the snowfall

Fun while playing cards !

One more fun activity !!

It was still 2 - 2:30 pm, snow still outside, and we called off the game to take some rest! It was hardly 10 mins we were in our sleeping bags, someone screamed 'hurray! snowfall stopped!'. Atul popped up immediately, looked through the window and confirmed the news. Viraj, Atul and I then decided to go out and play in the snow. Brahma also joined us. Viraj and Atul were busy making the snow man while I was busy capturing them.

 Making on snow-man

At 5 pm, everyone joined together for tea. We spoke to the earlier batch and got some tips from them. Prateek also briefed us about tomorrows plan, sorry I mean tonight's plan!. The plan was simple and sweet - soup at 6 and dinner at 7. Get up at midnight and start walking by 12:30 am. Carry the packed breakfast and be back at Thansing by lunch time !!

Evening view of the campsite - full of snow

Post dinner, everyone quickly rushed to their rooms to get as much sleep as possible.

My stats for the day:
Pulse: 87  O2: 86   Breathing rate: 19

#मम 

Goech La Trek: Day 6

Day 6

Friday 5 May 2017

Dzongri (12947 ft) to Thansing (12900 ft)

Distance: 7.2 kms  Time: 5 hrs 20 mins 

Some fun with the snow :)

Yaks who carried our bags

Call for the day was 6-7-8. This was relatively easy day of the trek as there was no relative height gain between the 2 campsites. However the heavy snowfall last evening left all of us in doubt. It helped too as we were extra cautious while walking. We climbed the small hill (~425 ft) behind our campsite and stopped for others to join. Here we heard the bad news, first setback for our team...Ishani was not comfortable while walking and hence not feeling well. Prateek spoke to Tashi, and understood the situation. Advait, Ishani and Tashi had discussion and then it was decided that Ishani would go back to Yuksom and rest.

 

The trail from here was easy, walking on the platue with small ups and downs. It was slippery at few places due to melting of the snow (and turning it into ice). After 2 hours of walking, we started heading down towards Kokachurang (12100 ft). It was a steep descent of ~1000 ft in the dense forest.

Pratik, Vinit, Mahesh,  Viraj & Atul

Kokachurang campsite location is simply superb. Prek Chu river was gushing downwards with a force with water making a sweet noise. Complete tranquility!! We spent good amount of time here capturing the nature (and us too) in the lenses. 

Kokachurang to Thansing was little more than 1 hour walk with height gain of 900 ft. With previous night experience (and comfort) at Dzongri, team decided to stay in wooden hut instead of tents here. After some rest, team enjoyed the hot lunch and tea. We also interacted with the earlier batch who were planning to march towards the view point that night. View of Pandim and Thansinkhay was awesome from here.

Team busy in stretching exercise

After our regular routine of soup followed by dinner, everybody went to their rooms. Tomorrow would be the easiest day as we have to walk only for 2 hrs and 4 kms. Hence tomorrows call was 9-10-11.

My stats for the day:
Pulse: 85.  O2:  87.  Breathing rate: 18

Garmin details:
Dzongri to Thansing Trail

#मम