Last night was one of those nights where you’re not really sure if you actually slept or not, but of course you did, just unpleasantly. I lost track of the number of times I woke up either due to the cold, the uncomfortable rock at the base of my back, my headache thanks to the altitude or the general buffeting of the tent. Either way, I don’t think anyone had a good night’s sleep. The poor porters and guide, they share one blanket between them! Cuddling is obviously essential for them. Pascal and I briefly discussed it but it never came to fruition. Somehow both of us had pulled up our sleeping bags in preparation for bed and both seemed to come not too farther than our belly buttons. However, miraculously in the night they grew to proper or close to proper length.
The other group fared worse than we did in that one of the unoccupied dome tents actually blew away down the mountainside! I would have thought that they would have put some rocks in it but I guess they didn’t. Only one dome tent remained erect in the morning and that was the one occupied by River and Cerise.
I got up for a nature call around 5:30am and the clarity of the mountains in the early morning, piercingly blue sky was fantastic. I snapped a few pics but my little point and shoot could not do it justice. Since my hiking shoes were wet from yesterday’s hike, I put on my flip flops with some new wool socks I purchased in Manali that have a separate compartment for the big toe (to allow you to wear these type of sandals...sorry Pam, I know you wouldn’t approve!). It was a bit treacherous as the temperature must have dropped below zero as there was a thin crust of ice on the snow. No wonder it was chilly last night!
A brisk but clear morning:
Good lookin' tent!
Today we will hike up there:
The campsite:
Where are the M, C and A guys?
Happy Pascal:
Julie, content and warm today:
Our campsite:
Me still waking up:
After breakfast we packed up and headed up the slope to our south, about five minutes behind the snowboarding group. They were also going to hike to Bhrigu Lake and then board back to camp. From what Ronny told us, we were going to be the first group to hike to Bhrigu in this direction this year...cool. So did we need to beat the boarding group for bragging rights? Na, let’s just catch up to them and get there at the same time.
The first hour was fairly easy uphill walking up the snowy slopes. After a break, we then hit a fairly steep section that we cut across and up. I didn’t have the greatest faith in the traction of my day hikers so I focused on stepping in the footsteps of the people in front of me, hardly looking up. I kind of wished I had an ice axe to have some kind of chance of stopping myself if I began to slide down the steep slope. Some of them wouldn’t have led to any major damage but others had the uncertainty of death attached to them. When we did occasionally stop, I made sure to get a couple of good, flat and strong footings so I could actually look around and admire the view without worry of plummeting down.
Packing up camp:
Starting up the hill, or mountain I guess:
The porters passing by:
A happy hiker:
Great mountain views:
On a break with the snowboard group:
We are hiking up to the right of the rocky peak:
The start of a steep section:
Yes, it was steep:
Focusing on the footsteps in front:
Still going up:
Another break or potential album cover?
Chillin...
Another short stop, as the porter Jidesh backtracked to help out the 17 year old, and his brother-in-law, Bopinder who couldn’t make the last section with his load. Hats off to Jidesh, he’s an animal, yet doesn’t look it. Tall, a bit lanky with crazy black hair that shoots off in all directions and wearing a red and blue horizontally striped wool sweater that doesn’t seem appropriate for the conditions and always sporting a big grin, how could you not like this guy? There’s no way that I could have done what he did.
Now it was the last uphill push before Bhrigu Lake. We could see a sun faded red flag planted at the top of the next ridge and then it was pretty much downhill from there. Actually arriving at Bhrigu was a bit of an anticlimax. I felt like Chevy Chase in the movie “Vacation” standing at the Grand Canyon after driving across America and spending all of a minute looking at it and then moving on. We did a little better, maybe five minutes of checking out this odd doughnut shaped lake with an ice island in the middle. Snapping a few pics. This is what we are hiking for three days for? Okay...it’s more about the journey than the destination right?!?
Our group at the highest point:
Capture the flag:
Our first sighting of the lake:
The infamous Bhrigu Lake!
Bhrigu Lake "Vacation" style:
The last glimpses of Bhrigu Lake:
Pascal contemplating life:
Leaving Bhrigu:
Now it was time to descend from 4250 meters to around 3000 for tonight’s campsite. We will just get to the tree line so there’s a good chance that we’ll have a campfire tonight...sweet. On some of the snow crusted slopes we were able to “ski” down on our feet. A few times I went on both feet, standing up but on steeper declines that wasn’t possible so I opted for crouching down with one foot as the ski and the other one out in front of me as a brake. Both hands were down on either side for stability. It worked well and I yelled up my technique to Pascal and he followed suit, slightly more out of control than me. Reaching the bottom of the slope, he complained that his hands burned due to the freezing snow and I mentioned that I had pulled my sweater down over my hands to avoid this problem (which I learned from an experience last year in Montenegro hiking up to an ice cave with Garth and Holly). “Oh thanks for that information now” he said to me in his German accent, but still with a grin on his face.
We're heading down there:
Jidesh and Bopinder on a break:
Down steep slopes:
Pascal skiing:
Porter Mony losing it a bit:
Pascal's photo method of showing the steepness:
A wind shelter/cairn:
Ronny hiked off at a furious pace as we began to get down below the snowline. It wasn’t too hard to follow him as we were working our way down undulating grassy slopes. Pascal and I took our time and even the porters beat us to camp as it was only around 1pm so there was no need to rush. I have to admit that I was quite exhausted from the 4-5 hour hike. We had taken some breaks but none were more than 10-15 minutes long and we really hadn’t eaten much. The porters hardly drank any water and I noticed that I seemed to be the only one regularly peeing...but they made it so to each their own.
He seemed to be happy we arrived and showed us to our campsite:
The porters immediately set up their tent and began preparing some food while Pascal and I just flaked out under the intermittent but hot sun. Our tent wasn’t set up for another 3 or 4 hours. Everyone had a nap at some point and Pascal even headed off on a little hike up the hill behind us. My legs however told me that they had had enough for today.
Pascal sheltering from the intense sun:
Perhaps a photo for Playgoat magazine?
He enjoyed rubbing his head on the tent guywire:
Near suppertime our camp was briefly invaded by a herd of sheep. They were mostly interested in grazing on the grass but there were a few who checked out our tent and one even mopped up the dregs of Pascal’s soup. There were some pretty cute ones...and some, let’s say, not so cute ones...
The goats about to invade...
A stoic goat herder:
Are you looking at me?
The goat invasion begins:
And continues...
The Goat Invasion:
Spot the Dave:
Pascal and I battle it out in chess before sunset. Pascal had carried a couple of big planks of wood to the campsite that we had passed on our hike but the porters also collected some. What I thought was strange was that every piece of wood was placed in the fire pit before lighting it! Are we just going to have a short lived bonfire? We asked Ronny about it and I guess that’s just the way they do it...and of course it was ignited using a healthy dose of camp stove fuel!
The odd campfire strategy:
An intense battle:
In the end it was the right call. Just as we finished dinner while sitting by the fire, well, slowly retreating from the fire as it burned with more fury, the thunder began to ring out over the valley and sure enough, rain curtailed our campfire enjoyment.
The big campfire is lit:
And burning fast...
The rain clouds arrive:
Fire and Rain:
Having retreated to our shelter, Pascal and I engaged in a chess battle again and somehow I lost the black knight somewhere in the tent and we never did find the piece. I’m glad we played a couple of times today though as otherwise carrying this small but not super light weight set would have been a waste.
Hopefully tonight’s sleep will be better than the last...the body’s more tired at least!
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