Day 11
There were a few occasions where I would not even complete 100 steps before having to collect my breath. But they were far too few. Also snow on the trail threw fresh challenges. There was always the very real fear of slipping on the snow. There were a couple of stretches where the snow was compact and very slippery. The trail was generally about a foot wide and a bad slip meant a big fall into the whiteness below. Faced with life and death situations, the mind finds a way to focus on only the most important thing - survival. It displays amazing level of concentration to force the body to put each step in the right place, arrest the inevitable slip, get the balance back and repeat the process. During those couple of slippery paths, my mind was so focused that I felt I could have cracked the IIT JEE entrance exam and would have finished in the top 10. Other than those couple of scary parts, it was a joy to trek. I was feeling great and the early start meant that most of the time I was following the 1st few porters who were setting their fresh footprints in snow. Without them in front, I wouldn't have been able to figure out where the trail was since everything was covered with snow. If I was too far behind then the snow would be compacted by fellow Trekkers and rendered slippery. After about 2 and half hours I found myself at the pass. It was snowing steadily and it was pretty windy. After a few snaps, my guide and porter started descending. I felt pretty good about my timing and was feeling fairly fresh. Only a couple of really strong guys had passed me on the way up and there weren't any people right behind me.
In the guesthouse I was really hungry and ordered lunch right away. After lunch and a hot shower the tiredness kicked in and I lay down to sleep. For some reason, I couldn't sleep but I was in bed for almost 2 and half hours. There was cell phone coverage and so spoke with family back home. In the evening, we went to the famous Muktinath temple. It is a Hindu pilgrimage site and a lot of people from India come to visit the temple. About 2 years ago, buses were introduced to get people from Pokhra to Muktinath in 2 days. Before that it was a 10 day trek to get here. The big attraction about the temple is that there is a place in the temple where there is fire from water. For all this, the temple was a disappointment to me. The main temple room was closed and so I couldn't see the idol. The temple had a big campus but it was not well kept. Random stones and trees had a liberal sprinkling of turmeric powder and kum kum. random people with long dirty hair and beard and with (once upon a time) saffron robes would try to give you blessings and ask for money right away. The main attraction of fire over water was in a small room. You had to look down a window which was at floor level. It was very dark the other side of the window and there was a small flame. Nothing else was visible and there was a sound of running water. There was definitely a smell of a gas (much lighter smell than the LPG gas smell). My guide also smelt gas.
I switched to tap water + purification tablets by now.
Muktinath Altitude - 3800 mts.
There were a few occasions where I would not even complete 100 steps before having to collect my breath. But they were far too few. Also snow on the trail threw fresh challenges. There was always the very real fear of slipping on the snow. There were a couple of stretches where the snow was compact and very slippery. The trail was generally about a foot wide and a bad slip meant a big fall into the whiteness below. Faced with life and death situations, the mind finds a way to focus on only the most important thing - survival. It displays amazing level of concentration to force the body to put each step in the right place, arrest the inevitable slip, get the balance back and repeat the process. During those couple of slippery paths, my mind was so focused that I felt I could have cracked the IIT JEE entrance exam and would have finished in the top 10. Other than those couple of scary parts, it was a joy to trek. I was feeling great and the early start meant that most of the time I was following the 1st few porters who were setting their fresh footprints in snow. Without them in front, I wouldn't have been able to figure out where the trail was since everything was covered with snow. If I was too far behind then the snow would be compacted by fellow Trekkers and rendered slippery. After about 2 and half hours I found myself at the pass. It was snowing steadily and it was pretty windy. After a few snaps, my guide and porter started descending. I felt pretty good about my timing and was feeling fairly fresh. Only a couple of really strong guys had passed me on the way up and there weren't any people right behind me.
The other side of the pass is in stark contrast to the one
we came from. It gets zero to very little rain/snow and is a desert. There is
absolutely no vegetation in sight for miles. All you see is huge mountains of
gravel and small rocks. Only the top of the other side had snow.
There was only
one scary descent which I managed to do without falling down. For most part
during the descent, we were half running and half jogging. We would descend about
100 mts in 10 mins and then take a small break before resuming our part running
part jogging. This descent was very hard on my knees and toes. After 500 mts of
this madness, my knees and toes were registering their displeasure very
liberally. So then I slowed down a little. Finally after 1 hour and 45 mins we
reached a tea shop. We took an extended break of 15 mins. The tea shop was @
4300 mts. Since I had skipped breakfast, I had a power bar. We could see the
town of Muktinath far away and my guide reckoned we had another hour to get
there.
It was an easy but painful descent and by the time we entered the town
of Muktinath, my toes were hurting a lot. We reached our guesthouse at 11 and
had completed the toughest day of the trek under 6 hrs. On the way to our
guesthouse, there was a small board hoarding for "Bob Marley Lodge".
Didn't expect that name here and every trekker I met had noticed the same
board.
In the guesthouse I was really hungry and ordered lunch right away. After lunch and a hot shower the tiredness kicked in and I lay down to sleep. For some reason, I couldn't sleep but I was in bed for almost 2 and half hours. There was cell phone coverage and so spoke with family back home. In the evening, we went to the famous Muktinath temple. It is a Hindu pilgrimage site and a lot of people from India come to visit the temple. About 2 years ago, buses were introduced to get people from Pokhra to Muktinath in 2 days. Before that it was a 10 day trek to get here. The big attraction about the temple is that there is a place in the temple where there is fire from water. For all this, the temple was a disappointment to me. The main temple room was closed and so I couldn't see the idol. The temple had a big campus but it was not well kept. Random stones and trees had a liberal sprinkling of turmeric powder and kum kum. random people with long dirty hair and beard and with (once upon a time) saffron robes would try to give you blessings and ask for money right away. The main attraction of fire over water was in a small room. You had to look down a window which was at floor level. It was very dark the other side of the window and there was a small flame. Nothing else was visible and there was a sound of running water. There was definitely a smell of a gas (much lighter smell than the LPG gas smell). My guide also smelt gas.
We were done with the temple and came back to our lodge.
Spoke with family once more and spent the evening writing the travel log. Had
an early dinner a 6 pm and went to bed by 9 pm.
Random FactsI switched to tap water + purification tablets by now.
Muktinath Altitude - 3800 mts.
Amazing, thanks Ketan for sharing this!
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