Himalyan expedition to Kang yatse peak (21,000 feet) - Day 2

Day 2: I woke up with the sound of horses running dangerously close to my tent. I got out and for a second I was taking aback by the beautiful sunrise. The cook from the kitchen saw me and told me tea is ready. I took my army mug out and filled it with some hot refreshing ginger tea. We started packing up the campsite wasting no time as it was going to be a very long day with some serious altitude gain while we climb Gongmaru La pass (5200m). We loaded the mules and were ready to go!

We started off at 7am with our backpacks. The guide dropped the bomb again while leaving by telling us that there were around 20 more streams to be crossed before we start ascending Gongmarula pass, but the water would be less as it is very early in the day and the sun hasn’t come up yet to melt the snow high up. So we moved as quickly as possible to cross maximum streams before the flow increases. One by one, we jumped across streams or rock hopped and managed to cross them without getting our feet’s wet.

There were some sudden serious ascends that used to come our way. We were trekking in a massive gorge always next to the river. The mountains around were very sharp and full of loose sands and rocks, that made it prone to sudden landslides and rock falls; Although the magnificent beauty of the gorge didn’t fail to amuse us. I tried taking as many pictures as I could, trying my best to capture the beauty around us but obviously, no camera in the world can capture the feel of being in the moment.

We reached the base of the Gongmaru La pass at around 11am. We were already pretty tired. We could see the pass up on a soaring mountain above our heads. The mountain rose about 2500 feet from where we standing and on top of that mountain was the Gongmaru La pass. I had no idea where was I going to find the energy to climb this pass and get down on the other side. We decided to take a quick lunch break here. We had carried bread and peanut butter with us which now tasted like shit. It was so dry; it wouldn’t slide down the throat. But I ate it anyway because the climb up ahead would require some serious energy. After a break of about 20 minutes, we started ascending the pass. The body had cooled down during the break and it took a long time to get it back in form. We had a long way up. Everyone got into their comfortable walking pace and the gap grew. Some were slow, some were fast. I was ahead with the guide. He had some amazing stories to tell from his past climbing experiences. Talking with him distracted me from the tiring slopes we were on.

2 hours into the climb and completely drained from the constant uphill ascend and the rising altitude, the guide said you will get network coverage here. I checked my cellphone and to my surprise he was right! I called up home and to inform my mom about my whereabouts. The first sentence that came out of her mouth was ‘You are alive! Good!’ I never speak on phone for more than 2 minutes but that day I spoke with my mom for 20 minutes and I was walking at a very good pace when I was on the phone. I could see prayer flags high up on the pass now. It was just a few feet away. I decided to take the next stop up on the pass and not before that and I kept moving.

I reached the pass and the view from the top blew my mind away. Right in front stood the mighty Kang yatse peak. This was the first glimpse we got of the peak and it was surreal. It was so much more beautiful and bigger than I had seen in pictures. I was recharged with all the energy I had spent. To celebrate the ascend of the pass, I rewarded myself with a smoke 

Rest of the team arrived 20 minutes later. We all sat there and enjoyed the first views of the mountain we were going to climb in 2 days’ time. It was an intimidating sight. It looked bigger and higher than any of us thought. We had two hours of descent ahead of us and we needed to move quickly as we were exposed to a very high altitude in a very less time of height gain. The downhill trek was relatively easy. We had Kang Yatse accompanying us constantly on the trail. I couldn't take my eyes off that beauty.

At the same time we were very exhausted and dehydrated. All our water was over. Far in the distance we saw Nimaling campsite. One thing I’ve learnt in the Himalayas is that it may look close, but IT’S NOT CLOSE and it wasn’t. Our brains don't process the scale well because we are not used to such huge seeing such huge mountain. It took us one hour of nonstop walking to reach campsite from where we first saw it. We stopped at the river right at the bank of campsite and drank a lot of water. We sat there for about 20 minutes. No one had the energy to walk for another 20 meters to the campsite but we eventually did as we know hot tea and FOOD AWAITED!

We spent the rest of the day chilling around the campsite.

We decided not to go on an acclimatization hike today because we already had some serious height gain at Gongamaru La Pass. Nimaling camp was the coldest of all campsites on this expedition. We hit our sacks by 7pm after a delicious meal. Tomorrow we head to base camp! Day 3 blog to follow tomorrow.

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