The Big Day through SARPASS !!!

We reached Tilalotni... the highest altitude of 12500ft at which we would spend a night. The campsite was covered with snow in all directions. It was a treat to our eyes.

Naturally it was very cold here. But we dint want to sit inside the tent and miss a chance to embrace the nature at its best. Sight was so beautiful that our eyes said NO to close even for a while. We climbed on a rock near the campsite and captured several unforgettable shots which are now hung on the walls of my room. I see them every moment I spend in my room. I miss them too!!!

- This picture is one of my favorites!!! I love it so much ... & this is the first thing I see in the morning!!! :)        




After a hot cup of tea and soup, few went exploring the campsite. It was picture perfect place. Manu enjoyed flaunting different poses in front of the camera. Now I know why he likes Pavan Kalyan so much as a hero! My favorite jamoon was served for dinner. We got into our sleeping bags soon after the dinner as we had start our next day trek very early by 4:30AM. No kidding. And so only I remember this camp more or less as a military camp. This being a huge team, we agreed upon waking up at 2:30am. Agreeing is different than executing it guys. Pity me, I dint know that these people were serious about it. The camp men came at sharp 2:30am to every tent and refused to leave untill every person in the tent got up n sat with their tea mugs... Huh. I was as always the last one to do that. I was shouting that I have got up even when I was still lying with my eyes closed. Finally when the tea came I had to get up for it.  The group was ready to start their big days trek to cross Sarpass at 5am. Every one of us were waiting for this day. No doubt this day proved that it is worth all the compromises & risks that were taken just to be here. The feeling of being on top of the world was all ours today. 

We were finally crossing the Sarpass. One of the sherpas who accompanied us was in Byillakuppe for close to a decade. He told us that as soon as we mentioned that we were from Mysore. Small World!!!


The ice was fresh and slippery. Our forclaz shoe with Vibram soles was of great help, the grip it provided at every step on ice made me realize the value of every pie I paid for it. We thanked Rohi for his suggestion on buying this shoe. This was the best and most worthy investment we made for this trek. Since the ice was still fresh and loose our legs would go deep into the ice almost till our knees. Dani knows better than anybody about how slippery and risky it was to walk on fresh ice. He almost missed a heart beat when he fell and tumbled few steps while climbing. Naveen who was right behind him managed to grab this guy and from then Dani was extra cautious while walking on ice. 

We reached the highest point 13800ft. Few jumped with joy, wrote their names on snow, slept on never ending snow posing for the camera and few others clicked pictures with Indian flag. 

After a while the fun game of sliding started. This was the best part of this day's trek ofcourse every bit of this moment at this altitude was like heavenly. We put on our rain pants to slide with rockets speed. We loved sliding so much that we said NO to walk and started sliding even for short distances. And when we tried doing this where there was no slope to slide down we hit our bum like "dhabb" and still refuse to climb up, we used to crawl down with our legs....

After enjoying or rather practicing to slide, we stopped for tea at the tea point. I enjoyed a nice nap, I was probably compensating the short of sleep I had the previous night... :P We then saw the view of Biskeri peak which was almost a 90 degree vertical climb. A rope was tied and let down, holding which we had to climb this stretch which might have been close to 30 feet. 

From the peak, we were now ready for the gaint slide. No rollacoster ride can beat this one. We watched others landing in variety of ways. Few went slowly while the person behind them would come like rockets colliding with others. Those who missed their balance landed on their stomach with snow covered faces. Few rolled and tumbled down. Our hats and rain coats departed from us half way and the person coming behind us would bring them while sliding. people screamed on top of their voice, made various sounds as they slide. I was told that we were sliding at a speed of 41kmph.

It was just the begining, there were several slides further till we reached the next camp. Once we all did this gaint slide, we started playing with ice throwing ice balls at eachother. Your hands literally burns in snow. Maximum tan and frost bite at the sametime can be experience at this place alone. We did another slide curled like left and right to reach the lunch point. We had yummy maggi hear. Raja expressed his love for another round of maggi and the whole team joined for the second serving. Well at every tea point we would sip in endless tea and today we wanted something more to celebrate the success of crossing Sarpass. And maggi got all its credits for joining us in this moment of merimment. We laid ourselves drying in the sun and packed our bags towards Biskeri Thatch. After a short while from the lunch point was another slide. Our guide took us to the middle of one of the mountains and made us slide down. Getting to this middle of the mountain was the most scariest point. I was literally crawling on the snow with both my hands holding the snow deep down. the slide was like ONCE MORE... We entered the forest and by evening 3pm we reached another wonderful camp site BISKERI THATCH. We were so happy for completing the Sarpass and even after a several weeks that I am writting about it, I feel so good about it. I am jumping with joy. And I guess we were all on cloud 9 even after sliding down several slides.