Awed | Unbelievable | My first experience with snow | Mountaineering
Clicked during Oct – Nov 2004 / Mountaineering (*album)
I was rendered speechless… all the aches, cold and pain ceased to exist… this is how it looked in the morning at Gujjar hut (second) intermediate camp.
The previous day we began our hike from Tel camp (first) intermediate camp and were not supposed to hit snow till we reached base camp in the Dingad Valley. To our surprise it started snowing (sleet) in the afternoon. It only meant we had to walk faster to reach our next camp.
This was my first experience with snow. The unexpected bad weather, made us wet and the route slippery. We reached the camp in the evening. I was panting, tired and it seemed like every muscle in the body was aching. It was cold and we had to setup camp on the snow itself as there was no time to clear the area of the snow or play around.
It was difficult to set up the tent wearing gloves and hence I took off mine. By the time our group setup the tent, my hands were red and I couldn’t feel it. Yeah! Yeah! I wore some gloves and it came back to life after a while. After listening to instructions by our instructors, finishing tea/dinner and exploring the area I retired for the night. Though it was hard to wake up early I did, and attended to certain obvious bodily functions. With that done I returned to camp just in time for tea. I looked around feeling good about myself for the weather had stabilized and it was not snowing anymore.
The colors put on display at sunrise were out of this world. I had never seen anything like the scene (above) before and this made all the shit worth bearing. I clicked away like an obsessed maniac… It felt good, real good.
