CLAY wishes all its readers, members, travel writers and bloggers a very happy and prosperous new year. Here is wishing all of you exciting travels in 2012.

We begin this new year with a  sunrise in The Himalayas , as seen from our resort in Mashobra, near Shimla .

When I took the flight to visit Sikkim, I had only two main things on my mind.

First, to meet eight fascinating travel enthusiasts and second; a possibility of visiting Nathu-La Pass (India-China border, altitude 14,420 feet), the much alluring Indo-China border if the weather God obliged us. Sikkim, I thought would be yet another touristy hill station and so I was more interested in something beyond the usual.

The day we started for Nathu la pass the sun was shining, the weather was awesome and our two vehicles took us through the inviting mountains. The route is very pleasant but if you are not lucky enough to have a good driver, he can make your journey a veritable hell.
Our driver Anil was calm, soft spoken and handled the vehicle well. He also kept us enlightened about local food and people, especially the ones he deals with everyday on the route.

One of the traffic jams.

At places the roads are still single lane and we could see vehicles patiently waiting at long traffic jams. The traffic along the route was much more sensible & behaved than we see in our urban cities. At many places I saw Indian army personnel controlling the flow of the traffic or repairing the roads.

But we, the travelers were so smitten by the surrounding beauty that we took the jams as a good opportunity to click a few shots. The moment our vehicles stopped at any such juncture, all of us were seen rushing out with our respective cameras just like young kids coming out of school at the strike of the final bell.

We passed through picturesque Tsongo Lake, a meandering mountain river, and a number of valleys covered with multi coloured flora and sometimes landslides too !
Stopped at Kyongnosla, a check point. While we enjoyed hot cups of tea/coffee along with momos & boiled potato chaat, the car drivers did the job of sorting out the permit process.

The place had a small market and on the backside down the hill there were some houses and some army bunkers which made an intriguing pattern. I could see local people occupied with their activities … the shopkeepers selling woollen gears & eatables to tourists, children playing and women in household chores which included keeping pickle bottles out in the sun.

Here, I could sense the thinness of air and yes, this break also served as a first level of acclimatization.

Winding road near the peak.

Beautiful mountains, awesome company, skilled patient driver who did not try to imitate any Formula One racecar driver and the music; what else one could ask for?

Mera Bharat Mahan.

After around four hours we were finally at Nathu La pass and at that height what would you expect than cold and fog? The temperature was about -3 degrees Centigrade and there was a strong cold wind blowing into our faces. It had snowed last night and traces of fresh snow were visible. To say the least it was an exhilarating experience. Nathu La is a wonderful place to behold the nature’s splendor and emanates some kind of aura.

As we ascended the steps, we were suitably awed by the awe inspiring scene. For some moments we did not talk to each other.
We were literally at the border of India and China. Nathu La pass, even though a border area, does not have a “no mans land” normally found in border areas. Here border consists of just a barbed wire and two armies guarding their side of the land.

Chinese soldiers across the barbed wire.

People were busy getting themselves photographed with the soldiers who readily agreed. We were no different.

But there was a sense of apprehension and exhilaration at the same time. You cannot but feel grateful to those soldiers who brave that kind of weather and living conditions to fight for, & protect our lives.
I spoke to a few Indian soldiers and they opened their heart. Seemed it was the only channel for them to be closer to common man. Warm and kind, some of them were waiting for their annual leave to be home with their families.

Indian tricolor flying high in gloomy weather.

Looking at the majestic tricolor I wondered how many of us could really do anything other than admiring the armed forces of both sides that stand without fear of sun or rain to guard their countries.

Return journey was more of a retrospection for me. We stopped for a late lunch on our way back and after satiating our stomachs with of hot maggi and fried rice it was time to enjoy the music inside and admire the quietness outside our vehicles.

Here is a short video of our return journey.
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In September, I gave a 30-minute presentation on Photographing mountainscapes at Club Mahindra Whispering Pines Resort at Mashobra near Shimla. The audience included the winners and jury of Club Mahindra My Trip of a Lifetime travelogue contest.

In this presentation, I took some images from my archives and spoke about a single feature in the image that made me take the picture, or a feature that stood out in the image. Below are the slides of the presentation.

Photographing Mountains

Life offers us unlimited options and choices, most of which are man made. I don’t accept most and consciously and willingly reduce my options to the barest minimum. Grasping only what is essential and natural. There is an almost non-existent line separating our dreams from our realities, for we think therefore we are! And in our dreams we can cover galactic voids in a wink or create universes out of nothing. There is a constant yearning for what we are not and what we want to be, there is a perennial struggle to grasp what lies beyond our vision while discarding those that are within.

My life is essentially devoid of these struggles or turmoil, since I live only for my dreams and I foolishly believe that all my dreams are viable, achievable and definitely within the span of this lifetime. Choices are extremely limited, banal to the best, so I go for it, most often than not, I rush in where angels would fear to tread. Life on and off the edge is all about believing in my dreams, holding my life in my hand and swinging out my ice axe into the fuzzy unknown, with complete faith in myself and the elements, and finally emerging out alive at the top, only to stand on an insignificant piece of rock or a forlorn patch of ice. Risking my life and limbs incessantly, time and again, putting everything at risk on one single move, on one tiny ant sized piece of ledge or rock, one insane leap, one single frozen second, one gravity and definitely logic defying upward push… nothing to hold on to, or to hold me back. If I fall, I go and there are no worries at all, but if I don’t then I am euphoric and tired and afraid, shaking like a dry leave in tempest, cursing my stupidity and vowing that never again would I depart from the horizontal plain. Why do it! Why do I do it! Because I am not happy living one life, but dying a million times and living million lives in this one I fulfill my infinite dreams, flying on their wings.

Living every moment while dying in the next, I live a thousand fantasy. In this series of my ramblings I will constantly take you to the edge and throw you off into empty air and when you fall free, without gravity or sense of space, will you experience true freedom, true unwinding of your soul, with absolutely nothing to fear and nothing to hold you back. For as they say: if you are not living on the edge, you are taking too much space, so let’s give it to the world, let them enjoy their space while we will live OFF the edge. The FUN has only begun.

Climbing in the Cordillera Carabaya Range in the Peruvian Andes:

Pic : Satyabrata Dam

This unnamed peak (the black rocky pyramid) had fascinated me from the first time I saw it from the air, while returning from another climb in the Peruvian Andes. It took me nearly two years to gather a small team and enough fund to go looking for it from ground. To find this unknown peak, in one of the remotest and least explored mountain regions in the world was not an easy task. But we finally did find a local alpaca herder, who would carry our loads to the base glacier, who recognized it from my picture. Though unnamed by the mountaineering fraternity, he told us that the mountain was the abode of the ‘Huaca’ spirits and we should not climb it. As we approached the general area, huge clouds from Pacific rolled in and blotted out our horizon. We had to climb another peak to get this view, and as if in a dream it emerged out of the clouds. I felt its fatal charm, like sirens calling and trapping the mariners. Despite our guide’s warning, we managed to climb this peak in a duration of 11 insane days. When it was all over, we were totally spent, exhausted, without thoughts or action and one member less. One of my finest climbing buddies, Sarah, uprooted a piton while descending and plunged to her death, never to be found again. There she still lives, I would like to believe, giving company to the ‘Huacas’, regaling them with her charm and smile. For all I know, by now she could be the ruling queen of the holy spirits.

Pic : Satyabrata Dam

Shows our ascent route in blue and the pink circles are the campsites. We failed on our first attempt to the right when the danger of rock fall became too obvious even to a harebrain like me. Hanging from our teeth, we had some gritty climbs. We were bombarded by snow, avalanches, fierce winds and terrible temperatures. Due to the sheer technicalities, we did aid climbing in our normal hiking boots. Till date I have no idea how we escaped without any frost bites. Sarah fell when her abseil anchor uprooted at the notch of ‘Y’ on the route, where our first and second route joined. I was right beside her, and in less than a fraction of a second she was whisked away by the wind and gravity while I stood mute and frozen, with absolutely nothing in my capacity to do or prevent her death. But I know as much for her as much for me, that we climbers like to live right here right now, so every moment our last and also the first where one dream ends and another, equally or more outrageously fantastic, begin.

Pic : Satyabrata Dam

Here I am leading one of the crux pitches, with classical aid climbing stance, beyond the penultimate campsite, smack right on the middle of the sheer sweeping face.

It all started with a picture I saw of Prashar Lake on the web. I was completely bowled over! I wrote to the website owner Avnish Katoch and he put me in touch with the photographer Yash Raj. Gradually, I learned that to reach Prashar Lake one can take the famous Delhi-Manali route up to Mandi. From Mandi, one can hire a jeep up to Prashar Lake or one can take a bus from Mandi to Bagi (and not Baggi, which is in the opposite direction) and then trek the rest of the way.

Pic : Mridula

Both Sesha and I have motion sickness on the mountain roads and never drive in the hills. But I know of people who have taken their own vehicle up to Prashar Lake from Delhi (for basic driving information explore the Indiamike link at the end of this post). We are also very fond of walking. So, for us it was a bus to Bagi and then trekking up to Prashar Lake. At Bagi, there is one Dhaba where we had bread omelet and tea for breakfast. The young lad running the place told me it took him 1.5 hours to reach Prashar Lake. It took us five hours to cover that distance and let me warn you the way is all uphill.

Pic : Mridula

There is only one place to stay there, the forest department guest house that has to be pre-booked. After walking for five hours the people running the guest house were not very keen to believe us about our reservation. I simply told them that they have to give us the room as I was so tired after walking, I would not go away anywhere else. That worked.

The cook at the forest department guest house has to use wood to make food. So, you get either rice and dal or Chapattis with vegetables. There are two canteens at the lake where you can get tea and Maggi and basic food too if there are enough people at the lake.

Pic : Mridula

If by now you have started questioning why anyone in their right minds would head to such a place, then the answer is the because of the peace and tranquility and the uniqueness of the scenery. The lake on weekends is visited only by a few locals. During the weekdays you can have it entirely to yourself. And take a look at the picture, who would not be tempted to have such a place all to oneself, even if for a few hours!

Pic : Mridula

However, when it was our turn to come back, we refused to contemplate the steep trek route even though this time the walk would have been downhill. We managed to arrange a ride back with a jeep that had come to deliver supplies to one of the canteens.

If you wish to go, here are some useful resources-

A discussion on Indiamike, which I started to gather information before the trip and updates after the trip

My earlier article on Gonomad.com about the Prashar Lake.

Some stunning pictures of the Prashar Lake taken in December by a colleague