Gaumukh, Tapovan Reprise

Bhagirathi peaks at sunset, from Tapovan

June, 2012: I spent the previous week with a bunch of crazy runners traipsing up and down the route from Gangotri to Tapovan, and then up to Dodital and Darwa Pass. With a morning to kill on my own in the bustling town of Uttarkashi, I hiked up to NIM (Nehru Institute of Mountaineering). There wasn't much to see - the campus while serene, was quite empty. It had that manicured Central Govt Campus feel to it. There were motivational signs all over the place, but a couple caught my attention.

The museum was interesting. I spotted a familiar face (Sonali Bhatia) in a photo of a Thalaysagar ascent team --- Santhosh, Rajeev and I met her during the Annapurna 50K a few months ago. At the NIM cafe over some chai, I met Kavitha Reddy and her friend Jigne, both of whom I initially mistook for students. They turned out to be trained mountaineers, part time instructors at NIM, who run an adventure company based out of Bangalore. They were heading out for an ascent of Bhagirathi II, so with shiny-eyed respect I wished them luck and told myself we should look out for them on the trail to Gaumukh. 

I got back to my crummy lodge by lunch time, and met up with the arriving group of Ranjita, Rajeev, Savitha, Vinaya, Shailesh, Kanchen, and Prasad (co-conspirators from Bangalore - Rajeev also runs trails, but couldn't make it the previous week). Navin and Vinnie would meet us in Gangotri the next day. We had a pretty good lunch in the crummy lodge, in the company of Gyan, and then proceeded to rattle and jerk all the way to Gangotri. This time we actually went and visited the Gangotri Temple, braving the crowds. The yatra season, now well underway, successfully robbed the place of what little serenity the trinket shops and traffic jams had spared. 

The well lit Gangotri temple, ready for thousands of pilgrims that would visit over the next four weeks

Crowds and trinket shops at Gangotri in peak season

The next morning was cloudy - the first less than perfect weather day since  the past week. Before the others were up and about, Ranjita and I strolled around Suryakund, and looped back to the already overcrowded temple from the far side of town. 

Suryakund, Gangotri

Gangotri Temple Ghat overflowing with people at 7 am

Ranjita enjoying her parantha at Krishna Cafe

Later that morning, Rajeev, Vinaya and I headed downstream from Gangotri town through lush green forest trail alongside the roaring river. We came across a huge boulder with a cave at it's base that was clearly the home a genuine baba, not the Manju-type. We decided not to risk his wrath, and backtracked to the GMVN guest house, where we met the rest, and hiked up the steep Kedar Tal trail for about an hour. Spectacular but drier than my last visit two years ago, the trail switchbacks steeply up from Gangotri through a densely forested crack of a valley, carrying the animated Kedar Ganga. After we worked up a sweat, and proved to our lungs we were well above 10000 ft, we returned to Gangotri, happy and hungry. 

Gangotri Town from the trail to Kedar Tal

That afternoon, Kanchen taught the rest of us a traditional board game called Chowka Bara. We played it on a hand-drawn board, with genuine miniature conch shells as dice and American currency coins as pieces. It was an amazing way to spend the afternoon --- all of us got thrashed by Kanchen, who whooped and laughed her way to victory every time. Since we were sitting on the ground outside Mandakini Lodge, we provided ample amusement to Manoj and other curious onlookers. Meanwhile Manoj managed to recruit a couple of dapper-looking Nepali dudes as campsite helpers who spent most of the trip trying to look very cool, and getting yelled at by Manoj.

Next morning, in full strength (Navin and Vinnie arrived the previous evening, as did the Mawa - more on him later) we were breakfasted and ready to leave by 8:30 am. We took the customary shot outside Mandakini Lodge, which to me, had started to feel a lot like home. One guys asked me - "aap abhi tak yahaan pe hai?".

From L2R: Navin, Savitha, Rajeev, Vinnie, Vinaya, Kanishka, Prasad, Shailesh, Kanchen

The 15 km hike out to Bhojbasa was pleasant. We were actually two groups, one guided by the indomitable Pyaar Singh (Navin, Vinnie, Rajeev, Savitha and Vinaya) and another by Manoj (Prasad, Kanchen, Shailesh, Ranjita and me). Our guides had personalities that were poles apart. Manoj maintained a studied silence until persuaded to break it. Pyaar Singh was happy to share his opinions and stories about everything under the sun. When we reached Bhojbasa there was a mini crisis brewing at the GMVN lodge. A middle-aged desi lady from California had got separated from her group, and was without money, a place to stay, or warm clothing. She was walking with Vinnie and Vinaya  on the trail, and on reaching Bhojbasa, got suddenly worried that her folks had decided to camp at Chirbasa. A stressful hour or so later, her group arrived. It turned out aunty was simply the fastest hiker among her family.

Bhojbasa, while a spectacular location, isn't a very pleasant campsite. Pyaar Singh set up shop in an abandoned backyard of a police chowki, Manoj a couple hundred meters away, on sloping land. 

Enter the Mawa. The Mawa, as we refered to him for the rest of the trip, is Shailesh's childhood friend, distance runner, adventure sports enthusiast, mountaineer. He landed up at Gangotri the previous evening with his friend Pankaj. Both were self-sufficient in gear and food, so they moved quite independently, and set up camp not far from us.  He had many stories from his NIM courses, including an ascent of DKD (Draupadi Ka Danda). As the sun set on the Bhagirathi massif, he gave us a lesson on valley temperatures, pressure variations and micro-climates. At this point, we were taking him quite seriously.

Sunset on the Bhagirathi peaks from Bhojbasa

Sunrise next morning was perfect. No clouds were in the sky - a poor indicator of things to come. We left camp at about 7:30 am, and sauntered up to Gaumukh by mid-morning (quite a far cry from the focused 45 min dash the previous week). But we got to savor and drink in the surroundings this time around. Starting the hike up to the surface of the 300 ft tall glacier, it was clear how dramatically the appearance of the traditional "Cows Mouth" has been altered in the last couple of years. A huge ice slab, broken off from the main glacier now blocks the view of the cave from where the Bhagirathi emerges. But the sight of the crumbling glacier and furious river remains awe-inspiring, nonetheless. We spent some time near the makeshift temple, and Navin and I chatted with Kavitha Reddy, who was leading a Bhagirathi II summit team, and some of her clients.

Spot the people... gives you sense of how huge the glacier is.

The next few hours were spent crossing the glacier. Manoj being intimately familiar with the route, led. Pyaar Singh's team and the Mawa followed. It was Vinaya and Savitha's first time in the mountains, and they did amazingly well. Vinaya made it look like all in a day's work. Savitha was later super grateful to the Mawa for pushing her through the trickier sections of the glacier. Ranjita really enjoyed the boulder hopping and the sense of fragility of everything around us. For Navin, Vinnie, and me, it was deja vu from a week ago, but at a far more relaxed pace. 

Boulder hopping across the Gangotri Glacier

By the time we reached Parantha Point, the weather had started to deteriorate. It was also mid day, so the Akash Ganga falls were now in full spate. After everyone recuperated a bit, Manoj's group started the final hike up the lateral moraine, alongside the falls. The crossover point was significantly more tricky this time around, so Manoj helped by placing a boulder strategically to improve the foothold for the rest. In the process he nearly froze his feet standing barefoot in the water. He jumped around a little, smiled a lot, and seemed fine pretty soon.

Manoj helping folks cross the Akash Ganga

At Tapovan the clouds gathered over, and the drizzle had us scurrying for our tents. No views were to be had. Our two camps were separated by the Tapovan stream (about 10 feet wide, with a wobbly tin sheet for crossing), and an additional few hundred meters of meadow. Mawa set up shop strategically near Manoj's tent, and quietly came to some sort of agreement with him re. supplies and food - presumably the weather and the altitude made the idea of pumping up a stove and making maggi less than appealing. A few of us were a little depressed with the bad weather. Savitha was definitely feeling the altitude. The Mawa on the other hand was all smiles - "Bring it on, mother nature", were his exact words :)

The next morning we awoke to a snow-dusted Tapovan. There wasn't much to do, so we drank lots of tea, and practiced the "Singalila Hur Hur", for which choreography credits go to Kanchen, but the image of Prasad trying it out was the most enduring. Later, bored to death, we donned our ponchos (it was still snowing/sleeting) and mustered up enough collective enthusiasm to step out for a walk towards upper Tapovan and the actual base of Shivling. It was quite miserable and soupy, but we still had a goot time. 

At the base of Shivling: Pankaj, Kanchen, Shailesh, Mawa, Manoj, Ranjita, Navin, Vinnie

Some of us climbed up about 50 ft from the Tapovan plateau on the broad slope that 7000 ft above, culminates in the pinnacle of Shivling.  The fog was a tease at this point, occasionally clearing to give us a few hundred meters visibility, only to close up and plop us back in corn soup. Having declared that our summit attempt had failed, we returned to camp, hungry. After lunch, the stimulating conversation mostly centered around bodily waste. In the evening, just for a bit, the skies cleared a little, lifting the veil a little off the stunning scenery the same location had so shamelessly displayed just a week ago. Later the remote campers visted, and Navin regaled us with second hand stories of Pyar Singh's exploits in saving a foreign girl from near-starvation on a trail. At some point he (Pyar Singh, not Navin) had an epiphany --- a lemon he was carrying would save her life. Rajeev maintains that Navin's and Pyar Singh's versions don't exactly correlate. We will never know what actually saved the girl's life, but we were glad the story ended happily. Later that night, in a round of trivia sharing, we learnt that Shailesh as a kid willingly jumped off the second floor of a building, that Vinaya has a twin, and that Vinnie once drove backwards on Brigade Road!

Bhagirathi II

Tapovan at sunset

That night was extremely cold. Extremely. The cloud cover lifted, exposing us to temperatures well below freezing. I measured -5C in the tent. Next morning, the stream near our campsite was frozen over with a sheet of ice making the trip out to Pyar Singh's camp a nice challenge. The reduced water flow gurgled along beneath the ice sheet, and I managed to breach it with customary inelegance on one crossing attempt. 

Those ready to brave the cold were rewarded by spectacular views of Shivling and Meru. We chatted with some folks from Kolkata who were camping nearby. They turned out to be from the South Calcutta Trekking Club, who have a long history of successful summits, including Thalaysagar, the ice and rock pinnacle near Kedar Tal. Along with the Kalyani Mountaineering Club, this one represents a breed of trekking clubs in Bengal that operate on shoestring budgets, but are amply fueled by the sheer love of their members for the mountains.  

Shivling and Meru

The clouds started to make their appearance soon after breakfast, so we packed up, Mawa included, who looked decidedly less cheery than he did on the way up. We gently asked him - what about that part about "bring it on"..    He gave us a vivid description of how at that point, rafting in the Ganga sunk upto his chest behind a boat sounded far more compelling comparatively, so that's what he was going to do. We hmmphed, and at 9 am, we started the trek down, and across the glacier (crossing no. 6 for me since 2010). Manoj teased me that I should just set up a home in Tapovan and live there. 

Ranjita and me at Gaumukh

Rajeev, Savitha, Vinaya, Navin and Vinnie decided to hike all the way back to Gangotri, while the rest of us, the Mawa included, decided to camp at Chirbasa since we had extra days (we had originally planned to spend more time at Tapovan). At Bhojbasa, we stopped for a parantha break where While we ate, a major argument between a family and some khacchad-walas kept us engaged. Later we met a Bengali family with a 10 year old daughter, who had comfortably completed the trek to Gaumukh. Her proud father reeled of a list of Himalaya treks she had completed. Soon, we ambled into Chirbasa and enjoyed a pleasant evening by the river. I was glad to see the campsite much cleaner than it was a couple of years ago. The authorities have done a good job regulating visitors to the Gangotri National Park, and managing trash. You now have to pay a deposit of Rs 500 when entering the park, refundable when you produce a bag at the exit, containing a certain minimum amount of trash. 

By this point, the Mawa had abandoned all independence, and was now officially under Manoj's hospitality. The next morning we celebrated the end of the trip by a breakfast of poori and chole, and by lunch time we had crawled back to Gangotri. Sadly, Kanchen's craving for Aloo Tikki at "Ganga Putra" restaurant would not be satisfied, so we had to make do with average quality chat instead. We whiled away the rest of the day, cleaning up, pottering around the town (I needed  professional help shaving), and bundled into a jeep the next morning and drove all the way to Haridwar. 

The return to the plains was excruciating. We hit a two hour long traffic jam between Rishikesh and Haridwar. When we reached nearabout the hotel that Rajeev and folks were staying at (they spent the day white water rafting), we abandoned the jeep in an area that had instead of road, had bodily waste of various mammalian species underfoot. Rajeev and gang left that night for Delhi, while we slept over, and took the Jan Shatabdi the next morning. In Delhi, we roamed the summer streets with backpacks, just like foreigners, and  cooled off with an indulgent lunch at United Coffee House in Connaught Place, our final stop before flying back to Bangalore. 

Cheers!