Goecha La: Fifth Day - Thansing to Lamuney

Excepting for the winds that blow intermittently, everything in the morning lay silent and peaceful. The Thansing campsite marks the onset of a long valley bordered by mountains on its either side. Far ahead, as far as the eyes can see, lies sharp edged morraines, probably caused by years of wind and glacial erosion. And higher than that is an immensely steep wall of packed, blue ice. That wall blocks our vision and what lies beyond that is the unknown. The trail to Goecha La, cuts through this valley, rises sharply and then veers off towards the right and finally climbs right behind the Pandim.

The fifth day is a couple of hours walk over almost flat lands to Lamuney. The camp site at Lamuney was originally located at the Samiti Lake, but that was torn down by the Government due to fears of pollution caused by the trekkers. When we reach Lamuney it is almost afternoon and the clouds have started to rush in.

The weather had a strange consistency. Mornings were bright, sunny and skies were blue. Whereas the afternoons were humid, cloudy and dark. Sometimes, the evenings had precipitation in the form of rain or snow. And then, the nights used to be starkly clear.

After lunch, I sleep off in my tent and it is freezing when I wake up. A cold, frigid wind is blowing outside when I step out(of the tent). But, the sky is surprisingly clear and blue. The sun rays have started to "lift off" from the valley and there are traces of golden hue over the snow covered peaks now. A cup of tea in my one hand and the camera in the other, I wander till the sun disappears. At sometime in the evening Justin enters my tent.

When will you have your dinner sir?

When you wish to serve

7

Done.

I peep out of the tent after he leaves and see that moon light has filled the entire valley and Pandim is basking in its glow.Dinner is served in the tent that night. It is way too cold to head out in the open. In the cold, wearing the shoe is quite an exercise. The amount of lethargy is unthinkable.

I go off to sleep later and when I wake up

The snow pounds on my tent. It sounds like the rain on the tin sheds.

And the winds from the Northern edges hurtle down its surface. They create a fluttering sound.

And the cold earth has turned colder and frozen.Thick with snow. White.

But sometime back, everything lay warm.

You could hear the crackling of the burning wood.

They carried a few red, charred ashes that seem to flicker within the flames. 

The night was still young and the moon shone on the valley.

The stars came out in the open and they left behind their trails on the view finder.

There were crescent mountain slopes that overlooked the valley.

Some silent.

Some stand out. Austere.

Others...unnamed.

But the moon looked so peaceful.

And so did the stars.They glittered.

Nature that conversed. But doesn't utter a word. 

And then, as everything lay quiet, I could see a thick wall of cloud, from the far end of Thansing that ripped apart the valley. They gathered fast and obscured everything in sight. The moon was gone, and it took the stars along with it. And they left behind a trail of wetness and cold and a sodden smell.Everything hung heavy and the snow continued to pour unabated.

In no time, it had turned into a crusade.

A crusade against the cold. The terrain. The ferocity of the mountain. The harshness of life.

A life that is primitive. But again one with so much depth in its meaning.