A long day's climb

India; October 1st; Day 10; Pawali Kanta; 3284m

Trek: 7hrs 37mins starting at 6.59
Low: 1670m at 7.12
High: 3447m at 14.04
Descent: 179m
Ascent: 1818m

We are all up at 6am to a cup of tea brought by Maneesh and we break down and have breakfast in double quick time.

The taxi has arrived for Jan and we say farewell and hope to see him in Gauri Kund or possibly Kedarnath.

We walk down through the village and at each shop we ask for a cricket ball. For some reason it’s come into our heads that we should be able to get one in India no matter how remote we are. Eventually in a shop just over the bridge we are directed to a place that has them. It is red and it looks and feels like a tennis ball but is significantly heavier.

As we don’t have a guide with us (as usual) we are unsure as to which way to leave town. We can see a number of different trail climbing the hills around us. After asking around we take the route that we came along yesterday and pass the butchers (not open) and the millers and then the small water-mill just out of town.

Today is to be a long day and almost one long continuous climb. Fortunately the day is cool and the trail is on the shady side of the mountain. The first two hours see us climb through rice paddies and the terraced fields of small outlying villages. We continue to see Ghuttu back in the distance. To confirm that we are going in the right direction we ask everyone we meet along the way. The small children are amused and everyone seems to be laughing. We only nearly go wrong once and a young boy coming in the opposite direction soon puts us right again.

We all stop together at a grassy knoll with fine views before we split up and spread ourselves out along the trail. This give you the illusion of walking alone in the wilderness! As we ascend the farms and villages get left behind and we enter the forest. But just before we do we are nearly trampled by a runaway Ox coming down the trail!

Generally the gradient is not too bad though we are climbing a steady 300m per hour. I’m walking alone and stopping every hour or so and every time I do Jim and Adriana catch me up. We have a chat and a little to eat and then I leave. This happens 4 or 5 times as the trail winds it’s way up through the forest. Soon the trail passes into a darker and murkier forest before breaking out at two Shepherd's Huts. Shortly after that a man rode by on a grey horse. He confirmed I was going the right way! Always best to be sure!

Then, for a short way, the trail traversed the side of the mountain without climbing at all. By this time Ghuttu could no longer be seen behind. Instead, ahead, the treeless hill tops were visible.



After about 6 hours on the trail I came across Keith lying down in the sun. I joined him for a short while before continuing. Two men coming down passed us and they said our destination was about 4km away. As we waited there our mule train caught up with us and the muleteers also said it was about 4km. Up and then down! When Jim and Adriana arrived at the same spot Keith and I started off on the final leg. Keith soon got ahead of me though as I started taking photographs of the trail and hills. The trail was still climbing and I came to the tree-line at about 3200m. From here I had good views of the rolling trail ahead and could see Keith in the distance from time to time. Also in the distance I could see a Temple on a far hill top and surmised that this would be our destination. It still looked a fair distance away.



I passed a shepherd and his flock before a brief descent and a final, tiring climb to the summit. It looked like a detour and short-cut would take you to the Temple but I stayed on the main trail which wrapped around the mountain. Looking back from the other side I could see two people up at the Temple so I waited for them to come down before continuing. I was unsure where the campsite was. It turned out to be our guide Ajay and the Cook.



I then followed the trail down the last section before being hailed from the right where the muleteers had unloaded our stuff and where Keith and James were lying in the grass. Jim and Adriana arrived a little while later. We all lazed in the sun awhile before choosing our pitches and collecting firewood. After an hour or so the porters started drifting in looking very tired and after tea we set up our camp.



Then the mist rolled in and it began to drizzle and rain just as we were lighting the fire. We moved into the Mess Tent for dinner and although we sat around the fire later we couldn’t really get much heat going. So we crashed out. It was only 8pm!