Miracles I soaked in — KY2 Trek experience
‘To walk in nature is to witness a thousand miracles…”
These words by social entrepreneur and CEO of Special Olympics Mary Davis echo the sentiment of explorers and adventure enthusiasts who regularly trek in the mountains to become one with nature.
Fika — slowing down and appreciating the good of life. That was the intention behind joining any trek for me. Soaking it all in. The trek chosen was to Kang Yagste 2 base camp. And what did I soak, Wow. It gives me goosebumps still reminiscing them.
This trek comes under Medium Challenging treks, so it needs the training to walk long hours 10 hours may be and mental preparation to live in the wild, of course within a camp, with locals and Sherpas support you with carrying your luggage between camps and providing you with the food.
Situated at the head of the Markha Valley in Ladakh, this peak offers stunning panoramic views of the surrounding mountains. Just as the summit push is as exciting, the inner courage still does not allow me to opt for that, there is a lot of physical training that is needed once I get that push from inside. But walking or trekking to the base camp is exciting and challenging enough for me as of now.
We landed in Leh which is at 3500 m altitude, way above most of the places in India especially south India, so acclimatization is inevitable. This is a big deal, never thought it was until the throbbing headache turned out to be a resting pain over the 3 days of acclimatization. But those days were the ones when I questioned myself if I could walk more than 10 steps without panting too, that's what oxygen deprivation does to your body. But with time our bodies to adapt.
We were in Leh a couple of days before the trek started for acclimatization. That turned out to be this — https://lthampi.medium.com/neolocal-view-of-leh-and-surroundings-55f58da51865.
The starting point of the trek is Sara — which is a 2.5-hour drive from Leh. Now interestingly you are at 3600m. No changes were experienced as such. Now the camp life starts. A camp spot was selected by B&C, with the Sherpa/Guide team and Cooking team joining us. My first feel of that camp is an adventure and the ickiness of having to relieve yourself in a pit. New experiences, would take time to adjust. Sara camping spot had a glacial melted river flowing on the side, which made it pleasurable to sit beside it and even touch that ice-cold water. Camp sleeping involves, stuffing yourself into a bag and liner. This was a new experience, so the sleep wasn't uninterrupted. Little did I know, altitude does create havoc with your sleep patterns too, and this first camp sleep is the best I would get for the next few days. This camp did have a bathroom as well, a semi-wash of the body could be managed with the water drawn from the borewell nearby. There was a cafe there as well and there were other campers in the same spot. After a night stay and hearty food from the cooking team later, we were set in the morning to start our trek. This leads us to Marka (3750).
Approx 17 Km of trek on the first day, which we covered by almost 7.5 hours, which did involve, pitstops for tea breaks in local shops and packed lunch alongside a river. Poori and sabji as lunch gave a nostalgic feeling of having a picnic by the river. The visuals were scenic interspersed with some villages and their farmlands of barley, mustard, and seabuckthorn trees.
Oh yes, By now I am interacting with the team, we have a captain Chetan from B&C, a seasoned mountaineer. The Sherpa head, Rigzin with his team, Urugan, Dawa, and Jigmet and cooking team headed by Tobchen Rai. The trekkers came from all across India and 2 from MEA. It was an interesting mix of ages, which was the first observation. One boy in the range of 10, a gentleman in the range of 70s, a few of us in the range of 40s and 50s, and Most others in the range of 20s and 30s. Being the new set that has come together, everyone is still finding their pace and their walking partners. Since I went with my partner, mostly we were together, to keep pace with me, he always mostly had a trekking track view peppered with the rear side view of our fellow trekkers. So by now, we knew most of the derrieres of other trekkers is what I can claim. Just like us, some others were walking at the same pace! Still getting used to their presence. So still no names registered. Of course, the young boy, Ayaan, and the oldest boy Raman Sir, did make a mark, for their sheer determination to take up a task at their respective ages. All through the trek to the base camp, they both were at the forefront leading the team with pacer Sherpa, mostly Rigzin.
Things are normal in my world — bath -checked, no pains — super checked, decent pooping facility — checked.
Thanks to https://www.instagram.com/bootsandcrampons and Chetan our coordinator it was a pleasurable experience.
The camp at Marka was on an open compound of a sherpa family. And there were other families living nearby with their cattle. This brings in a new character which gave background music to our night sleep, the donkeys. Little did I know, how a donkey brayed, till that night when in the middle of the night, he would start it and would stop only after some minutes. So that wasn't exactly music to ears. This camp had wifi, and some of us did see our messages trickling in, but I stuck to only necessary communication with the outside world, a home call. I am here to cut off, i reminded myself, so it was an effort to avoid that wifi available spot. Here a wash of the body could be managed with warm water which the family provided from their solar-powered unit. The food was excellent with the team providing us 3-course meals for dinner, starting with soups and snacks, followed by a choice of rice and roti with curries and dessert. This camp we had only veggies available. The first one had the privilege of non-veg being taken away after the Sara camp. Still manageable as the food was delicious and flavorful.
Got introduced to some of the team, as the live wire of the gang, Shashi, started conversations by asking questions as we were waiting between our first course and second of the meal. Sorry not to mention, at every camp, we were welcomed with a welcome drink and soon after with a hot snack and a variety of hot drinks. This is before dinner. The breakfast was also wholesome with fruits, eggs, and grains every day. On the first camp, a fellow trekker Chirag’s birthday was celebrated with a cake made in the camp. It was a delicious cream cake. So that was a surprise and it did show the cooking prowess of the team, to bake something at a camp. I was super happy as my most important survival question — What would be the next meal? — would never be needed to be asked on this trip, as it is taken care of fully with this team around. With most of the treks before I have survived on minimal, potatoes, rice, soup, and eggs. So voila my basics and more are covered.
Are still things normal in my world? bath -checked, no pains — slight pains here and there, decent pooping facility — (pits aren't that comfy after all) partially checked. Food — Excellent, restricting because the pooping facility is not to my preference. Overall Camp company — Good, developing some warm connections.
Overnight stay, breakfast, and briefing later, the second day of the trek starts. More pleasantries are exchanged. At least for me by now, I can remember most of the names of people in the team. Today the start point is Marka and the end is Thochugtsey(4300m). The walk is getting longer, and more treacherous, but the scenic beauty is getting marvelous. Some snow-capped mountains being spotted at a distance, some ruined monasteries on hills, and ruins of the forts to be spotted. Here no tea stalls in between. So we stopped for lunch near the gushing river with a bridge. That spot was ethereal to relax. The sound of gushing water was super calming to hear while having a hearty meal. We did take some rest before starting to our final spot of the day.
An acclimatization trek was done to a nearby hillock, which was a few meters above the camp. Before that, we did some stretches with Chetan, and some of us did a few rounds of Surya Namaskar led by a fellow trekker — Vishal. It was a nice addition to the evening before we were served with chai and delicious fritters.
Btw this day for dinner we had pizza with a whole lot of other varieties and a much loved sweet dish of Gulab Jamuns. So it's rocking!
Some of us caught up over a play of cards and music too.
let's check the status — bath -NO, copious use of wet wipes, Pain status— good amount of pain here and there, Pooping facility — (pits aren’t that comfy at all). Food — Super. Overall Camp company — Warming up to others, introvert that I am.
Day 4 of the trek to KY Basecamp 5250 m, for some us that's the final destination. This day we covered most of the distance of all and it was a long trekking day with an altitude gain the most (900m) and some adventurous river crossing as well. Rivers in mountains get fierce and gushy by afternoons as the glaciers melt much more by then. We had a pit stop at a lake with a Budha-reincarnate statue in the middle, which was a surreal visual. There were a lot of meadows that were passed by with tiny yellow and lavender-colored flowers as well. Could see some pits in the way, but no their residents weren't visible around. Maybe were on their afternoon siesta. The company with fellow trekkers Vani and Midhu got a lot warmer as we were having beautiful discussions on how our life journeys had been and what varied learnings we had on parenting. As they all had younger kids than I had. Most of these walks were easier because of these conversations and sharing. We did exhaust our water, we need to learn to carry it more efficiently and use it also wisely.
By the end of the long day, the altitude sickness had hit the most with throbbing head pain and resting body pains too. After a quick dinner, still with the delicious pasta, soups, and such, tried to hit the bed.
This camp has the superimposing background Kang Yaste 2 and 1 and it was beautiful to see a snow-capped mountain so near.
The mountain sickness was at its height throughout night, so no sleep and pains persisted. Then is when I questioned my choices as well, why did I subscribe to this? thought which loomed for hours that night. This is when you are trying to sleep in the sleeping bag and adjusting to extreme cold and the urge to pee is at its height, but don't have the strength to unwrap from that packing to do it. I did have this tough conversation with myself then multiple times and assured the troubled self this would be the last time I would experience this. The day I get up I would run down or get ferried by a horse as soon as possible and escape from this. I think this is what AMS( Acute Mountain Sickness) does to you, makes you sick to the core and questions all your life choices. I had this one in the Everest base Camp trek, and from that trek, I bailed when this hit me at 4100m. But now I am at 5300m. Voila! Isn't that amazing ?? In the same night or early morning in conversations with Lakshmi and while peeing I saw the magnificent mountain and clear sky with stars, I realized how would I get these opportunities if I didn't survive this pain and trek here like this. So this is not the last time I would feel this and I am not going to mount a horse and take the quick route down. Although for the short trek the pass the next day, I did mount on a horse, and paid an exorbitant amount for that 5-minute joy ride.
Status — Bath -well hell NO, no layers are going to be peeled off in this cold, Pains — Extreme pains, but recovering after a dose of painkiller, Pooping facility — Last day of pits, Yaay! Food — Super. Overall Camp company — Solid, some connections to be kept for the rest of life.
The descend, after bidding goodbyes, to the rest of the trekkers, we started our descent. Of the group of 16, only 3 of us returned to Leh, others were attempting to summit the KY2. They stayed back there for training and the final push the coming night. This trek back can be divided into 2 parts — crossing of a pass — Kongmarula and then crossing an array of the mountain range after that before reaching the civilization. These 2 are two distinctive experiences. The first trek was to reach Nimaling a camp and then cross the Kongmarula Pass, which was almost 500m in height. While trekking through the Nimaling, could see a lot of small animals like marmots and pikas popping out of their pits and searching for food. They weren't concerned about us walking by as they went about their usual fare. Nimaling has a permanent camp for trekkers, we just stopped by there to take a break.
The views of the peaks and sprawling grasslands were spectacular. When we reached Kongmarula Pass after a long treacherous trek, the temperatures had dropped and the wind was very strong. We made our way down from there asap, although the views of KY2 on one side with other nearby peaks and the sprawling mountains on the other side were breathtaking. This spot has network connectivity somehow, so did some trekkers cuddled up there behind rocks and stooping into their screens.
The trek to Chokdo after that was through mountain gorges, which had almost 15 small river stream crossings, which was pleasurable with some toppling rocks and shoes getting dipped in cold glacier water. The colors which were on these mountains — greens, reds, browns, and clayey ones were breathtaking. These parts have more lush green plants and flowering trees. The shapes that mountains have taken over the years made us wonder if its some sculptor who has kept those stones in such shapes as spectacular. As the descent was steep, for these breathtaking views, you always had to stop, steady yourself, and then take a glimpse, otherwise, all chances of a misstep were possible. The long walk 9 hours, through the sprawling hill ended at a cafe in one of the valleys before Chokdo. After a small magi and tea break, the last part of the trek was completed with ease and was picked up by a vehicle to Leh.
When this was completed on 26 July 2024, around 5 PM, no thoughts or feelings other than having to get to a less dusty place and having a bath hit me. But deep gratitude and a sense of accomplishment which was felt the next day morning after some rest was inexplicable.
