Photo Below: Our group just before departure to Seema; Front row: Raja (our guide), me, Kirin Sherpa, Yveline. Standing Row: Robin, Elisabeth Christopher, Mingma Sherpa, Tindoop Sherpa, Phuba Sherpa.
Below: Photo of the porters in their cave at the Tons River Campsite... playing cards around the fire...
Photo of Elisabeth, Michael, Yveline and Dr. Buck at basecamp just before leaving for the trek out. ... Strangers at the beginning of the trip... we left as friends who had shared a wonderful experience.
As always for me, the moments of departure from the sanctuary of mountains are clear and mindful. This day was no exception as we packed our gear and prepared to work our way out. Our porters arrived by 8 after sleeping at Ruinsara Tal the night before. Our original plan was to cross the pass below Kiarkoti and trek over the 5,500m col down toward Gangotri. By the time we packed up, we knew that it would be heavy work to climb that pass in the new snows. Nobody (not even Yveline) was pushing for this trek. Our porters were recruited with this in mind; but it didn't appear that they were equipped for the deep snow and the cold night. Had we taken this route, we also thought that Chris may be able to make an ascent of a nameless peak near the col. Again, this would have proven too difficult in that snow.
After our team photos, we headed for Seema. The weather was already cloudy by 9:30, so we knew it would be a snowy (and rainy at lower elevations) day. Chris started out fine but soon felt sick again... I came to the conclusion that it was the exertion/pace that were making him struggle; and we decided to fall behind the group and take this day at a very slow pace. This seemed to work and we gently made our way forward. Along the way, Raja let us know that we would stop short of Seema and make a camp along the Tons River, so that it would shorten the trek and cut out a Major piece of elevation gain for that day. I hoped that we might make it all the way out that day... but after a while knew that this wouldn't work. It started to rain during the trek... fortunately we had our rain gear and didn't get too cold (temps were in the 50's but it was pretty windy). We arrived at the campsite - and had some Tang and biscuits before going to our tent for a rest. It was still raining and I watched Raja and the Sherpas stand outside and chat for about 30 minutes as if it were a gorgeous day...
Beautiful spot indeed... The porters camped in a huge cave... playing cards as usual.
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