....awesome, epic, fantanstic.....are all words that come to mind when I saw this TR. Even though this thing is still under construction....I feel it is well deserving of a 10/10 vote. Can't wait to see it on the front page!
Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us on SP.
Brilliant, painstakingly detailed TR, it contains so much useful info for future climbers as well! Well worth the time.
I am not sure it is called alpine style though, but that is hardly important.
Congrats on a great climb and a great TR!
LR
Thanks so much for this excellent report. It brings back some memories from my youth, which I hope you don't mind if I share with you.
I visited Goumukh with some Indian friends of the family way back when I was 15, or in 1993. They wanted to make the pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges river. I just loved mountains and had the summer off, so I said, "sign me up," and tagged along.
Back then there were hundreds of people at the source of the Ganges. I had no idea that the process of getting in had changed. I guess I was either lucky (to be able to get in so easily) or unlucky (having to deal with the hoards of people), depending on how you look at it. Environmentally the new practice sounds very good and I am glad it has been implemented.
I remember the long drive in too, and the first beautiful hints of snowy mountains after driving on the roads for days. The roads were really scary for an American .. driving right on the edge with thousand-feet drop-offs just inches away! At one point our bus and another bus going the opposite direction got stuck together on the road (well actually we were about one inch apart) and it took about two hours for the negotiations and careful back-ups to unhook us so that we could go on our way. At least in 1993, people living in that wolrd had a different sense of time than we Americans. When we stopped, someone would ask, how long untl we go again, and a local would respond "an hour." I quickly learned to change that to three hours. The visit helped teach me the value of patience -- which sadly I have long since lost!
Even though our kind driver accounted for the fact that he was driving scaredy-cat Americans, he still seemed to go way too fast. Nothing like the other bus drivers of course. I would say I don't know how they survive it -- except on the way back we went over a pass and there were buses all over the cliffs below, that had apparently fallen off the road. So apparently may do not survive these roads. Very scary!
We stayed the night in a hostel about a mile before Goumukh around 12,000 feet. That night I too had trouble breathing and felt sick and scared. I have mild asthma, and thought it as that or altitude sickness. I had fears of having to be helicoptered out of there. Back then I had been at similar altitude all the time, so I didn't understand why I was having altitude problems. (Now that I live at sea level, the situation is different and 12,000 feet does cause altitude sickness for me absent proper acclimatization.) It turns out that what I really had (along with my friend) was heat exhaustion. We had hiked ahead of the group and, earlier that day we lay in the sun and napped while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Bad idea. The sun is of course very strong at that altitude (as I now know) and lying in and napping was one of the silliest things we could have done. We were both sick that night and threw up. The next morning we were fine, and enjoyed visiting the great Goumukh.
We didn't make it into the peaks proper, as detailed in your report, but the gorgeous views you have provided with the pictures in your report have stayed in my mind forever. I have a few print-out photos from the old-fashioned cameras we used back in those days that I need to scan in so that I can admire these peaks more often than about once every two or three years, which is the frequency with which I look at my old photo albums now.
Some day I will go back to this area or to Nepal. With two young kids, whose grandparents on their mother's side live in Indonesia and are ethnically Chinese, there are so many other places I need to visit first that I fear I will never make it back. This report helps me keep my dreams alive.
Thanks again for such a great, emotional, thorough, and ultimately triumphant report.
I am glad you enjoyed the report. The only reason I try to write a detailed report of every trip / climb in the mountains is precisely what you said - to be able to re-visit back to those memories years later, and to be able to live those moments!
I started trekking in Himalaya in 1993, and I agree with you that things were way different back then. They were more natural, raw and you got the feeling of "really" being close to nature.
I was at Goumukh in 2001, when I climbed Thelu. Even then - the sheer number of people on the trail and overall, in the region was nauseating. The authorities have done a good job of keeping a check on the number of people that get permission now.
Thanks,
Regards,
Samarth.
P.S. - You stay in a pretty place yourself! Not LA, but a couple of hours north, and you are close to Whitney, Yosemite etc. I feel, CA is one of the most blessed states in the US, when it comes to nature.
StartingOver - Aug 22, 2015 12:50 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Very nice report
Thanks. California is definitely blessed with nature, and California too is doing a better job of handling the masses of people that visit the mountains -- though it is still quite crowded by Idaho standards! We moved from Chicago to LA in 2012, where I had been living without mountains for a very long time. On returning, I decided to start hiking again -- hence the name "StartingOver."
TyeDyeTwins - Jun 30, 2013 4:30 am - Voted 10/10
Amazing........awesome, epic, fantanstic.....are all words that come to mind when I saw this TR. Even though this thing is still under construction....I feel it is well deserving of a 10/10 vote. Can't wait to see it on the front page!
Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us on SP.
-TyeDyeTwins-
lingana - Jun 30, 2013 7:31 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Amazing....Thanks a lot for the kind wishes. It indeed was a great trip - with lots of new experiences.
Regards,
Sam.
LoneRanger - Jul 19, 2013 6:44 am - Voted 10/10
ExcellentBrilliant, painstakingly detailed TR, it contains so much useful info for future climbers as well! Well worth the time.
I am not sure it is called alpine style though, but that is hardly important.
Congrats on a great climb and a great TR!
LR
lingana - Aug 6, 2013 5:54 am - Hasn't voted
Re: ExcellentThanks LR.
Hope to get to climb someday with you. In fact, lets plan on something for the coming year.
Regards,
Sam.
StartingOver - Aug 21, 2015 1:05 pm - Voted 10/10
Very nice reportLingana:
Thanks so much for this excellent report. It brings back some memories from my youth, which I hope you don't mind if I share with you.
I visited Goumukh with some Indian friends of the family way back when I was 15, or in 1993. They wanted to make the pilgrimage to the source of the Ganges river. I just loved mountains and had the summer off, so I said, "sign me up," and tagged along.
Back then there were hundreds of people at the source of the Ganges. I had no idea that the process of getting in had changed. I guess I was either lucky (to be able to get in so easily) or unlucky (having to deal with the hoards of people), depending on how you look at it. Environmentally the new practice sounds very good and I am glad it has been implemented.
I remember the long drive in too, and the first beautiful hints of snowy mountains after driving on the roads for days. The roads were really scary for an American .. driving right on the edge with thousand-feet drop-offs just inches away! At one point our bus and another bus going the opposite direction got stuck together on the road (well actually we were about one inch apart) and it took about two hours for the negotiations and careful back-ups to unhook us so that we could go on our way. At least in 1993, people living in that wolrd had a different sense of time than we Americans. When we stopped, someone would ask, how long untl we go again, and a local would respond "an hour." I quickly learned to change that to three hours. The visit helped teach me the value of patience -- which sadly I have long since lost!
Even though our kind driver accounted for the fact that he was driving scaredy-cat Americans, he still seemed to go way too fast. Nothing like the other bus drivers of course. I would say I don't know how they survive it -- except on the way back we went over a pass and there were buses all over the cliffs below, that had apparently fallen off the road. So apparently may do not survive these roads. Very scary!
We stayed the night in a hostel about a mile before Goumukh around 12,000 feet. That night I too had trouble breathing and felt sick and scared. I have mild asthma, and thought it as that or altitude sickness. I had fears of having to be helicoptered out of there. Back then I had been at similar altitude all the time, so I didn't understand why I was having altitude problems. (Now that I live at sea level, the situation is different and 12,000 feet does cause altitude sickness for me absent proper acclimatization.) It turns out that what I really had (along with my friend) was heat exhaustion. We had hiked ahead of the group and, earlier that day we lay in the sun and napped while we waited for the rest of the group to catch up. Bad idea. The sun is of course very strong at that altitude (as I now know) and lying in and napping was one of the silliest things we could have done. We were both sick that night and threw up. The next morning we were fine, and enjoyed visiting the great Goumukh.
We didn't make it into the peaks proper, as detailed in your report, but the gorgeous views you have provided with the pictures in your report have stayed in my mind forever. I have a few print-out photos from the old-fashioned cameras we used back in those days that I need to scan in so that I can admire these peaks more often than about once every two or three years, which is the frequency with which I look at my old photo albums now.
Some day I will go back to this area or to Nepal. With two young kids, whose grandparents on their mother's side live in Indonesia and are ethnically Chinese, there are so many other places I need to visit first that I fear I will never make it back. This report helps me keep my dreams alive.
Thanks again for such a great, emotional, thorough, and ultimately triumphant report.
lingana - Aug 22, 2015 2:11 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Very nice reportHi StartingOver (btw - thats a nice name!):
I am glad you enjoyed the report. The only reason I try to write a detailed report of every trip / climb in the mountains is precisely what you said - to be able to re-visit back to those memories years later, and to be able to live those moments!
I started trekking in Himalaya in 1993, and I agree with you that things were way different back then. They were more natural, raw and you got the feeling of "really" being close to nature.
I was at Goumukh in 2001, when I climbed Thelu. Even then - the sheer number of people on the trail and overall, in the region was nauseating. The authorities have done a good job of keeping a check on the number of people that get permission now.
Thanks,
Regards,
Samarth.
P.S. - You stay in a pretty place yourself! Not LA, but a couple of hours north, and you are close to Whitney, Yosemite etc. I feel, CA is one of the most blessed states in the US, when it comes to nature.
StartingOver - Aug 22, 2015 12:50 pm - Voted 10/10
Re: Very nice reportThanks. California is definitely blessed with nature, and California too is doing a better job of handling the masses of people that visit the mountains -- though it is still quite crowded by Idaho standards! We moved from Chicago to LA in 2012, where I had been living without mountains for a very long time. On returning, I decided to start hiking again -- hence the name "StartingOver."
Sierra Ledge Rat - Aug 21, 2015 2:46 pm - Voted 10/10
Nice work!Great climb and trip report!
Encore!
lingana - Aug 22, 2015 2:13 am - Hasn't voted
Re: Nice work!Thanks for the kind words!
Regards,
Sam.