Sin-la (18,500 ft), Adi-Kailash Parvat - Jaulingkong to Bidang!


Starting off towards Sin-la in the drizzle and mist

Satish looking back at the Jippus and Jaulingkong.

This is what the ITBP call 'flat as a football ground'!!

Appa and Narayan trudging up a steep shortcut, with GauriKund in the background

Gopal and the Jippus - how did they manage to climb these 'natural stairs'?!

The Adi-Kailash parvat (the first abode of Shiva) and its massive glaciers

Resting at one of the false passes - how on earth are we going to get to the top of this one!?

Appa and Jaswant - we've come a long way, but miles to go before we sleep!

The jippu's taking a well-earned rest.

We finally see Sin-la!! (and lots more scree to get past first!)

Looking ahead at Sin-la - will we ever get there!?

Walking over the glacier - we hardly realised we were walking on ice till we got to this point as the glacier is completely covered in black scree!
FINALLY - we were at 18,500ft at Sin-la with the Jaulingkong valley behind us and the beautiful Dharma Valley lying ahead (not that we could see a thing with all the mist and snow!)

The only snap we have of the descent from Sin-la! Srikant, me tagging along, ji, Narayan and Tha followed by appa and Jaswant. Vc and Jasram-ji were ahead of us looking desparately for any signs of a path!

Putting up our tents on the cricket/volleyball 'field' of the ITBP at Bidang

This was much later chronologically - but just wanted to get some snaps of sinla online! It had rained all night, so we woke up to a grey, dull day. We were up at 4am, but it was too dark and rainy so we slept for a few hours more. Vc rushed off to the tea shop to find the jippus being loaded, so he woke us up in a hurry!
It was then a 18 km walk up to sinla and down over the pass to Bidang. Mr Panwar Singh Kuttiyal and gopal, with the jippus, guided us up the mountianside, to the false passes, over the glacier and through Sin-la. Looking back we could see the jaulingkong valley, the gauri kund and the Adi-kailash Parvat on the left with its massive glaciers. At the pass, it began to snow as we rested at 18,500 ft, so we began the descent almost immediately (after paranthas, aloo and amul cheese of course!)
Jasram-ji, Jaswant and Narayan guided us down red and black scree of the mountain brilliantly. There was pretty much no path at all, and we slide and scrambled down the loose rocks and scree, struggling not to brain the folks ahead of us with rocks that slipped from beneath our feet! After about two hours of slipping down 4000ft of mountain and scree, we finally reached the maidan having successfully kept left and avoided the uncrossable glacier! I will never forget the relief of being able to see the ITBP camp at Bidang (never mind that it was about 5kms away with about a million switchbacks to cross before we reached the river!)
So now, as we sit a thousand kms away from Sin-la, here's to our guides - Panwar, gopal, Jasram-ji, Jaswant and Narayan! we would never have cross over with them, and of course the hospitable ITBP battalions on either side of Sin-la!
Here's to you - and to all people who live in this beautiful part of the world - may your chai always be 'thaez'! :)