Chris in Jammu and Kashmir...twice
Jammu and Kashmir represents everything that is both right and wrong in India. It is s State that is beautiful and extreme in its physical and ethnic diversity but it torn by national and religious conflicts.
The Vale of Kashmir and its capital Srinagar is the 'jewel in the crown of India'. A verdant valley with a series of lakes at the heart surrounded by snow capped peaks. A predominantly muslim population that is ethnically aligned with Pakistan and a burning desire to separate from India and form an independent Kashmir even though the Indian occupation was in response to a request from the reigning Kashmir prince as a result of an invasion of north Kashmir by Pakistan. Dividing the Indian and Pakistani Kashmir is the Hotly contested Line of Control over which wars have been fought and artillery duels are exchange. With two nuclear powers, Bill Clinton called Kashmir the 'most dangerous place in the world.
The semi autonomous region of Ladakh and its capital Leh lies in a high desert to the north of the Himalayan watershed. the majority of the population is Buddhist and ethnically tibetan. The region is barren apart from the irrigated paddy fields surrounding the villages. Stupa's dot the hills as a constant reminder of the local's Buddhist beliefs while in the valley's outside the irrigated areas are huge Indian Army camps. A constant reminder of the history of tension between the Chinese in nearby Tibet.
At the end of March, I had a long weekend skiing at Gulmarg, and old ski station first established by the British but reinvented with the completion of a gondola that lifts people to 4000 metres near the summit of Mt Araphat. Intended more for summer tourists, an unintended benefit had been the increasing number of western skiers drawn to the ungroomed slopes, powder snow and big vertical. It is lift services adventure skiing at its best, a huge amount of terrain, limited avalanche controlled area and the constant military presence in the form of observation posts high on the mountain and the drumming of machine gun fire in the training grounds lower in the village of Gulmarg.
I was there late in the season and the winter powder was replaced with a heavy spring corn. The mountain was literally deserted with me and my local guide, Ali, being the only skiers in the hundred of acres in the upper mountain. The altitude made the skiing hard but this was offset by the magnificent views of Nanga Parbat. A traverse or a hike opened up endless terrain with your fitness being the only limitation of the amount of skiing in a day.
The local Kashmiri's are incredibly hospitable, much more relaxed than the many Kashmiri salesmen you regularly encounter in tourist sites around India. My long weekend ended with a variety of cooked meats for breakfast at Ali's home in Tangmarg.
In September, I linked together Parsi New Year with one or two other significant Indian holidays to give me 10 clear days to do some climbing in the Himalayas. Unfortunately, most of the Himalayas are affected by the Monsoon at this resulting in high winds and heavy snowfalls. Ladakh is one of the exceptions, for seven months over winter he overland links to Leh are broken by heavy snows on the high 5200 metres passes. The hot season after winter opens the roads and the rain shadow of the Himalayas keeps the Monsoon snows to a minimum.
With no climbing partner, I settled for simple but high objective, Kang Yatze 2, a 6200 metre peak. The challenges was in the limited time for acclimatization. I arrived in Leh, which is at an altitude of 3400 metres on a Sunday and met my Sirdar, cook and cooks helper. On Monday we drove away from the green market gardens and paddy fields of Leh past the Indus and into the dry mountains to meet our horseman and walk into the first camp at 4200 metres. Tentage, food and the local's gear was on the horses. I carried my own to help me acclimatise.
Monday night bought 18mm of rain, which is bout 15 percent on the annual rainfall, resulting in snow on the peaks and a rise in the river in the gorge that we had to navigate the next day. With the river up we decided to wait a day at our first camp. With no movement on the Tuesday, climbed a ridge to 4800 metres to get a better view of the dramatic colours of the barren ridges and to help me acclimatse.
Wednesday saw us move up the Gorge and over a pass at 5300 metres, encountering Blue Sheep, Marmots and different birds. After the pass we moved to our final camp at 5100 metres where I began to feel a little worse fo wear with a headache which made me put off the climb until the Friday morning.
I woke feeling much better on Thursday morning and climbed to 5800 metres on the route to take some photographs and help with acclimatization. The rest of the afternoon was spent relaxing and eating the good food prepared by the team.
We woke at 1am on Friday and after a quick breakfast we set of climbing quickly to 6000 metres before starting to navigate our way through crevasses. Normally at this time of year the crevasses are open but the unseasonable recent snowfalls had covered them. We roped up for crevasse travel but then it became apparent that the Sirdar, who had made numerous observations about the basic climbing gear I carried, had nothing more than his axe and crampons. No snow stake, prissik loops or carribiners, none of the gear for safe travel through a 'wet' glacier. We began slowly route finding to the summit when about 10 vertical metres below the summit we could not find a safe way around a covered crevasse.
Unwilling to take any further risks without appropriate gear, I decided to turn around. When I was back in the valley I quizzed the experienced Sirdar on his lack of basic gear. In short, he had never needed it on this climb. Needless to say my look conveyed my dissatisfaction. After lunch we packed camp crossed back over the pass for our last night. On Saturday we completed our walk out, returning to Leh that evening.
Sunday was spend visiting around the markets and the Palace, a mini version of the Potola in Lhasa before a Monday flight back to crowded and polluted Mumbai.
