Day 9 :: SUNDAY 23 Aug 2015 From Darchen… trek to Dirapuk

After a Guru puja and a brief breakfast in the morning, with all of us decked with 5 layers of clothing and our backpacks, we loaded onto the two buses for a brief drive to the start point of our trek. This is a place called Yama Dwar where the ponies, porters etc would be meeting us. Quite an organized and unionized method was followed to allot porters and ponies. The leader of the group of porters / pony owners used a lottery system of drawing chits to assign porters as well as ponies. Most of us decided not to use the ponies as we all wanted to trek.  A few of the group who were not very sure f their ability to trek, decided to use ponies. All of us were told to use porters instead (at an extra cost of Yuan 1200 per porter!!) as we were told that even a few kilos on our backs could be a very heavy load whilst trekking at this altitude.

Here is where many of us ditched our cameras etc and decided to walk like a true devotee with only shambho on our lips and chanting all the way. Not like a tourist clicking away at the scenery.

In the briefing the earlier evening ( Sat 22 Aug) we were told that the trek would be around 8 kms one way. We realized later that this was a deliberately downplayed piece of data as the real distance one way was almost 12-13 kms.  Starting at around 15000 ft above MSL we were to reach an altitude of just over 16000 ft above MSL. The trek itself is almost on plain ground with a few small gradients in between. One has to walk slowly and steadily without too many breaks, sipping water often and staying focused on the path. The path is reasonably well defined but strewn with rounded stones so one has to watch where you land your feet. We were told to walk in groups of at least 6 people, supporting each other and progressing slowly but steadily.

The point from where the trek started is very close to Yama dwar and we can see the South face of Mt Kailash ( Dakshinamoorthy) clearly from this point, juxtaposed with Yama Dwar.

Dakshinammorthy South face.... and solar powered mobile phone towers!!

The centre of the southern face of Mount Kailash shows something like the Meru Danda, which means Spinal column. Great importance is paid to the Meru Danda in yoga, since it is our spine that acts like our antenna and has to be tuned to the cosmic frequency.  The Meru Danda of Mount Kailash descends from its apex to its feet, bringing divine energy down to Earth.

Yama Dwar  

Yama Dwar : The starting point of the parikrama is the Yama Dwar, or the Gates of the Lord of Death. Yama is the deity who brings mortal souls to their onward journey. Symbolically, the Kailash region is likened to the divine world, separate from Earth. To enter this region, one must abandon the mortal self and hence pass through the Yama Dwar.

Yama Dwar and South Face juxtaposed

In front of South face. These snaps were taken on 24th on my return leg. 

The lead team of six people (A team) took off first with their porters. All groups were given small oxygen tanks to use in case of an emergency. Between 2 people we were given one canister. We were cautioned not to use it unless it is a dire emergency. Each canister would give a few puffs of oxygen at best and it was advised that if we were to trek slowly and patiently we would not need to sue the oxygen canisters.

Our B group of six people and another three of us struck out at 1050 and stepped through Yama Dwar .

Slowly as a group we headed towards our destination, Dirapuk . The landscape and terrain all around was quite unique. Different types of mountains, a few waterfalls, some of the peaks with snow on them, and glimpses of Mt Kailash to our right. Hardly any vegetation, stream of water running downhill from the melting snow. Since we had ditched our cameras at Darchen, we don’t have too many photos recorded. The porters were very helpful and walked alongside us. Some of the lady porters were wearing platform heels and high heels and it was like a walk in the park for them !! Some of them cheerfully speaking on their cellphones with good signal clarity right next to Mt Kailash!!  And we folk from the lower plains were struggling a bit. Actually the 5 layers of clothing was an overkill and was quite suffocating. But nothing could be done mid-way so we slowly ambled along. Stopping once in a while for a sip of water or some lite eats. Gazing at Mt Kailash and bowing our heads down. At times the peak of Mt Kailash would be covered in mist and then it would clear up dramatically showing us a good glimpse. The trek was from the South face, past the west face onto dirapuk which was just in front of the North face of Mt Kailash. Our group went along steadily, but for Mrs Murlidharan struggling at times. We paused for her to catch up once in a while.

After a few kms we saw a tent and were wondering whether it was the mid point already. It was not. Some of these tents are managed by the locals selling hot water, ready to eat noodles , hot tea etc. we did not stop at the first tent and headed along to the midway point.

In between we had a brief rain of hail stones the size of small peas. Luckily all us had our rain gear on as the topmost layer so none of us got wet. There was no snow on the path so our footwear was very dry. We had to cross the stream a couple of times so we had to see that our waterproof shoes do not really get wet.

After around 4 ½ hrs we reached the so called midpoint. There are quite a few tents offering hot water / tea/ noodles etc for sale. We rested here for a while as our group B were told to halt here for 90 minutes. Our first member had reached the point at 1450 and the rest of us had reached here at 1515 so we were to technically halt there till 1620. We waited for around 40 mins and called up the trailing group C and were told to proceed ahead.

We then realized that the midway point is not really a midway point but almost 2/3^rd of the way across to Dirapuk. We then realized that we have only another couple of hours more of trekking to do. We left at around 1600 from the midpoint hoping to reach Dirapuk by 1800.

This part of the trek was nice and sunny and we were getting quite warm and sweaty because of the multiple layers of clothing on us. More so when we realized that Dirapuk is only a couple of hours away, we were walking more steadily and confidently. One of our gang started feeling nauseous and we had to administer oxygen from the canister. He threw up a couple of times and we slowed down our pace to accommodate him. 

In the distance,  after two small gradients we could see a bridge leading to the Dirapuk Monastery, which we were to avoid. We were to go straight ahead to Hotel Shisha Pangma. It is only later that I realized that the name Shishapangma is the name of the 14th highest mountain in the world at 8,027 metres (26,335 ft) above sea level. This hotel seems to have been named after this peak. 

We trudged along gamely and reached the place of stay Shishapangma at around 1800 hrs. Our inner layers were actually drenched with sweat and we had to change into drier clothes immediately. We snuggled into our razais and rested a while till our evening medical check ups and teatime. In the evening we had a video sathsangh about Mt Kailash, and retired for the night, right in the lap of the North face of Mt Kailash. 

In the middle of the night I woke up twice to empty my bladder (thanks to Diamox and lots of water being drunk) and one had to get out and walk to the toilet outside and each such visit provided a majestic glimpse of the North face by night!!  Shambho !!!!

South face  : from Flickr   A closer view of the southern face of Mt. Kailash, with the Meru Danda (spine) running through its middle. This is the most beautiful view of Mt. Kailash. Ashtapad is at an elevation of 4900 metres (17000 feet). Ashtapad, meaning Eight Steps, is the place where the first Jain Tirthankara Shri Rishabhadev Bhagwan also known as Shri Adinath Bhagwan attained Nirvana (salvation). 

North face : from Flickr

South face view : from Flickr