We change the expedition plan: dictatorship of circumstances

Planning the next Himalayan expedition of the St. Petersburg Union of Scientists, we did not exclude that, due to unpredictable external circumstances, it could go differently than we saw, that is, in the style of “discovery”, if we expressed ourselves with the language of modern tour operators. However, the first week of travel was successful and in full accordance with Plan A, scheduled in St. Petersburg.

True, there were small roughnesses that were inevitable in any trip of this kind. For example, on June 1, we were not able to inspect the Kalesar National Park, where we hardly found the road. In the courtyard of the park office, in the fresh air there was a “business meeting” of management with treats and drinks. With our unexpected appearance, we put into an uncomfortable position several dozen serious men, who, obviously, were not up to visitors.

After the night and inspection of the princely castle in the village of Arch (see the previous number of the TRV-hunger ), we reached the town of Shimla, the administrative center of the state of Himala-Pradesh. Here I had to linger for a couple of days that were spent on registration of admission to the border zone (the so -called Inner Line Permit). And democracy and bureaucracy in India with excess, but the latter, if different from ours, is not at all for the better. Our driver, a resident of Delhi, even advised me to write a complaint about non -compliance with the promised time of paperwork. Of course, we did not engage in this, since it was only a few hours.

This did not change the plans of our further journey, but as young as a strict lady-chino, who took personal profiles and took photographs with the help of a webcam (we knew ourselves not without shudder) personally went to the highway to “knock out” signatures and seals. When paying for services for ready -made papers, we were not given the change, but our all -knowing drivers advised not to raise the noise in order to maintain a benevolent attitude of officials.

On June 4, with all the passes in our hands, we went to the mountain village of Kotgarh, where in the 19th century the well -known British naturalist of Czech origin Ferdinand Stolochka was engaged in the collection of animals. In addition to zoology, this researcher made a noticeable contribution to the study of the geology and paleontology of the Western Himalayas. Not immediately finding this place surrounded on all sides by apple orchards, we spent a lot of time looking for an overnight stay. There were no free rooms in two hotels, and there was simply no third hotel.

Nevertheless, we were lucky: in the neighboring valley of Hattu, not interesting for tourists at this time of the year, there was a small family hotel where we were met with warm -haired owners. It was the family of the air-the descendants of one of the ruling dynasties of North-West India. Here, among coniferous-cheap forests (a mixture of giant cedars, fir, pines and flowering chestnuts) with strawberry clearings, we spent a pleasant watch and interesting excursions.

Our further path lay in the upper reaches of the Satlaya River Valley. On the night of June 5 to 6, we found ourselves on its left bank 11 km south of the town of Rampur - the former capital of the principality of Bashahr. The next day, again at dusk, we stopped in the right -bank village of Kalpa. This place is popular among Indian tourists and pilgrims. From here opens a magnificent view of the mountain range of the so -called Kinnorsky Kilesh. It is believed that on his snow-covered teeth-sixths, the god Shiva himself spends the winter. However, before getting into Kalpu, we wandered for a long time in neighboring gorges in search of an overnight stay. Due to the lack of road signs and many forks, they drove into a remote mountain village, where there were neither hotels nor guardsmen.

Moving further along the gorges of the Satlayge and its right -bank tributary of Spiti, by June 10 we reached the high -mountain village of KA (KazA, or Kaja, 3600 m above sea level). It is located at the top of the Spiti Valley valley. From here we intended, overcoming the Pass of Kunzum (Kunzum Pass, 4551 m), to get into the city of Keilong and further along the National Highway No. 1 (Manali - Lech) in Ladak. But it was in KAZ that our unexpected “adventures” began, which made the further course of the expedition steeply.

It turned out that the Kunzum Pass was closed for an indefinite time, since part of the road was blocked by a glacier that had come off the side valley. According to other sources that we received from our drivers and the owner of the hotel, the road in front of the pass is icy. Several cars trying to overcome it went into the abyss, after which the road was closed.

There was a dilemma in front of us: either to stay in the farm and wait for the opening of the highway, or try to get into Keungon in a different way. In the tourist center, Kaza was advised to choose the second option, as more predictable. For its implementation, it was necessary to make a march in the opposite direction, moving to the south-west and northeast, and, bypassing the kunsum, drive up to Keylong from the south through the Kullu Valley and the Rohtang pass (3978 m).

Since the first group of the expedition was supposed to fly out of Lech (Leh) to Delhi and Moscow on June 23, it was advisable to be in Leha at least a week before this period. Then the scientific part of the expedition program would be completed, although in a slightly abbreviated version.

On the part of the drivers, we met a complete understanding and started in the early morning of the next day, June 11. In 14 hours with several short stops, the route of the previous five days (335 km) was covered and again found themselves in the vicinity of Rampur. From the cool kaza (+17 ºС), “having lost” one and a half degrees of latitude and almost 3000 m of height, found in the valley of the middle reaches of the Satlay (+35 ºС). A narrow, winding road along Satlaya was quite heavy due to a large number of dangerous scree and frequent rockfalls. In several places on the sidelines of the road stood crumpled road cars. Several stones also fell on one of our cars, though small, not harmful.

In the afternoon, overcoming the Jalori pass (Jalori, 3080 m), we were already in Nughar, where we said goodbye to our drivers: the term of the contract with them expired.

We had to make the further path with drivers from Ladak. However, in Nagar, we were waiting for the next unpleasant news. According to one rumors, the rattan pass was closed, on the other, all the passes between Keylong and Lech were closed. We thought again.

The next council of local experts (our friends on previous trips-Brahman and the owner of the hotel, as well as employees of the Roerich family museum) suggested a new race in the north-west direction: through the Kashmir Valley and the Perevo Perezil (Zoijila, 3535 m). It was believed that it is already open. In the late evening of June 12, we almost agreed to follow this advice, but by morning new information received.

According to official figures, the entire road to Ladak is about to open for the movement of transport, but a special permission of local authorities is required to cross the rattan. We did not have it yet.

Our friend Brahman Bita held out his hand to us, found a car, a reliable napalian driver (it turned out to be an Hindle from a manalie). Not without difficulty and with the help of one well -known techniques, he managed to obtain permission to move the rattan on a day off in the evening.

By the way, the name of this pass is translated into Russian as a “field of corpses”. It is argued that in the old days, more than one caravan, who was going towards Ladak and further to Tibet, died on this ancient trading route.

For a dream, the authors have less than two hours. At four in the morning, our race continued. The rattan was really open, but a multi -kilometer string of cars reached for its serpentines. Having passed through the snowy tunnels, we finally got into the highland valley of Chandra and reached the original route with a loss of two days.

The next day, we overcame three passes through the Big Gimalayan and Zanskarsky ridges lying at altitudes from 5300 m. The road turned out to be difficult for us, everyone was tired. However, all this was quickly forgotten when we drove into the city of Lech - the capital of Ladak.

Om Mani Padme Hum !

Lev Borkin, Alexander Andreev,
Himalayan scientific research center
St. Petersburg Union of Scientists

TRV - Science - Information Partner of SPBCU on the Himalayan project
All photos - a . IN . Andreev