Trek Kailash II

From Drölma to Zutulpuk

Determination is a drug that numbs all pain and indulgence, while also not accommodating mental lapses. A few moments of sleep in the middle of a still restless night, fortunately shortened by the alarm at 5 am. We spend much of the night observing the starry ceiling from our beds, through the window glass. We have a brief breakfast in the refectory, waking up the hosts and a couple of guests who were sleeping on the sofas. At 6 am, with headlamps, we start walking along a beautiful, starlit path. There are no lights within kilometers, so observing the stars would be a real boon for astronomy enthusiasts. Besides not knowing the constellations, it is still advisable to carefully watch the path in order not to see other stars. The road immediately starts uphill, the cold is intense and some sudden gusts of wind make us perceive temperatures above -15°, but we are well covered and our bodies start to warm up with the walk. The Tibetan guide decides to go ahead of everyone and on his own, while R.K. remains in support of the group's tail. There is no time to think about what we are experiencing, there is only to go, proceed, slowly. And the engine runs much better than yesterday. We are all moving forward, a short distance apart. The early departure was necessary to avoid the chilly morning winds that whip up the mountain when it gets light, and The last rays of sunlight are fading.. At some point, we... The front of the Kailash is illuminated in orange. The sun greets Shiva and Parvati who reside on the peak. Slowly, the horizontal line of dawn descends along the snowy mountain, gradually enveloping the surrounding area. We begin to see what surrounds us as we climb with more strength than we thought possible. Some sections are quite steep, especially considering the altitude, but we overcome them easily. Everyone. The snow is becoming continuous and the path previously walked by other travelers becomes slippery.

In no way could the yaks have crossed the pass. We proceed slowly but steadily until everything around us is now white. Or rather, it should be, because the ground takes on a variety of increasingly dense multicoloured hues: they are the prayer flags that spread across the ground and cover everything. This is the unmistakable sign that we have finally reached our goal, the point marking the summit of our journey. And it's the moment when we realize that we have succeeded. We are on Mount Drölma, at an altitude of 5,660 meters., the highest point of the Kora, from which we can only descend, with a firm conviction: that we have succeeded. That we were able to complete the tour without any particular acclimatization and despite some adverse conditions. Perhaps we will realize this later; for now, we are caught up in the ecstasy of admiring the Kailash, which seems to be smiling at us, high above in the sky that has meanwhile turned cobalt. Each person expresses dedications or attributes meanings to the moment; simple thoughts rise, lifted by prayer flags and soar upwards. Only the cold brings us back down to earth and convinces us to move from this permanent state. It is 8:30 am, a great time if we also want to be interested in the timings. We pass Shivatsal, where pilgrims usually leave behind an item of clothing or something that belongs to them, to symbolize the transition from one life to another. More prosaically, the place seems like a dumping ground and we decide not to contribute further. The path begins a slow descent on icy snow and we say goodbye to the north face of Kailash. Reaching the actual pass Let's start disembarking. We were trying to get to the sunny areas as quickly as possible. We found our rest stop after passing through a frozen stretch I can't figure out what it might be. It's not a piece of glacier, but it doesn't seem like a river blocked by ice either. We carefully cross it and we can finally hug and take pictures. The effort has paid off, and the sacrifices haven't been in vain. To have come to Tibet with all the discomfort and hardship, only to not complete the trip would have been a bitter defeat. Now it's over, and I guess that some physical difficulties made everything more complicated, but it will be good karma for the future. The tension is easing, and the cold is losing its grip. Now all that's left is to disembark. to tea house for a well-deserved cup of salty tea, enhanced by some cookies.

The long descent to Darchen

Confident in our success, we believe that now we can directly head to Darchen to meet up with our sleeping bags, which will be returning from the other side on yaks. From Dhirapuk to the teahouse is 7 km; we still need to add another 22 km, mostly on flat terrain at an altitude ranging from 4,600 to 4,700 meters. This marks the beginning of the tedious stretch through the Lham-chu Khir valley, where rare villages break up the the monotony of a landscape returned exhausted and desolate, with only the peaks remaining white. Everything else has turned back into dust. It seems to never end; we occasionally stop for a meal, encountering devout people who prostrate themselves every few steps, covering their bodies and faces in the dust. Some even wear scarves or masks over their mouths. On the ground, they leave behind a trace of their devotion. the wind will be eager to lift us into the sky. In Zutulpuk, where our second overnight stay during the trek was planned, we stopped only for tea and then continued on our way to complete the 52 km. We could have actually taken public transport for the last 4 km, but it seemed like ruining a work of art, the frame of a beautiful painting that we were about to finish. So, we grit our teeth and with a kick against fatigue and boredom, we finally arrive in Darchen. Here, we receive congratulations from the support team: it is rare for Westerners to complete the kora by foot, arriving at the same point where they started, and it is also rare that the journey is completed in just two days. But, with the modesty and humility of our Alpine walkers, we enjoy this moment of glory for the goal achieved. We discover that Indian pilgrims who undertake the kora without being accustomed to mountain terrain have a success rate no higher than 20%. A short rest and a foot bath in the comfortable rooms of the guesthouse before dinner, where joy replaced tension and dispelled the uncertainty of the previous days. And back among us is Lhasa beer, light but pleasant for the occasion. As if by magic, before going to sleep, we see from the window that it starts snowing heavily. If this continues at this pace, it could even jeopardize our progress tomorrow, but it is just a fleeting moment. After a few minutes, it stops falling and in the morning it will already be gone.