A bit elusive at first, you can feel the mighty presence of the highest peak in the Zanskar Valley of Ladakh region, as soon as you set off on the road to Tangol. On its first appearance, this massive peak of 7135M makes its presence known to you, not very subtly. The way it elegantly stands in its milk-white robe against the barren landscape of Suru valley, it certainly knows how to stand out and own the view. On our entry into the valley, the first sight of the mountain was so captivating - we were hooked - and that's when we knew our journey had begun! The peak still looked inaccessible, however, – like a distant goal. The magnanimity of our task ahead had not hit us yet as we admired it from the warm, flower-scented valley. The warmth of the sun and the bursting colors of the flora of Suru Valley absorbed the presuppositions for the 15 days of cold mess that we were driving towards.
Although not the best, the weather forecast looked good. It suggested that we had a short but promising window to make our summit attempts. The climbers looked ready and assured after having faced intense heat, torrential rains, hailstorms and teething winds during their pre-expedition, acclimatization trek through Markha Valley. Meticulous with our planning and logistics, we had checked off everything on our dozen checklists of requirements for the 15 days to come. Everything was on schedule and looked well.
Until we reached Tangol – the head trail for this daunting undertaking.
Our first roadblock
According to plan, the team reached the village of Tangol by the afternoon of 1st August. We were then to leave for basecamp during the early hours of the next day. After a comfortable night, our last in warm beds with a roof over our head, for a very long time, each team member took an hour to get ready and stuff their 15kg backpacks with all that was required from there on. Lunches were packed for the long route ahead, the team was ready to leave, we had just finished a filling breakfast meal and topped our bottles with water when the Expedition Leader assembled everyone to deliver the news. We had hit our first day of delay. Due to porters canceling at the last hour, we were short of support to reach all our ration, equipment, tents, and other essentials which together weighed close to a whopping 850 kilos, to the basecamp. We needed a total of 45 porters. While the team scoured nearby villages to find replacements, they were met with little luck. After much duress, we could arrange for a few, who went in batches and some also made second rounds, to drop the stuff up to BC. A day of delay so early on in an expedition was a cause for concern, but nothing we couldn’t make up for in the days to come. And, so, onwards we went towards the basecamp on 3rd of August.