The intoxication of climbing Stok Kangri could not last long, the room of Rs 1200 in Leh forced me to publicly say “Everyone will go to hell”. We had two news, under the good news Leh to Manali bus ticket is Rs 640. per person and according to the sad news, the bus seats are full for the next two days. Jalebi from ‘Neha Sweets’ and lime soda from ‘Food Corner’ made these ‘two days’ wonderful.
The Road Journey
So the sensitive information is that every morning at 4.15 two buses go from Leh to Manali, one is deluxe, whose fare is Rs 870. And the second is the normal bus, whose fare is Rs 640 per passenger. There was a problem while buying the ticket, we have to go to Bharatpur (before Baralachla) and the conductor is saying, “You have to buy a ticket till Keylong, otherwise take a taxi”. An emergency meeting was held hurriedly in which it was unanimously decided to “take a ticket for Keylong and go down to Bharatpur”.
Rs 1455 I took three bus tickets and after paying around Rs 4000 for two days of hotel expenses, I started feeling like the father of a girl who has given a double bed and sewing machine as dowry by mortgaging his kidney. After spending two days in hibernate mode, we left the guest house at 3:30 am on 29th June. The bus left 10 minutes behind schedule. Some army personnel boarded the bus from Choglamsar and held the entire bus on their heads for 30 minutes because their booking was in a deluxe bus and even after taking the ticket in advance, the driver did not stop the bus. No one is listening to the voice of the conductor that “Brothers, all the seats are full, there is no space”. The soldiers lured the driver with extra income by saying, “Brother, you have to catch the green bus before Karu village.
The driver was shocked, he first looked at the conductor who was still saying, “There is no seat, where will you sit?”, then he looked at the soldiers and hesitated. “I drive a bus, not a Ferrari, if you want to go at a speed of 100 then book a taxi”, he shouted and applied the brakes. At last now everyone heard what the conductor was saying when he repeated his words in slow motion “There is no space in this bus, will you sit on my head?” , The three soldiers locked eyes for some time in the secret language learned in the training and shouted, “We will stand up and go”, “Tear three tickets to Manali”, saying this the second soldier put the bag down.
After 15 minutes of drama the bus finally started again. 'Tanglang La' is about to arrive, where the entire bus is still unconscious, while the third young man is still abusing the driver of the green bus, with whom the conductor is also supporting with great enthusiasm, as if he is taking an old revenge. The journey till Maure Plains (Kyanguthan) was completed in a state of sleep. The bus stopped at Pang probably at 10 in the morning. As soon as we got off the bus, some co-passengers started a never-ending round of cigarettes; the elite group laid land mines in the toilet. Meanwhile, the workers are eating parathas after smoking, Neitya is eating Maggi, I am drinking Amul Kool Milk, Gaurav is drinking Lassi and nearby Uncle and Aunty are starting Rajma and Rice after a bout of vomiting.
After crossing Lachunchung-La, Gaurav issued a statement that “I am not ready for 6000 meters yet, so I will go straight to Manali”. The statement was shameful yet it received full support. Well, maybe you people are wondering how is the Leh-Manali bus journey? So here I would like to tell you that “Any kind of reaction from the person who had come two days ago after summiting Stok Kangri Peak, I would like to give 5 Day's imprisonment and Rs 500. There should be cash penalty.
Naki-la, Gata Loops and Sarchu passed away in their sleep, and every time they woke up, the third soldier still wanted to kill the driver of the green bus. The bus landed at Bharatpur at 3 o'clock, where I offered my seat to the first soldier. When he finally got a seat after 11 hours of standing since 4 in the morning, it seemed as if tears rolled down from his eyes, he didn't say anything, just sat down. Saying ‘good luck’ to Gaurav, we descended to our destination. The embers of the third soldier were still burning.
The Summit
The only information we have about Mount Yunam is that “it is a trekking peak whose height is 6000 meters”. The last restaurant of Bharatpur is our place. The manager here is Tashi and the owner is his uncle. Later the uncle told that “Two days ago two boys had tried Yunam Summit but due to bad weather they had to return from the base camp”. Uncle took us to see Yunam Peak from the restaurant itself. He also told that he has a knowledgeable person in Darcha, who has crossed 'Tempo-La' 3-4 times, I was in dire need of this additional information as I have to cross this pass sometime in the future.
Today we will stay here and start the trek to base camp tomorrow morning. Two bike riders reached here in the evening and told that after Khoksar, there is a terrible debris in a stream which is known as Mad Stream, there is a huge traffic jam and chaos, as soon as the machine cleared the debris at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. We did the same and reached here directly." Looking at his surprised face, I once felt that “the earth itself has been swept away”. Now we started worrying about Gaurav, but the good thing was that no one was injured and the Earth is also safe.
We had a full lunch and dinner. After hearing the story of Stok Kangri Summit, uncle declared that like mountain goats, we would reach the base camp in two to two and a half hours. Seeing Yunam nearby, I also ate Parle-G biscuits with a calm mind. We woke up comfortably the next morning, when the journey itself was only two hours. So should we hurry up and peel the eggs? After having breakfast, we kept fried rice, biscuits, toffee, cake and chocolate in the bag for the next two days. After telling Tashi and uncle that we would meet the day after tomorrow, we left for the base camp at 10:30 in the morning.
According to the route shown by uncle, we first have to reach the flag visible far away and then cross Yunam River to reach the base camp. By the way, out of all the tents set up here, no one has reached Yunam Peak till date, mostly Bengali people summit it, so the story that Bengali people tell is the same story that these people told to us also.
Soon the GPX file made us cross the river. It was morning so the river was easily crossed. Slowly increasing the height but there is no sign of feeling tired, Nitya is doing well, she is just a little behind me. We reached base camp at 12:25. There is a big rock garden from Bharatpur to the base camp with cairns (heaps of stones) built in between. The altitude here is 5000 meters, tent space and drinking water is available in abundance.
Seeing Yunam visible nearby from the base camp, both of them were tempted to say, “Let us leave our luggage here and go to the summit, we will camp here on our return”. After 15 minutes of deep conversation, I finally issued the order that “What is the hurry, let us rest today and leave early tomorrow morning after summit and return back to Manali”.
Pitched the tent in 10 minutes, had lunch of fried rice at 2 o'clock, rested, roamed around and took photos, what now? , This is the only day in the last two weeks when there has been so much rest. After having dinner at 7 o'clock, both of them became unconscious after setting the alarm for 4 o'clock in the morning. When Nitya woke me up, I opened my eyes, it was 4.15, it was dark outside, I fell asleep after saying “we will leave at five”. The next alarm sounded at the right time, I got up at 5 o'clock, kept water, chocolate, biscuits and cake in my rucksack and proceeded to 6000 meters for the second time at 5:36am.
The weather was clear. Saw the sunrise for the first time from such a altitude, nature bathed in golden light, I prayed for the summit. I was completely fit for the summit and Nitya is looking superfit. The march began with chants of Jai Mata Di and Let's Rock. There is a small stream flowing in front of the base camp. We started climbing up along it. The weather was cold and the air was getting thinner with every step.
After 30-40 minutes, after crossing the first overhang, both of them reached a slightly open area where only stones were scattered. After walking for some time, snow started falling. After crossing the stream flowing between the snow, we slowly started moving up inch by inch. We estimate that we will reach the top in maximum 5 hours. The thickness of the ice increases as we go higher. We took a break of five minutes, my breath was on the seventh sky and Nitya's might have been on the fifth or sixth.
Suddenly the weather started changing, where till some time ago there was bright sunshine, now fog started appearing, visibility was reduced to 10 feet. The snowy area has started and looking back from here, Nitya is visible across seven seas. Here, there are stones peeking out of the womb of ice, on which black ice is frozen.
The snow is compact, meaning it is hard. Now to move ahead, the ice has to be kicked and broken so that a ladder-like slot can be created for the shoes. Nitya is climbing Yunam with trail running shoes. Even my Yeti shoes are slipping here, then what feat can trail running shoes do? The last 200 meters blew me away. My reserve got exhausted due to continuous walking breaking the ice, while coughing, when my lungs broke my chest and fell on the ice, I realized that “bro scene is off”.
Reached the summit at 10:05 am, no clouds left, no mist, no energy and no ego. I am sitting on the summit having collected myself, my breathing is being controlled but I am not feeling it. As soon as we touched the peak, the shiver that started from the spine reached the mind, which gave a feeling of deep satisfaction. Nitya is still sitting, her head bowed as if she is thanking the mountain. She wanders around, looking at her controlled breathing it seems that she has received blessings from the mountain. We both wish each other good luck, offer blessings to the mountain. Now it's time to eat something, sitting on the snowy ridge at the top, both of them have breakfast, talk, laugh and offer some breakfast and feeling to the peak.
Summit is situated at 6092 meters, distance of Yunam from Base Camp is 2.52 km. In which there is a height gain of 937 meters. It took us 4:52 hours to reach the top from base camp. Mount Yunam is a non-technical peak located in Upper Lahaul, Himachal. This peak is located behind Bharatpur place adjacent to Yunam Lake (4800 m) near Baralchala Pass. The coordinates of Unum are 32.818453, 77.404563 and the height of this peak is 6092 meters.
All the shortcomings of not being able to take photos at Stok Kangri were compensated at Yunam. We kept taking photos for about 10 minutes. After recharging the body, we took leave from Yunam at 10:34. The snow has become soft due to the sun, now it is fun to walk. I come down running fast, but Nitya is coming down slowly. Thanks to my trekking shoes but the melting snow broke all the armor and soaked the feet and ultimately made them numb.
As soon as the snow ended, the shoes started drying and some people also started appearing at the base camp. We reached the base camp at 12:20, here two people are setting up a tent together. During the conversation it came to light that there is a Bengali group which will attempt the summit on 4th July. One by one all the Bengali people started appearing from bottom to top. Today they have a lot to do, tomorrow they will capture the base camp and the day after tomorrow, after height gain, they will attempt the summit the next day.
Seeing our fallen faces, the group leader gave juice and paratha to both of us, on which I blessed him “You got two girlfriends”. There is a group of about 14-15 people, after congratulating everyone we packed the tent. And at 12:44 the entire Bengali community ran down shouting 'Ram Ram'. It took no time to reach Yunam river, we went down at the speed of a rocket. The sun is strong which has made the river deep and strong. After 10 minutes of not finding the right place to cross, we finally entered and crossed the Yunam river. The water is above the thighs and the breath is out of the chest.
Reaching Bharatpur at 1:50, the second summit was completed safely. After a quick lunch, now there was the wait for the bus to Manali which would arrive at 3 o'clock. The bus arrived before time and at 2:30 we boarded the bus and got a seat. To the left and right of both of us are sitting BROs (Border Road Oragnazation) with their withered faces.
The conductor told that “This bus will go only till Keylong, change from Keylong for Manali”. Without any delay we took two tickets to Keylong. Reached Keylong at quarter to five from where the next bus left for Manali at 6 o'clock. Most of the way was spent sleeping. The bus landed at Manali at 10:30 pm. After a tumultuous eight-hour journey, we spent the remaining time in dinner and finding a room. A thali of Rs 100 at Manali Sweets and a room of Rs 500 nearby ended the trip.
The trek to Mount Yunam (6092 m) starts from Bharatpur (4709 m), a one-way trek of about 4.52 km, with a height gain of 1419 meters. The walking distance from Bharatpur to Base Camp (5188 m) is only 2 km. And the height gain is 482 meters. The walking distance from Base Camp to Yunam Top is 2.52 km. In which there is a height gain of 937 meters. It took us 02 hrs 10 mins to reach Base Camp from Bharatpur, 04 hrs 52 mins from Base Camp to Yunam Top, 01 hrs 46 mins from Yunam Top back to Base Camp and 01 hrs 23 mins from Base Camp to Bharatpur and total The cost from Leh to Yunam, Manali and back to Bir was Rs. 4785.
Disclaimer: I have also posted the content (text and photos) posted in this blog in Hindi language on my Hindi blog www.himalayanwomb.blogspot.com. The English version of the same Hindi blog on Hive has been posted here with the help of Google Translate.
[//]:# (!pinmapple 32.81907 lat 77.40385 long Conquering the Heights: Summiting Mount Yunam Peak in the Indian Himalayas (19,987 feet) d3scr)