Friday 17th October
Woke to a day of high cloud. Usual excellent breakfast. Porridge followed by
omelettes, after 6:30 tea, 6:45 washing water, 7:30 breakfast, lunch laid out
8:00, leave 8:45.
After walking for most of yesterday alone, but partly with Anil, I joined him
today for the walk up through magnificent woodland - mainly cypress trees
- to the Kukin Khal pass, 3121 metres.
Anil and I arrived at 10am, the ponies
five minutes later, and Richard John and Julia half an hour later. It was a
lovely spot, with wonderful views north to Bugial Koti (5188 metres) and
beyond.
Clouds shrouded the snow-covered peaks in the distance - actually probably
beyond Bugial Koti to the major Himalayan peaks. To our left Jatropani, at 4071
metres, looked tempting but would involve a lengthy excursion.
I tried to walk with the others but was soon ahead again. Found a lovely
mountain stream and changed into my usual walking garb of shorts, sandals and
t-shirt, and did some washing in the stream. By now the sun was out. Even after
all this time the others hadn't arrived, but I continued and spotted them
behind me. As soon as they reached me in a lovely alpine meadow, they wanted to
stop, so I moved on to join the ponies and the rest of the group, who were
pausing below.
The others saw a beaver / marmot type of creature here. There are supposed to
be bears, monkeys and all sorts in this forest, but I saw none of them.
On the way up through the forest had been a 'purple patch' of birdlife - a
golden oriole, nuthatch, crested tit and various other types of tit.
I joined Pawan, Bagwan and the goat for the long and lovely descent on
narrow paths through jungly woods (dense deciduous forest) to the campsite at
the confluence of two rivers near Sutol.
Bagwan and the goat
On the way I saw a lovely orchid, all on its own, very fragrant. [Sadly no photo.]
On reaching the campsite I tried to help with the tents but found the system
didn't really need me.
The goat*, which had walked with us - a little reluctantly - all the way from
Wan - stood with a hunched back, miserable on a 4-ft tether - as if knowing its
fate. We had been asked at the start of the trek about food - "no
English" we had said. "Do you like mutton?" "Yes" we
replied, "and chicken". Anil had explained that chickens were not a
good idea as they lose half their weight in transit. Hence the goat.
A local barbaric looking man arrived with two blunt looking knives, which he
proceeded to sharpen on rocks. The goat was then led to a spot near the river,
and it took about 20-30 seconds to hack off its head, which was put on one side
for later use.
The goat was then placed neck down in a bucket for about half a minute, whilst, still kicking, it released most of its blood into the bucket.
The stomach was exposed and the entrails hung out as it was taken down to the river to be skilfully skinned and jointed by Pawan, who didn't participate in the killing.
Anil, a vegetarian teetotaller hard man, was absent throughout. The skin was taken as far as the knee joints. I didn't see what happened to the feet sections, but the rest was all cleverly jointed and put in a bucket before Pawan returned proudly with it to the cook tent. He had carefully washed the carcass before jointing it. The whole operation from untethering the goat to its return in a bucket took about 30 minutes.
Meanwhile the others had arrived and had not watched Pawan's activities. We enjoyed tea and nibbles (cheese bhajis I seem to recall) before John, Julia and I headed up nearby slopes for views towards Trisul (7120 metres), a massive mountain.
We looked longingly at the route up to Roop Kund (5029 metres) which is accessible by trek, but not by ours. John has ideas for the future, and suggestions to HK, but I think we must live with our fairly modest daily objectives and heights.
I wonder which mountain Ian Inch (whose maps I have) and his climbing club friends went up? Was it Nanda Ghunti (6309 metres)? His map has '20,700' marked against it, and he has made additions to his map hereabouts. #
We tried to make the walk circular but failed and returned down a steep path in increasing gloom. We passed an immaculately maintained house lived in by a friendly lady carrying a marrow. Though appearing to be (and possibly actually) dressed in rags, the locals hereabouts run very tidy homes. This lady's field of the red crop (chua [phonetic]) used for making flour had been carefully harvested and laid over the cut stems to dry.
We strayed from our upward path and a man in a field gathered some hay, skilfully using some to carry the bundle, and led us down. It was fully dark by the time we reached camp.
Vegetable soup followed the usual hot potassium permanganate then hot water hand washing routine, complete with hot hand towels to dry. This follows the tea and snacks which we always receive on arrival at camp. A main course of rice and paratha, with dahl, a mild vegetable curry, and goat's rib curry followed. There was also another dish which I can't remember. The goat's ribs were a little fresh, and it was a fairly skinny goat, but an excellent meal as usual, with sponge cake for afters, and Baileys and coffee to finish.
I'm sharing with John tonight and talking / reading continued until 10:30.
* Goat - cost 1500 Rupees (£22), the man who kills it has the skull and lower legs.
# Yes, Ian subsequently confirmed that he was the first Brit up this mountain.
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