[U]Day 09
Dchigan --> Hispar Valley[/U]
Next morning we saw beauty of this campsite. Some birds were singing when I woke up… Got freshen up and had breakfast and in half an hour we were ready to go.
Today we were dreaming of spend night at Hispar valley and have hotel meal which looked tempting after several days of trekking. Though Waheed, our guide, didn’t agree much if we would really be at Hispar by evening. Along the usual trail, from meadow to meadow we kept enjoying this easy walk, but the only problem today was the pain I was having in ankle and heel. The shoes after long support were hurting badly today. Nevertheless it didn’t slow down, this happens on all long treks, on the way back you are accompanied by some injuries and pain. Besides it seemed our last trekking day so I bucked up myself, ‘thodi himmat aur karna hogi.’
We saw tens of Chakor birds every time we landed in a new meadow, couldn’t grab any photos as they were too quick to hide in sideways. After 2-3 hrs, we finally reached the disputed place and of course I was wrong. Waheed was right about another glacier between Pumari Chish and Bitanmil. Due to its complicated shaping between the mountains, despite short length it was a difficult crossing. Waheed recalled 2 years ago when it took them 4 hours to cross this small patch. Add stones, rocks of all sizes sitting in mud caused by glacier’s constant melting and spread it on this vertically inclined glacier, you get this. It cannot be explained, but this really exhausted us… took a lot of time.
The mountains there are made of unstable rocks paved in sand that slips anytime you put your weight on. People who have been there must know the kind of trouble they can make when climbing up or coming down. We had to climb up on the mountain again to be on the trail. After all these days it was not pleasant to do this kind of ups and downs under the mid-day sunlight. Later it was mostly a straight walk for next one hour and then came a big river stream/Nullah. To cross it we had to descend all the way from the trail. This stream first seemed harmless didn’t let anyone cross it despite all efforts. Waheed tried, so did Hyder and another porter. One by one everyone started climbing up on glacier which was covering the river on height. Again one and half hour wasted due to this small stream.
My heel was hurting badly. With each step I take the pain was getting terrible, but I was walking. From there we walked another 1 hr to see first glimpse of Bitanmil. Relieved me as the walk was almost unbearable. I thought this Aazmaish is over now. But again the sight was misleading, that was a never ending walk before we could actually reach actual Bitanmil camp/plain which sits along Kunyang Chish glacier. I was completely feeling sick and don’t know how I was moving taking steps. Arriving this campsite everyone fell straight on lush greenery that embrass Bitanmil, in a few minutes everyone was fast asleep.
There was no hope to move any farther today, everyone was fatigued and a little annoyed. Waheed and Hyder were disappointed for not finding any local on Bitanmil, it was for long planned to have local (yak) yogurt lassi and bread made by shepherds there. We had not eaten anything since morning and now all the tiredness and hunger was getting to our nerves. I think in all the long treks such a day comes which is a little rotten. I hate this but it has to come naturally.
After 15 min of sleep I woke up, feeling a little better. I did review the whole situation and thought it would be too bad to give up here. If we set up our camp at 4.30 today, some of our efforts for expediting the trek will be wasted. If we start now and try to cover as much as we can, even if we cannot make it to Hispar Valley, will still be good enough.
Hyder bechara prepared noodle soup for us to rejoice our down energy level. I made my mind to get up and do more. Changed my shoes with spare BATA I had brought, this helped the pain. Waheed was trying to convince everyone ready for next round. Porters refused initially but with some more biscuits and effort from my side they agreed to go. They were not in a good mood as it was cruel to them.
Bitanmil is lush green and the best camping site on this trek. Can be compared with Biantha… but Bitanmil has wider plain. Only you have to have eye to appreciate it, that’s a problem after such a long journey.
Now for us only problem left was Kunyang Chish Glacier. According to Waheed it takes at least 2+ hours to cross it. Looking at its moraines somehow it didn’t look like a big trouble honestly. May be it was our past experience or something else, fear or worry for such moraines had totally disappeared. At 5 we started crossing it, we were on the other side at 5.45… that means it took us only 45 minutes!!!
Sitting at the top on other side everyone shared this joyous feeling, Hispar valley was now looking like a reality.
Strange footprint found on the way down.
Soon after that glimpses of Hispar valley infused considerable amount of motivation in us. The descend was rather easy from this point. It was rather a flight than a mere walk… in sunset light the valley ahead of us was giving us a warm welcome… no surprises, no challenges ahead now.
We had already passed the difficult part. Now relieved we had very interesting conversation covering marriages, traditions, education and even next year’s plan.
By the time we crossed a slow river stream I was convinced for next year’s Ropal peak trek J it was a crazy time. Even the dark night didn’t slow us down and almost after 3 hours we reached to a small setup by some old shepherds from Hispar. Most of them were aged above 50 and we called everyone Chaacha J They told us Hispar is just half an hour of walk from here but the river bridge was broken. So we planned to stay there chachaas . They hosted us with their traditional warm hospitality.
We trekked from 7am till 9pm, that makes 14 hours. And somehow achieved what we had planned for.
