Till a voice, as bad as Conscience

-
"There's no sense in going further--it's the edge of cultivation,
So they said, and I believed it--broke my land and sowed my crop--
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop:

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes
On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated--so:
"Something hidden. Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges--
"Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!"...

The Explorer- Rudyard Kipling

On one everlasting Whisper day...

I have always tried to inspire myself ( not succeeded always though). Sometimes when all the Bob Dylan, David Gray, Kipling, treks and climbs on well known path seem a little dull; its time for me to " look behind the ranges.."

Well looks like its going to be another of those crazy projects that I have had in the past!

My job takes to me to the spectacular Onglathang Valley many times a year. A valley guarded by the mighty mountains. Kangchendzonga, Kabru, Talung, Pandim, Tinchinkhang, Jopuno...Giants and Lepcha demigods! Sometimes climbing, sometimes purely for guiding a trekkking group to the high mountain pass of Goecha la. The funny yet frustrating thing about this Goecha la trek is that one only goes up to the pass following the Yoksum- Tsokha- Dzongri- Thangsing- Lamoni- Sungmoteng Lake trail and come back down the same valley. No one crosses the pass and descend to the other side, the Talung Glacier and follow the Talung river down to reach the green valley of Dzongu, the Lepcha territory. No one? Well, not in last 119 years!

In July 1890, J. Claude White ( the first British political officer to Sikkim 1887 to 1908) did the first and quite possibly the last recorded crossing of Goecha La. Starting from Onglathang side he crossed the pass, traversed the Talung glacier, and followed the river system down to the Lepcha sanctuary known as Dzongu in North Sikkim. I am quoting the following lines from his book " Sikhim and Bhutan, Twenty-One years on the North East Frontier, 1887-1908", page 53:

"...In 1890 I made one of my first expeditions to the snows, crossing the Giucha-La Pass and from there making my way to Ringen, following a route the latter part of which had certainly never been traversed by a European, and I doubt by any one, except possibly a very occasional Lepcha...."

In 2006 and 2007, I had repeatedly visited Upper Dzongu area in order to explore the myth of the wild man of Sikkim; the Bon Manchi! My trips took me to the South East flanks of Siniolchu, the snout of Zumthul Phuk glacier and also visited Kishongla. I found there a lot more than one can find in Google Earth, tourist brochures, websites or any modern map. I found a pass named after the elusive 'Yeti'. The pass is called 'Mige La'( Migou, or Migu as they call the Yeti in Tibetan dialects). But thats another story.

Out of my sheer interest and respect for the Lepcha traditions and culture I visited the Tholung Monestary and the remote Dzongu villages a few times. Sakyong, Pentong, Lingzya are the villages where Claude White reached after his epic crossing. I am familiar with the villages as I have spent many nights there already, talking to the locals, trying to gather more information on the terrain that lies beyond their last cultivated fields and yak shelters. But it seems no one has gone beyond 1 full day's hike after the last village of Sakyong. No one,not even the ever enterprising himalayan shepherds.

Now that is what increases my interest and a sense of challenge in this project. The element of unknown. Just the right amount of mystery to make my adventure worth. If I am succesful, I will dedicate this to the spirit of exploration of J.Claude White, who deserves to be remembered as one of the pioneer explorers of Sikkim and Bhutan along with Dr. Kellas, Graham, Freshfield.

This journey will also enable me to take photographs of some hitherto unseen glaciers, like the South Simvu glacier and its peaks, their accessibility and feasibilty.

In 1890 what White achieved was great even though he was accompanied by a group of porters, and sherpas. In his account he did not specify how many men he had on his expedition. But from his description and the practices of that time, I assume that he had at least 10. In order to honour that courage I have decided to attempt his feat in a 2 men team. Being a fan of Shipton- Tilman style of exploration myself, its going to be just me and my climbing partner Thendup.

Thats it for now. If anyone has any information on this area and history please share with me.Cheers to the spirit of exploration and freedom of the hills!!!

We hope to start this adventure on May 12, 2009 from Darjeeling.

 

 

 


--
Adventure Mania
official website: www.adventuremania.com
Upcoming Trips blog: http://adventuremania-india.blogspot.com
Raja's personal blog:http://himalaya-raja.blogspot.com
Real Adventure Journeys Across Himalaya
Call Raja:  +91 97487 61139
Optional Number :+91 92305 11139

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Across The Sahara on a Bicycle

-
Image
Across The Sahara on a Bicycle Between the things we get And the things we celebrate Flows a desert                            Lest we forget. #SaharaQuartet Background: My Africa My first exposure to the real Africa in 2005 after climbing Kilimanjaro. Scanned from slide. On top of Kilimanjaro in 2005 with a copy of Tathyakendra magazine. Scanned from slide I first visited Africa (Tanzania to be specific) in 2005. I hiked Kilimanjaro and came back home. It was just a tourist thing I did. But in spite of being wrapped up in an itinerary and a travel package of all things touristy; something very curious happened. I got even more inquisitive about Africa. I wanted to go back to Africa. Not as a tourist, but as a drifting wanderer, living an ever curious life. But for that I had to wait a good seven years. In 2011, while I was exploring the barriers of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in ...
Read more

To the Mountains of the Moon: A Journey from Fiction to Facts

-
Image
In 1937, Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay chronicled the adventures of a Bengali boy named Shankar. This novel was named 'Chander Pahar' (English: 'Mountains of the Moon', as the fiction refers to a range of mountains and not a single standing mountain). 'Chander Pahar' went on to become one of the most loved adventure stories in the Bengali literature. In his lifetime, Bibhutibhushan wrote 16 novels and over 200 short stories. Interestingly, even though most of Bibhutibhushan's works were largely set in rural Bengal; in this particular novel the writer chose the setting of 1909 Africa. Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1894-1950) In the story 'Chander Pahar', our protagonist Shankar gets a lucky break to go out from his little riverside village in Bengal to work for the Uganda Railway. Thus begun his sudden and long journey from the mundane to the extraordinary. A roller coaster ride through adventures involving the infamous man eating lions of Tsav...
Read more

Straight from a Story Book: Part I

-
Image
It all started with a story book. In 1937, Bibhuti Bhushan Bandyopadhyay , one of the leading writers of modern Bengali literature penned ' Chander Pahar '. It is a story of a 22 year old young man from rural Bengal who sets out to Africa on an adventure of a lifetime in 1909. (If you have not read the book already you can read the plot summary here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chander_Pahar ) Like millions of Bengali readers I had read this adventure story when I was a kid and then as I grew up, as indicated by its publisher (juvenile literature); it became a thing of the past, a childhood fantasy for me.  It is only in recent years, after I climbed Kilimanjaro (2005), I picked up 'Chander Pahar' again. It is then, the book started opening new meanings and fresh directions for me. It is then I began to understand the meaning of the Swedish proverb- 'In a good book the best is between the lines' .  My repeated readings of 'Chander Pah...
Read more