Surviving the Baralacha Pass Adventure, Breathless at 4850 Meters (INDIA)

In the last post you read how we reached Manali from Delhi in a friend's jeep. While climbing the hill from Manali to Rohtang pass, the condition of the jeep as well as ours worsened because the jeep was so old that it was unable to climb the hill at such a height. I would not be surprised if this jeep jumps into the ravine with us. Because I am sitting at the back, so as soon as there is any such movement, I will jump down with the speed of lightning.

The jeep has brought us safely to Baralacha La, where the height is 4850 meters. There is so much snow all around as if we have come to a snowy desert. The sun is shining in the sky like a bright torch, as soon as we look outside, the eyes are dazzled as if we will get snow blindness. Seeing this emergency situation, I take out the black glasses from the bag and wear them on my blind eyes and put the mask on my face again and hold the jeep tightly.

On the hilly road, the jeep is dancing like a participant has got a chance to dance on the dance floor. Due to the dance of the jeep, I sitting behind am sometimes falling left and sometimes right. To balance myself, I hold the jeep's rods tightly. Many times my head hits the walls of the jeep. Oops, it was a very tricky situation because once my head hit the wall. I have kept the jeep tightly on the hill and I am thinking whether my memory will be lost due to hitting my head.

I myself am laughing thinking such absurd things. I am laughing loudly. The distance from Baralacha pass to Sarchu is 30 km, which the old jeep takes one and a half hours to cover. It takes so much time because it stops at one place where it has to be started by pushing it. Above 4800 meters, where there is no greenery and oxygen is almost negligible in my opinion, if you have to push a 25 year old jeep there, then only God can save you.

The jeep started after pushing it but I became disoriented. My body became like a phone without charging. My companions gave me water to drink, after which I regained consciousness in about 15 minutes. I opened my eyes and saw that I had reached Sarchu. Sarchu is famous for open ground and strong winds. I looked around and then pinched you, which proved that I was alive. I would not have thought that my oxygen level would go so low that I would have to faint.

My companions took me out of the jeep and laid me down in a tent in Sarchu. I am not having any problem except for slow breathing which is coming on trying. After about an hour I become stable and then in the next one hour I drink one liter of hot water. Sarchu is the border of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. Ladakh starts from here and the height here is 4201 meters. If someone is fond of trekking, then he can go to Zanskar on foot from here and from there onwards to Kargil.

Here we meet a motorcycle rider who has come from Andhra Pradesh, India. On talking to him, we come to know that the rider travelled from Andhra to Jammu from where he went to Ladakh and now from here he will go to Manali from where he will go back to his home in South India. We return to our tent saying all the best. I am looking at the jeep parked outside the tent and wondering if it will be able to take us back?. Oops, there are so many questions in my mind whose answers we will get only tomorrow.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from Sony h100 point and shoot camera and edited in lightroom, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.

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