Day 4 (27th June) : Bedni Bugyal to Bhagwabasa (BASECAMP)
Today was another crucial day as it was the basecamp that we had to reach. One thing that we heard most before this trek was how people had stopped their returned from the basecamp itself as it got extremely difficult for them. So, I for one was very keen on knowing how the upcoming events would unfold in front of us.
Anyway, I had a very restless sleep the night before maybe because of the rains adding to the cold. All of us were extra cautious about our breathing and clothing that morning because the temperatures were definitely around 3-4 degrees celsius with a hint of moisture in the air.
Leaving camp. We shed extra weight here by leaving stuff that was not required.
The winds got crazier by this point which was probably around 10:30 am. I really didn't want to wear an extra layer of clothing but had to wrap my down jacket after a while.
Isn't he the best company to have?!
We stopped for a snack break at a local shop and I got some time to play around in the wet soil before running to pee. I was grateful that the toilet tent was still over my head in the process! :D
The next hour brought some serious changes around us. Low visibility, High wind pressures with some drizzling and slow pace. By 1 pm we neared some really steep climb and met some people who descending their way back to home. It was very kind of them to give us a heads up on what was coming next along with being hydrated along the way. We got tons of good wishes as we approached hill top.
At this point I was completely exhausted and drained out of energy. I still don't know how I made it to the very top but what I do know is wanting to b one with the clouds. Every single one of us used last drops of our energy to make this climb which hands down THE MOST DIFFICULT spot till this point. The steep in the woods seemed much easier now that we were doing this.
I put a small video and of the moment (& my victory tea) when we crossed this nerve-racking of a climb before finally reaching bhagwabasa. I apologise it for being a little noisy and unstable as I was really struggling to save my phone from not falling apart.
After about half an hour of catching breath and relaxing we set off to cover the final 2 kms leading us to the basecamp. This trail was very easy to walk on and in about 15 minutes we saw Mr. Bhupendra who would stand their as a kung fu master watching his students pass the test!
Put your hands up? Hell No! Put your feet up!
Okay, let me do justice to this picture. I am vegetarian and what you are seeing below is a bun omelette. Yes I am the one holding it and I am the who ate it. Actually 3 such omelettes. Because it was THAT tempting (I am a baked food fan). If you ever visit this place you HAVE to, HAVE to try this! I ended up sitting their with @komal and 2 more friends for about 3 hours! We had a fantastic conversation with the locals about the trek, their way of living and so much more. We had some hot tomato soup as well to ease the cold.
Here a couple of videos for you guys and I won't explain anything about them except that these were taken from the basecamp. :)
@rovingman made sure each one of us took a Diamox after our meal as we had to wake up at 1 am for reaching the summit. The picture below is not an actual data, I took it just to show how it works. Fortunately, everybody was in perfect health to do the summit at night.
This was my data for the day. SpO2 % : 88 and Pr Bpm : 108
It was continuously drizzling but didn't seem to create any hassle in our work...or so we thought. All of us had slipped back into our tents by 7/8 pm already prepared to do the summit in a few hours and woke up right on time only to find out we were horribly stuck....
...Cont in Part V
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Lots Of Love <3