Ralam
Dhura pass (5630m), also referred as Sipu Pass by locals is located in North
Eastern part of Uttarakhand. In olden times, local people who used to visit
Darma valley from Ralam side called it as Ralam Pass and peoples who used to
visit Ralam valley from Darma side called it as Sipu pass. Ralam Dhura pass
(5630m) is usually mistaken and identified as Ralam Pass/Brijganga Pass (4666m)
which is altogether different. Ralam Dhura pass, as per records available, was first
crossed by Scottish Himalayan Expedition in 1950 from Ralam side and by Mr.
Krishnan Kutty team in 2005 from Darma side. Till our attempt in Sep’16, it was
attempted/crossed by only ITBP and Paryavaran peoples as it is believed to be
death risky with unknown paths and conditions. We were surely not going to get scared
of it, so walked ahead with our idea of giving it a chance. After preparation
and planning for over 10 months, we decided to make an attempt to cross the
pass. Seven Friends and September 2016, we reached Munsiyari to start journey
of our dreams. Delayed flights, long wait for forgotten luggage by airlines and
extra long journey from Delhi to Munsiyari were already getting a toll on our
spirits. To counter this, we added some more spirits to our stomach to digest
all those problems enroute. This was surely going to be a tough expedition with
totally unknown territory, so team size was also kept little large including
seven trekkers, six technical experts from Wildrift Adventures Pvt. Ltd. and
rest 15 guides/porters. Our main guide was Mr. Khadag Singh from Paton village;
he is fondly referred as the mountain man. We knew Khadag Da’s participation
only after reaching Munsiyari, as he was engaged by our logistics partner
Wildrift. We were surely there on a fascinating and compelling journey into a
far remote valley having untold stories of flourishing Indo-Tibetan trade that
got stopped after conflict between India and China in 1962.
Route Line
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:
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Munsiyari
(2150 m) – Chilamdhar (2150 m) – Paton (2160 m) – Lungrani (2280 m) –
Killadum (3290 m) – Ralam (3640 m) – Yankchar Pass Base Camp (3750 m) – Yankchar
Pass ABC (4360 m) – Yankchar Dhura Pass (4700 m) – Ralam Pass ABC (5150 m) – Ralam
Dhura Pass (5630 m) - Nipchukang Glacier (4350 m) – Dantu (3440 m) – Nagling
(2930 m) – Munsiyari (2150 m)
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| Our Camp Sites |
Plan
of Action Concluded:
Day
1
|
:
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Munsiyari
(Chilamdhar) to Paton approx 6.98 kms.
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Day
2
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:
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Paton
to Lungrani approx 8.77 kms.
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Day
3
|
:
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Lungrani
to Killadum approx 8.02 kms.
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Day
4
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:
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Kildam
to Ralam approx 7.95 kms.
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Day
5
|
:
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Ralam
to Yangchar Pass BC approx 4.46 kms.
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Day
6
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:
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Yangchar
Pass BC to Yangchar Pass ABC approx 5.25 kms.
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Day
7
|
:
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Yangchar
Pass ABC to Ralam Pass BC approx 6.1 kms.
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Day
8
|
:
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Ralam
Pass BC to Nipchukang Glacier approx 9.51 kms.
|
Day
9
|
:
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Nipchukang
Glacier to Dantu approx 15.67 kms.
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Day
10
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:
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Dantu
to Nagling approx 9.51 kms.
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Team (including
tech support) : Kamal Singh Bisht (Expedition Leader),
Rohit Bhat, Durgesh Ubare, Prathmesh Shenoy, Aaditya Loya, Thimmarayaswamy
Krishnappa, Rakshith Aradhya, Bhanu Dangwal, Jagdish Singh Bisht, Laxman Singh
Mehra, Sanjay Kumar, Lalit Kumar, and myself Vikas Bengani
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| The Team, the faces.. |
On
12th September, we got out of our cosy beds of Munsiyari hotel early
in morning and headed to Chilamdhar road head from where it was going to be
foot walk all the way. Shared jeeps are available from Munsiyari to Chilamdhar
for approx 50-60 bucks, but this was not in our case as our vehicles were
already arranged by our logistics partner. After Chilamdhar we crossed our
first water stream across the Kuiri Gad some 20 min down a forested slope from
the trail head at Chilamdhar and entered the trail route going towards Milam
and Ralam. The trail goes with a steady ascent along a slope on the right bank
of Goriganga. We were going at a steady pace heading to Paton on Milam Mule
track, when suddenly our guide pointed at a down slope referring it as short
cut to cross to the other side of Lilam. We got little goosebumps as the short
cut proved to be a forested slope with full of mud, loose rocks and leeches.
After descending through that narrow forested slope with thin line of escape,
we crossed Goriganga and started our ascent which stopped right at upper Paton
in early evening. We called it a day, pitched our tents and enjoyed the night
view of Munsiyari.
The
very next day our breakfast was arranged at Khadag Singh’s house in Paton who
was our guide and whom fondly we referred as the mountain man. After having a
sumptuous meal, we left on our onward journey to Lungrani. In between Paton and
Lungrani, the valley separates where the left goes to Johar valley and right
descend leads to Ralam Gad into north-east direction. We didn’t believed the
route to be easy, but it proved more than difficult for us. The route till
Lungrani was a fairly dense forest full of leeches that at some moments sucked
our blood, the route was full of loose rocks/pebbles and more than it, steep
climbs and steep descends. The steep climbs and descends proved to be more
risky as at such narrow paths we also came across flocks of sheep’s and mules
migrating down to lower altitudes/plains for the winter from Ralam. We
literally have had to press ourselves against the mountain slopes to let the livestock’s
hurry past without any panic. After some tiring descends we came across our
camp site near Lungrani river bed. We pitched our tents, enjoyed the evening
meals, explored the surroundings, had some local flavours and went to the
sleeping bags.
Day 3 was not so much
exciting as it was more or less steady trail walk to our camp site at Kildam.
The only frustrating thing was that we reached early while our porters carrying
tents came late and we were left to freeze in the chilling cold. Kildam was the
place from where the valley opened in vast meadows of Ralam Gad with extreme
cold and fog engulfing the high mountains. Day 4 we made our stay at Ralam
village from where Brijganga Pass originates. In clear weather, it’s bliss to
see Suitilla from Ralam village. At Ralam we relished the moments as at night
we arranged a small get together of entire team singing and dancing. Till now
everyone was looking tired and our guide new that crossing Yankchar pass would
be tough, hence we decided to utilise Day 5 by pitching our tents at Ralam
glacier snout, also referred as Shunkalpa Glacier Snout making it as base camp
for climbing Yankchar Pass. We utilised the full day in acclimatization while
our guide and tech support did observation of the area about how to cross the
Yankchar pass.
Day 6 we started early at
around 5 in the morning, as we knew that we have to climb high and have to
settle before noon as weather may deteriorate after that. We took a U-Turn by
crossing Ralam glacier’s snout and found a stream gully to climb high. One can
also take route of Yankchar glacier by taking right from Shunkalpa snout, but
it may take extra day to traverse all the way from glacier side. We started
climbing from the stream gully; it was really looking like havoc to our
aspirations. The climb was almost
vertical, with deadly loose rocks. After negotiating some 100 mtrs on those
loose rocks, we again got a setback as still the climb was vertical and we had
only bushes to get hold of them and crawl like a spider on the top. We didn’t
find snow on the climb. Technical assistance of ropes and ice axe may be
required for this climb depending on snow and other conditions. It was a
fascinating reward for us to reach the top from where Yankchar Dhura pass was
visible. The team spirits were high but heavy tiredness was pulling our legs so
we decided not to cross the pass the same day and pitched our tents below the
pass. We were mesmerised with beauty of the camp site as many peaks like
Chiring We, Sulli Top, Nanda Kot, Kuchela Dhura, etc were clearly visible from
here. After acclimatization, we took our meals, had some good night shots and
went straight to tents as it was getting more cold by passing time.
Day 7 was looking like a
testing day for us as the Yankchar Pass looked like a steep flat wall, though
no other choice available we started to climb it. Looking from the camp site,
there seems 4-5 routes to cross the pass. We decided to take almost the middle
path, as it was already thoroughly understood in past by our main guide. Depending
on snow and other conditions, other path may also be considered with prior
understanding of the climb and descend on other side. Going zigzag on loose
rocky patches, it took nearly 2-2.5 hrs to reach summit of the pass. Nanda Devi
massif, Nanda Kot, Chiring We, Burphu Dhura, Suli Top, Sui Tilla, Chaudhara,
Kuchela Dhura, etc were looking exceptionally beautiful from the summit of
Yankchar Dhura Pass. We were happy to see such beauties, however our faces went
little dark after seeing the descend on other side of the glacier. It was a path
less descend and looked like a cut out of loose mountain. We decided to descend
via a stream gully full of knife edged loose rocks; almost most members crawled
on their butts to make way of this gully. Reaching the Yankchar glacier at this
point was like a shot of new breath in the lungs. But the hardship was actually
not over for us, infact more worst was waiting for us. We walked all the way on
moraines of rocks over the glacier ice and reached till lower ridge of
Chaudhara where a huge ice wall was waiting for us to be climbed. Our guides
and tech support decided to use extreme left patch on left lower ridge of Suj
Tilla massif. This was again a steep climb and involved negotiating falling
water on the rocks from top of Suitilla glacier. The technique of jumaring was
used here to get the team up. Late afternoon we reached our camp site right in
front of Chaudhara where the huge and deep crevasses scared us the most. Camps
were pitched on left side of moraines avoiding any contact with the crevasses. Magnificent
view of Chaudhara, Lachar We and Ralam Dhura Pass was available from this site;
the same was used well by our shutterbugs and the day was called off in the
cosy sleeping bags.
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| Suj Tilla Peak |
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| Shunkalpa Glacier |
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| Brijganga Pass in centre |
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| Shunkalpa Glacier snout |
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| The team on Yankchar Dhura pass top |
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| The team descending down from Yankchar Dhura Pass |
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| Peaks Chiring We and Suli Top |
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| Nanda Kot Peak |
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| Nanda Kot Peak |
Day
8, the biggest one we believed to be in our life as today we were going to make
history for us. Early morning around 7 we started to make the summit. After
walking some 300-400 mtrs we reached below wall of Ralam Dhura Pass. On extreme
left a ridge gully was found, the same was our target to climb. Boulders, loose
rocks, knife edge rocks, falling rocks, extreme vertical climb, and at last, we
stood on top of the pass at around 11 AM. We took our time well on the summit,
took enough photographs, offered prayers and started our descend to Nipchukang
glacier. At Nipchukang glacier, we all members got a fall atleast once. After
walking down side for almost 500 mtrs, we came across extreme descend down. It
was looking impossible to descend further as the way was only to use high
technique of rappelling which was difficult as the glacier was only of
crevasses, noting else. On extreme left, we climbed little up on a landslide
area, went ahead for approx 150 mtrs on left side and from their started our
descend via a loose rock gully. Our target was to camp in Nipchukang meadows
wherever water is available, but from the ridge we stood the meadows looked
like it will take another 4-5 hrs to reach there. It was dark by the time we
kept foot on Nipchukang glacier, so we decided to hurry past. Our porters and
some team members already reached the camp site, remaining started their walk
towards camp site in middle of glacier by turning their head lights on. After a
struggle of around an hour, we reached our camp site which was on extreme left
of Nipchukang glacier towards Sipu side. After 14+ hours of climbing up and
down, we had dinner and called off the day with a bright smile on our face.
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| Chaudhara Peak |
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| Crevasses on Yankchar Glacier |
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| Ralam Dhura Pass |
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| Lachar We Peak |
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| Team on top of Ralam Dhura Pass |
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| Team on top of Ralam Dhura Pass |
The
next morning looked fresh as we were feeling fresh and happy for achieving the
feat of crossing the deadly pass. Breakfast, group photos and we were on our
way towards Dantu village. Almost downhill, we crossed Nipchukang valley and
entered the confluence of Lassar Yankti and Darma valleys. Moving towards right
from there, we continued towards Marchha. From Marchha it was around an hour’s
walk to Tidang where we had our lunch at local home, entered our details in
ITBP records and went ahead. Crossing the pine forests we reached Dantu village
in late evening from where it was memorable to have glimpse of the Panchachuli
range. Our plan was to have a halt at Panchachuli base camp, but tiredness took
toll on us and we gave up staying in Dantu only. Our night stay was at local’s
home where we had some local flavours in Chakthi sessions and dinner, enjoying
the bon fire all the way singing to our hearts.
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| The Entire Team |
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| Panchachuli Peaks |
On Day
10 we took our time to start onward journey, reached Dugtu to have phone calls
at our respective homes and went ahead straight to Nagling. After reaching
Nagling we skipped our camping schedule and took taxi directly for Munsiyari,
just because to have early interaction with civilisation. Memorable expedition
came to end after reaching Munsiyari in night, though memories are still haunting
us. Clear weather all the days and extra team spirit, we made the impossible
possible for us. The trek we will remember for many things. The team united as
one, the leader, the climbs, exceptional culinary art of Lali and the porters
and support staff who did a great job.
Thanks to Rohit Bhat, Thimmarayaswamy Krishnappa and other team members for sharing their wonderfull pictures..