Ralam Dhura Pass Expedition..

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

:

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)

Our Camp Sites

Plan of Action Concluded:

Day 1	:	Munsiyari (Chilamdhar) to Paton approx 6.98 kms.
Day 2	:	Paton to Lungrani approx 8.77 kms.
Day 3	:	Lungrani to Killadum approx 8.02 kms.
Day 4	:	Kildam to Ralam approx 7.95 kms.
Day 5	:	Ralam to Yangchar Pass BC approx 4.46 kms.
Day 6	:	Yangchar Pass BC to Yangchar Pass ABC approx 5.25 kms.
Day 7	:	Yangchar Pass ABC to Ralam Pass BC approx 6.1 kms.
Day 8	:	Ralam Pass BC to Nipchukang Glacier approx 9.51 kms.
Day 9	:	Nipchukang Glacier to Dantu approx 15.67 kms.
Day 10	:	Dantu to Nagling approx 9.51 kms.

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

The Team, the faces..

On 12^th 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.

 

Suj Tilla Peak

Shunkalpa Glacier

Brijganga Pass in centre

Shunkalpa Glacier snout

The team on Yankchar Dhura pass top

The team descending down from Yankchar Dhura Pass

Peaks Chiring We and Suli Top

 

 

Nanda Kot Peak

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.

   

 

 

Chaudhara Peak

Crevasses on Yankchar Glacier

Ralam Dhura Pass

Lachar We Peak

 

 

 

Team on top of Ralam Dhura Pass

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.

The Entire Team

 

 

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..