Way through Singalila Pass

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Nilanjan Patra, Supratim Mukherjee, Raja Saha, Avijit Sur, Saikat Das, Manojit Ghosh, Sanjib Mondal, Santanu Chakrabarty, Kaushik Das

Shange Sherpa, Dawa Sherpa, Rinju Sherpa

It was a bright shinny day in winter season and with lot of hope and anxiety we gathered at sealdah station around 12.15 pm for testa-torsha express which is about to depart at 1.30 pm for NJP.

Early morning in the painful winter we arrived at NJP station around 3.45am. We spend almost 2 hours there until we finish all our daily natural activities. After warming ourselves with a tea we headed for hard negotiation with drivers for Uttarey. On our way we found an accident due to which we had to wait for almost 3 hours to move an inch, it was quite disappointing but eventually it disappeared as the nature was at its best throughout the way. We took a halt at Singshore Bridge to have a break from our fast and gifted pain from seat of the vehicle. Finally we reached uttarey close to afternoon. After finishing our lunch we went for a walk to familiarize ourselves with surrounding Uttarey vally, meanwhile we had our discussions for next day activities. We went for an early sleep at night after a long day.

UTTAREY - - - ARROUND UTTAREY VALLEY - SIMPHOK KHOLA - VERSEY RHODODENDRON SANCTUARY - MAINBAS FALLS - - - UTTAREY

From uttarey without any guide we headed towards the mountains in search of a Hidden mysterious fall so called "MAINBAS FALLS". The way was very beautiful with lot of small streams and wild green forest, the blend of different shades of greenery were inspiring and giving us enormous courage. Tearing these green mountains apart in two pieces, millions of colorful stones sacrificed and laid them self to enhance the beauty of simphok khola, river flowing through these rocks creating symphony of nature. Crossing this river we stepped onto denser forest to fallow a stream joining the river assuming it will lead us to our destination. By overcoming lot of obstacles and digesting painful stung from poisonous plants we finally reached the source of mysterious stream that is mainbass falls. God we are really amazed to find the beauty of nature at its best. After spending some fruitful time there we moved towards our hotel with great enthusiasm and discussing about upcoming challenges.

UTTAREY - - - limbo-sherpa village - - - lamenypokhri (proposed Tenzing Hillery park) - - - Shange dara - - - ACHALEDARA

Next day morning from uttarey we stepped on to our main course of trekking. On our way we came across several small villages , among them lambo serpa village was the last and the highest village in our trail. Leaving mankind behind us, we marched towards unknown world looking for eternity. We waited at lameneypokhri for some rest but landed up debating on the beautiful lake's source of water as it's located in the middle of nowhere. After crossing sange danra by afternoon it took couple of more hours to reach anchaledara just before dusk. But then we were spellbound when our eyes got stuck on horizon, nature playing with colors on kanchanjangha. We almost lost all our senses for half an hour till sun set, being amazed and carried away we started bon fire near tent. That night was a carnival of joy, everyone enjoyed by singing and dancing around fire for hours.

ACHALEYDARA - - - lampokhri - - - back to Achaleydara - - - Thuldhap - - - KALIJHAR

The day before reaching Phoktedanra was a complete package for us. Day started with stunning view of Mt. Kanchenjunga in the first ray of Sunlight in the morning followed by the exploration of frozen Lampokhri and after a long trek finally we faced the toughest challenge of the trek which was to reach Kalijhar in the evening in minus temperature through uneven snowy steep trail. Snow was so dense that we were unable to pitch out tent in desired place, so we had to keep moving when our feet and body were begging for mercy due to extreme exhaustion, in the mean time reddish kanchangangha turns to white conveying the darkness is breathing on our solder and eventually our visibility of the trail towards destination gradually decayed. With great difficulties and pushing ourselves to the limit without vision we finally reached our tent at around 6 o clock. At night we encountered some devastating cold wind roaring while passing through the intersection of consecutive mountains. After finishing dinner around 7.30 we went for sleep.

KALIJHAR - - - phokteydara peak - - - back to kalijhar - - - singalila pass - - - torifolly - - - PHALUT

The morning at Kalijhar was really amazing. We explored ourselves at the foot of the Phoktedanra peak which was the top point of that are in the Singalila Ridge. Sun rises in one side and the rare view of Mt. Everest and Mt. Kanchenjunga in one frame is just on the other side. Wind was blowing dangerously and we prepared to reach the top. Within one hour we come up to the peak which was almost snow covered area.

The moment we reached the top, got speechless having 360 degree view of the world in front of me. The mountain range starts from Annapurna side and ends at Tibetan plateau through all great mountains. Far below our feet there was endless carpet of whitish cloud which was covering the living habitats of the world. And we were in the heaven where Sun was shining on us and the mountain range. On that particular moment we forgot everything of our life and were feeling lucky to be there to watch out that greatest mystery of nature. We passed through successive moments to get out of the dream. It was still unbelievable that the last night we spent literally keeping our life in our hands because of the fact that the dangerous cool wind was trying to wipe out the tent along with us from the ridge to somewhere below 1500 -2000 ft.

While passing through singalila pass we felt different feelings about the roughness and toughness in Ridge Mountains, vegetation couldn't able to sustain their vivid existence in those extreme conditions. These mountains are so egoistic they didn't even allow snow to stick with them. Showing our gratitude to these black horrifying mounts we descended towards lower altitude but it ignited a spark among us to explore these inhuman ranges more closely in near future to keep a strong bond of memorable trails in their lap. At around 4.30 Pm we reached falut , due to presence of sun we were unable to realize chillness in atmosphere at initial stage but after sunset it was unbearable due to extreme cold wind. Being crazy while shivering throughout night in severe cold we decided to drop our guide, from there onwards we were on our own.

PHALUT - - - Singalila National Park - - - GORKHEY

Way to Gorkhe village was a descent downhill with a proper trail hence we didn't face any hindrance in our path unless we were carried away by spectacular beauty of a village right on the top of a hill densely covered with gigantic pine trees. That village was "SAMANDEN". The path from falut to gorkhe was full of colorful vegetation. At around 4.40 Pm we reached Gorkhe village and were welcomed by humble greeting from villagers. After having a healthy dinner we enjoyed till late night.

GORKHEY - - - Samanden - - - Rammam - - - SHIRIKHOLA

Next day morning started with a mesmerizing view of surrounding beauty where a stream flowing through was sparkling and dispersing light everywhere when first light entered gorkhe. Eventually we started our journey towards srikhala, parsing through deep pine forest for an hour towards uphill we finally entered samanden Village the land of beauty. We cherished its calmness and vibrant colorful canvas with few sips in warm tea from a village shop. Believe me tea never tested so beautiful before. After few hours we reached rammam where we had our lunch and said good bye to mount kanchanjangha for the very last time. At around 3 pm we reached Srikhala where we spent our night in trekkers hut so called haunted house, it's located very next to Srikhala River which is flowing with a gorging sound.

SHIRIKHOLA - - - Sepi - - - Rimbik - - - lodhama - - - bijonbari - - -jorthang - - - NJP

From Srikhala we trekked for 5 km up till rimbik village from where there are availability of public transport. We finally hired a vehicle for NJP station which took around 7 hours to our destination.