This holiday is not going to be pushover in any form or by any standard. We left Sonamarg for Machoi Base Camp just around 4 pm. It’s a 25 km drive that should take an hour. The bad road and our well planned exit with the day’s up convoy across Zojila from Sonamarg into Drass ensured intense manoeuvring by Dad and a lot of stops as we crossed some 300 trucks rambling up the terrain. The setting sun and the views of the village we used to walk to from a height though provided some great scenes for photography.
Once again I noticed how a serene mountain view can look breathtakingly menacing under overcast skies & bad weather. For a new hand at the Sonamarg Drass highway (NH 1D) the stretch from Sonmarg to Machoi like me the trip seemed fraught with danger at every step. Only in hindsight I realized it was probably the closing in weather and the trucks around that made it scarier. Traversed thousands of times around the summer season is perfectly motorable (I saw 2 santros and a Maruti Omni van doing it)
Arrival at base camp (like at all base camps) was quite special. You get out of the car and the winds buffets you against the door, the proffered down feather jacket is quite welcome and fortified inside it you begin to brave the elements and take in your surroundings. With the hood over your head though its impossible to hear what the person next to you in saying in the wind but it’s a good filter for the stinging wind is all you want to hear for a while.
We discovered at length though that a spell of bad weather was due and it might ruin our chances of a summit attempt later this week to Machoi. That is sad. The only uplifting thought was India cracking a 309 for their quota of 50 overs against Sri Lanka in cricket. Good comeback boys!
And where the words cannot capture the beauty of this place, I hope the pictures make up. The milky way is clearly visible and the moon seems closer.
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