Day 7: Trek from Zirmi (11000 ft) to Tila Lotni (12500ft)- 6kms, 4hr
After lunch we had a dispute with the guide who wanted us to leave the regular trek path and to take a steep shortcut. Actually the guides on the route almost always started selling maggi, eggs, tea etc., at the makeshift shops with the villagers and did not care for time as long as the sale went on. However, as soon as the sale stopped, they were very eager to go on. We insisted on the regular path since the group was already feeling the stress of altitude. The guide relented with bad grace. After another steep accent, we reached a longer stretch of snow. It was here that two members developed signs of acute fatigue and vomiting sensation. They were helped to the camp.
Tila Lotni was cold and windy. We were given soup instead of welcome drink and after a quick dinner we planned to quickly settled in for the night, as we had to wake up early for tackling Sar Pass the next morning. We were told to dress up in the clothes we wanted to wear for the next day's trek and to pack our luggage as far as possible in the evening/ night itself. As we went to sleep, we were filled with excitement at the prospect of finally walking across the highest stretch we were to tackle in this trek.
This portion of the trek was the first day when everyone felt the effects of high altitude. The distance to be traveled was much more than on any of the previous days. We were delayed for a while as the batteries given to the previous day's guide for charging had not been brought back. Finally we started and immediately found that the path was steep in stretches and we faced the real effect of sun as we trekked above the tree line. The scenery got more and more impressive as we got almost a 180 degree view of surrounding snow peaks.
After lunch time, the final climb towards Tila Lotni was difficult for most of us and there were portions where we had to tackle snow. At least two members of our batch were in distress and needed help in reaching Tila Lotni.
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We started from Zirmi, with high spirits and were faced immediately by a steep accent which had us gasping for breath. After about an hour, we reached some high altitude meadows from where spectacular view of snow peaks was visible. We kept on stopping and resting, allowing the rest of the batch to catch up. The guide for the day was not very particular about keeping the batch together and we could come together at a tea break point. We stopped here for quite some time. There was a small waterfall nearby, where we filled our bottles since the lunch point did not have any water. On approach to lunch point we had to tackle the first stretch of snow. This was followed by a steep accent to lunch point.
After lunch time, the final climb towards Tila Lotni was difficult for most of us and there were portions where we had to tackle snow. At least two members of our batch were in distress and needed help in reaching Tila Lotni.
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We started from Zirmi, with high spirits and were faced immediately by a steep accent which had us gasping for breath. After about an hour, we reached some high altitude meadows from where spectacular view of snow peaks was visible. We kept on stopping and resting, allowing the rest of the batch to catch up. The guide for the day was not very particular about keeping the batch together and we could come together at a tea break point. We stopped here for quite some time. There was a small waterfall nearby, where we filled our bottles since the lunch point did not have any water. On approach to lunch point we had to tackle the first stretch of snow. This was followed by a steep accent to lunch point.
After lunch we had a dispute with the guide who wanted us to leave the regular trek path and to take a steep shortcut. Actually the guides on the route almost always started selling maggi, eggs, tea etc., at the makeshift shops with the villagers and did not care for time as long as the sale went on. However, as soon as the sale stopped, they were very eager to go on. We insisted on the regular path since the group was already feeling the stress of altitude. The guide relented with bad grace. After another steep accent, we reached a longer stretch of snow. It was here that two members developed signs of acute fatigue and vomiting sensation. They were helped to the camp.
Tila Lotni was cold and windy. We were given soup instead of welcome drink and after a quick dinner we planned to quickly settled in for the night, as we had to wake up early for tackling Sar Pass the next morning. We were told to dress up in the clothes we wanted to wear for the next day's trek and to pack our luggage as far as possible in the evening/ night itself. As we went to sleep, we were filled with excitement at the prospect of finally walking across the highest stretch we were to tackle in this trek.
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