Well, before I go into detail on a most epic ski tour, I will describe our overall moods: contentment. While sipping chai waiting for the bus to Manali yesterday, Em and I realized we are feeling very comfy about our situation and just how happy we are at the Iceland Hotel in Solang. The weekly trip to Manali for supplies and to say hello to some friends is always refreshing, but the peacefulness and mountain intimacy of Solang is all too satisfying. We also mentioned the fact we never really experienced the 4-week mark of homesickness we were so forewarned would happen. No complaints there. I won’t kid anybody as we both admitted during some of our gastrointestinal bouts that the thought of mom’s couch crossed both our minds.

With an unknown change in the bus schedule, we missed the last bus to Solang and headed to Himanshu’s German Bakery to get the keys to the cottage (our Manali base). There we met up with a couple others and soon were invited to Peter’s family’s home to celebrate the Tibetan New Year with them. Ya, we were glad we missed the bus. After displacing shoes, we entered the front door to a smiling grandmother repeating “Hello, Namaste” while spinning her prayer wheel. We were then guided to the “decorative” room where we shared in good luck traditions, drank rice wine, and ate various courses of food. Peter and his brother explained their parents exit from Tibet in 1959 before the Chinese invasion stripped more of their souls. They travelled by foot for one month south of Mt. Everest, through Nepal, then into India only eating grains from a local plant mixed with water. It was apparent how much love Peter had for this far away homeland that he probably has never seen. He was born in Dharamsala, went through the Indian army, and now is a mountaineering guide. Fantastic person with consistent optimism but last night did expose a deeper desire to leave exile and live in his own free country someday. Em and I better understood Peter’s frustration as we just finished a biography of the current Dalai Lama which also described the historical events of Tibet and China.

We returned to Solang today to lounge in the sunshine on the patio with only sounds of the river and young children playing next door.

O.K., now to the epic ski tour. I will prelude what’s coming by stating that any weather forecast is few and far between and the available forecasts are often wrong. With that said, it was time to get up high for a few days. The tour began with a surprise road blockade many kilometers below what was guaranteed by multiple sources in Solang and our taxi driver. With the taxi driver getting no love from the army (they wouldn’t even look at him while he was pleading to let him go further), Joe and I tried the rupee bribe to no avail (but they did look at us and respond!). Soon an army personnel of much higher authority drove by and gave us a ride to the snowline. Yeah! With a wicked wind rushing through Rohtang Pass down the gorge, we did our best to walk upright the first couple kilometers. Then with skins on, we climbed out of the wind and set camp. Joe and I explored higher for some late day turns. The next day started with clear skies but got gray as we moved camp higher. We were finally forced to throw up our shelter around 3800m as the blowing snow had reduced the visibility to under 10 meters. We played some cards, had some tea and soup, and looked forward to a break in the weather to really set camp. No break, so we called our resting place camp and did most of the reinforcing from inside the megamid.

The megamid is not really a tent, but rather a strong pyramid-shaped rainfly held up by a center pole and 8 corners that you anchor into the snow. It is very lightweight, provides lots of square footage underneath if willing to dig for it, and my preferred shelter for ski touring. It is also not really meant for harsh winter conditions, but with regular maintenance the megamid proved this trip it can handle even a harsh Himalayan storm.

That first night we experienced multiple sessions of lightning directly overhead and high winds. Not getting much sleep, I wandered from holding the center pole for reinforcement to not wanting to touch it as lightning might strike the pole. Ya, lovely. The next day was no better and we only left the tent to dig snow away from the walls. While we were in a very safe location as far as out of any potential avalanches, we were on a flat terrace that collected tons of windblown snow coming up the ridge. Late that day, spirits started to get tested. I was worried as our site had become a deep hole that would continue to become quickly filled with blowing snow. It needed to stop snowing. We did our best clearing of snow and provided a deep trench around the tent so snow had room to slide off the walls and not build up. But in the storm we were in, deep trenches were quickly filled.

At around 1:00 a.m., the snow had crept almost half way up the walls and I questioned how much more weight the megamid could hold. So, it was time to get into the frozen gear and do some shoveling. To make things more fun, my stomach was beginning to do a familiar rumbling followed by burps that concluded what would be coming in my near future. Yes, the nasty that I had already lived through. I strategized what I would do when the gut demanded relief and quite honestly was very concerned for my tentmates. While Em and I lived through it together, I feared for our friend Joe. I had to muster some serious mental game. Fortunatelty, the storm seemed to let up and next thing I knew it was 5:00 a.m. I awoke due to the sudden need of you know what and did my best to get into frozen pants, coat, and boots. The boots proved to take a few seconds too long and I barely got the tent zipper down before losing some stomach just outside the tent. A few minutes later I returned to the tent singing “Taking care of business” as I knew both Joe and Em had lots of empathy for me. My next statement also added to their relief as I sincerely told them my visit outside was very satisfying…not just for the intestinal relief but for the fact that the sky was clear, stars were aplentiful, and there was no wind. Very nice.

Two hours later, I awoke again to take care of more business. Rather than in a frenzy, I stepped out of the tent and immediately returned to grab the closest camera. What I saw that morning was one of the most beautiful mountain mornings I’ve seen: bluebird, tons of new snow, and the sun’s early beams adding a pink hue to only the tops of the two 6000m+ peaks across the valley. (Sorry but the camera was Joe's and not shown here). Walking over to the ridge on the west (in about 3’ of windblown snow), I saw that new snow had accumulated even below Solang (over 4500’ below our camp). This is great news for many reasons. Mainly, my mental game was on and I knew it was time to go higher for some morning turns. Our aspect was primarily windblown and I could see there were some mellow slopes that would be safe to ski. To my campmates astonishment, I returned to the tent and urged them to get up, we would climb to warm up, ski Himalayan pow, then return to a warm camp to dry gear, veg and prepare for the heavy pack descent. It was cold at first, but our friend the sun quickly appeared. Knowing what sort of storm we just experienced and that stability would not be good, we stayed to very low angle slopes. Coming to a slightly steeper slope (still under what is usually capable to slide), I dug a pit and found very unstable conditions. We called that our high point and ate up the freshies down to camp. Having too much fun leaving trails of cold smoke, we did another lap before vegging at camp. In only those couple hours and even above 12,500 feet, the sun still was surprisingly strong. I had my shirt off while melting snow, eating lunch, and letting gear dry.

We all shared in our amazement in how much better the day was than expected. I was stoked that the team happily chose to turn around due to instability and impressed with everyone’s mountain skills as we did just survive a pretty nasty storm. The cohesiveness in our team has been top notch and the English bloke continues to surprise me with his natural comfort in the mountains.

The final descent with large packs went way better than expected as even though the snow got heavier down low, its consistency allowed us to lay confident turns for over 3500’. Check out that girl in the photo…a T-shirt with a heavy pack???? Wow, that is one confident skier. You can only imagine how fortunate I feel that my life partner is quickly becoming a strong ski partner.

We skied all the way down to the circus of yaks, snowmobiles, and fake fur coats and met our planned taxi ride back to Solang. Now that is good access. Click here for photos.

Besides feeling content that we are back down in Solang after that storm, we are sincerely very happy with our overall situation as we continue to share priceless experiences.

Labels: India, Kullu Valley, ski touring, Solang