The next day would easily be the longest day of my life. In Sikkim summers, the sunrises at 4am and all of the people would be up and running by 5am. And like all the tourists we too got up quickly on the behest of our driver as he said it would be better if we start early.
GuruDongmar Lake is situated at an altitude of around 17,100 feet. It is one of the world’s highest altitude and most beautiful lakes. To reach the lake, we need an ILP(Inner Line Permit) and we have to cross around 5-6 army checkpoints. The best part of this is that no one other than Indian citizens are allowed. The foreigners are allowed until half of the ascent and I was told from there, they take some natural camp treks and return to Lachen. And the winds near the lake can get quite rough. By 11am the sun starts vanishing under the clouds and I was told that vehicles like Mahindra Scorpio would get pushed away by the wind force!
When you typically start from Lachen to GuruDongmar Lake you are gaining around 8000 feet in altitude in one day. Even though this was a last minute trip, I did Google quite a bit on what this means to us. And I can safely tell you one thing. If you Google for GuruDongmar Lake, in the top 50 results you will end up seeing “AMS”(Altitude Mountain Sickness) in at least half of them.
AMS is overrated. People will give all kinds of advice if you are doing this trip. But if you ask me, if you are mentally strong and feel nothing would happen, nothing would really happen as I experienced. People also would recommend you to pop a Diamox whenever you feel the symptoms. I too took a strip of Diamox but didn’t have a need to use them.
We both kept drinking lot of water and munched some Popcorn since the locals believe strongly that this would help in nullifying the effects of AMS. We stopped by at around 8am for our packed breakfast. And Sikkim people are so hospitable that they welcome us into their homes, feed us warm water and make us sit near their fire logs to keep ourselves warm and also warm up the food we carry. All they expect in return from you is to buy hot tea from them. In this case, apart from the woolen wear we had on us, we rented out some heavy-duty wind shutters for our journey above.
After our breakfast, we resumed our journey. It turned out to be the journey of my life. It was as exciting as I felt in Paris if not more. At 13,000 feet we saw lot of snow but once we kept going above, all I could see was barren lands and snow capped mountains far away. We were inching closer and I could see army bunkers which they really use in case of wars. Once there, since it was so high in altitude we were told not to talk loudly or run or scream as the oxygen levels are very low.
Some shots on our way:
We finally reached GuruDongmar Lake. To describe the place in words is doing injustice to it. I felt for a moment that I was on top of the world. The pristine lake was half freezed and on the other half the water was as blue as the clear sky on that day. All that long days and long hours of travel was all worth it. I was told by locals that the water is so pure, that they never ever found a single germ or dust particle in the water. Since the place is considered holy, there was a temple. An army jawan was guarding the place and in far off barren lands, we could see the Chinese border.
I just was stunned by the beauty of the place. All the effort we take to reach the place would only sustain for around 20 odd minutes. After that anybody would start feeling the effects of lack of oxygen. If we feel the difficulty in breathing, it’s time to start your downward journey. If given a chance, I would recommend everyone to do this once-in-a-lifetime-experience at least once.
Some shots of the beautiful Lake:
Up there, at 17100 feet above sea level gasping for my breath I just felt one thing : “This is life”
The jawan who monitors the monastery/temple:
The other side of the lake:
Once we started the descent we felt quite okay. We rested for sometime in the resort, had our lunch and started to Lachung. Lachung is another small village which acts as a base point for Yumthang Valley and Zero Point. We reached Lachung in an hour and here the resort was great with a room heater and hot water. We quickly had some dinner and rested for the night with all the great visuals fresh in my mind.
A special mention to the man and the machine that took us so far safely and back:
AN apt message at the resort:
Life in Lachen:
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