NATHAN GOLLAY
Compassionate ∩ Curious ∩ Persistent ∩ Innovative ∩ Collaborative
Trekking in the Himalayas: SAR Pass
This is a collection of little and not so little moments from an expedition through the Himalayas in Himachal Pradesh, India.
Though we associate the Himalays with Nepal because of Everest, most of the mountains are actually here in India.
SAR PASS
In April of 2023, some friends that I made in India and I set off on the SAR Pass Trek in Himachal Pradesh, a state in India containing most of the Himalayas. My friends, Joki from Liberia, Shaamal from the Republic of Fiji, and Ben from Rwanda, completed the trek together, summiting at final elevation of 13,779ft- a baby height for the Himalayas, but more than enough to feel the lower oxygen.
The Train
I was living in Bangalore when I went on this expidtion, so my friends and I needed to travel North across India to get up to the mountains. We took a 40 hour train from Bangalore to Delhi in the lower caste section- the bench pictured was shared with two people. There were no other facilities, and at night the train becomes so crowded because the night guards are bribed with small sums to let hordes of people onto the train. You cannot walk without stepping on people. The toilet, which is a walk along the train, is a hole onto the tracks.
Unfortunately, I felt that I needed to include that beyond the discomfort, there was also some danger. People of a dark skin color are not always treated well in India, and my friend Joki is from Liberia. On several occasions we had to deescalate situations in which the fact of us together sharing the little bench drew a lot of unwanted attention, and more than once, I had to push people off of her.
Delhi to Himachal Pradesh
After the train, we took a 12 hour sleeper bus from Delhi up into the Himalayan mountains.
The Journey
The journey has too many ups and downs to count. So, I’ll pick one of each.
The down: We had been working very hard in high altitude with heavy packs, and so when we reached the second base camp, I made the ill informed decision to accept water from the local Sherpa’s that had been melted from glacial ice. In my fatigue I had figured that some of our bottled water comes from glaciers in the U.S., so of course this is fine, just closer to the source. Logic was not there with me on that mountain. I forgot about the hundres of millinea in which the microbiome had evolved separately from the one my stomach was accustomed to. By the morning, I was very ill: my stomach had been emptied to the point of fatigue and severe dehydration. There were only two options: wait for mules to come through and be carried out, or hike 2 miles through snow at a steep incline to the next place we could get water. There was no service, so there was no telling when I could receive help.
The Up: I made it, well, up to the top. I managed to reach the next camp. My friend managed to carry both his pack and mine, and though the progress was extremely slow and punctuated by bouts of light headedness and fatigue, I made it. I was able to summit after all, completing the SAR Pass at 13,790ft.
