This post was published to burhanhussain at 2:21:02 AM 9/7/2013

Climbing Mount Mahadev, the tallest peak in Srinagar

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At an altitude, where the sun burns ones skin like acid in a tannery, where the sky appears as if seen against a violet lens, where the air silently carries enormous wafts of clouds, and where one false step could mean a plunge of hundreds of feet, we stood atop a platform- the size of a small room-on what is the highest land-mass in Srinagar: the peak of Mount Mahadev. From the top, to your south-east, you look down on a trail that stretches all the way to the twin lakes of Tarsar and Marsar near Pahalgam. Look west and, if you are lucky not to be blinded by whiteout (we werent lucky), the city of Srinagar with its identity-the Dal Lake- is visible in all its beauty. An aside: many climbers on Mount Kilimanjaro are known to be brought to tears when they see sun rise over the vast expanse of Africa below them. Here too, I can imagine many people to have their Kilimanjaro moments as they catch the initial rays of sun paint the nearby Zabarwan mountain range golden. Quintessential Kashmir, I must say. Mount Mahadev is a 13013 feet peak, located at 34.15 degrees north and 74.98 degrees east near the famous Dachigam National Park in Srinagar, Kashmir in the Himalayan range of mountains. Among the few approaches to the mountain, the one from Harwan, on the peripheries of Srinagar, is most commonly accessed. In fact, Daarah, near Harwan, is the trail head to this approach and our group too climbed through this route. This brings us to the question of our group. For the purposes of this climb, I had the fortune of being hosted by Tyndale Biscoe School, my alma mater. Our group was an energetic blend of current crop of students, teachers and support staff. The trip began the evening before, far from the trail-head, on the school campus. As I checked into the school and met few of my old teachers, I was overwhelmed by their courtesy and the fact how glad they all were to see me around. I could sense they now treated me like an equal; I guess I had grown a lot older since school! The young boys, meanwhile, were playing this special form of football where there were, perhaps, twenty players a side! I, however, wondered why they were not being discouraged from burning up all their energy before the trek; the answer, as I was told later, had me split my sides. Someone had figured out that letting the boys discharge their energy would coax them into an early sleep later that night at school. I guess two classes of sixteen year olds, on a fun night-out, are definitely Weapons of Mass Destruction; it is better to keep them bottled up! The next morning we left for Daarah before dawn and started the climb at day-break. The route to the mountain is divided into a journey of two to three days. On the first day, you climb up to Lidwas, the site of the advance base camp; the second day is the summit day; the third day is for descent from base camp. The trek to Lidwas goes through winding valleys and gains altitude gradually at first before culminating in a sharp piece of ascent. The stream of ultra-pure mountain water, which originates in many springs near the Mahadev peak, gives company right up to Lidwas. After a long, tiring trek of around eight hours, we reached the base camp where the camp had already been set-up by an advance party. At Lidwas, there is an outcrop of a rock, which hangs high above the valleys below. People who suffer from vertigo, please excuse! This shoulder of rock, however, offers breathtaking views of the long swathes of pine forests below and at sunset the naked mountain-tops on your right and behind you turn crimson. What a magical transformation, I must say! I was reminded of Wordsworth: I gazed and gazed but little thought what wealth to me the show had brought. Later, the evening sky, with its thousand-

thousand stars lit up tens of faces in sheer bewilderment; the pollution, and more substantially the lights, make it difficult to see stars in the city beyond a few really bright ones. Enter the summit day and the excitement of getting to the top of Srinagar in the air is palpable. We started early and soon were blessed with the first views of Mt. Mahadev which till then had been hidden behind some other subsidiary peaks. Sometime later, we crossed the col where last year the avid mountaineer, Professor Hamid6 fell to his death. I said my silent prayers and moved on. After negotiating some rocky terrain, we were soon making the final push towards the summit, filming the last few steps. We summited, all sixty of us. After the customary summit photograph with the Tyndale Biscoe flag7, and an ice axe (makes for a more dramatic photo), we headed down and were back at Lidwas by lunch time. The camp-master had, meanwhile, announced plans for the traditional camp fire. The two alums, I and my friend, too were expected to perform! We thought of singing first, something by Pink Floyd, but then my friend thought my voice was somehow disdainful of Pink Floyd! We ended up doing a skit on Traffic Rules instead. Next day, we trekked down to Daarah and what remained with me were memories of my first summit, new friends and sounds of Khisko Khisko, Aaya Biscoe!