Five Treasures of the Snow

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Five Treasures of the Snow

• Celia Brinkerhoff cbrinker_at_interchange.ubc.ca
• Library 500

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• In 1998, as part of a year long trip through
  Turkey, Central Asia, and India, my partner and I
  did an eight-day trek in western Sikkim.
• Our hope was to hike through a remote national
  park to the foot of the worlds third highest
  peak, Kanchenjunga (8598m), known to local
  inhabitants as the Five Treasures of the Snow.

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• Sikkim lies in the far northeast of India and
  shares a border with Nepal, Tibet, and Bhutan.
• Political unrest since it became Indias 22nd
  state in 1975 has, until recently, made travel
  fairly restricted.
• We felt extremely privileged to be able to pass
  through this exquisite and awesome part of the
  world.

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• Kanchenjunga is a sacred mountain for the
  Lepchas, the original inhabitants of the region,
  who practice a form of Tibetan Buddhism.
• Mountaineering has so far been kind to this peak
  the only successful ascent stopped a few meters
  short of the summit in order to leave the abode
  of the gods undisturbed.

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• The trailhead at Yuksom (1630m) was a days drive
  from Darjeeling in a 1954 Land Rover still
  sporting its original tires, or so the driver
  assured us. Great.

• We had arrived at the end of a late monsoon and
  found we had to battle some thirsty leeches at
  the beginning of the trek.

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Day Two

• What you need to help you on your trek
• a couple of really strong dzo (domesticated yaks)
  to move your gear up the trail,
• one multi-talented cook (Pradip is in the
  centre), also good at cards and gambling,
• and two or three dzo drivers to provide levity on
  cold, damp mornings.

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Day Three

• Local flora was a major attraction for us. On
  this day we hiked through a forest of giant
  rhododendron.

• Although Sikkim is home to over 450 species of
  orchids, sadly, we saw none in bloom.

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Day Five

• Pass Day!! This meant getting up at 4am to
  climb 800 meters up the Goecha-La to catch
  sunrise on Kanchenjunga.
• We were lucky. This was the first clear day in a
  week.

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• First light on Kanchenjunga

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On the Goecha-la

• At 5,000 meters it was cold and windy, and our
  heads really began to ache.
• We stayed for a bit, sipping hot tea and munching
  the hardboiled eggs that Pradip had packed for
  us.
• Although the trail wound down the other side and
  we could see the foot of Kanchenjunga, this was
  as far as we were permitted to go.
• Clouds were already rolling up the valley by the
  time we headed back down to camp.

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Day Eight

• Back down at a more hospitable elevation
• we celebrated our adventures,
• said goodbye to our helpful crew,
• and made plans to head to the nearest town for a
  hot shower.

Chang, a traditional fermented barley drink.
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• After our trek, we had enough time to make a
  quick stop in Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim,
  before our permits expired.
• We headed to the Orchid Sanctuary hoping to see
  some native flowers in bloom but we were unlucky,
  again.
• We also visited the Rumtek Monastery, home to the
  17th Karmapa, the spiritual leader of the Kagyu
  sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

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Credits

• Map of Sikkim courtesy of Maps of India
  (http//www.mapsofindia.com/maps/sikkim/sikkimloca
  tion.html).
• All photographs courtesy of David Hauck.