Bhojbasa & Gaumukh

Jason pauses in the early morning snow to remind Claire that whilst it is freezing, snow is not wet and therefore not miserable!

Claire has been here before, freezing cold weather and snow = wet clothes, and no sleep, and not much fun.  Jason wanted to get going and reach the glacier, so she kept going, hoping the snow would stop.

Bharal run for warmer places to hang out.

We stopped for lunch before walking to Gaumukh, meals here consist of everything being yellow, without much variety, chapatis, yellow dal and yellow potatoes( if your lucky). It's best not to pay too much attention to the washing of the dishes as you are not likely to want to eat here again, and you may have no choice.

The lads that run the Dhaba and stay here for 6 months of the year. Note the lack of women and corresponding lack of hygienic conditions.

The glacier is very cool, and it was still snowing when we got there. It is called the "Cow's Mouth" because the cow is sacred and it looks like a cows mouth apparently?!

Not quite how we imagined it. We thought that pilgrims would be praying to Vishnu and making offerings to the Ganges, but instead we were met with silly grown men who were sliding around in their business shoes wondering why they were falling all over the boulders and grit.

Our humble abode for the night complete with mice that ran around (but Claire didn't see until she got up in the morning and vowed never again).  Gunter and Sonya (who were also trekking) had a mouse crawl over their face the next night. Claire is trying not to think about when the blankets were last washed.

Jason gently reminds her that it would have been warmer than the tent.

The view from our Dhaba the next morning.  Plans to go up to Tapovan and stay at 4450 were dashed as it was sheer cliff faces to get up there and Claire was having none of it.

The snow had taken over dropping 5 inches over night.

These people complete with guides and porters pay something like 500 USD to stay on these package holiday treks.  They are determined to stay in their all-seasons tents.

The next morning Jason wanted to see Gaumukh again so we walked up there to see what it was like in the snow. This is the temple where they expect you to take your shoes off to pray. We skipped this bit due to the snow!

The Glaicer fills the end of the valley and hides the start of the river. There was snow everywhere and Tapovan (our next destination) is 500 metres vertical and 6km plus past the Glacier and over the next ridge. It would have been a treacherous walk which meant to Claire it was very much time to go back to a mouse free shelter in Gangotri.

It would also mean an overnight stay in the tent of around minus 8 degrees Celsius, which is too cold for us and our summer tent and minus 4 sleeping bags.

It took us about 7 hours to walk back. We passed this rock some way up from the Cow's mouth, it shows how much the glacier has receded since 1935.

The walk back was in brilliant sunshine and several of the peaks came out to say goodbye. We were really glad that we decided to come back in the end as the next day it was snowing all the way in Gangotri so the freezing level had dropped around 1,000m so we would have had a very cold night in Tapovan had we been foolish enough to get up there.