Kailash Manasarovar Yatra -2012 - 36

Second Day's Parikrama in 

Snow clad Dolma 

 Darshan of the Lord  

before the  steep climb to Dolma pass 

 We set out very early
even the moon has not set so far  

The  beautiful view of  dawn at Deraphuk

 Sun's rays were  illuminating the snow covered  peaks

Yatris waiting for Pony 

Rashmi  Mahajan

Commencement of  second day's Parikrama in the snow covered hills 

Like soldier's queuing one behind other
( As this was the beginning of the season there was a heavy crowd of faithfuls)

The  midway trek 

 the yatris  walked in snow

Silver coated  eastern extension

Earlier year's view of eastern extension 

A snow draped  peak 

                                                                   Amit Agrawal and Suthar

Amit  and Murugan

 Nishta Pandey  warming her up with 
  hot water on the coldest day

 A rest is a must before reaching Dolma

Nearing Dolma  pass 

 Aha...   Dolma is in sight

 The trek route we traversed
(View form Dolma)

On the ninth day of the yatra and the second day of the parikrama we trekked for about 22 Kms. First it is a steep climb to Dolma pass the tallest point on the whole yatra  and equally steep descent to Lamchu valley and then the trek up to  Zangzerbu.  This day's trek is supposed to be  the toughest  as it involves the climbing upto Dolma. The weather at Dolma is very fickle and it is always risky. The popular belief is that only when Dolma the Tibetan Goddess ( For Hindus it is Maa Parvati)  wills only,  one will be able to cross  the pass. This year as we  undertook the  travelled in the beginning of the season  the snow has not completely melted in the higher reaches  this compounded the problem. But by the grace of Shiv-Sakthi all the yatris in our group  who attempted completed the parikrama successfully. 

As it is better to cross Dolma before noon we started early, the dawn was beautiful at Deraphuk.  As  Lord  was  draped with snow we could not get his full darshan in the morning , nevertheless we prayed to Him to  be with us in this arduous trek and commenced our trek. It was sheer white everywhere and every nook and corner was filled with snow.  We were providesd with lunch packets like the  previous  day we also carries our  snacks and hot water. Some of us opted for pony upto  Dolma luckily we got the same. Normally the Pony is booked for the whole three day's parikrama. 

As it was the beginning of the season and the Chinese had allowed trek to Dolma just few days  before it was crowded so we climbed the difficult trek one after another slowly and steadily, as we were ascending  the snow thickness was also  increasing.    Undeterred chanting the  Holy five  syllables we climbed the mountain. In between we could see the wonderful snow clad eastern extension. Shiv-sthal and karma testing stone were fully immersed in snow.   Seeing so many people walking along helped us to. It took about three hours to climb to Dolma and at last we reached Dolma with great joy.