The Rock Climbing Route


The route to the Tekla Rock Climbing area had all the ingredients of a nightmarish movie. With a load of 18-20 Kg. the army of jawans moved in unison from NIM.
The initial course was crossing the stairs and then the stairs ended at a semi cemented road. This road lead us to the macadam road which was the steepest we could have asked for. The begining of the road was a place where "gaps" in the movement of the army began noticable. Continuous shoutings from the instructors to cover up the "gaps" invariably led to increase in the breathing rates and panting among our army like column.
Thence started another steep climb . You can imagine, a column of 60 marchers with 20 kg of rucksac on their fragile backs made to run must have presentes an excellent sight to the nearby passer byers and the villagers.
Later on, the main road led to a small non-descript passage over seemingly untroddenpath . On the left side was the uttarkashi vakkey and on the right was the hill range. The right side was more frightening as it was full of a special type of plant which had leaves full of small spines. One touch of the leaves left a very painfull feeling for the next 30 minutes.
While moving on the narrow trai, we could witness the sound of the straem passing under the road as the narrow passage was basically a bridge type of a structyure. The roaring of the river below added another dimension to the trek.Finally we move on and reached a never ending road with a steep climb. On the way we found a temple. Many of us made it a point to ring the Bronze Bell .It somehow reassured us that the gods were with us and shall help us in successfully covering the treacherous route of 11 Km. The next meander of the river and the view of snow covered peaks was a sign that the resting point is arriving.
Finally the resting point did arrive and the Course instructor used to say " your time begins now" That is we had less than 10 minutes in which we had to use our best resources to putdown our rucksac, take a quick snaps and also add and remove body fluids behind a bush.
You may be wondering that osmoregulation for the human kind is such and easy job and what is the fuss about urination. We had to climb a small hill to be out of the way of our coleauges and the instructors before we could show the sky our precious possession.
By the time we had taken snaps and taken rest, the "Move " commandment from the rope instructor moved us from the dream world to reality. Then again it was another hour of uphill walk. Every tuen or a steep climb was wished by us to be the last one but the route had better plans.
Ultimately, the sight of green coloured NIM Busesat the base of Tekla were a refreshing sight. However, our misery did not end there. From the base of the Road Head upto the Tekla rock climbing area was another steep climb which was more tougher than the Hill walk of the Second Day.
The sight of friends going up slowly but steadily was enough to rejuvinate the dried juices in our body and finally, one by one all of us di reach the Tekla rock climbing area. By the time we rteached tekla, it used to be 8.00 Hrs and time for a quick breakfast.

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