Kangchenjunga range from Rinchinpong/Kaluk West Sikkim
The Chiwabhanjan Phoktey Dara Trek October 30th to November 8th 2020
October 30th 2020
After more than ten months since our last trek in December 2019, a South Col Expeditions team took a leap of faith and with proper protection and sanitization against covid 19 decided to do a small trek route in West Sikkim. The route popularly known as Phoktey Dara offers a dress circle view of Kangchenjunga and three other 8000 metre peaks Everest, Lhotse and Makalu. The route straddles the border of India and Nepal. After navigating the airports of Calcutta and Bagdogra with double masks, shields and sanitisers, we started around 1.40 pm in the afternoon from Bagdogra airport. The city traffic was heavy and we got to Sevoke and the Coronation bridge in about an hour.
Soon the Teesta was next to us but the Teesta dam project had changed the entire complexion of the river. It was now a silent reservoir, eerie and still. Nothing moved nothing stirred. There were no rapids no noise of the river rushing down from the high glaciers making its way to the plains of Bengal. The environmental degradation due to the Teesta project will definitely have a lost lasting impact on this region and unfortunately we could not prevent it. Soon after Rambi Bazar we entered the landslide zone and the road was ravaged after the monsoon. Going was slow and traffic also heavy. Finally around 3.50 pm we entered Teesta Bazar and crossed the bridge and headed to Melli passing the Kalimpong turn off. We crossed the Melli bridge in ten minutes and showed our Sikkim Tourist registration cards at the check post. There was no other covid related checking like temperature or any other self declaration. Sikkim does not require any covid negative certificate at present. The road from Melli to Jorethang which used to be a beautiful drive along the Rangeet has also been badly damaged by landslides- it took us an hour to reach Jorethang around 5.10 pm and we decided to stop by the Legship bridge for a quick meal for of delicious momos and soup. We left Joretang at 5.30 pm in the dark and headed up to Reshi - on our right higher up we could see the lights of Namchi. Sikkim has a very strong electrification programme and I believe almost all villages big or small have now been given electricity. Around 7 pm we finally entered Rinchinpong and were greeted by an incredible sight - it was full moon night Lakshmi Purnima and the moon was shining bright and clear on the Kangchenjunga range from our lodge room - the Ghonday Resort. In front were the twin towns of Gayzing and Pelling brightly illuminated with flickering lights and the headlamps of the passing jeeps. It was an amazing view and the clarity after the monsoon was also incredible.
Bagdogra to Melli 2 hours 25 min; Melli to Jorethang 1 hour; Jorethang to Rinchinpong/ Kaluk 1 hour 30 min.
Photo from the Zemu Valley with the peaks courtesy www.himalayan-info.org
The north east base camp of Kangchenjunga in the Zemu Valley has been "out of bounds" due a rigid permit system imposed by the Government of India and Sikkim. However, if you can manage the hassles associated with getting the permits then it is one of the most rewarding walks in the Himalaya. South Col has trekked this route twice the last time in October 2014. The details of the route are below:
October 27th
2014 Gangtok to Lachen 2750 metres 6-7 hours
We left Gangtok on a sunny autumn morning with Kangchenjunga
floating in the clouds. The road followed the North Sikkim highway and we
followed the valley of the Teesta river all the way to Chungthang where the
permits were checked. Travelling along this road I thought of the early
pioneers like Paul Bauer, Douglas Freshfield, and Vittorio Sella who has walked
along Teesta valley on their way to Lachen. We stayed the night at the very
luxurious and comfortable Apple Orchard Hotel.
October 28th
2014 - Drive Lachen to Zema and then trek Zema to Tallem 3250 metres 4½ hrs.
The morning was cold and
cloudy and the group had breakfast at Apple Orchard at 8 AM and left by 9.30
AM. There was a problem with one of our
vehicles so we walked part of the way until Zema. There was another problem at Zema about the
weight of porter loads but this was also sorted out. We left Zema at 10.30 AM
after receiving Khadas for our full group. The
trail went down from Zema to the river and there were a lot of landslides to be
crossed on the trail in the first two hours – the upper trail has been damaged
by landslides and the current lower trail follows the Zemu Chu river. In many
sections there is no trail and the path requires clambering from boulder to
boulder using both hands. There is a steep section like a chimney which needs
to be climbed up with cascading water spraying the trekker from a nearby
waterfall. We stopped for lunch around
1.20 PM in a clearing near the river. There is a proper trail after lunch which
climbs above the Zemu Chu through some very pleasant forest of ferns and
rhododendrons. Just before the camp site of Tallem, the trail passes through a
large meadow which at this season had plenty of dried flowers. It would have
been a spectacular site in summer. Tallem was reached around 3 PM – the walk
took 4½ hours with a half hour lunch stop. The weather remained cloudy in the
evening with low mist covering the tree tops.
COVID 19
| AN UPDATE FROM SUJOY DAS, FOUNDER, SOUTH COL EXPEDITIONS
As some of you would
have seen from our whats app messenger posts, we have cancelled our summer
treks in Ladakh for the period July to September 2020.We are very sorry to lose the summer season
in Ladakh with some of the best short camping treks in the Himalaya, some of
which have been pioneered by South Col. However, Ladakh is under fourteen days
quarantine for new arrivals at present and Delhi, the jumping off point for
Ladakh is a major covid 19 hotspot in India, so it would be advisable not to
trek this summer in Ladakh. Further, international insurance companies are not
providing insurance for visits and treks to India, Nepal and Bhutan so far and this
rules out a lot of our international clients.
We are still open to conducting treks in the November –
December season 2020, if possible, but as days go by and with rising covid 19
numbers both in India and to a lesser extent in Nepal, it does seem to be a
long shot at present.Nepal flights are
still not open and like India they are following fourteen days quarantine for
any of their passengers arriving on repatriation flights. We will be constantly
reviewing the situation and advising you as we get updated information.
Following this cancellation of our Ladakh summer treks, I
would like to thank everyone for their support and kind words. As an adventure
trek and photography tour operator focusing on Himalayan countries we are
probably more used to the risks of losing seasons than most other regular
travel operators. In the past, we have also dealt with cyclones during Autumn
2013 & 2014 seasons in Nepal and Bhutan. After the 2015 earthquake in Nepal
we had to cancel our entire Spring season and though we were back in autumn in
a limited way, it took some time to rebuild the numbers of trekkers again.
"The Himalaya is truly Rhododendron country. As you make your way along the Dzongri trail in Sikkim, extensive forests of Rhododendron can be seen all along the trail and across large tracts of the Dzongri meadows. This flower is the breathtaking glory of Sikkim and the land boasts of some 30 species from the gigantic Rhododendron grande –a tree that towers at 40 feet; to the diminutive nivale that rises barely 2 inches from the ground.
Some like the Dalhousiae are epiphytes growing on top of tall trees and barely visible from below; others are painted prima donnas: like the conspicuous falconeri with its large fleshy leaves covered with rust-colored filaments on their underside. The Rhodondendron literally live off its looks: the highly colored flowers are crucial since they are the only source of attraction for bees and butterflies since no species has any fragrance.
These trails were also the favorite stamping ground of the man who pioneered the first attempt to systematically explore the land and document information about the flora and fauna of the Eastern Himalaya: Joseph Dalton Hooker. The British botanist was the son of the first Director of London’s renowned Kew Gardens, and a close friend of Darwin’s. After obtaining his MD from Glasgow University in 1839, young Hooker traveled extensively for most of his life going off on botanical expeditions to all corners of the world (including the Antarctic region) and publishing prolifically on his findings and theories.
Watching from the ruins of her home - Kaule Village - Nepal after the earthquake April 2015
On my treks over many years in the Himalaya, I have been fortunate enough to photograph the people living in these remote locations and villages. Some of the interesting faces of the Himalaya are in this post.
At Tashiding monastery Sikkim - March 1987
Porter in the Solu Khumbu April 2011
Boys from Photoksur village - Zanskar September 2007
Leh Ladakh September 2008
Samagaon - Manaslu region April 2017
Watching masked dances at Tabo, Spiti October 2011
For more photographs from the Himalaya please do visit www.sujoydas.com
Today 28th August 2017 is the 158th birth anniversary of the great mountain photographer Vittorio Sella.
Vittorio Sella was an Italianphotographer and mountaineer, who took photographs of mountains which are regarded as some of the finest ever made.
Sella was born in Biella in the foothills of the Alps and acquired his interest in Alpinism from his uncle, Quintino Sella. He made a number of significant climbs in the Alps, including the first winter ascents of the Matterhorn and Monte Rosa, and the first winter traverse of Mont Blanc. He took part in several expeditions further afield, including three to the Caucasus (where a peak now bears his name), to Mount Saint Elias in Alaska, to the Rwenzori in Africa, and the 1909 expedition to K2 and the Karakoram. The latter three expeditions were in the company of Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi. Sella continued to climb into his old age, and made his last attempt on the Matterhorn at seventy six. The attempt failed when one of his guides was injured in an accident.
The high quality of Sella's photography was in part due to his use of 30×40 cm photographic plates, in spite of the difficulty of carrying bulky and fragile equipment into remote places. He had to invent equipment, including modified pack saddles and rucksacks, to allow these particularly large glass plates to be transported safely. His photographs were widely published and exhibited, and highly praised; Ansel Adams, who saw thirty-one that Sella had presented to the US Sierra Club, said they inspired "a definitely religious awe". Many of the photographs he took were of mountains which had not been previously recorded and so have historical as well as artistic significance; for example by recording the retreat of glaciers in the Rwenzori mountains in Central Africa.
Sella died in Biella in 1943. His collection of photographs is now managed by the Sella Foundation (Fondazione Sella) in Biella. Some pictures of Sella are exhibited in the Museo Nazionale della Montagna "Duca degli Abruzzi"in Turin. [ From Wikipedia }
Some of Sella's photographs are below:
Siniolchu and Little Siniolchu from the Zemu Valley 1899
Muztagh Towers Karakoram
Siniolchu Zemu Valley 1899
Camp Zemu Valley 1899
Glacier near Mont Blanc
Chardon Glacier 1888
In the words of Ansel Adams “Knowing the physical pressures of time and energy attendant on ambitious mountain expeditions, we are amazed by the mood of calmness and perfection pervading all of Sella’s photographs. In Sella’s photographs there is no faked grandeur; rather there is understatement, caution, and truthful purpose… Sella has brought to us not only the facts and forms of far-off splendours of the world, but the essence of experience which finds a spiritual response in the inner recesses of our mind and heart.”
At the start of the monsoon in early June and after the crowds have gone the valley between Yumthang and Yume Samdong in North Sikkim presents a floral spectacle which is not seen by many. Here are some photographs of the flora of the valley.
A CONFLICT IN THIN AIR
Prosenjit Dasgupta published by Cinnamon Teal Publishing Price Rs 399/- pages 147.
At a first glance, Prosenjit Dasgupta’s A Conflict in Thin Air seems to be about the Indo- China war of 1962 but on reading this slim volume, it is much more. Dasgupta has focused in great detail with meticulous research on the history, relationship and conflicts between Tibet, China, India as well as Russia from the 8th century onwards.
Most people believe that China’s invasion of Tibet in 1959 was an event which was precipitated by the aggressive policies followed by the Peoples Republic of China led by Mao Zedong, but, in reality, way back in the 1750s, Tibet was ‘infuriated at the Chinese interference in their affairs and frequent clashes and skirmishes broke out between them.’ However, despite this, when Nepal attacked Tibet in 1792, the Dalai Lama appealed to the Chinese emperor Chien Lung for assistance and he sent a force which beat back the Gorkha forces.
Dasgupta analyses in detail the events occurring in the famous Simla Conference which started in October 1913 and ended in April 1914! In this meeting, China accepted Tibet as an equal entity and even more Tibet and Mongolia signed a treaty to respect each other’s independence without any ‘by your leave’ to China. Not known to many is that the Simla Conference proposed an Inner Tibet closer to China and an Outer Tibet closer to Lhasa. The first zone would be under Chinese administration and the second would enable Tibet to function as an autonomously. Thus, the seeds were sown to create the Tibetan Autonomous Region (TAR) which came to pass many years later.
In 1950, the Chinese carried out what was then referred to by them as the ‘peaceful liberation of Tibet’ and other than El Salvador in Central America no other nation though it fit to bring up this matter before the United Nations. Pandit Nehru, as Prime Minister of India, did protest but did not go far beyond this, possibly not wanting to ruffle Chinese feathers.
Dasgupta finally end his treatise with the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962. It is most interesting to read that twenty days before the war started, Lt. Gen. Umrao Singh heading 33 Corps in charge of NEFA (North Eastern Frontier Agency) was abruptly removed and a new 4 Corps under Lt. Gen. B.M.Kaul was set up to mann the frontier at the last moment! The lack of India’s defence preparedness is aptly brought out in this chapter and the Chinese abrupt cease fire after occupying Indian territory and being in a winning position was to ‘teach India a lesson’. Once the war was over, Menon was removed as Defence Minister and Lt. Gen. B.M. Kaul resigned from the Army along with Gen P.N Thapar then Army Chief.
In conclusion, Dasgupta’s detailed research attempts to unravel the tangled threads of history of China and Tibet and the Sino-Indian conflict of 1962 and the border disputes are only symptomatic of large ranging differences between the two countries. The book attempts in a concise volume to address all these far reaching issues and in this Dasgupta has been successful.
A photographer who enjoys walking and was inspired to pick up a camera by the beauty of the mountains. Sujoy Das combined his two passions for trekking and photography together becoming the founder of South Col Expeditions; a company offering treks and photography workshops up in the scenic landscapes of the Himalayas. His passions for mountains and photography are well blended. We at Livingit are honoured to connect with someone who has been living his passion for the last 30 years. Connecting for the #IamLivingit series, Rachana from Team Livingit got in touch with the mountain inspired photographer for stories on how he got to where he is today, his love for the mountains and his passion for stunning landscape shots.
RJ: You have been photographing, climbing and trekking in the Himalaya for the last thirty years. Tell us something about yourself and your journey. Sujoy Das: I was born in Calcutta and have spent most of my life there. However, my family had strong ties with Darjeeling – my grandfather built a house there called Ray Villa in the 1930s which is still standing on the hill – it was built on the edge of a hill which had an uninterrupted view of Kangchenjunga right across the valley, possibly one of the best locations in Darjeeling.
Ray Villa circa 1940’s
Ray Villa was later sold and when I first went to Darjeeling as a child in the sixties, we lived in the town in a house called Dahlia which also had a great view of the snows, as they are referred to in Darjeeling. My grandmother used to walk a lot and she often took me on these walks – I must have been around eight or ten then and sometimes we walked to the neighbouring village of Ghoom and back. We used to live below the house of the great Tenzing Norgay, the first man to summit Everest along with Edmund Hillary, and I still remember meeting Tenzing and his dogs on these walks. To see the great man himself was an inspiration and I still treasure the autograph I have. There is also a famous photo studio in Darjeeling called Das Studio (no relation to me!) and I used to go there every day to look at the big mountain blow ups, that Durga Das Pradhan, one of the Das brothers, had shot and beautifully enlarged.
Unlike today, Darjeeling was a beautiful hill station then with leafy lanes, moss drenched rocks, waterfalls gushing down the hillside backed by that superb view of Kangchenjunga. Darjeeling was my introduction to the Himalaya and to photography and my first trek was in the hills across Darjeeling – the Singalila ridge of Sandakphu and Phalut. After I completed school in Kolkata and went to college, I continued to visit Darjeeling and later on ventured into Sikkim.
Climbing a snow slope in West Sikkim in the Kangchenjunga region – note the primitive equipment Bata power shoes and makeshift stick circa 1980
That was, in fact, the start of my Sikkim book project, even though I did not know it then. Most of the treks which I undertook were with a friend from school Srijit Dasgupta and were low budget shoe-string affairs. We often boarded a ‘Rocket Bus’ as it was known then from Calcutta and reached Siliguri in the foothills at dawn. From there another packed bus or jeep used to take us into the mountains either to Darjeeling or Sikkim. There were no porters or guides with us – we could not afford them. We carried our own backpacks with our own supplies and stayed at the dak bungalows or mountain huts at a nominal charge – something like Rs 20 a night! If there was no hut we used to bivouac in the open sometimes under a rock or stone wall.
An emergency night stop near Phalut after getting lost the previous evening circa 1982
My interest in photography, in fact, grew from my interest in the mountains – I wanted to make better photographs of the Himalaya and I started reading up all I could about photography – I borrowed books and magazines like Amateur Photographer from the British Council library – those were the days before the internet and mobile phones. A friend of my father’s gifted me his old black and white enlarger and processing equipment so I started to learn by trial and error how to process black and white film at home in the bathroom. That was a great learning experience and now with digital photography that experience has gone.
RJ: When did you first think of becoming a photographer? Sujoy Das: I don’t think it was a conscious decision – I started photographing very early when in school and as I grew more and more into it I started getting opportunities to work for some magazines and newspapers and also doing freelance assignments for friends and family and that increased over the years.
RJ: Any favourite photographers? What is your biggest source of inspiration for your work? Sujoy Das: In the area of mountain photography, which is my major interest it would beVittorio SellaandGalen Rowell, both masters in their field. Sella was a pioneer in many ways – he used large format cameras at high altitude, including the Himalayas and the Karakoram, and some of his images are just magical! Rowell was also an amazing landscape photographer – he pioneered some techniques including the use of split neutral density filters and has a filter series named after him! I am also a great fan of Raghubir Singh – his street photographs were intricately layered and it looks easy but is very difficult to achieve. It was extremely sad to lose him so early.
RJ: What photographic equipment did you start off with? Sujoy Das: Well, I had an Agfa Click III first and then a small Kodak Instamatic! They were popular beginners’ cameras in the late sixties and early seventies. Then I moved over to a Pentax Spotmatic which is an SLR and finally soon after college got a Nikon FM. I have stayed with Nikon ever since – I have both film and digital Nikons at the moment.
RJ: Among the gadgets that you’ve collected over the past 30 years of your career is there anything you feel you could’ve saved on?
Sujoy Das: Not really – I never had much money to invest in photography – it was always a struggle to buy something new and I made do with the minimum. For example, I never used the top of the line and most expensive Nikons like F2AS, F4, F5 –I was quite satisfied with their mid-range like FM/ FE/ F100 etc. and even today in digital era I use the mid-range full frames like D610 or D750 etc.
RJ: Do you always have a camera with you? Sujoy Das: Well, nowadays I always have an iPhone with me and it’s not the latest – it’s a 5S! I am pretty happy with the iPhone – I like the panorama and video features as well and use it quite a bit – perfect for posting on Facebook and Instagram – earlier before mobile phones, in the mountains, I always had a camera usually one of the smaller Nikon SLR’s with a fixed lens and maybe a lens or two in my backpack.
RJ: You are the founder of South Col Expeditions which runs treks and photo workshops in the Himalaya. How has the experience been? Enriching so many lives with your passion? Sujoy Das: It’s been a great experience. Many of the South Col trekkers came to me as clients but have become close friends over the years. There are some who have done multiple treks with me year after year and there are some who don’t trek with any other company other than South Col! It has also been great taking them up to locations which are off the beaten track for mountain views which they might have missed had they been on their own and enjoying our evenings in the camp discussing different subjects.
RJ: What are your essentials when packing for a trek? Sujoy Das: Other than the regular stuff like t-shirts, thermals, boots, cap, gloves, goggles etc, I would never go without a good down jacket and sleeping bag. At high altitude both these are essential and can save your life especially when it is very cold. Water tablets and a good headlamp are also on the essential list along with an emergency medicine and first aid kit.
RJ: Locations and weather conditions are definitely a deciding factor in the success of a photograph, how do you handle the unpredictability of the two? Sujoy Das: Well regarding locations, when you are walking through the mountains you see viewpoints which look attractive and you do your shooting on the way – if the light is not suitable and you can’t go back as you are trekking to another night stop then that photograph is lost. However, sometimes when camping or spending the night at a lodge there are locations around which will work in the right light like before dawn, the golden hour before sunset etc. For this, you need to be ready and waiting at the right time and hope you get your shot.
Photographing Primulas in the upper Yumthang Valley in North Sikkim
For weather conditions, you can’t really do much. Himalayan weather is unpredictable and when you expect bright sunshine you may be enveloped in fog! Having said that, it is also possible to make a photograph in inclement weather – many of my best shots have been taken when the weather has packed up or is just clearing after a storm.
Clearing spring storm on Thamserku in the Gokyo valley
So bad weather is not necessarily an impediment to getting a photograph – it’s just that you will get a different sort of photograph which may infact, be more dramatic than the one you intended in the first place.
RJ: You are the co- author and photographer of the book SIKKIM – A Travelers Guide with Arundhati Ray which was a finalist in the Banff Book Competition in the Adventure Travel category. Tell us something about it? Sujoy Das: I spent more than fifteen years on and off shooting in Sikkim. It had become an obsession for me to get this book published and it was my first book. The proof and photographs were sent to around fifteen publishers all over the world including Indian publishers and all of them rejected it. In between the rejections, I used to keep going back to Sikkim and shooting different locations and events. Then finally two friends of mine Rukun Advani and Anuradha Roy, who is now an acclaimed author, started their own publishing house, Permanent Black. I asked them if they would do this book and they agreed. So that’s how Sikkim was published and interestingly the book sold very well – it went to three editions – it is now out of print and I am thinking of updating it for a fourth edition if possible.
RJ: Your book Nepal Himalaya – A Journey Through Time is specifically dedicated to black and white photographs. Any particular reason? Sujoy Das: One day, some years ago, I was in Pilgrims Bookshop in Kathmandu, which is one of the biggest bookshops in Nepal and has a superb collection of mountain books. I was looking at the big coffee table books on Nepal and I noticed that almost all of them were in colour. I asked the owner whether any recent black and white photography books had been done on Nepal – he could not come up with any. So that was the seed of the idea to do a black and white book on Nepal which would look different and stay away from the stereotype images.
RJ: You also did another powerful book called Nepal for the Indian Traveller. Tell us something about that. Sujoy Das: This was a Lonely Planet India publication – it followed the Lonely Planet layout and design which is similar for all their guide books. Even though I knew Nepal well I had to research a lot for this book as Lonely Planet is very particular about correct information and normally requires the author to visit the location before commenting. So most of what is covered in the book is based on personal experience – I recommended hotels where I had stayed, restaurants where I had eaten, travel companies I had found reliable and so on. In fact even now sometimes I refer to the book myself if I need something!
RJ: If you had to choose one, which of your photographs is your all-time favourite, and why? Sujoy Das: This is the most difficult question of the whole lot! There are so many… it’s very hard to make a choice and the one I have selected today is, of course, one of my favorites’.
The kitchen of Lingshed monastery Zanskar
Tenzin Tsewang one of my trusted guides and I were on a trek across Zanskar from Lamayuru to Padum. A couple of days into the trek we reached the village of Lingshed. It was lunch time and we were both hungry. The weather was also not very good which is unusual in September. Tenzin knew a monk in the monastery at Lingshed and said we would go there hoping to get something to eat. So, we sat down in the monastery kitchen and Tibetan tea was served. It was dark in the kitchen but there were some interesting elements and I was wondering how to make a photograph. Suddenly, the sun came up through the clouds and illuminated the kitchen beautifully in splendid back lighting. I think even if I had a set of lights I could not have done it better – I shot three or four photographs and then the sun went behind the clouds again. The best one of the lot is the picture above and the man sitting next to the pillar on the right is Tenzin. I feel it conveys beautifully the ambience of a kitchen in the high Himalaya.
RJ: Similarly with treks, any particular favourite trek that will always hold a very special place? Sujoy Das: I think it would be the Green Lakes trek – the base camp of Kangchenjunga in North Sikkim along the Zemu valley. Green Lakes had become some sort of Holy Grail for me. I have done this trek twice once way back in the spring of 1987 when I was photographing for my Sikkim book and again in November 2014 when I took a small South Col team to the base camp.
View of Kangchenjunga from my tent at Green Lakes in November 2014
The trek is in a restricted area and it if very difficult to get permissions. What struck me on both occasions was the pristine condition of the valley especially the forests of the Zemu which are quite incredible. There are no villages in there and you meet no one – it is pristine wilderness. Infact, I did a photo essay just on the forests of the Zemu without any mountains – it is here .
RJ: What is a piece of advice you would offer to aspiring photographers looking to make their passion into their profession? Sujoy Das: I think they need to understand that it’s not an easy job to make a profession out of photography. If you are able to get a photography job with a magazine or newspaper then you would earn a monthly salary and that would keep you going though your own personal projects and creativity may get blunted. However, freelance photojournalism, travel, magazine stories are difficult to find and payments are also mostly inadequate. Sometimes it is easier to follow your passion as a part time photographer and do the assignments and stories that you are really interested in.
Late winter at the base camp of Annapurna I with Gandarva Chui and the ridge to Macchapuchare behind circa 2014
RJ: What’s next on your bucket list? Sujoy Das: I don’t really have a bucket list though I would like to go beyond the Himalaya and visit Tibet, Patagonia and the New Zealand Alps once in my life.
It is not always straight forward and easy to live off of a passion. Living your passion simply means allowing ourselves to give it a priority in our life, whether as our profession, full time or part time, or as a hobby.
Off limit to trekkers for many years and rigidly controlled by a permit system, few have made it to the north east base camp of Kangchendzonga. I was fortunate to make two visits to Green Lakes, once way back in 1987 along with an Assam Rifles expedition to Kangchenjunga and again in 2014 leading a South Col trek to the Zemu Valley. These photographs are from the 2014 trek to this magical valley! For a route of this trek do visit http://www.southcol.com/treks-nepal/green-lakes-trek-in-north-sikkim/
The north east face of Kangchenjunga from above the Green Lakes Base Camp
