Trek and Climb with RAJA

The Curious Case of De Nga View from the ridge above Longdo Nye (Panch Pokhri) lakes Explorations on the watershed between Lachen chu and Ringi chu, North Sikkim Text: Anindya Mukherjee Photos: Aloke Kumar Das It was the third week of November,2015 and Kolkata was showing no signs of cooling down. Autumn was clearly gone and winter was still hesitating to enter into our space. Being gangetic, we understand this. Winter and Bay of Bengal are eternally engaged in a ‘cold’ war. Just like us Bengalis, they do not agree with each other- ever. But I could see and sense from experience that the weather pattern in the eastern part of the Himalaya was moving towards a clearer, stable state. News of new snow on the ridges of Singalila was bringing promises. I was getting restless. Long time, no mountain! And suddenly a plan was in the air.   As soon as the plan did surface, I met Aloke Das, my companion on Nanda Devi East   in 2013 [1] . I knew, Aloke, a senior mounta...

South Simvu: Kanchenjunga’s last kept Secret Text & Photographs: Anindya Mukherjee “Maps, if caviare [1]  to the general, are, as Louis Stevenson has insisted, very suggestive to persons with proper imagination.” - Douglas Freshfield, Round Kangchenjunga, p-20 Story of maps and an invisible glacier For the last few years I have been trying to explore the valleys and glaciers of the south-eastern flanks of Kangchenjunga. To be a bit more specific, my explorations were focused on the little or completely unknown glaciers like Talung, Tongshyong ,South Simvu glaciers and the valley system created by their rivers ( Rukel-Rongyoung or Talung Chu) emanating from them.  From the south summit of Kangchenjunga (8476m) a high ridge extends east separating the Zemu glacier valley on the north from South Simvu, Tongshyong and Talung glaciers to the south. These three glaciers form the head of the Talung Basin. Although both Tongshyong and Talung glaciers have been vi...