Sunset over Bhagirathi III & I

Sunset over Bhagirathi III & I, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Sunset coats Bhagirathi I in Alpen Glow, as viewed from the Gangotri Glacier.

Bhagirathi I is the farthest peak of the Bhagirathi Sisters group one of the many mountains which make up the Gangotri Group. Though many attempts and routes are tried on the formidable & difficult West Buttress of Bhagirathi III (The rib of the great buttress can be seen in this shot in the shadiows), Bhagirathi I has received scant attention.

Routes & Main Ascents
It was only in 1990 that a Japanese Expedition using nearly 2000 mtrs of rope made the first ascent via its Southeast Ridge.A small team of Alpinists from Britain made a fine Alpine Style ascent in 1983 via its West Ridge, which gave them some excellent granite but tricky snow climbing. Martin Moran , Charlie Heard & John Mothersdale made the summit in a fine effort without roping up the mountain or fancy ironmongery.. But sadly during the descent Heard fell to his death
Since then there have been other attempts amongst them some Indian Teams

Namgyal Chortens near Shey.

Namgyal Chortens near Shey., originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Hundreds of crumbling chortens dot the landscape in Ladakh, the largest array is to be found in the desert east of Shey, the former capital of the Namgyal Kings who ruled Ladakh from the mid 1500's to the late 1800's

These Chortens are the Tibetan equivalent of the North Indian stupas & Chattris in Rajasthan - large hemispherical burial mounds-cum-devotional objects, prominent in Buddhist ritual since the third century BC. Made of mud and stone (now also concrete), many chortens were erected as acts of piety and remembrances by Ladakhi nobles

Some contain sacred manuscripts that, like the chortens, wither and decay in time, illustrating the central Buddhist doctrine of impermanence.

It is customary to pass a chorten in a clockwise direction: the ritual of circumambulation mimics the passage of the planets through the heavens, and is believed to ward off evil spirits.

A short way downhill from the big chorten, near the radio station, stands an even more monumental symbol of devotion. The 500-metre Mani Ringmo ( A wall made of up discarded Mani Stones), erected by King Deldan Namgyal in 1635 for his father Senge Namgyal one of the most successful of the dynasty who is still revered as he built many important monasteries (Hemis,Stakna and Chemre) & also built the Leh Palace.

Mani Ringmo
Ranging from a couple of meters to over a kilometer in length, these walls are made of hundreds of thousands of stones, each inscribed with prayers or sacred mantras - usually the invocation Om Mani Padme Hum: "Hail to the Jewel in the Lotus". They are hand carved and then discarded no matter how fine the carving again to show the impermanence of things and the curtailment of desire.

Such stones should never be removed and visitors should resist the urge to climb onto the walls to have photographs taken.