Kanchendzonga

Kanchendzonga, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Alpenglow during Sunset on Kancha on the Yuksom- Dzongri -Goecha La Trek , through the Singilila Ranges in Sikkim.
Kabru glacier in foreground and Kanchenjunga with its 5 summits behind.
Kabru Dome slopes on the left hand side.

Mt Kangchenjunga 8,586 m is the third highest mountain in the world (after Mount Everest and K2). & the highest mountain in India. Kangchenjunga translated means "The Five Treasures of Snows";, as it contains five peaks, four of them over 8,450 metres. The treasures represent the five repositories of god, which are gold, silver, gems, grain, and holy books. Kangchenjunga is also called Sewalungma in local Limbu language and considered sacred in Kirant religion.

Three of these five peaks (main, central, and south) are on the border of North Sikkim district of Sikkim, India and Taplejung District of Nepal, while the other two are completely in Taplejung District.

Until 1852, Kangchenjunga was assumed to be the highest mountain in the world, but calculations made by the British Great Trigonometric Survey in 1849 came to the conclusion that Mount Everest was the highest and Kangchenjunga the third-highest.

A brief time line is below:

1852: The height of Mt Everest is calculated based on the results of the 1849 British Great Trigonometric Survey, and it is discovered that Kangchenjunga is no longer the highest mountain in the world as previously thought, but the third highest at 28,169 feet (8586 meters).

1899: British climber and explorer Douglas Freshfield and famous Italian photographer Vittorio Sella are the first to circumnavigate the mountain. Illegally traveling through Eastern Nepal, they are the first mountaineers to view the great Western Face of Kangchenjunga.

1905: Alistair Crowley (the famous Occultist) sets up a camp at the head of the Yalung Glacier in Nepal. He establishes a high camp at 21,325 feet (6500 meters) when disaster strikes. A party of porters and climbers, including climbers Alexis Pache and Dr Jacot-Guillarmod, insist on descending in the afternoon to Camp 7 at 20,500 feet (6250 meters). The inadequately supplied porters - reportedly climbing barefooted! - repeatedly slip on the icy slopes, and eventually on a traverse a fall triggers an avalanche. The sad result is that Pache and three porters are killed. Hearing their shouts, Crowley reportedly refuses to descend and help, remaining in his tent drinking tea. He is quoted in a newspaper as saying he was "not over-anxious in the circumstances...to render help. A mountain accident of this sort is one of the things for which I have no sympathy whatever".

1920 Dr. A. M Kellas makes his last of 6 trips to Sikkim and along with Howard Raeburn (a fellow team member of the 1921 Mt. Everest Expedition) reach 23,500ft.

1929: German post-monsoon expedition led by Dr.Paul Bauer attacks the NE Spur starting from the Zemu Glacier in Sikkim. Utilizing a series of snow caves in bad weather conditions, the team reaches 24,300 feet (7400 meters). A five-day storm buries most of their equipment so they are forced to retreat.

1930: International Expedition led by George Dyhrenfurth and including the German Uli Wieland, Austrian Erwin Schneider(famous for his Schneider Maps nowadays) , and the Briton Frank Smythe. & Wood Jhonson, Surprisingly they are granted permission to approach the NW side from Nepal. During an attempt on the North Ridge the porter Chettan (who was then considered one of the best Sherpa's around) and Schneider are swept away in an avalanche - Chettan is killed but Schneider miraculously survives. A new attempt is made on the NW Face, but the expedition is eventually called off because of hard climbing and poor snow conditions. They however make an ascent of the Jomson Peak

1931: Second German Expedition led by Paul Bauer, again attempting the NE Spur. The attempt is plagued by bad weather, illnesses and deaths. Bauer has to leave the expedition and a Sherpa and porter die - all due to sickness. After another accident where a climber and Sherpa are killed in a fall, the expedition retreats after climbing only a little higher than the 1929 attempt.

1955: FIRST ASCENT - British Expedition led by Dr. Charles Evans (Deputy Leader of the Successful Mt. Everest expedition of 1953) via the SW Face using oxygen. The now classic route follows the Yalung Glacier to the base of the SW Face, over the Western Buttress to the Great Shelf which lies below the amphitheater formed by the Main summit and Yalung Kang. Above the Great Shelf the route is pushed up The Gangway to near the West Ridge, where the pinnacled ridge crest is avoided by climbing the headwall until the summit ridge can be reached. The first assault pair of Joe Brown and George Band (Band was also the youngest man on the successful Everest Expedition) are successful, followed by a second successful ascent by Norman Hardie and Tony Streather. Out of respect for local beliefs, the actual summit itself remained virgin, a tradition that continued until recent years.

The summits of Kancha are:

Kangchenjunga Main 8,586mtrs 28,169ft
Kangchenjunga West 8,505mtrs 27,904ft (Yalung Kang)
Kanchenjunga Central 8,482mtrs 27,828ft (Middle)
Kanchenjunga South 8,494mtrs 27,867ft

Sunrise Behind Hardeol.

Sunrise Behind Hardeol., originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Hardeol : "The Temple of God" is backlit during a fiery sunrise viewed from the Sandalya Kund (4200mtrs) during a sidetrip on the Milam Glacier Trek.

Elevation: 7,151 m (23,461 ft)
Location Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, India
Range Kumaon Himalaya
Prominence 1,300 m (4,300 ft)
Coordinates: 30°33′36″N, 80°00′36″E
First ascent: May 31, 1978 by Indo-Tibetan Border Police Expedition


HARDEOL is one of the major peaks of the Garhwal Himalaya. It is the highest peak on the northern side of the ring of peaks guarding the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, and lies at the northeast corner of this ring. It is situated at the northern end of the Milam valley, in the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand, India.

To its immediate north lies Trishuli, and just south is Rishi Pahar, on a north-south trending ridge leading eventually to Nanda Devi East. Hardeol is also sometimes referred to as Trishuli South.

Climbing History

First was a reconnaissance in 1939 by a Polish team (who had just climbed the formidable Nanda Devi East) however they lost 2 members in an avalanche which wiped out their Camp 3 on Trishuli and withdrew.
In 1964 a team led Maj Kohli too withdrew after their camps were destroyed by an avalanche.
1968 Saw Harish Kapadia and other members from a young team fail on the unstable icefall after approaching from the Ikualari Glacier. .. clearly the Icefall was the major bug bear of climbing this peak. In his book Harish Kapadia described this icefall between Trishuli & Hardeol to be seemingly hollow.

In 1968 a determined effort of a team lead by CK Mitra climbed Trishuli but could not climb Hardeol due to the onset of the Monsoons.

In 1974 four members (2 Indians & 2 NZ team members) of an Indo-New Zealand ladies team lead jointly by Ms. Shashikanta and Magaret Clarke were killed in its lower and highly unstable Icefall while attempting the mountain from the South.

In 1975 an I.T.B.P team under Hukum Singh was unsuccessful from the North .(They however had success on Trishul)

In 1978 first ascent of Hardeol was made by a team from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police led by S. P. Mulasi, on May 31, climbing from the ridge connecting the peak to Trishuli climbing it from the southern side.

Only one further ascent, in 1991, is listed in the Himalayan Index.
This ascent, by a large expedition from the Indian Border Security Force, put five members on the summit on September 24.

The best approach to Hardeol is from the eastern side, through the Ikualari glacier and thence to the right, up the Trishuli valley towards the Hardeol icefall.

Blue Men of the Desert

Blue Men of the Desert, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Twaregs are berber people and with their camels, are found all over the Sahara.. They are the original inhabitants of this sandy desert and still live a nomadic life
This was taken last year during my trip to Morocco and the southern tail of the Anti-Atlas mountains (named Djebel Bani) in Morocco, about 350 miles southeast of Marrakech.
We traveled south by bus from Marrakech, arriving late the night before for the yearly camel market in Goulemim, officially known as the ‘gateway to the Sahara’ and undertook a 3 day camel safari with our twareg guides.


The indigo-dyed garments worn by the Tuareg, from which they were nicknamed ‘blue men of the desert,’ are most prized. Because water is scarce in the desert, the indigo is pounded, instead of boiled, into the cloth. This method of dying the fabric imbues the cloth with a shimmery blue-black patina. With wear, the color seeps into the pores of their skin, casting a bluish-violet hue. Since indigo is precious and expensive, their bluish skin has become a status symbol among them: the darker blue a man’s skin, the wealthier he appears.

Also only the men go veiled not their women which is quite different from other Muslim Societies around them.. They have a feudal system and inheritance is through the maternal line. They also have their own written language which is descended from old Libyan writing. They were the original founders of the city of Timbuktu.

Flower Sellers Varanasi

Flowersellers Varanasi, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Planet Earth

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Everyone I know who has seen the BBC's phenomenal Planet Earth has been blown away by its astonishing photography.

Four years in the making, the ground-breaking camera work is some of the best ever put on screen and shot for . Each 50-minute episode covers a specific geographical region and/or wildlife habitat (mountains, caves, deserts, shallow seas, seasonal forests, etc.) until the entire planet has been magnificently represented by the most astonishing sights and sounds you'll ever experience from the comforts of home.

It's easily on par with recent Oscar-winner March Of The Penguins, and those non-verbal classics Baraka and the Qatsi Trilogy.

Narrated by Sir David Attenborough and a musical score from George Fenton it's set the benchmark for nature documentary.

The series has an extensive website (although parts of it are restricted to U.K. users). The Discovery Channel is one of the series co-producers, and is currently airing on the Discovery Channel across India.

Each episode is packed with images so beautiful or so forcefully impressive (and so perfectly photographed by the BBC's tenacious high-definition camera crews) that you'll be rendered speechless by the splendor of it all.

I'll post some more about this v special Documentary and some of my fav parts and video's so keep tuned in for more.

• Planet Earth Resources

  Planet Earth Screensavers

  Two screensavers
  

  Planet Earth Wallpapers

  Nine new images of animals and places
  

  Planet Earth on the IMDB

  Internet Movie Database listing.

  
  
  

Lamayuru Gompa

Lamayuru Gompa, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Built in the 10th Century by two practitioners of Tantric Buddhism it is located in the most fantastic geological folds and schist's rock surroundings and popularly called MOONSCAPE and it certainly looks like an alien planet..
Lamayuru also marks the meeting place of the Great Himalayan Wall & of the East Karakorum Ranges.

I've been through Lamayaru 5 times now but have never once seen the light or the color of the landscape remain same.. It is always different but never fails to makes you gasp in awe each time you pass through or decide to stay...
The gompa itself has been undergoing renovations for the last 2 years and now is restored completely
It is located in between Bodhkharbu and Kha-la-che, on a steep rock mountain. It lies at a distance of approximately 127 km to the west of Leh town. Lamayuru Monastery belongs to the Red-Hat sect of Buddhism and houses approximately 150 Buddhist monks. The monastery is made up of a number of shrines and also has a very rich collection of thankas and magnificent wall paintings. At the outset, the Lamayuru Monastery consisted of five buildings, out of which only the central one exists today.

Every year the Lamayuru Gompa plays host a masked dance, which takes place on the 17th and 18th day of the 5th month of Tibetan lunar calendar. The monks from the monasteries of the nearby areas also come to take part in the celebrations. There is an interesting legend associated with the Lamayuru Gompa of Leh Ladakh. It is said that the Lamayuru Valley used to be a clear lake, at the time of Sakhyamuni (the Historical Buddha). And, Nags (holy serpents) used to reside in the lake.

Bodhisattva Madhyantaka had once a prediction quite a long time back that the lake would eventually be dried, making way for the construction of a Buddhist monastery. The legend moves further to state that Mahasiddhacharya Naropa, an 11th century Indian Buddhist scholar, sat in meditation for a number of years in one of the caves in Dukhang. He was the one who caused a crack in the hillside surrounding the lake.

Through this crack, the lake started draining. When the lake dried out, the scholar found a dead lion lying inside it. On the same spot, where he found the tiger, he constructed the first temple of the area, known as the Singhe Ghang (Lion Mound). Another legend has it that the building of Lamayuru Monastery was constructed, as per the instructions of King of Ladakh, under the direction of Rinchen Zangpo, the Translator. After this, the monastery came under the administration of the Zhwa-mar-pa (Red Hats).

Later, Dharmaraja Jamyang Namgial offered the monastery to Chosje Danma. And this led to the observance of the rituals of the Digung Kargyud School, with the monastery being renamed as Yungdrung Tharpaling. Today, the Lamayuru Monastery is served by the successive reincarnations of Skyabsje Toldan Rinpoche.

Riders Of The Storm

Riders Of The Storm (Duststorm), originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

A sudden dust storm sends both riders and spectators packing from the Polo Ground.

Shiva

Om Namah Shivaye!!, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Shiva portrayed as the Mahayogi meditating, A statue in Rishikesh, the gateway to the "DEVBHUMI : The Land of the Gods" where amidst the soaring mountains of Garhwal & Kumoani Himal he is supposed to reside..

Frank Smythe in his now famous book : THE VALLEY OF FLOWERS quotes and old Indian sage who wrote:

Not in a hundred ages of the gods I could not tell thee of all the glories of the Himalaya where Shiva lived and where the Ganga falls from the foot of Vishnu like the slender thread of the lotus flower.

Bhagirathi - I (6512 mtrs)

Bhagirathi - I (6512 mtrs), originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

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 buttress can be seen in these 2 shots), 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.

Goecha peak (6127 mtrs) at Night

Goecha peak (6127 mtrs) at Night, originally uploaded by The Wandering Hermit.

Goecha Peak (6127 metres) below the towering East Ridge of Kangchenjunga is about a 1000 m higher than the Goecha La Pass.. As of 2001 under the Places of Worship Act the Sikkim Government classified it as a Buddhist Sacred Peak along with
Kanchenjunga (main, south and west summits), Fork Peak, Gabur Gangtsen (Kabur Dome and north and south summits) Mt. Pandim, Paunhari,&; Simvu, Sinochlu, Narsingh and no expeditions are allowed to climb it now.