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Zanskar 2009/10
India bouldering 2008/9
Rocklands 2007
Hampi 2006/7
Out where? Lahaul 2006
Hampi 2005/6
The Seventh sky, 2005
The Transformation, 2004
Red is the Vision - spiti 2003
The Quest - spiti 2002
Hampi
South Africa/New Zealand
Calpe bridge jump
Lake District
Devil bird & the Anti-logs
Bumblee in the Junglee
Death - A better place?
Malaria in Hampi
Enjoy Dying
Smiling Buddha
Bara Shigari storm
Three Bears
Spiti/Lahaul area
Hampi area
This year I would stay as long as possible in the valley.Even though its a hard and minimal existence I can't leave because conditions are good and the place is completely DEAD ! The reason for this is that if it snows hard and blocks the pass and if you happen to be at the shigari areas then you will also be or have a fight to get out and force a walk back over the rohtang pass in the snow.Nobody risks this and the Indians and Spiti people are terrified to even drive through the valley for the 3 or 4 hours pass to pass in the middle of a clear day.Two seasons back (2004) in the middle of October there was 25 people and thier vehicles completely stranded in chotadara with many feet of snow.They couldnt even walk out never mind drive. A helicopter had to be sent from Kulu to airlift the people to safety.This year I,m staying like I always do in caves and cooking with horsedung only. When they see me staying on like that in the cold and climbing boulders at that time of year they suspect I may be wrong somehow. Maybe they are right in a way but I like these valleys so much that I can tolerate and enjoy the realities of the place even when it becomes intolerable for everybody else. After some fantastic days at Chota Shigari and Kyara it was suddenly mid november but I needed one more day at the Diamonds area near Chattru. On the walk back to Chattru from Kyara (13km) only one crammed spiti vehicle passed me even though both passes (Kunzam and rohtang) were still open and running! The valley starts to feel DEAD. I love that! The next day was cloudy and the news from the radio was that a storm was coming and snow would fall to all high areas in the region.On the walk to the diamonds I kept looking back to the Rohtang pass,it was definetly snowing there but hadnt reached chattru yet. I knew that if I got it this really was probably my last day of the year and anyway if the storm came would be fucked anyway.That day I am so psyched, I can hardly remember a time when I'm so psyched to climb.The energy and heat my body is making now from surviving in these extreme conditions is giving me even more power for bouldering. I have 4 projects left at the diamonds and all of them I've failed on before and all of them are condition dependent. That day in the most perfect conditions without sun I was energized and hyperactive and finished every project. On days like that I can have no doubts as to why I'm doing what I'm doing, absolutely nothing matters except the next hold. I had the worst possible start to the season in June/July with 10 horrible days of typhoid losing so much power every day, not sleeping or eating and after that it was so hard to get back, I almost left the country.For a month after I felt weak and humble just doing a lot of yoga to get through.Then suddenly it was all good again and I was plodding over to the glacier areas with amounts of luggage Ive never attempted to carry before so to stay as long as possible in the best areas,sometimes 18 days out there.In the last 2 weeks I had my most memorable days of the season in chota shigari which you can walk to in 1 hour from chota dara crossing the main river just 2 or 3 feet deep. In summer with high river its a 2 day walk to that same place !
