So far in the Mount Patalsu Summit series you have read how we two friends set out from Solang Valley with the resolve to summit Patalsu in one day. While walking we cross Solang village and at the first stop we stop at Khobi where we meet two runners coming from below. We four people move towards the summit together but the other three are unable to go further due to the height, I alone set foot at the height of 4250 and summit Mount Patalsu Peak for the second time. Today we will see how the four of us reached back to Solang Valley.
It has been 10 minutes since I stopped at Patalsu Top, sitting here I am thinking that descending will be more difficult than climbing, looking down from above I am not able to see my companions. Those three are sitting somewhere among the clouds and waiting for me. I look down and find a good line for myself so that I do not face any problem while descending and I can come down without getting hurt.
I start descending, there are big stones here which shake when I step on them. I am descending while maintaining balance. The dry grass is making my shoes slip and due to this my feet are trembling. Small stones are slipping when I step on them and are rolling for a long distance, I am afraid that the rolling stones might hit my friends after going down. It is difficult to descend, it is taking me more time to descend than to climb.
The first km took 15 minutes to descend, in this first km there is a descent of 417 meters which is a lot for a distance of 1000 meters. This gives an idea of how steep the descent is. In the next 20 minutes I reach my companions. By the time I reach here the clouds have also gone and the sunlight has started kissing the forehead of the earth. I take a rest for 5 minutes, drink the last 2 sips of water and all four of us set out towards the descent.
While descending I tell the three of us that we have enough time to descend and if we walk a little fast we will reach the hotel before sunset. Although I am the most tired now but I do not want to let the fatigue overpower me while descending otherwise it will get dark. The other three have refreshed themselves after the break and are descending at a good speed.
After 3 km we reach Khobi where we click some great photos while crossing a pool of water. Here we find a sheep camp which is eating grass in the light of the setting sun. After 4 km we enter the tree line, first we cross the pine forest and then reach the same tall grass which we saw while going in the morning.
We cross Saga Dug which is a grassland which is covered with tall grass these days, now the distance from here to our hotel is only 2.5 km. All three are walking fast and I am crawling. My speed has become very slow, I tell all three of them to go ahead and wait for me at Solang village. I reach Solang village after 25 minutes where my companions meet me with water.
I get some strength by drinking half a liter of water in one breath, after which I also reach Solang village walking step by step with the other three. And finally we reach our hotel at sunset where the other two runners go to their hotel and both of us take bath, eat hot food and go to sleep. Today was a very long and tiring day but despite all this I was successful in summiting and also in coming down safely.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from POCO F1 android smartphone and edited in deskstop software adobe lightroom. Thumbnail created on online website canva.
[//]:# (!worldmappin 32.32339 lat 77.15624 long Descent from Patalsu Summit (Top to Solang village hike) d3scr)