Mt. Kailash - Manasarovar Sojourn - 10

The last aspect of the Kailash - Manasarovar Sojourn consisted of a three kilometer trek up a streamlet issuing forth from Mount Kailash. The path is a mildly steep gradient that commences with a grassy surface but soon transforms after a short while to a valley strewn with granitic and basic igneous boulders that makes the trek a little difficult. As one ascends, you chance to see the grandeur of the valley around Dirapuk and the Tibetan village at a distance. Mt. Kailash looms large over the valley as we approach closer and closer. After a considerable ascent, the troop leader Swami Prabodha together with his associates performed with intense devotion a holy offering to Shiva in the vicinity of Kailash. Swami Prabodha led the whole group in various chants and mantras. It certainly was a very solemn occasion marked by total surrender to the power of the Divine.

After the adoration and worship of the divinity, some of us made a further climb along the valley up to  a point where Dilli's altimeter gave a reading of 5250 m (17,325 ft). At that point I collected a rock fragment that seemed to resemble the rock of Kailash parvat. I also collected a bottle of the holy water of the streamlet issuing from one of the glaciers of Kailash. After a round of silent meditation we headed back downwards towards the Dirapuk hotel. I would like to mention that Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev speaks that the rocks of the Kailash Parvat are of a metoritic composition. But to my perception and even in various photographs of the North Face of the Kailash Parvat I seem to see the presence of distinct sedimentary layering. While to my eyes the rock appeared to be a layered ferruginous chert, I cannot deny that the boulders in the stream that we traversed were mostly granitic, with a few resembling mafic igneous rocks. But I did collect a fragment of a ferruginous chert cobble, which to my perception formed the upper layers of the Kailash Parvat. In my assessment it didn't resemble a meteoritic rock.

(Top) The hotel at Dirapuk in the distance. The village settlement is seen on the opposite hill slope.


Left (3 km trek upwards toward Mt. Kailash)




The rest of the day after returning to the camp was spent in light-hearted banter and relaxation. Thus the final aspect of the Mt. Kailash - Manasarovar Sojourn drew to a close.