Himalayan Heights
You know it… when you get there. If you survive the long drives and treks to reach it to even see a glimpse of it. The large ranges surround the central Himalayan mountains where the mountains have shredded the trees forever. Standing bare with the black rocks displaying the almighty nature of the peaks. Just a gentle reminder of the power it possesses and barely needs any chance to even display it. It is you as an adventurer has to find out if you can survive it … even in the best possible situations!
The mountain range of Swarg Rohini has one of the highest mythological importance for the Indians. It is believed that Pandavas (5 brothers, sons of King Pandu) and Draupadi from the epic of Mahabharata traveled on this mountain to reach to heaven. Only one of them “Yudhishtir” survived until the end.
Himalayan Heights
I have photographed many places in the western United States. I loved capturing morning and evening colors with wonderful meadows and alpine lakes. I found the volcanic northwest was much easier compared to the Rocky Mountains where I lived for more than 10 years. The volcano would rise much higher compared to other landscape which was relatively flat. The Rockies thought would include many tall mountains standing shoulder to shoulder and would not allow the light to enter in the Valleys until Sun is relatively high. The same tricky situations of the golden hours are even trickier here, almost next to impossible. This morning when our group set out for the morning trek to one of the high-altitude lakes at about 13000 ft, I lingered a bit more on the trail, watching and enjoying the beauty of the mountains. As I gained height, I started seeing a larger angle with the deep glacier-carved valley below the peaks. The peaks were above 20000 feet and were standing right in front of me. They seemed to grow with every step I took. I was clearly above the tree line and walking through the tundra. It was lush green, flowers abound, with the glacial streams rushing though making this constant sound … and always seemed to be in the foreground of all. Vultures and eagles were hovering in the distance. Little tiny burrowing animals would look curiously from under the rocks.
The entire group had given up on me. I must be more than a kilometer behind them. I had the ardent desire to complete the composition with all sides of the frame contributing. But Sun’s angle had always kept the left side of the mountains in many shadows. At one point I realized that I was high enough to obtain all the boulders I had bypassed or climbed to get here, while the sky was a magical blue. Deep below the large glacial creek was flowing downward, disappearing suddenly beyond the large plateau. The light had reached the slope of the nearest mountain. The contrast was striking with the golden light illuminating the grassy edge. The scene was breathtaking. I could immerse myself in this forever. A little tiny pair of clouds fly fast near the peaks. My camera did the rest to capture this. The scene would look very different a couple of hours from then, the Himalayan weather would take over everything and the mountains would be all blanketed very soon. This a rather strong reminder of paying sufficient respect to those Himalayan Heights!!