It’s past 3 when the return journey to Kaza begins. For the organizers, the priority is to find a location along the way where the drivers can drift their SUVs in the snow. Some of the folks have bought vehicles specifically for this expedition, and many have travelled for thousands of miles, traversing the whole country to experience snow drifting. Eventually, Shibhu finds a spot where the ground is level and there is just the right amount of snow. The convoy lines up and one by one drivers cut through the sheet of snow. Some enter the ground cautiously, others race into it like kids on a beach. The swirling tires spurt snow in concentric patterns and kick up little storms of snow spray. The Pajero takes a round and comes out unfazed, as does the Isuzu. The first to get stuck is the Ford Endeavour. While the experienced drivers try their hand at getting it out, Jatin wonders if he should take our Gypsy for a quick spin. Throughout the trip our Gypsy has soldiered on but with a sense of fatigue. For the last 2 days we have seen it struggling with power delivery and our suspicion has been on the Gypsy’s famously notorious clutch plate. But the temptation to drift in the snow is much too great, so Jatin decides to take his chances. The Gypsy enters the arena with some agility as it chomps through the snow adroitly. But on its way out, it starts to struggle and then it too gets stuck in the snow, not far from the Endeavour. Attempts to wriggle it out don’t yield results. On the third or fourth attempt, there is an overpowering smell of the burned-out clutch plate and we know that at last the Gypsy has thrown the towel in. Eventually Puneet tows it out with his Thar. The question that now hangs in balance is how this bruised and beaten vehicle will make the return journey.
While the Gypsy is being yanked out, the Endeavour has made some progress but in the wrong direction. Meanwhile the Land Rover Discovery is drifting like a dream. As other vehicles which made it out successfully wait by roadside, the Discovery is going in for the third time for a joy ride. It has won this snow drifting contest by a huge margin and now it’s just poking fun at everyone else. As the sun sets and darkness begins to descend, there is cause for concern because the temperature is dropping quickly. Eventually, it is decided that the Discovery should help with the rescue effort so it is tasked with creating a path for the Endeavour to exit from. Meanwhile, on the road, I am taking photos of a mountain turning pink. In barely a few minutes, I am forced to abandon photography as involuntary shivering and the rising pain in my fingers make it impossible to go on. To generate some body heat, I decide the best course of action is to stay active. Though it is ill-advised to indulge in physical exertion at this high altitude, at the moment, it feels like the only option. So, as I am jogging and jumping up and down the road, I see that the rescue operation is a partial success. While the Endeavour is now back on the road, the Discovery is stuck a fairly long way in!
After the usual attempts fail to set it free, the idea is to tow it out of the snow but the tow hook is nowhere to be seen on the masterfully crafted Discovery. So, Shibu gets down on his knees to search for it. A moment later he is laying on his back on the snow, but he still can’t find it. I decide to go towards the stuck Discovery to get a closer look at the rescue operation. The scene is set as below:
It’s 5:30 pm and the sun has set. The temperature is a frosty minus 20. There is over 2 feet of snow and, in the background, a brown-white mountain is fast turning grey. At the center of this scene is a chubby man hailing from Kerala with a crop of curly Rockstar hair. He is wearing a bright yellow jacket and furiously shovelling snow from under a blue Land Rover Discovery… with his bare hands! Working in tandem with him is a bearded man with a proud moustache, who is also bare-handed and even lacks the insulation of body fat. Freezing though I am, their bravado inspires me and when the shovels arrive on the scene I join the endeavour. The effort pays off and 10 minutes later, just before complete darkness, the Discovery joins the convoy on the road.
There are 3 stages of experiencing cold – involuntary shivering, piercing pain and numbness. By the time I am back in the car, my feet feel like lifeless stumps and I can’t feel the tips of my fingers either. Though the first two stages cause more physical discomfort, it is the third one that is the most scary. Any sensation, even pain, is better than none at all. Thankfully, after spending a few moments in the warmth of the car, a tingling sensation returns and it allays the fear. As the fear recedes, it is replaced by euphoria – An adventure was sought and experienced in full!
