The hills are alive
Patrick Horton watches a rising sun lift the curtain on
the highest mountains in the world.
Darjeeling’s narrow streets echo to the baying of dog packs as I
creep out of my hotel at 4am like an absconding guest. Twinkling
stars sit in a cloudless sky, which is just what I need.
Fortunately my driver is on time and, as I slip into the passenger
seat, he guns the motor and drowns out the canine warfare. The
streets are empty save for a few other jeeps on the same
mission.
For the second consecutive day we’re off to Tiger Hill, about 14
kilometres away, to see the sun rise over the Himalayas. This must
be one of the best free shows in the world. We are very early,
unlike yesterday when the road into the viewpoint car park was
clogged with vehicles. By the time I arrived a huge crowd had
already assembled and there was no chance of putting up my tripod
for pre-dawn photographs.
Yesterday I saw a three-storey building near the edge of the
viewpoint and had quizzed my driver. He explained it was the paid
viewing spot and that the entrance fee was 40 rupees (about $1.20).
I engaged him for the same trip the following day but this time
asked him to be an hour earlier. That’s why we now have a road to
ourselves and are so early we are giving the man in charge a lift
to work. In exchange, I’m given free entry to the top room and its
rows of big, deep, leather armchairs in front of a bank of
windows.
Outside it’s still dark, so I busy myself with my tripod at a
corner window while other visitors drift in. It’s not so cold
outside; I’m wearing a pullover but my fellow viewers are rugged up
in coats, scarves, gloves and hats. They are domestic tourists
who’ve come from the baking-hot plains in the south and for them a
reduction of 30 degrees is like being shut in a freezer.
The pitch black is shifting to purple. Below, a carpet of cloud
is billowing up, changing shape, rising and falling but fortunately
not threatening our view. Most people are looking east for the
first sight of the sun but I’m watching the north, where a large
form is beginning to loom.
This is Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest mountain at 8586
metres. Shades of purple and mauve are beginning to etch out its
sharp peaks, giving the shape an ethereal presence. It is beautiful
but there will be much more as the sun’s rays creep further along
the Himalayan range.
The east is getting lighter and the crowd more restless as they
ready for the first sighting. The viewpoint has filled up, like
yesterday, but now I have the best position. Since seeing the first
shapes I’ve been taking advantage with a digital camera.
The crowd below stirs. My armchair companions line up at the
windows. Yesterday the sun had hidden its rising glory behind
clouds but today it enters our world like an emperor on a victory
march. The crowd cheers and cameras click wildly. I do glance at
this but my focus is on the golden fingers of light creeping down
Kanchenjunga’s icy slopes until the entire mountain glows.
The rays pick out points on the Himalayan western horizon. First
I’m able to photograph Makalu (8485 metres), then Everest (8848
metres) and then Lhotse (8516 metres). Only the absence of K2 (8611
metres), hundreds of kilometres to the west, prevents me from
seeing all five of the highest peaks in the world. I’m as much in
awe of this spectacle today as yesterday.
The clouds have wrapped themselves like blankets around the
lower hills that we had driven along from Darjeeling a couple of
hours earlier. Meanwhile, the sun has marched skywards, a new day
well and truly started.
Darjeeling is in the Indian state of West Bengal, near
the Nepalese border. The nearest airport is Bagdogra Airport, 20
kilometres from Siliguri, which is 90 kilometres by road from
Darjeeling. New Jalpaiguri train station near Siliguri has good
connections to Kolkata and Delhi. Hotels in Darjeeling will
organise a vehicle and driver for the Tiger Hill trip.
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Saturday, February 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 am under