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These are some stories about my adventures on Mountains

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Call of the Wild

In 2008 I quit my well-paying corporate job and moved to a remote Himalayan region called Ladakh to search for Snow Leopards. Ladakh is the northernmost tip of India, bordering Kashmir (both Indian and Pakistani) to the west, Tibet to the east and Chinese Turkistan (Xinkiang) to the north. It is geographically, ethnically, culturally, religiously, linguistically and historically Tibetan. It’s also an integral part of India. 



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The Move!

This is a piece from my early rock climbing days in India. For weeks I'd been trying to climb this one particular rock face. It wasn't particularly hard but had an overhanging crux move that spit me off every time. 

But one day, I made the move. This is how it came about.



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Mountain Biking down the Kosi

The fascinating thing about rivers is that they flow. Without being pulled or pushed, they simply flow with a natural sense of direction and purpose. In a world moving frenetically, where everything is rushing by, pushed to it limits, the river's natural pace is therapeutic. Like life itself, flowing freely without a care, turning randomly wherever it feels like.The river has no deadlines to meet and no rules to follow. And that is how my mate Gauri and I decided to follow this river on our mountain bikes, without schedules or routes.


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The Buzz of Rock

The urge to climb is perhaps one of the most basic and natural urges I have felt ever since I can remember. Beginning with the trees in the playgrounds of childhood, I have always known an inexplicable, wild desire to climb. The more trees I climbed, the more trees I wanted to climb! I never analysed why I wanted to climb trees or what made me climb again and again. The answers were always there in just doing it, in feeling the complex emotions, the twisting, mangling, tingling of nerves that strangely calmed me and gave me a sense of peace.  

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My Introduction to Rock Climbing in Australia

When I moved to Australia, it opened climbing's pandora box for me. In Delhi, where it all began, I was only involved with bouldering. I had never worn a climbing harness...didn't know what a climbing rope was...and had never seen anyone climbing with a rope.
Out here in Oz, I discovered the "sport" of rock climbing. Here people go out rock climbing with the kind of preparation and equipment required to lay siege to a fortress. I was intrigued.

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Dashaur, Magic Lake

Dashaur is a little known alpine lake, hidden high in the folds of the Indian Himalayas. My mates and I stumbled on it in one of our Himalayan treks. It was a bit of an epic trip that one, full of little explorations and big adventures. And finding the lake itself was the highlight!

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Kareri Lake, Ocean of Peace

This was one of my first solo treks into the Himalayas, done in 1996 I think. It was a game changer. The beauty of the Himalayas and purity of solo exploration imprinted themselves on my psyche and have never diminished since.
In a chaotic, over-crowded country like India, the solitude earned by climbing high into remote mountains is indescribably sweet.


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