Gangotri itself means "Ganga flowing north" for when the Ganga emerges from below the Gangotri glacier it actually flows in a northerly direction. While most pilgrims return from Gangotri, the daring few make it all the way to Gaumukh through the pine-forested slopes of Chirbas, and the barren wastes of Bhojwas. The landscape is desolate and stark, but the views of the peaks on both sides of the valley are fabulous.

A place of great significance and rugged beauty bordering on the frightful, is the waterfall of Gaurikund, within Gangotri town, located at the point that the Kedar Ganga joins the Ganga. Here, the Ganga flows through a narrow chasm carved out of sheer rock, scooping little smooth and glistening hollows into the rocky sides, as the water tumbles its way down the steep riverbed.
        
I write about the Gangotri region for here is a Chamonix and a Courmayeur in the making, right here in India, and scarcely does anybody realize it. The Gangotri and Harsil region, for all its spiritual and religious significance is fast promising to become the future capital of adventure sports and mountaineering in India. Here is a vast amphitheater of untapped opportunities on a truly Himalayan scale; it would dwarf Idaho's Sun Valley or Colorado's Grand Canyon or, for that matter, Chamonix in France, or Courmayeur in Italy. Here is access to a hundred Himalayan peaks ranging from 19, 000 feet to almost 22, 000 feet, many of them unclimbed. Here is the source of the life-giving river of the Indian subcontinent, borne of one of the longest glaciers in the Himalaya. Edmund Hillary 'ran' the Ganga in his famous 'Ocean to Sky' expedition of the 1970's and opened our eyes to the wealth of river-rafting potential in the waters upstream and downstream of Harsil. There could be parasailing in the side valleys. Trout fishing on the Sian Gadh and the Jalandri Gadh. Trekking opportunities galore, wildlife aplenty, bountiful alpine and sub-alpine flora; top it off with fantastic access by way of metalled roads all the way till Gangotri, and we're all set to pull in the high-flying adventure-seeker, whether the best-from-the-west or India's own city-bored brand of outdoor enthusiast.
        
Over the years, I have made several trips to the Gangotri region, to shoot for my Himalayan films, write for my mountain journals, and photograph for my books and other publications, besides collecting extensive notes on alpine flora and the mountain birdlife of the Himalaya. You can gather the pace of a Himalayan high-altitude trek from the following pages which contain notes and happenings from my most recent and perhaps most enjoyable visit to the region, in the late autumn of 1997.

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