Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ten culture that had inhabited these mountains for centuries. They lent a sombre
aspect to the magnificence all around.
We camped by the lake and enjoyed a sumptuous dinner of instant mash potato
and mutton (by this stage Ray and Brendan were willing to swap their meat sup-
plies for just about
anything
we had to offer). We sat up late, talking of our plans
to find a way up and over the main range the next day, but when Tim and I got up
early in the morning, we were in for a surprise. We hung around, kicking stones and
getting increasingly frustrated until mid-morning. Finally, we stormed into their
camp and tried to get them moving. I prodded Ray's sleeping bag with the toe of
my boot and he rolled over angrily.
'We need our fuckin' beauty sleep, so sod off!'
The previous evening they'd seemed keen on finding a way through the moun-
tains, but now they'd changed their plan and seemed completely unconcerned
about how it would affect us. Tim and I spent an hour arguing about what we
should do. Tim was annoyed, but still tempted to stick with them, while I was really
pissed off and wanted to keep going. Eventually, Tim agreed to come with me. It
was the thought of spending most of a week walking back the way we'd come,
rather than crossing the range and completing a round trip, that changed his mind
more than anything. It would probably be a long time before either of us was able
to come back to these mountains again, and six more days was still a lot of time in
which to explore.
We woke the Brits again and told them our decision. We agreed that if we didn't
see each other beforehand, we'd meet for a beer at Novosibirsk train station a
couple of hours before their train was due to depart. From Novosibirsk, Ray and
Brendan would take the train west, back to Finland, and Tim and I would travel
east again, to our bikes in Ulan Ude.
They were good mates and it was sad to say goodbye, but Ray had changed a
lot. As for Brendan, although he was a really nice guy and played an incredible
didgeridoo, he often seemed pretty bent on getting his own way. We said goodbye
and headed off around the edge of the long, oval-shaped lake and up into the moun-
tains. It was back to the two of us again.
We spent the day climbing to the headwaters of the river and found ourselves in
a huge flat rocky bowl. The river started in a series of small tarns fed by the run-
off from several gigantic glaciers that stretched upwards to the glistening peaks all
around. We climbed further and camped in a cleared patch on top of a rock pile at
the bottom of a glacier. The night air was haunted by the sounds of avalanches and
