The five of us , this summer, planned to go to the North. Since my early childhood I had always been fascinated to see beautiful Saif-ul-Malook Lake in Naran.It was going to be my first such trip to the North of Pakistan which also included high risk trekking to the “Ansoo Lake” as well. The said lake lies 7 km North of the Saif-ul-Malook lake. All four friends that accompanied me had prior trekking experience and were very well prepared for what was coming to us in coming few days. Other team members included Usman an HR expert , Ahmed and Nabeel were both Engineers whereas Hassan a businessman who owned a couple of Electronic franchises in Islamabad. I used to work at Islamabad Stock Exchange those days under Usman’s supervision and apart from the formal work we both shared the common interest of Adventure so we gave this trekking idea a GO!
First Destination :
We left for Naran from Islamabad early in the Morning and by the evening we were there at The Mother of All Lakes , The fabulous “Saif-ul-Malook” Lake. We camped at the Lake preparing for the bigger challenge coming at us tomorrow i.e. the day we trek to “Ansoo Lake”.
On our way to SaifulMalook Lake
Mountain we climbed
The Day of the Challenge :
Everyone woke up early in the morning to make Ascent towards Ansoo Lake. The start of trekking was amateur level and initial two miles went very cool. It was at base camp from where we started the dangerous trek. There we had to cross a speedy river stream, crossing it merely on feet was not the only problem , rather in doing so I damaged my Trekking shoes badly as they got soaked in water for quite a long time like 15 to 20 minutes and were damaged from one side , things started to look bad as I did not have any spare Shoes. But I continued trekking and then came the final glacier where things got worse, my team members had already left me far behind due to a misunderstanding and I was there standing all alone in the middle of glacier with no food supplies, no communication devices and with my damaged shoes .My feet got frozen due to direct exposure to snow. I looked around and found no one for help , it was this time that I decided not to quit and continue trekking to the top of mountain , I knew it was going to be very risky but at that point nothing mattered more than my childhood dream of conquering that mountain. And after an hour of trekking I was finally there and joined the search party who were looking for me. It was a very wonderful site to see “Ansoo” Lake in its full charm and it gave me comfort and it seemed as if it applauded my courage to not to quit and continue trekking alone all on my own.
Glacier where I trekked alone all on my own
Ansoo Lake
Facebook Link of the trip can be found here :
We returned back to the base camp by the evening and the next morning as we left for our homes , we looked back at the mighty mountain and we could not believe that we had summit-ed it despite all the hardships. It was one joyous moment in our lives.
Actions under question, why? :
Following the end of trip whenever I meet those friends who accompanied me to the trip they argue with me over my decision not to quit and they say it is a complete nonsense to trek on glaciers all own your own when you are low on food supplies and when by no means you can communicate with anyone else. But I think If you are motivated enough to achieve something or to get somewhere in Life these things are though important but they lose their significance as at that point you are being motivated by your dreams and courage and you don’t care what others might think of you or what hardships you might have to face. I accept that I was ill-prepared for the trip but quitting the plan and that too when you are so close to your destiny is a bad idea isn’t it ?
Please share your views with me , you can be straightforward in criticizing or appreciating the actions that I took :p , I would encourage all kinds of responses here and don’t forget to share if you have ever been in such a situation and what would you have done if you faced the same situation as I did ?
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