The Miyar glacier is readily visible from space and is a bit of an anomaly in this part of the Indian Himalaya. It is situated on the south side of the Great Himalaya range. As such, it is separated from the Deccan plateau and the monsoon by preliminary ranges such as the Pir Panjal and Dhauladar. Nevertheless, Lahaul seems to attract a lot of moisture, supporting long valley glaciers such as the Miyar. It's total length is perhaps 15 miles. Today, we trekked for 7-7 1/2 hours uphill in perfect weather. Tonight we are camping at about 5000 meters. This seems too high for comfort and our rate of ascent somewhat violates the usual recommendations about acclimitization. However, we have had two rest days so far, and I suppose this high camp will lead to a shorter day tomorrow. No one seems to have anything resembling HAPE or HACE and spirits are generally very high, given the upturn in the weather.
There was the usual 1/2 - 3/4 of an hour confusion setting up the tents on arrival. We beat the porters (barely) to camp. A. has agreed to let me use his double wall tent tonight...nice. I actually slept great last night courtesy of xxx. Now I need to pound fluids. P. and A. were slow but nobody is really slow; M. and W. are rockets. I was 3rd into camp. I have occasional thick sputum but overall feel OK albeit dirty.
Really unbelievable scenery all day today. There are large mountains, perhaps 5500-6000 meters, lining both sides of the Miyar glacier. They feature a mix of big blank vertical walls and tremendous piles of debris and rockfall. In between these features, there are many side glaciers, of both the steep hanging and river of ice varieties. Looking down-valley, we can see the 6000 meter peak Menthosa, located about the village of Urgos and our trek starting area. As we look uphill from camp, we see a white horizon and distant rock peaks that must delineate the general region of tomorrow's pass.
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