Mission Nesaksla

NOTE :
1. Video @ Last
2. To admire the beauty of nature click on the picture to open in New window

As the saying goes “A journey of thousand miles starts with one step” our (Naangha Naalu peru :-)) also started with single step…but we know at the end of 6Km our journey ends…Initially what I/We planned was to scale the Trollwall…To know more abt Trollwall click here…I called up the Trollwall base jus few hours b4 our start from Helsinki…At the end a lady picked up…

HELGA: blah blah blah blah (Norwegian)
ME: Hi Do u speak English
HELGA: Yes…How can i help u…
ME: Hi I am Arun calling from Finland and We are a group of 4 people coming to Norway tomorrow and we are interested in climbing the trollwall…Do u hav any guides available…(there’s a few seconds break…i think she must be bit surprised)
HELGA: Arun I really appreciate ur ambitious plan…but unfortunately climbing on trollwall has been banned due to lot of fatality…(Now at my side there was few seconds of break…)
HELGA: but don’t loose ur heart…we have lot many things which will be quiet adventurous like Trollwall
ME: That’s grt…anyway meet u there in person…
HELGA: u r most welcome…see u soon!

The Majestic TrollWall…

I hanged up, with little perturbation…but her words “lot many things which will be quiet adventurous” gave me a little hope…After reaching Oslo airport by 20:30, we took a car and started our journey towards Åndalsnes where the trollwall is…We reached there next day arnd 11:00…in most of my trips so far I made in Europe, the greatest hassle is in finding the perfectly located, as well as cheap hotel or hostel…but in this trip to Norway its 100% hassle free…the reason being in Norway u can camp anywhere in open space, provided u r 150m away from any residence…we unpacked our tent and rested for an hour, so that we can carry forward our journey…

Nope..Thats me..Not a Mummy…

A Falls near by our Camp…(Wanna how this snap is taken?)

Åndalsnes, which means “the Alp town by the fjord”, is center of a county called Rauma. We reached the climbing center to meet Helga…With a warm greeting she took the map of that small city…It was almost brown as I remember it denotes mountain region as per my primary education has taught me and I was right…Arun I would advice u to climb the Nesaksla first. When she first said, it reminded me my sister as her name is Nishkala…the way she pronounced was like tht…I asked her whts the height from MSL?…she told its jus 720mts and I assure the climb will be demanding though its jus 720mts…hmmm…I recollected my days I used to climb up and down of Neelimala to hav darshan of Lord Iyappa…The photo they hav put in the brochure “Åndalsnes from top of Nesaksla” was quiet impressive and we all nodded to ourself to head start…In 5 min walk we are at the base of Nesaksla. Jus beside the center was a port…It had a breath taking view!

The Port at the centre…

Thus MISSION NESKSLA started…The three ( Bhasker, Karthick, Vivek) left ahead of me, as I went to buy some snacks, water, and other things…And one more thing…when I went to buy water I returned with 1.5L fanta as water is more costlier than a gallon petrol…I was wondering still now, how its possible in a country which hav such a vast water resource to hav water costlier than petrol?…I packed all the stuffs on my backpack and started my journey…after a 15 to 20 min gap…I started dead reckoning on how far the three would hav gone…initially when I started the surrounding was full of trees covering the view…I increased my trekking speed a bit…after 30 min of exhaustive walk I found the three sitting and relaxing…well they are also half exhausted…OMG I started questioning my stamina…”Arun its jus 30 min trek and u r out…will u make it to the top….to see the beauty as seen in the brochure…”…lot of shadowing thoughts…I sat along with other three and we had a chat abt all non-sense which really needs censorship J…“If you want to reach a goal, you must ’see the reaching’ in your own mind before you actually arrive at your goal - ZigZaglar”…I cheered up myself…so we started again after a break of 15 min…we trekked and trekked and trekked all the way…the top never seems to come, only the path kept on going and going…finally we found something which appears to the crest…By this time Bhas was lagging and we three decided to wait, as we want all the 4 to get on to the top at same time (I have read “Into the thin air” and have watched the “50 Years on Everest” by NGC in which who stepped first was emphasized more…so I we don’t want such conspiracy :-P) …finally when I called “Bhas are u there”….i heard a “meow” sound…yes its Bhas…even as altitude increase proportionally to his pain, his jocund seems to be non stop…once Bhas joined, WE with pride took the final steps…Ahem after getting to the crest we realized tht its not top but rather a fold. Hmmmmmmm but atleast we can see the final destination now…so we started retrieving our enthu as the goal is visible now…yep with lot of struggle (yes I shld admit…it was much more demanding than wht we all thought)….

Why are they smiling at me?

Now thts not a pose..OMG my knees!!!

We finally made it to the top…On the top we found a Hut…with all lot of eagerness, now we turned bck to see how it looks…Gosh…the pain, the struggle we all had in making to the stop vanished in fraction of seconds…Nature is nature…nothing can beat its beauty and soothing effect it brings to mind…After reaching top we split up to enjoy the nature in our own way…after 30 min we met bck in the Hut..they hav kept a book to sign in…with lot of eagerness we started turning the pages…jus to find is there any Indian entry…wow…hurray…None…At least as far as the year 2007 is considered we are the first J….but we are not ready to sign it immd and go bck…so then lot of photo session…we chatted for almost a hour or so, sitting on the apex…(ya all non sense stuff)…had a grt sense of accomplishment, kind of egoistic feel, as if I hav conquered something like Alex…but when we reached the top, the view and the beauty was much exceeding then wht I hav imagined in my mind

Initial view…

Edge View…

Bit Zoomed…

From Inside the Hut on the Top…

All of a sudden we saw a lady (to be more specific she was a Granny) came towards the hut…we all got lost in astonishment…how come?????…I bet she must be on her mid 60…by tht time we hav opened the cookies and fanta and all to full fill our appetite…rather than normal tradition where a granny gives her grandsons some cookies, we offered her some cookies…she accepted it with a smile and said “ohh cookies..thank u”…but still we are not back from the shock that she made it all the way up…she waited for 5 to 10 min and started bck down again…this is the height of all her action…man, we are 3 youngsters (sorry Bhas, a chance to mention tht ur age is 35 and u r married :-P), we felt so exhausted for first 30 min and then another 30 min with cookies, plum cake, fanta to regain some energy…this granny jus came as such and in 10 min she headed towards base…

On the lighter side we also argued, wondered, how flies, ants and other things came there :-P…on the way bck I found the answer how tht granny can make it to the top now also…on the way bck I was leading as Vivek got cramp in one leg and Bhas in 2 legs J …I saw a kid who must be somewhere arnd 10 years, climbing up all the way…I stopped at seeing this…at the bck of the child, his father was following him…he is not following the child so close…he has left the child to find his own path…I waited for 10 min..when they reached me, is it them or me who offered tht friendly smile or is it a mutual exchange…I dint felt like a stranger with tht single smile which they exchanged…I jus introduced myself and then other normal formal talks..i then asked “r u going till the top?”…it was arnd 6:30 if i remember rgt…but anyway in Norway night doesn’t really mean much…The reply I got from the child’s father was “donno…as long as he (child) climbs I will climb”…then I started heading down…but I believe the kid would hav reached the top..bcos the way he climbed and the instinct passion I saw in the childs eyes made me think so…since I met them on half the way, it doesn’t really matter whether he make it to the top or not..for his age this itself is grt accomplishment…

Finally when I reached down my feel of accomplishment, egoism all went vapourised…well I did a gud job…but is tht all I can do…I hav much more left out…” It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves - Edmund Hillary” …as he said…I learned a lot from this trek…I know what it takes to be on the top…It takes lot of perseverance, the never give up attitude ( at some point even I felt OMG how long its gonna take to see the final destination b4 me)…when u hav the destination or goal visible in front of u…the jouney bcom more easy..no matter how tough or demanding the path is…I realized how staying focused is more imp…if the journey for 6kms need this much, I realized how much endurance I need when life’s situation is gonna demands me to be…my thoughts were running high…well over the course I learned to channelize myself ….this added a bit to tht…

“The woods are lovely, dark and deep…but I have promises to keep…miles to go before I sleep”…So the Journey still continues!!!

And not to mention…My friend Karthich did the job of carving the post at the top, engraving with INDIA and kept it in the direction of India…Gud job buddy…(J)…

PS: considering the space available to me and the time available to the readers I hav cut short as much as I can…but adventure still continues…keep peeping in, time to time J