the ridge

valley

VALLEY FLOOR

~2,000 m

JOURNEY 01 · LANDSCAPE

The Climb

This is not one trek. It is two Mays a year apart — Hampta Pass in 2022 with my brother and his friends, Sar Pass in 2023 on my own — plus the valleys around Manali and Tosh that both trips started from. Sorted into the bands they share, from the river at the bottom to the ridge where there is nothing left to walk up. 33 frames, in the order the ground puts them in rather than the order I took them.

Every altitude here is approximate and labelled as such. The photographs are exact.

scroll to begin the climb ↓

VALLEY FLOOR · APPROX 2,000 M

It always starts beside water

Every one of these walks began the same way: a river on the left, pines closing overhead, a village that thins out behind you within the hour. Both trips spent their first days down here, around Manali and Tosh, before either of them went up.

Towering pines frame a rushing river beneath dramatic cumulus clouds.

Mountain village nestled in misty valley beneath snow-capped peaks.

Cascading water tumbles over weathered stone in soft, misty motion.

A luminous halo crowns the sun, framed by towering forest sentinels.

4 frames · Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh

THE FOREST · APPROX 2,400 M

Where the mist gets in

Deodar closes over the trail and the weather stops being something you can see coming. Six frames from this band, and in most of them the mountain is only implied.

Mist-veiled conifer slopes reveal layered mountain wilderness in ethereal stillness.

Mist cascades down sheer cliffs while ancient forests cradle a mountain stream below.

Coniferous forest dissolves into mist beneath a brooding alpine slope.

Snow-crowned peak emerges through coniferous mist and foreground blur.

6 frames · where

THE CROSSING · APPROX 3,000 M

Cold enough to hurt

Meltwater, moss-covered boulders, and the part of the day everyone remembers because of how cold their feet were. This band is Hampta Pass, May 2022, walked with my brother and a few of his friends.

Mountain stream cascades through moss-draped boulders in pristine alpine solitude.

Trekkers traverse mist-shrouded alpine meadow beneath towering limestone cliffs.

Trekkers navigate a verdant alpine valley toward a dramatic cliff-face peak.

Alpine flowers frame a glacial river cutting through austere mountain stone.

4 frames · Hampta Pass, Himachal Pradesh

TREE LINE · APPROX 3,400 M

Rock begins to outnumber root

The last trees are always the most interesting ones — bent, thinned out, standing further apart than they want to.

Snow-capped peaks pierce clouds above a forested valley ravine.

Snow-capped peaks emerge from coniferous forests beneath crystalline alpine sky.

Coniferous forests embrace a snow-capped peak beneath gathering clouds.

Layered canopy silhouettes create depth against overcast alpine sky.

4 frames · where

CAMP, AFTER DARK · APPROX 3,800 M

The reason to be this cold

This is the band the whole archive is really about. Two of these were lit by someone's red headlamp, which is the only light you get at that hour. Nagaru is on the Sar Pass route — May 2023, the trip I started with friends in the valley and finished with a trek group after they went home.

Milky Way's luminous spine rises above silhouetted peaks, anchored by red headlamp glow.

Milky Way emerges above a canyon, crimson headlamp illuminating the vast darkness below.

Milky Way arcs above shadowed peaks, a solitary light glimmers below.

Distant village lights pierce the darkness beneath a star-scattered mountain sky.

4 frames · where

THE LAKE · APPROX 4,300 M

Water at the top of everything

Nothing grows here and there is still a lake. why this one stayed with you

Barren peaks frame a glacial lake nestled in austere mountain solitude.

Snow-capped peak pierces scattered clouds above distant foothills.

Molten sun sinks between silhouetted ridges in amber stillness.

3 frames · Chandratal, Himachal Pradesh

SNOWFIELD · APPROX 4,900 M

The path erases itself

Above the snow line there is no trail, only the line the person in front of you chose.

Wind-sculpted snow undulates beneath towering peaks and roiling clouds.

Jagged Himalayan peaks pierce through snow, rock dark against white silence.

Snow-capped peaks silhouette against deepening twilight's fading blue gradient.

3 frames · where

THE RIDGE · APPROX 5,200 M

Nowhere left to climb

Five frames, all taken within about an hour of each other, all of them trying and failing to record how much air there was.

Twin peaks pierce clouds with ethereal light and snow-laden majesty.

Snow-capped peaks pierce turquoise sky, wreathed in gossamer clouds.

Sharp peaks pierce clouds in a dance of snow and shadow.

Jagged peaks pierce cloud-laden sky, snow-carved ridges commanding wilderness vastness.

5 frames · where

Every summit is a small, temporary agreement with the weather.

← all journeys back to the route →

← all journeys

the ridge

valley

VALLEY FLOOR

~2,000 m

JOURNEY 01 · LANDSCAPE

The Climb

Every altitude here is approximate and labelled as such. The photographs are exact.

scroll to begin the climb ↓

VALLEY FLOOR · APPROX 2,000 M

It always starts beside water

4 frames · Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh

THE FOREST · APPROX 2,400 M

Where the mist gets in

Deodar closes over the trail and the weather stops being something you can see coming. Six frames from this band, and in most of them the mountain is only implied.

6 frames · where

THE CROSSING · APPROX 3,000 M

Cold enough to hurt

Meltwater, moss-covered boulders, and the part of the day everyone remembers because of how cold their feet were. This band is Hampta Pass, May 2022, walked with my brother and a few of his friends.

4 frames · Hampta Pass, Himachal Pradesh

TREE LINE · APPROX 3,400 M

Rock begins to outnumber root

The last trees are always the most interesting ones — bent, thinned out, standing further apart than they want to.

4 frames · where

CAMP, AFTER DARK · APPROX 3,800 M

The reason to be this cold

4 frames · where

THE LAKE · APPROX 4,300 M

Water at the top of everything

Nothing grows here and there is still a lake. why this one stayed with you

3 frames · Chandratal, Himachal Pradesh

SNOWFIELD · APPROX 4,900 M

The path erases itself

Above the snow line there is no trail, only the line the person in front of you chose.

3 frames · where

THE RIDGE · APPROX 5,200 M

Nowhere left to climb

Five frames, all taken within about an hour of each other, all of them trying and failing to record how much air there was.

5 frames · where

Every summit is a small, temporary agreement with the weather.

← all journeys back to the route →