main issues - issues which are important to me - are not being addressed by the leaders; there's a lot of head in the sand going on. A pity since it wouldn't be difficult to sort stuff out better. Looks like T and I will wait here in Vashisht 'till the truck turns up (maybe Monday), then we can get gear off the truck and head up north in a taxi. Others going sooner than this, but (a) I am ill and (b) all my gear (boots, tent, mat etc) is still on the truck. Lianna seems not to recognise this latter fact which is a bit annoying; she thinks it'd be acceptable to nip down to Manali and buy new gear. 5:17 pm. Well it turned out to be a great day, despite the pointless breakfast meeting. Now back at the hotel. I got to the meeting at 7:30 am (as requested); most of the rest arrived at 7:50 am and then we had to wait two hours to get any breakfast at all! It's much better to go off by oneself - or maybe with one or two like-minded people...
T and I got a rickshaw down to the Indian Mountaineering Federation office in Manali - a strange complex of mostly deserted buildings - rather unoccupied
buildings; we could wander about - e.g. into the director's office. Walked across the road to a crag called Aleo. Led an awesome route called The First 6a; very spaced bolts and a nice long pitch, same sort of rock as yesterday. Reminiscent of British gritstone climbing. Difficult start. Sounds silly, but really pleased to have done a second climb in India. Interestingly, unlike so many bolted routes, this one is memorable - perhaps because of the long run outs.
buildings; we could wander about - e.g. into the director's office. Walked across the road to a crag called Aleo. Led an awesome route called The First 6a; very spaced bolts and a nice long pitch, same sort of rock as yesterday. Reminiscent of British gritstone climbing. Difficult start. Sounds silly, but really pleased to have done a second climb in India. Interestingly, unlike so many bolted routes, this one is memorable - perhaps because of the long run outs.Still ill - headache and a lot of lethargy. I guess a result of lots of factors - stress, poor food (in the past - I am eating considerably better here: this is a good thing about these 'gap year' towns - you can get plenty of basic foods like revoluted eggs on toast and so on - good if you are ill), lack of sleep, poor hygiene (Pakistan) etc. Have decided to wait here in Vashisht until Monday - or whenever the truck makes it to Manali, then I might head up north for some supposedly better climbing opportunities. By the way, weather has been good today. Started misty, but this cleared up and now it's quite warm. T and I found another good coffee shop in Manali - called the German Cafe; lassi (yogurt drink) and plate of fries.
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