Chasing Snow

It doesn't snow in my city. We're at about 2100 ft elevation, and although the low temperature will occasionally dip just below the freezing mark the most we get is really cold rain. Just above us, however, are the foothills of the Himalayas. During the summer it's easy to become accustomed to their size and think they're not that big, (they're over 8000 ft) but when they get a little snow on them they begin to resemble their gigantic brothers and sisters that are just a little farther north. It snowed up in the mountains New Year's Eve, and this is the view I was given from my balcony:

We had some friends over for lunch on New Years Day and they decided it would be a good idea if we went up into the mountains to play in the snow. We called Prem to take us up there, we all ate lunch, and then headed out.

It was a long way. Usually it takes about 2 hours to get there, but because everyone else in Northern India had the same idea the roads were packed! It ended up taking over 3 hours to get there. The guys in the backseat took advantage of the time by napping.

On the way we got a great view of the big Himalayas. They're the ones that are covered with snow year round. It's still about an 8 or 9 hour drive get there from where I took this picture:

 

When we finally made it up to where the snow was it was crowded.

 

 

Really, really crowded.

 

And the crowd stretched on wrapping all the way around the mountain.

 

We got out of the car to explore right as the sun was beginning to go down  behind the mountains, and the snow was deceivingly sparse

 

We got out to explore and find some snow of our own:

And eventually we did.

 

There may not have been a lot of snow, but we were blessed with a really pretty sunset.

 

We made it back to the taxi after dark, and we headed home. On the way we stopped in a village that didn't have electricity to get chai (hot, sweet milkly tea) and the Indian equivalent of ramen noodles.

I've never seen as many stars as I saw last night in that little mountain village. With no lights at to hide them the stars were absolutely uncountable. We couldn't even find any constellations because there were too many other stars that are usually hidden. It was beautiful.

We went looking for snow and found some, but we were also surprised by a few more of nature's gifts.

-एरिक