Mount Kailash Yatra: Hiking to the Sacred Base | Before the Tragedy

Good morning, day six of our Kailas travel and today we'll be hiking up towards the base of Mount Kailas. We are starting our hike early this morning after having our breakfast and because today's journey is going to take around six hours it will be around three to four hours uphill hike and two hours downhill and we'll be gaining some elevation as well. So at the moment we are at 5,000 meters and we will be climbing all the way to 5,670 meters to the base of Mount Kailas for an up-close view of the holy mountain from its very foot. Mount Kailas is a holy mountain it stands at an altitude of 6,638 meters and is sacred to the followers of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and the Tibetan religion of Bonn and it is forbidden to summit this holy mountain. According to the legend, the only person who ever scaled this holy mountain is the Yogi Milarepa. As we climb up the mountain, down below we can see the Derapuk monastery where Yogi Milarepa meditated. With the warm sunshine, it's a very relaxing moment here at the base of Mount Kailas and in the distance we actually notice some wild animals. These seem to be Tibetan blue sheep also known as Paral and they seem to be enjoying the warm sunshine as well grazing on the green pastures at the base of holy Mount Kailas. Truly a spectacular and a surreal sight and we kept asking ourselves is this Sangrila? Is this Sambala? Hiking up this pristine magical location, we can see a river which originates from the glacier of Mount Kailas. Mount Kailas can be seen standing tall above us looking at us. For some unconditional reason, tears of emotional joy fell down our face. This is truly a holy place, a mesmerizing, a beautiful location. Truly what a beautiful and a spiritual hike it is. From the base of the glacier, we kept on hiking uphill. The weather was permitting. It's a beautiful weather with crystal clear blue sky, Mount Kailas right in front of us and we pushed on to climb even further trying to touch the base of Mount Kailas. From this section onward, the trail can get a little treacherous. As we hike uphill, there are rivers and glaciers. We will be hiking up this glacier and currently the altitude is almost 5600 meters so the air is thin and so we take it slowly enjoying and relaxing the beauty that surrounds us. As we come closer and closer to the base of Mount Kailas, we can imagine a figure on the wall, the rock face and the blessing hand of the Almighty and we also notice the sacred symbol of OM on the cliff face. OM according to many religion is a primordial sound from which the universe was created and it is the infinite and the ultimate truth of reality.