The journeys / 01 December 2020 · Solo

Brahmatal.

A winter of my own.

Step into the chapter 16 photographs / A solo winter trek

A place in the archive / December 2020

A solo winter,
kept in frames.

Brahmatal, on my own, in December 2020. A tent by the water. Forest reflections. A camp on the ridge. The same mountains, changing with the light.

From the summit, Ali Bedni Bugyal was in view. A year later, that view would become a journey of its own.

01 / The quieter frames

Before the
wide-open views.

A view through an open tent door towards a partly frozen forest lake, with socked feet in the foreground — A lake outside the tent. For once, there was no reason to get up quickly.December 2020

The small frame
around a much
bigger world.

A view through the tent door.
Water, ice, and the trees beyond.

Trees reflected in a forest lake, with ice and snow along the shaded shore — A little time by the water, with nowhere else on my mind.December 2020

Small green and yellow tents on a grassy ridge above layers of hazy blue hills — Enough ground for a camp, and more space than I knew I needed.December 2020

A little higher

The landscape
opens up.

Tents on the ridge.
Hills fading into the distance.

Prayer flags beside snowy peaks in daylight

The mountain view with pink evening light on the peaks

02 / A change of light

Same view.
Different light.

Trishul & Nanda Ghunti

Keep scrolling

Between the two

The ridge,
as the day fades.

An orange setting sun above a grassy ridge crossed by a thin strip of snow — I watched the sun drop behind the ridge and let the day finish slowly.December 2020

An orange band of cloud above a dark ridge after the sun has dropped below the horizon — I stayed with the ridge a little longer, after the sun had gone.December 2020

03 / The wide view

And then,
all of this.

A continuous row of snowy mountain peaks above steep forested slopes and terraced land — Trishul and Nanda Ghunti across the horizon. Enough reason to keep coming back.December 2020

A trail through the frame.

An open brown ridge trail leading between wooded hills, with distant blue mountain layers — A path along the ridge, and the freedom to walk it at my own pace.December 2020

Part of the picture

A place.
Me, in it.

Me, standing with my back to the camera on the ridge above Brahmatal Lake, looking across the mountains — Me, on the ridge above Brahmatal Lake. My first solo summit, and a little more trust in myself.December 2020

Me, seated on a rock on the Brahmatal summit ridge, with Nanda Ghunti and the Trishul massif behind me — Me, at my first solo summit, with Trishul and Nanda Ghunti behind me. I’d brought myself this far.December 2020

A black-and-white photograph of a horned animal skull on a pole, with Nanda Ghunti and the Trishul massif beneath sweeping clouds — Trishul and Nanda Ghunti, stripped back to light and shadow. A different way of keeping the same day.December 2020

04 / The collection

Sixteen frames.
One winter.

Open a frame.
Take your time with it.

A view that became the next chapter

Across the view.
A year later.

Ali Bedni Bugyal / December 2021
Seen from Brahmatal. Visited the following winter.

Continue to Ali Bedni Back to all six journeys

Brahmatal.

A solo winter,kept in frames.

Before thewide-open views.

The landscapeopens up.

Same view.Different light.

The ridge,as the day fades.

And then,all of this.

A place.Me, in it.

Sixteen frames.One winter.

Across the view.A year later.