Trek Accident: My jaw-dropping experience of almost drowning in a raging river!
Trek To Kashmir
I had recently returned from a trek to Kashmir’s Tarsar Marsar lakes. Except for a catastrophic mishap caused by carelessness that put me in a serious life-threatening situation, the trek was a fantastic experience. It’s nothing short of a miracle that I’m still alive! It was the end of June, and glacier ice melting was in full swing, and I had slipped and fallen into the rushing stream of the Lidder river.
Incidentally, the accident got caught on the camera, and you may check out the video below (after the pic) :
Accident Location
The accident happened here: coordinates: 34°09’32.0″N 75°14’21.0″E; altitude: 2,780 meters above sea level, at Lidderwath, the first campsite 10 km from Aru village, the starting point of this 4 days and approx. 50 km trek.
Trek accident – The cause
In this case, I was so enchanted and spellbound by the picture-perfect beauty of the scenery, and it being a bright sunny day with the golden beams of the 5 pm sun creating a moment of intoxication of a sort- being spell-bound by the sheer beauty. I was alone there with the camera on a rock and wanted to just touch the crystal-clear waters, but I made the terrible mistake of going close to the river at the WRONG point- a sloping rock constantly drenched by the rippling waters of the river and thus slippery, with deep water flowing at high speed right beside it. Please see the video for yourself and please learn some lessons.
Trek accident – The root cause
It is critical that the root cause/factors behind such accidents be analyzed and understood so that similar mishaps can be avoided in the future. The actual cause of the accident, in this case, is not simply “slipping of the foot,” but rather mental and psychological factors that come into play much before the immediate physical slip of the left foot.
We are so enthralled, and mesmerized by nature’s pristine beauty, and magnificence that we are completely relaxed, our guard lowered to a bare minimum, and not thinking about “what could go wrong here?” That is where the recipe for disaster begins.
Trek – lessons for a lifetime
- Be mindful, watchful at all times, where you are stepping, avoid complete allurement by natural beauty to the extent it makes you blind to risks.
- Look for dangers and consider “what could possibly go wrong” even in places that appear to be perfectly fine and safe at first glance.
Trek – How did I reach the shore?
The detailed account is there in the video description on the YouTube video link, check it out.
Lidder River – Pahalgam 
Lidder River – Pahalgam 
Lidder River – Pahalgam 
Lidder River – Pahalgam 
Lidder River – Pahalgam 
Lidder River – Pahalgam
Please feel free to share / forward / post via Whatsapp /Facebook among your dear ones and all travelers/ trekkers to take practical lessons from a real accident, and so they are more careful, and cautious for their own safety.
Glad you reach the shore safe!