Panorama Photo

With my panoramas I wander through continents in search of always new negative records in terms of Betrachter's interest!
Although the results attained by the last works of December will be difficult to beat, I open the new year with two serious and very focused attempts in that sense.
In both cases I leave to the interested Betrachters (after all, there are always two or three of them...) the task of determining the place.

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The Manali-Leh highway crosses the main Himlayan watershed (Great Himalaya Range) at the Baralacha La, 4890 m. It is interesting to note that this is by no means its highest pass, since riding north towards Leh one needs still to cross Lachlung La (5077 m) and Taglang La (5343 m, pano N.18327). And the passes further north, between the Indus and the Shyokh valley north are still higher, none below 5300 m, in spite of crossing a secondary chain.
The Baralacha La in itself is a desert tableland. Only after some kms of descent one finds the tent settlement of Bharatpur, serving as a shelter for truck drivers, motorbikers and also for the few bikers (here merely two) found on the road.
The present panorama tries to convey the atmosphere that you breathe here, together with the thin air - namely, this comes, suddenly, as the first overnight stay above 3500 m if you come from the Manali side.
When I shot these photos is was already fairly dark (say, for the light that you see here, you have to thank 50% the Himalaya and 50% Lightroom); we had already had a sudden "Abendglühen" (as described in N.18247) and a weak rain and we were waiting for dinner. The powerful kerosene stoves were already at work in the tent of the strong woman hosting us - we nicknamed her the pasionaria for the incredible energy she put in everything she did, including giving orders to her likewise efficient young daughter.
People intersted in the "bunte" humanity populating a tent at Bharatpur should have a look at
picasaweb.google.com/albertopedrotti/ManaliLeh_1
where it should be easy to locate, nearly at 2/3, the photos with the same atmosphere depicted here.

11 HF, Canon G1X, 28 mm equiv, ISO 1600, f/2.8, 1/30 sec.
www.panoramio.com/photo/127037916
GPS track: www.wikiloc.com/wikiloc/view.do?id=10857734