Lost in the Valley of Death, page 32
The Parvati Valley branches off to a region known as the Valley of Gods, but it has earned other nicknames: the Valley of Shadows, the Valley of Death. Since the early 1990s, dozens of international tourists have mysteriously vanished in and around the area, contributing to its dark reputation as India’s “backpacker Bermuda Triangle.”
(© Harley Rustad, 2019)
On Suzie Reeb’s second day in India searching for her son, she found herself in the middle of the interrogation of sadhu Satnarayan Rawat, forced to face a man Justin had trusted—and who had possibly betrayed him.
(© Jonathan Skeels, 2016)
Views from the helicopter the search team hired to trace the route to Mantalai Lake and circle above the camp of Kheerganga from the air. A few days later, a small search team would land on foot and comb the trail for evidence of Justin.
(© Jonathan Skeels, 2016)
The hut at Tunda Bhuj is home to a sadhu who offers tea and a roof for pilgrims and trekkers on their way to and from Mantalai Lake. It is the only permanent dwelling in the high valley above Kheerganga and acts as a relay point for news and gossip. In one of Satnarayan Rawat’s stories, it was here where he last saw Justin—who was turning to head back up the valley.
(© Harley Rustad, 2019)
The path to Mantalai Lake is frequented by shepherds and pilgrims, and follows a single path along the bottom of the valley. It is a straightforward trek, except for one section that requires careful scrambling in parts through a narrow gorge known as Stone Valley, where searchers made an unwelcome discovery along the banks of the Parvati River.
(© Harley Rustad, 2019)
When Sunny Panchal (blue jacket) and Nirmal Patel (red jacket) ran into Justin on September 3 near the lake, they had no way of knowing these would be the last photos taken of their new American friend. They sensed he was loath to leave the high mountains and so they asked him to join their trekking group. Justin declined, telling them that he was now on a journey of his own.
(© Sunny Panchal, 2016)
Riding Shadow across a mountain pass into Ladakh, part of India’s northernmost region, Jonathan Skeels strikes one of Justin’s favorite poses. Skeels had met him only once, but felt compelled to quit his job in London and fly to India to head the on-the-ground search. “Justin led a life that people wanted to lead,” Skeels says.
(© Tom McElroy, 2016)
About the Author
HARLEY RUSTAD is the author of Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees. His writing has appeared in numerous publications, including Outside, the Guardian, the Globe and Mail, and Geographical. He is a features editor and writer at the Walrus magazine, a faculty editor at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s mountain and wilderness writing residency, and the founder of the Port Renfrew Writers’ Retreat. A fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Rustad is originally from Salt Spring Island, British Columbia.
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Also by Harley Rustad
Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees
Copyright
LOST IN THE VALLEY OF DEATH. Copyright © 2022 by Harley Rustad. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
FIRST EDITION
Cover design by Joanne O’Neill
Cover photographs by Shashikant Todkar
Digital Edition JANUARY 2022 ISBN: 978-0-06-296598-1
Version 11192021
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-296596-7
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* Little of what the porter revealed was translated in real time for Suzie and Skeels; the hotel manager wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of the questioning and deferred to the inspector. Most of the details included in this scene were later drawn from a translation of Skeels’s video.
Harley Rustad, Lost in the Valley of Death
