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The First Season in the Record

Photo Story · Avinash Sharma ·

SnowLahaulMandiTemplesRivers

Every record in this archive began as a walk: up a forest trail, along a dammed river, into a tandoor room. These are the photographs from the first season of keeping the record — November 2025, from the Beas valley to Lahaul — placed here in the order the mountains gave them to us.

The valley opens on the way up to Tunga Mata — ridgelines fading into haze, deodar and pine below
The valley opens on the way up to Tunga Mata — ridgelines fading into haze, deodar and pine below · Tunga Mata trail, Mandi · November 2025
The open-roof temple of Tunga Mata, reached after the 'short 25-minute hike' that took three hours
The open-roof temple of Tunga Mata, reached after the 'short 25-minute hike' that took three hours · Tunga Mata, Mandi · November 2025
Lunch under the pines outside the temple premises, snow peaks on the horizon
Lunch under the pines outside the temple premises, snow peaks on the horizon · Tunga Mata, Mandi · November 2025
The dam on the Uhl at Barot, heart of the hundred-year-old Shanan hydropower works
The dam on the Uhl at Barot, heart of the hundred-year-old Shanan hydropower works · Barot, Mandi · November 2025
Darcha's scattered settlements beneath the slope the stories say once fell on the old village
Darcha's scattered settlements beneath the slope the stories say once fell on the old village · Darcha, Lahaul · November 2025
Icicles on the hairpin bends — water seeping onto the road and freezing at the onset of winter
Icicles on the hairpin bends — water seeping onto the road and freezing at the onset of winter · Near Darcha, Lahaul · November 2025
Sissu under the first Mu of the season
Sissu under the first Mu of the season · Sissu, Lahaul · November 2025
Nyirtschi Mu, the smallest pearls: the sign that heavier snow is on its way
Nyirtschi Mu, the smallest pearls: the sign that heavier snow is on its way · Sissu, Lahaul · November 2025

By the end of the month the Nyirtschi Mu had kept its promise, the roads were closing, and the record had its first season. The gallery grows the way the archive does — one walk at a time.

Threads that join this piece to other places, stories, and makers in the record.