Himalayan Treks

Treks in Indian Himalayas

2011-02-19T21:30:00.008+05:30

The Chadar Trek - Jan-Feb 2011

As they say “Man proposes God disposes”. After walking for a while we saw a group of villagers were sitting together and were having their lunch. We came to know that the Chadar was completely broken further and the water was quite deep, for the next 200 meters or so. There was no way, this section could be crossed. There were sheer rock walls on both sides and no route over the mountains as well. The only thing we could do was to wait and pray for the river to freeze.
For more see the The Chadar Trek

Roopkund and Ronti Saddle - June 2009

We started for the climb towards Ronti saddle. The climb to Ronti saddle was initially all on boulders. We realised very quickly that we were now walking at more than 16000 feet as we could feel the lack of oxygen. It was a tough climb negotiating the boulders and after a while we could see what we thought was the Ronti saddle. It looked so close yet appeared so far.

For more see the Roopkund and Ronti Saddle Trek

Dodital and Darwa Top - December 2008

The year 2008 has be a fantastic trekking year for us. We had done three different treks in almost different regions of the Indian Himalayas.
This is a trip report for the last of the three treks - the Dodital and Darwa Top Winter trek which started around Christmas time

For more see the Dodital and Darwa Top Trek

Mt Yunum - July 2008

We were on the South-East face of the mountain. We were making slow progress and enjoying the surroundings (whatever we could see using our head torches). There were some patches of snow, but most of the way was on boulders and scree.
I was feeling very confident and was walking at a good pace, but the altitude was killing. With every few steps one deep breath-resting step was necessary.

For more see Climbing Mt. Yunum

Tunganath-chopta - Feb 2008

As we started from Chopta, the snow became 2-3 feet deep. There is a clear trail from Chopta to Tunganath, however this time we couldn't spot any trail as it was all buried under snow. The climb was not very tough, just that the snow made it appear so. We were not wearing any gaiters and a lot of snow had entered my boots. This was quite irritating.

For more see Tunganath Chopta Trek

Kalindi Khal Trek -August- 2007

We were all woken up by a thunderous sound last night at about 2 AM. Actually nobody was sleeping. We just couldn’t sleep what with those avalanche sounds. Sandeep rushed out of the tent without putting any warm clothes. The sound had been so scary and so was the avalanche. The naughty Avalanche peak had been at it again. This was one of the biggest avalanches we had seen in the day and we had seen more than twenty five.

For more see Kalindi Khal Trek

Bara Bhangal Trek - October 2006

“This is some serious climbing”, panted Sandeep, as we huffed and puffed our way towards the pass. I could barely make out what he said. The trail was through the glacial moraine of the Kaliheni glacier. The gradient and the altitude, both were now taking their toll.

So here we were, on the trail, climbing towards the Kaliheni pass, finally after all those weeks of preparations.

For more see Bara Bhangal Trek

Kuari Pass Trek - October 2005

The views of the Himalayas from Taali are quite amazing. The view is around 120 degrees and on a clear day the peaks of Dronagiri, Trishul, Changabang, Hathi Parbat, Rishikot and the majestic Nanda Devi are clearly visible. When we reached, the entire view was clouded in a dense fog, but after a while as the weather cleared and the fog lifted, we saw the view, which will be etched, into our minds for a long time to come.

For more see Kuari Pass Trek

The Chadar Trek

2011-02-19T21:10:00.011+05:30

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
- Mark Twain

I guess it all started during one of of our cycling trips in December 2009. Sandeep and I were discussing about the famous Chadar trek with Mohan. We got talking and he said, he would like to do it with us whenever possible. I had never really thought we would be doing it within the next couple of years. I am really happy that we did it finally and it ended with what I can describe as “one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life”.

The Chadar trek is a very famous trek in the Laddakh/Zanskar region of Jammu and Kashmir. It is an awesome walk on a frozen Zanskar river and typically has a window of about a month or so in the winters when one can do it. Temperatures in Zanskar go down to about -30 degree celsisus in winters which allows the river to freeze. Hardy trekkers then negotiate the river by walking a distance on it. I say “walking”, but this also involves, climbing, crawling, wading, bouldering, tripping, falling, slipping and so on. Above all it gets you a lot of fun.

'Zanskar' literally the land of Copper, is a tehsil largely occupied by ridges, ravines and snowy watersheds. The valley is indeed very remote and much less accessible as compared to the other regions here. Padum the district place, lies south west of Leh at around 75-100 odd kms as the crow flies. But there is no road directly from Leh. You need to traverse a long distance from Leh or Srinagar to Kargil and then take the road south to Padum. A really really long distance. In winters however, the Zanskar river which flows northwards from Padum, freezes and sort of creates a “Chadar” or Blanket on which it is possible to do the distance. For centuries the Zanskaris have been using this as a trade route into Laddakh and even today as you trek, you find families of these magnificent people crossing over from either side.

So this was the historical route which we had planned for. We were finally a group of about twelve members led by Manish who decided to traverse the river for about fourteen days.

We had started preparing for the trek about a month in advance. That is when the real excitement also started. However, a day before the trek, we got a message from Satya that he wouldn't be able to make it because he had sprained his ankle. It was not a good news. His doctor had advised three weeks of rest. But Satya is a stubborn trekker, he finally managed to come with us. Satya, Mohan, Sandeep and I were leaving together. Subbu was going to meet us at Delhi.

We started around 7 AM on the 22^nd Jan from our house to catch a bus to the airport however after sometime we came to know the buses wouldn't be running today because of a strike. Fortunately we got a taxi immediately for airport and the four of us were on our way.

After we checked-in, had good breakfast and waited for the flight. We were so engrossed in our talks (about Himalayas, treks, cycling, Chadar), that we didn't realize that almost all the passengers had boarded the flight. The journey from Bangalore to Delhi was event less. One of our friends, Sriram, has a guest house in Delhi. We decided to spend the night at the guest house. Jaykumar, his colleague was already staying there. He had made some excellent arrangements for us. For the entire day, we bored Jaykumar with our trekking, running and cycling stories. In the evening we did some shopping at GK market and called it day around 9.30 PM.We had to catch the early morning flight to Leh the next day.

We reached Delhi airport at 5.30AM, found Manish and gang were waiting for us. The other members of the gang included Pantha, Snigdha and Imran from Bangladesh, Arun, Vani and Raghu from Bangalore. Subbu had already checked-in and was sleeping at the airport gate. After we checked-in, we still had sometime for the flight. Satya was feeling hungry so we decided to have some idlees at airport. Again we were so busy in eating that we forgot our flight's departure time. Finally got a call from Manish and Jet airways was also announcing our name for boarding.

The new T3 terminal at Delhi is huge and we had to sprint close to a kilometer for the boarding gate. We met Subbu at the boarding gate. The flight from Delhi to Leh is a short duration flight and if the weather is good, one can get wonderful views of the Greater Himalayan ranges. We were lucky that we got amazing views of the mountains. As we reached closer to Leh, the pilot announced that the outside temperature is -13 degress. I could hear Mohan saying “Wow!! Not a bad start”. We all knew that one thing on the trek that was going to test us was the extreme temperature. Manish had already instructed us to keep some warm clothes in hand luggage which came in really handy. When we got down from the flight and were waiting for the bus to the airport, I could see the pilot waving at us from the cockpit, as we were standing in there outside in very cold weather. Leh itself is at an altitude for around 11,500 feet. The plan was to stay in Leh for the next two days which would help us acclimatize with the altitude and the weather.

When we reached our hotel, Hotel Sheynam on the Old Fort road, the people greeted us in typical Laddakhi style. It was good to see the hotel rooms had gas heaters and immediately everyone had taken up a place next to the heater. We had good hot tea and decided to get ready for strolling around the Leh Market. A lot of us were meeting for the first time, and it was a good time to bond as we were together going to spend the next couple of weeks. Like in every city, Leh also has an M.G. Road. Most of the shops were closed, this being the off season. We did some last minute shopping, bought some warm gloves and caps, just to make sure that we had enough for the trek. After a sumptuous Tibetan lunch, when we were coming back to the hotel, I could feel the temperature had further started dropping down.

We had early dinner and decided to call it day.

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Monasteries of Leh

2011-02-19T20:59:00.011+05:30

The night was very cold. Manish told in the morning that the temperature was around -24 degrees. He mentioned that temperature range between -10 to -20 is good for Chadar. If the temperature drops below -25, the ice on the Chadar starts cracking.

Today on the 24^th, the plan was to do some site-seeing around at Leh. In the morning, another member, Bhavin also came down from Delhi.

There are many places around Leh which are famous for their monasteries and we had planned to visit a few of them.

The first place which we visited was Shey Palace. 15 kms from Leh, is the former summer palace of the kings of Laddakh. The gompa is partially used and is still begin restored. The 12m high Shakyamuni Buddha statue is largest in this region.

We hiked up to the top. The views were very amazing from the top. The snow clad mountains of the Stok ranges appeared to be very close. We met bunch school children who had bunked their school to visit the Shey palace. The kids proudly told us that “3 Idiots” was shot in their school.

Thiksey Monestry was the next place. It is close to 17 km from Leh and is is very beautiful thanks to the extensive restoration work. It has a big statue of the Maitreya Buddha.

After Thiksey we visited Stakna Gompa. It is on the Hemis side of the Indus River and is around 800 years old. I found that in all the gompas, people make an offering of a lot of chocolates. As the old llama at the gompa showed as around, I realized that it was extremely cold in there, much too cold for us to bear. The llama on the other hand felt nothing.

By the time we came to Leh, it was 3.30pm and we were all hungry, but I couldn't get the beautiful gompas we had seen, out of my mind. I had wanted to see more and spend more time at each of the site. I made up my mind to visit again soon.

We had some good hot food and decided to come back to the hotel. There is a very small duration in the day, between 6pm to 10pm when electricity was available in the Leh city. We did the packing of our stuff early that night and were ready for the next day.

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Drive to Chilling and camping at Tilat Sumdo

2011-02-19T20:48:00.012+05:30

It was a cold morning as usual, when we got up at the sound of my cell phone alarm. It was quite an effort to search for the cell phone in the dark and switch it off. It took a lot of time and Sandeep refused to wake up.

We had a good breakfast and started for Chilling at 11 AM. It was supposed to be 3 hour drive in our Sumos, on the Leh-Kargil road.

On the way we saw an people playing ice hockey on a rink, which we realized later were parts of the Indus which were completly frozen. After around 30km from Leh we saw the confluence of the muddy Indus and emerald green Zanskar river. This place is very close to the village of Nimmu. We could also see that both the rivers were partially frozen. We clicked some snaps here and then after sometime we left the highway and drove down along the Zanskar river towards the village of Chilling. I could already see the formation of ice, which gives the name of Chadar, on the Zanskar river. The road comes to an end just after Chilling and this was the start of the trek So this is it, I told myself, this is what I had been waiting for, for so many months. We thanked our driver and got down on the Chadar.

It was our first day on ice and on the Chadar; I could sense that everybody was very excited; there was a lot of chatter going on and at the same time people were cautious. We did not know what to expect, but this was really fun. We were walking on ice.

After a while we could see our campsite. The porters had reached and had setup the tents. It was hardly a quarter of an hour that we had walked on ice, but it was fun. We reached the campsite called Tilat Sumdo. Sumdo means a confluence, and there was indeed another small stream meeting the Zanskar here.

The campsite was surrounded by the Himalayan peaks from all the side. All the tents including a dinning tent were pitched. It was nice to see the dinning tent. I realized that it was going to be a luxurious trekking vacation for us. I don't mind it.

As the evening progressed, the temperature started dropping down. The porters typically don't have any tents or sleeping bags and they make the numerous caves or overhangs along the way as their home for night and they use fire to beat the cold.

Manish and Imran had brought some awesome gears for the trek and they were ready to share with other members. We spent the evening, chatting and then doing more chatting. It was good to see that all the members bonding together. We had a delicious dinner at 7 as we huddled together in the dining tent and spent some more time in the warmth of the tent post dinner. This was our routine to be for the next couple of weeks. Imaran, had done the basic and advanced courses from NIM and Pantha had done his basic from HMI. They were quite experienced and Imran, who had climbed Mount Rubal Kang in Himachal, had many stories to share about his experiences. That evening, he told the “metal bite”, which one can get if one touches metal water bottles or metal walking sticks at very low temperatures. Interesting, I told myself.

The sky was looking very clear, we could see lot of stars. This meant that the temperatures would drop in the night. Clear skies are good for Chadar as the temperatures stay low. I saw Arun had taken out his tripod to click some night shots of the stars.

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Tilat Sumdo to Gyalpo

2011-02-19T20:37:00.011+05:30

26^th January, Republic Day and our Anniversary. Is there any better way to celebrate than on the Chadar ? Sometime in the middle of the night Sandeep wished me. It was a cold morning (as usual) and getting out of the sleeping bag was a big task. After having the morning bed tea we finally decided to come out of the tent and by the time we got ready it was 8.30. Unlike other treks, where we start early, on the Chadar we used to start couple of hours later. This is because, the mornings were horribly cold and made no sense to walk early in that weather.

In the morning I saw a foreigner in a traditional Laddakhi dress on our camp site. What was surprising was he was talking in chaste Hindi and Laddakhi with our porters. It was only later, that Lobsang ji told me that he is a Frenchman, named Tony and has been in Laddakh for the last 20 years. He also takes groups on the Chadar and they do the trek in very much Zanskari style. Very interesting.

After having a good breakfast we started at 9.45 AM. It was a different feeling walking on frozen river. Initially the snow was friendly for the walk however the whole terrain kept changing.

For some initial part we walked on ice, and after sometime since the Chadar was not formed properly we climbed up on the boulders near the bank. We walked, we slipped, we stumbled, we fell; there were lot of different experiences on the same day in the first few hours. All the time the temperature was sub zero and the deep blue colors of Zanskar in the middle kept us company as we walked on the sides. Around 12.15 PM we reached a point where we planned to have lunch. We had hot rice pulav for lunch. This was first time when we had hot food en-route; in all my earlier treks we either used to skip lunch or used to have something leftover packed from breakfast. This was indeed new not that any of us minded it. We started at 1 or the next camp. The rest of the walk was without much rock negotiation. The river flowed between the stark mountains of Himalayas and as one valley closed behind us another one opened. It is one of the nature's wonders. I felt myself blessed that I was witnessing this wonder. We reached the campsite of Gyalpo at around quarter to three.

The porters had reached earlier and already pitched the tents. It was one of the beautiful campsite, surrounded by mountains from both the sides. We got river view tent; meaning we could look at the frozen river and were also on the side where wind struck you first. It was still sunny when we reached but cold. Sandeep, Mohan and Satya did some hiking on the scree on a near by mountain and I could see Sandeep far above waving.

We had good hot soup and dinner while Subbu and Satya narrated the stories from their last trek to Auden's Col. Both Sandeep and I had done a lot of preparation for the Auden's Col but sadly had to miss that trek last year. So we enjoyed hearing the stories. After a while we decided to hit the sack. It had indeed been a day to reckon with and we will always remember how we spent our 2011 anniversary in the cold of Zanskar mountains.

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Trek to Dib caves (the AMS camp)

2011-02-19T20:04:00.011+05:30

Last night in spite of the cold outside we did have a good sleep because the sleeping bags and tents were really good. Thats one thing for the Chadar. There cannot be any compromise with gear and we were lucky to get good gear from Manish and Lobsang. It makes no sense to trek when one is in a lot of discomfort and specifically for the Chadar, where discomfort can be really a problem given the weather, the gear matters all the more.

Today we started at 9.15 AM. Lobsang ji our guide was testing if the Chadar was good or not and slipped into knee deep waters. This is the scariest part of this trek. Sometimes when the Chadar is not properly formed we walked on boulders or rocks near the banks. If the rocks were tricky to negotiate and risky we used a length of rope to climb the rocks and cross over.

In the early part of the trek today, we saw that the Chadar was broken in parts and had to be crossed to get to the frozen parts. The water was ankle deep so we borrowed the gum boots used by our porters and guide. The gum boots made it relatively easier to walk through the water. However, there was one small section where porters actually carried all of us one by one to cross small section of water and then with the help of the rope we negotiated the rock section. I for one do not like being carried and would have rather tried the crossing myself, but I realized that in the interest of time and ease to the porters, this was the better option. We did see a lot of action today in the first part of the trek itself. “The Chadar changes every hour”. This was the mantra Manish kept on telling us and it was indeed so. There were stretches where the Chadar was unbroken for kilometers however surprisingly the Zanskar could be seen flowing serenely on some sections.

Since we had seen a lot of action during the initial part of the day, by the time we reached the lunch point it was later than usual. Lobsang ji wanted to camp at this point for the day, but Manish insisted that we go ahead. We had good hot maggi for luch and then started for the camp. For the rest of the day we encountered a properly formed Chadar. At some point, I could feel the water was flowing below the frozen ice and each step I took made a “crack” sound on the ice.

Now this was scary, but by this time we had learned some basic walking techniques on ice. There were few caves before the campsite and that was home for our porters.

When we reached the Campsite, we saw there was one more tent already pitched by some other group. Later on we came to know that one member was not keeping well so had opted to stay behind. This person called himself a wild photographer. When Imarn and Manish spoke to him, he said he was having AMS and couldn't go ahead. But they soon realized that this was the first outdoor experience for this guy and he was totally ill prepared for the mountains. He also showed signs of taking the mountains for granted and was not repentant for doing something foolish. Later they said that he did indeed have AMS ( Attitude Mountain Sickness) but there was no cure. Dib caves came to be known as the AMS camp since then. At this point I would like to mention that even if the Chadar is a walk at a relatively lower altitudes, this trek does require certain level of fitness, a likeness for the outdoors and a willingness to tough it out in the cold. Like all expeditions in the mountains, it requires its own form of preparations.

We had got some Haldiram from Delhi and we were relishing those after reaching the campsite. The campsite was very windy as compared the previous one but Lobsang ji said that the colder and windier campsites were yet to come. Most of the campsites were right on the banks of the river or they appear to be on the banks of river at least in winter, not sure what would happen to these campsites in summer. The Zanskar is not easily negotiable in the summers.

On the way Lobsang had shouted for “Tuggu”, one of the villagers he met. Our own Subbu responded to his call assuming it was for him. This is when Subbu acquired his claim to fame as the Zanskari boy “Tuggu” which we called him for the rest of the trek.

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Trek to Nerak ( the warmest camp)

2011-02-19T19:49:00.011+05:30

It was the coldest night till now. I was not able sleep and felt very jealous of Sandeep who was snoring next to me.

Today before we started, Lobsang ji asked me to try a pair of overboots. The overboot had some grip on the sole which he said would help while walking on ice. All of us had multiple falls on ice during the last two days and it was not a great feeling as you take a fall on the hard ice, on your back or on your hips.

We started for Nerak at 9.45 AM. The initial part of the Chadar was perfect and we were walking with a good pace. I realized that the overboots were really good except it added 1kg each to my legs. It was like walking with bricks tied to my ankles. It did help me in the walk though and since it had a crampon like sole, it helped avoid the falls. I also thought it would help me in my running once I go back to Bangalore.

The sky was clear blue and the sun had started peeking in from top of the mountains into the gorge. This made the part the ice on top a little watery and it looked like it would break anytime. Lobsang ji wanted us to cross this section quickly as he said the Chadar could break anytime. We did a little climb to reach the lunch point. The lunch point had big broken ice chunks, it looked like some bomb site. The walk after the lunch point was very scenic. All the porters stopped near a big Juniper tree. They offered prayer and silk clothes for a successful and safe Chadar trek.

I realized that my camera batteries had discharged long back and I casually asked Lobsang ji if he had a spare one. He generously gave his batteries and only because his batteries we could click pictures of the remaining days.

There was a massive frozen waterfall after couple of kilometers. We had seen multiple frozen streams and falls en-route but this one took the cake. It looked like time itself had stopped. It was one of the most beautiful and amazing sites I had seen in my entire life. I have never seen such huge frozen waterfall earlier. Later on Mohan told me that people try and climb a frozen water fall using small ice axes and some sort of technical ice climbing skills are required.

The last part of the day was little scary. There was huge section of the slippery ice, one fall and off you go directly into the river. Falls on the ice are common but one has to be careful if the river flows nearby. Sandeep had two falls in succession here but thankfully he was safe.

Imran chose to take a longer detour and climb the rocks instead of walk slippery ice walk. Finally we could see a couple of houses atop a hill. This was the cmapsite for today. The village of Nerak itself is about a couple of hours climb from the river. For us, we climbed up to the campsite where we found a small house where a bunch of kids were playing.

It was a surprise when Lobsang ji told me that we would staying inside the house which had a fireplace or “bukhari”. That was great news. We would be warm in the evening after many days. We had three rooms and five of us settled inside the room with warm bukhari. Later in the evening everyone joined us in our room. We had hot soup and dinner and had a chatty evening. Subbu was responsible for the bukhari and he almost caused a small explosion as he emptied a can of kerosene on the wood. We had a discussion on different types of gears and Imran invited all of us to Bangladesh. Pantho and Imran had a lot of stories to tell us about their country. Mohan got a very good mat which resembled a swimming pool tube which he said required a little balance but provided good insulation. The only thing we fought for on the trek I guess were the mats, we had multiple mats and Mohan and Satya always tried to grab maximum leaving Tuggu with scraps.

Around 9.30 PM we called it a day.

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Tsarak Doh at the road head

2011-02-19T19:35:00.008+05:30

It was warm last night, unsurprisingly because we were in a room with a bukhari. I still had a tough time sleeping. There was a snoring competition going on between Sandeep, Satya, Mohan and Subbu. Sometime early morning I fell in deep slumber.

We got ready by 9 AM. I had two big falls right in the begining of the day. There was a frozen stream going down the mountain and the ice was slick. I had to be careful to negotiate it. The initial walk was on the boulders near the bank because the Chadar was not proper. With my overboot, I had a lot of trouble while walking on the boulders, but it was more comfortable once we were back on the ice. There was small water section which we needed to cross. Lobseng ji from the other end were helping us, but unfortunately Manish had fall and he had to go inside the water. It is very difficult if one gets wet in sub zero temperatures. We met couple of groups which were coming back towards Leh and they said the Chadar was alright ahead with some sections requiring caution.

There were couple of sections early on today where the Chadar was not good, and we had to climb on rocks. There were several sections where I realized that if the Chadar is broken, there is no option to climb as there were sheer vertical mountain walls and no bank.

Since this is a winter route for the villagers between Leh and Padum, there are some sections where some permanent iron rods have been fixed into the rocks. Not that it is safe, but it helps if the Chadar is broken in these sections. One can not completely rely on these fixed iron rods, because the rocks are so brittle here and it felt that it can break at any time. We encountered one such section post lunch.

After climbing using the rods we needed to descend down but the rock face looked so imposing and risky that we decided to use ropes and climb down. With the help of one length of rope, Lobsang ji and porters helped all the team members to descend down After descending down, while unroping Sandeep had fall but he manged without much injury. Mohan had some first aid kit handy so he used it bandage himself.

We walked for a while on completely unbroken Chadar and saw what looked like the road head. There is a road construction going on between Padum and Leh from both the side since 2003 along the Zanskar river. The stretch is not long but becuause its very tricky to cut the mountains and build the road, its taking lot of time. It might take another four to five years before the road work is done.

We decided to walk on the road from here and so we all climbed up to the road head from the river. It was so much easier walking on earthen roads after walking so many days on different forms of ice. We found there were bunch of BRO bunkers and a small tea shop where we had good hot tea.

The campsite of Tsarak Doh was on the Chadar bank after about 3 to 4 km from here. Lobsang ji had already told us that this campsite is very windy since it is open from three sides. We got down from the road head to the campsite (back on the Chadar) and realized that Lobsang ji was absolutely right. It was mighty windy and was so cold that it was almost impossible to stand outside the tent. We decided to have an early dinner and called it a day at 8 pm itself.

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Village of Pidmo

2011-02-19T19:19:00.014+05:30

I repeat myself but last night was really very cold. When I got up at 6.30AM, it was snowing lightly outside. Arun asked me “Shilpa where did you take away the blue sky?”. Manish had told us earlier that snowfall is not good for Chadar, because when it snows the temperature is not very low and Chadar might be broken.

For a change from Porridge we had “Puri and chana” for breakfast. I was beginning to get sick of porridge by now and was really happy to know that most of my fellow trekkers shared the same feeling. We started earlier than usual today at 9.15 am.

I realized later that Snigdha had a major fall on the ice right in the beginning. After we started, we had to climb the rocks again. The porters took us on a wrong path and it was very risky and difficult to get down on Chadar. Satya and Mohan some how managed to come down with help of porters and when I tried the porters pulled me from all the directions and I lost my step but finally I managed to get down. Later on Lobsang ji suggested some simpler way and everybody got down from there relatively safely.

We were all happy that we were able to get down without much issue. As we progressed ahead on the Chadar, I heard somebody was calling my name and realized it was Mohan. He asked to me remove my overboots and give them to Snigdha as she was struggling with the very slippery ice today. In the sub zero temp, it was an effort for me remove the shoes. Later on, we came to know that she didn't need my shoes, she just wanted help with the ointment or spray on on her lower back which was hurting terribly because of the falls.

The next part of the Chadar was good. We just sailed through. The beauty around could not be explained in the words. I saw so many Rabbit Ear ( like Auden's Col ) formations around in the mountains. However on some sections we found the Chadar was about to break so Lobsang ji made us to hurry to cross.

I had started feeling hungry because it was already 1 pm and there was no sign of the lunch point. Finally I could see some porters had stopped and realized that it was lunch time. This place was called as Hanumil. The village of Hanumil was a little above the banks of the river, but was mostly deserted. It was a grassy meadow on the banks of the river, and there was fresh snow all over. It looked simply majestic and beautiful all around. After lunch, the later part of the walk was not on Chadar rather it was on the well marked trail. We climbed on towards the trail and saw that the fresh snow had covered most part of the trail. I asked Lobsang ji about how many days old this snow might be had been and he said might be about a week old. We were walking on a well marked trail with the majestic snow covered Zanskar ranges around us.

We took a break of about ten minutes near the Mani wall ( Prayer wall ) just outside the village. From this point the village of Pidmo was very clearly visible. There was one more route directly going towards Nerak through mountains. After walking for about an hour we reached the village of Pidmo. The village was in a small valley surrounded by magnificent snow clad mountains. Some kids playing outside and after lot of cajoling they allowed us to click their snaps.

We had planned to stay in one of the village houses and it was nice to see a bukhari again. After a while Subbu went to play football with the kids and came back bruised (not physically but mentally) as he had lost badly to the kids. In the evening, the entire gang gathered near the bukhari and had hot dinner. It was very comfortable inside the room. The chatty group that we were, we had a lot of stories to tell and jokes to crack.

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The Ancient kingdom of Zangla

2011-02-19T19:05:00.015+05:30

Today was going to be a short and easy day. The trail was well marked and our destination was the village of Zangla. We needed to got down from the village to the road head. There was an old bridge on top the Zanskar river which had to be crossed.

We hit the trail just after crossing the bridge. There was one jeep going from Pidmo to Padum and our porters got a lift and carried the entire luggage in the jeep.

At least today while walking no great concentration was required. At least thats what I thought, but later saw Mohan struggle with slips on very hard and slippery ice on the road and realized how wrong I was. We reached Zangla in about 3 hours. There were around fifty odd houses scattered around and we didn't know which one we were planning to stay in. After a while we found our porters near a house and we got into there.

The whole village was surrounded by snow caped mountains. I was not sure what the villagers might be doing here in winters as the whole village was in a blanket of white. Mohan had been here in the summers and said that the village looked very different with lot of green around in summer.

There were couple of small villages like Pishu and Karsha close to Zangla and Padum was a further thirty odd kilometers away. As we went inside the house, it appeared like a typical Tibbetan house. The things were arranged very systematically and was very clean. Everybody was very relaxed because next day was going to be rest day. In the evening Satya went up for a walk near the old Zangla fort.

Rest day at Zangla

It was rest and laziness for all of us today. We woke up little late at 8. Nobody wanted to have porridge for the breakfast and Sandeep kept on repeating delicious street food Pau Bhaji, Bhel Puri, Masala Dosa which of course we couldn't get there.
Aound 11 AM we hiked upto the Zangla fort and some of team members decided to rest and they stayed back. The old king of Zangla still has an house at Zangla. The king himself stays at Leh. The fort was in bad condition. There were lot Chortans around, Chortans are where either very respected Llamas are buried or big sword or pistols and such weapons are buried.

The view from the Fort was amazing as we could see the whole of Zangla carpeted in a blanket of snow. The route to Leh over the Char Char la and Yumlang goes through the mountains nearby. We spent quite some time on the fort there and decided to explore the place a bit more. There was a water duct going behind the mountains so we followed it for sometime into the mountains. We then decided to return back for lunch. We were to learn later that a Hungarian team has taken up some restoration work for the fort at Zangla. A Hungarian traveler had stayed in Zangla and created one of the first Tibetan-English dictionary in the early part of the 19^th century. More here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandor_Korosi_Csoma

Later in the afternoon we decided to freshen up a bit. The last time we had had a bath was in Bangalore, and by this time we were possibly very smelly. Not that any of us had a problem with it, but some folks decided to wash up their hair. The water used to freeze immediately after a while. People with spiky hairdos were a funny site to behold. The evening was spent listening to some old movie songs on Subbu's MP3 player till it ran out of battery. Finally after dinner while everybody was trying to sleep, Mohan was talking with Raghu till late until Satya got up and gave both of them such a weird angry look that they decided to get some sleep and let others sleep.

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Back to Tsarak Doh and stuck on the Chadar

2011-02-19T18:42:00.012+05:30

2^nd Feb. It is already February. I have difficulty keeping up with dates on treks. In the morning I tried to convince Norbu, our cook to prepare something different for the breakfast but he didn't agree and we had what else, Porridge. We started at 9 towards Pidmo. Vani,Raghu and Snigdha decided to go in Jeep with all the porters till TSarak Doh while the rest of the gang started the walk towards Pidmo. The walk till Pidmo was nice and easy, we reached there by 11.15. The jeep would drop the first lot and come back to pick up us, that was the plan. At Pidmo we met another group on Chadar, a Japanese group and their porters. I heard the head porter of that group say that the Chadar is really good this time and he had not seen such a good Chadar in the last 12-13 years. I was happy to hear this but silently thought that I should not be jumping the gun. We still had a long way to go and just kept the fingers crossed.

We waited for jeep at Pidmo for sometime and later decided to walk. We were walking on the mettle road which was getting built between the Padum-Leh. We were walking at a very good pace and we crossed Hunmil in no time. Just about 6 to 7 km before the campsite, we saw two jeeps coming towards our side. These were our jeeps and we got on to the second one of them. Afte sometime we saw the jeep ahead of us had stopped and team members were taking some pictures. Lobsang ji came to us and asked “Snow Leopard dekhna hai ??”. We were so excited, we jumped out from the jeep. It was a dream come true. There was an animal chasing a group of Ibex. It was on the far side of the mountain and we could barely make out. Some of our team members tried to capture its picture. It was awesome site, something which I had only watched on T.V., a snow leopard chasing a herd of Ibex. People wait for years before they get a siting and here we were. Although we could not see very clearly, but still the site gave us goosebumps. (Snow Leopard photo by Subbu. It is the small animal seen at the center of the pic)

It was good day for all of us. We reached campsite at 1.30 in the afternoon. We had good hot tea and lunch. This was the windiest and coldest of all the campsites. Around 5 pm, Manish told us that the temperature inside his tent was -5 degrees so the temperature outside could be around -12 to -15.

We had early dinner and decided to hit the sack.

Stuck on the Chadar banks

Last night was I think the coldest night. In the morning, Imran told us that the temperature last night would have been in the high -20s.

By the time we got ready it was 8.30AM. It took really a lot of time to pack the sleeping bags and other stuff. We had a good breakfast and started at 9 AM. Despite the cold in the morning we were making good progress. We realized that we were now going downstream, so it was relatively easier to walk.

In about an hour and half we reached the point where we had used rope earlier to climb down because of the broken Chadar. Now we need to climb up and cross to the other side.

Some of the porters climbed first and with the help of Lobsang ji we all climbed up using the rope.

It took sometime for us to cross this section but all of crossed safely. I remembered that last time this was the only major hurdle between the campsites. I was happy and started dreaming about the warm room of Nerak. But as they say “Man proposes God disposes”. After a while we saw a group of villagers were sitting together and were having their lunch. We came to know that the Chadar was completely broken and for there was deep water for the next 200 meters. There was no way, this section could be crossed. There were sheer walls on all sides and no route over the rocks as well. The only thing we could do was to wait and pray for the river to freeze.

As we waited, we realized that it was very windy and cold. We did not feel the cold when we used to walk, however, once you sit idle, the cold gets to you. Someone suggested that we build a stone wall which we could use for protection from the wind and it would also help us keep warm as we do not sit idle. Everyone started gathering stones from around and helped to build a wall. It did help us keep warm for sometime.

In the afternoon our porters tried to give another shot to Chadar and tried to check if it were possible to cross it, but were out of luck. Lobsang ji decided to camp here itself because there was no way we could go back or go forward and we saw some other group was also coming towards us. So it was better to pitch our tents first. We decided we would not pitch all the tents because it would take lot of time to pack up again if needed to start.

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Back to Nerak

2011-02-19T18:29:00.010+05:30

The night was not very cold (actually we were praying for low temp) which was bad news for us because Chadar would not have frozen. It snowed heavily throughout night. The campsite had turned a picture postcard snow white, but this is not something we wanted. I heard Lobsang ji talking to someone at 5AM in the morning and got the news that the water level had increased since yesterday. We had no hope other than using the fishing boots.

There was one more group from Hungary which was doing some restoration work in Zangla, which was stuck there with us.

We got up in the morning and clicked some photos, had breakfast. We were not in a hurry today because there was no plan for today. After sometime Tony’s group arrived with his fishing boots. When his group’s first porter crossed the water with the boots, we got a green signal to pack our sleeping bags and tents from Lobsang ji. It was a sigh of relief but the major hurdle was yet to crossed. We got ready and almost waited for 2 hours for our turn. With so many people at this point, it looked like a village mela. One of porters whom we called Filter, told us that he had broken one big slab of ice, which allowed the water from this level to flow down.

By the time all of us reached the point where we needed to cross the water, Lobsang ji had already crossed this section thrice and that too without the fishing boots. Finally my turn came to cross the water.

The boots came till my waist. The water was indeed waist deep for me. If we had to cross it without the boots, it would have been quite challenging. There was a small leak in one of my boots so my socks got wet but otherwise I crossed safely.

I was waiting for Sandeep and other members. In each trip 3 members crossed and it used to take almost 20 mins for Lobsang ji to take all the pair of boots to other end and for the next lot to come. We used our emergency pack of dry fruits here. When all the members crossed safely, it was a moment of joy and relief for all of us.

The section, which was all-intact while going, was in a bad condition while coming back, because “Chadar changes in every hour”.

In this whole episode of crossing Lobsang ji was the real hero. He crossed a total nine times without using the fishing boots and he was still smiling. After crossing every one thanked him.

The snowing had started to get very heavy now, so we decided to make a move. It was very slippery today because of the powder snow we were not able to judge the ice, which was beneath the snow. Sandeep, Satya, Panto and I were walking together initially and all of us had really bad falls but no major harm done. After sometime we reached the point where we had lunch while going.

We reached the Nerak at 4.30 in the evening. It was good to see the campsite and everybody was happy. However there was a big mela at the campsite. A lot of groups were coming from the other side and we didn’t get rooms so we decided to camp. There goes my dream of a warm room with bukhari. There were lots of group stuck here because they also had got the news that the Chadar was broken ahead beyond.

To celebrate our crossing, for tonight’s dinner Imarn, Snigdha and Pantho prepared some delicious kheer.
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Tsumo - Near Gyalpo

2011-02-19T17:05:00.014+05:30

We woke up early because the plan was to skip the campsite of Dib caves and go ahead.

It was 5^th February and Subbu’s birthday so we all wished him. It was 8.30AM when we started for the day. We came to know from one of the groups that came over that the Chadar was all good ahead but we knew that Chadar can change in few hours so we were keeping our fingers crossed.

It had continued to snow through out the night and so a thick layer was formed on top of the slippery ice. It was little easy to walk on the powder snow but we had to be careful in some sections where the ice was slippery. Soon we reached grand and majestic frozen waterfall where we spent some time again. The walk was nice and easy.

After walking for about three and a half hours, we reached Dib caves and decided to have lunch here. On the way Raghu drank water directly from the flowing river ( generally we had seen only porters drink water this way). Later on he really had trouble with his throat and he was coughing all the way. After lunch, when Lobsang ji told us that we would directly try and go to the Gyalpo, I realized it was going to be long day.

The surrounding mountains had good amount of fresh snow. On the way, when I saw some big rocks on the Chadar, I thought some rock fall might have happened earlier and decided to cross this section quickly.

There was a big section which had water, I was alone when I was trying to cross this section and slipped on the ice. The river was flowing right next to me. I decided to be careful and be in the company of the guide in these tricky sections. On the way we met lot of local people, they were all going towards Padum.I was wondering how these people would cross the broken section of Chadar which we had crossed using fishing boot. Maybe and hopefully the Zanskar would have frozen in that section by now.

Today porters were slow and they still had not overtaken us. Lobsang ji then decided that maybe we could take it a little easy and camp an hour before Gyalpo at a place called Tsumo.

We reached Chadar Gate, the narrowest section on the Chadar, just before Tsumo. It was one the most beautiful sections of Chadar Trek. I was with Lobsang ji now and the general talk took us to deaths on Chadar. He told me that last year, a couple of people had died on the Chadar and a few years back, one person had died near the Chadar Gate primarily because his health was not good.

Chadar Gate is a very narrow section surrounded by big rock faced mountains. I asked Lobsang ji “what if Chadar is broken at this part of the gate??” He told it generally doesn’t break here but if it breaks then one has to cross this part from the mountains.

We reached the campsite at 3PM. We could have pushed till Gyalpo but our porters were still behind us.

Raghu and Vani distributed chocolates to everyone for Subbu’s birthday. (Subbu has promised a treat in Bangalore for his birthday..if you are reading this Subbu, we are still waiting).

Raghu and Vani told us that they planned to leave early tomorrow and would try to reach Leh on the same day. Their flight to Delhi was a day before ours.

After having a good dinner we hit the sack early at around 8.

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Back in Tilat Tsumdo

2011-02-19T16:48:00.011+05:30

By the time we got up,Vani and Raghu were already ready. We wished them safe journey ahead.Today was the last day for long walk on Chadar. The breakfast tasted delicious than before. As we started for what was to be our last camp, it was snowing, so the temperatures were bearable. We had got used to the cold by now and did not feel so uncomfortable. We had to cross a small frozen waterfall and I remembered last time we had to use a rope to cross this section as the Chadar was broken. But this time around, the Chadar was perfect and we could walk very easily over the frozen river. We reached Gyalpo in about an hour. We spent sometime here and then decided to move on.

Everybody was in a good mood because today was going to be last day. No one was in a hurry to reach the campsite. There were few scary section where Chadar was broken and we crawled on the thin layer of ice while river water was a touching distance from us. But Lobsang ji was right next to us to make sure we crossed safely.

After lunch, it was nice and easy walk on ice. At some section we climbed the rocks but such section were very less. We met another group who was also planning to camp at Gyalpo tonight. One of the group member was from Bangalore. He looked very tired and exhausted. When I asked him, he told he had two falls in the river. I could understand how scary it would have been.

Around 2.15 PM we reached the camp. It was virtually the end of the trek because we had to walk only very little tomorrow for the road head.

We had plenty of time on hand. Bhavin and Mohan decided to make a snowman on the Chadar using the snow. There was of course no dearth of snow what with the heavy snowfall we had seen in the last few days. I was roaming around the tent when I met up with Pratibha, a team member from another group. It was an inspiration for me to hear her trekking stories.

Mohan and Bhavin indeed had created a very good snowman. We all had photographs with Snowman.

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Back in Leh

2011-02-19T16:38:00.012+05:30

We were all very relaxed today. We started at 9AM, I was not using my overboots today. It felt like I was walking bare feet without any shoes. It was still snowing very heavily and as we reached the road head, with a heavy heart, I said good bye to Chadar.

After walking for about half an hour,I saw two Sumos were waiting for us. It was scary drive of 64km on slick ice, but our driver was an expert. We safely reached Leh just after noon on the 7^th February.

It was disappointing to know that Raghu and Vani could not fly on that day because of bad weather. It was snowing in Leh since the last 3 days and all flights in and out of Leh were canceled.

We were also not very sure whether our flight would fly tomorrow or not. Sandeep and I called up our families to let them know that we were back safe and sound.

We were now all relaxing in our hotel rooms. It was cold, but we had those gas heaters back. In the later part of the afternoon we went out for lunch and realized how difficult it was to to walk on the roads of Leh because of slick ice. All the cars and two wheelers were slipping because of snow.

I wanted to visit the Leh market but the falling down part was so irritating that I decided to just go back to the hotel.

We celebrated our successful expedition of Chadar trek in the evening with a grand party.

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Looking back

2011-02-19T16:28:00.013+05:30

The Chadar is one of the most beautiful wonders of the nature. In my previous treks, when we used to climb the pass,we used to thank the mountains because they allowed us to climb the pass. I thought here we should thank the Zanskar river because it allowed us to walk on it.

It was an out of the world experience and definitely recommended for all those trekkers out there. Do it before global warming catches up and the Zanskar stops freezing.

The Chadar is more than a trek, it should be treated as an expedition and deserves all the cautions that go with it. The walking might be easy but that does not take away the various associated risks. The key to a successful expedition is to have good gear, good food, a reasonable amount of fitness and the willingness to fight it out in the cold.

Apart from the Chadar, I found the people of the Laddakh/Zansakar region very cheerful in spite of all the hardship they face due the climatic condition.

I will cherish all the memories of the trek for a long time because I had awesome company of my friends. I met some amazing people and as always with the little help of my friends I really enjoyed all the moments of the trek.

What next ? This is always a tough question. I would like to go back to Laddakh again, this time in the summers. Stay tuned to this space for more stories about the mountains.

More Photos are here Chadar Photos - Shilpa

And here Chadar Photos - Subbu

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Roopkund - Ronti Saddle – June 2009

2009-06-28T23:16:00.007+05:30

Roopkund - Ronti Saddle – June 2009

Gods decided to descend on the earth as mountains. But the earth asked: “Why do you come in the form of mountains and not in your own form?”. And Vishnu answered: “The pleasure that exists in mountains is greater than that of animate beings, for they feel no heat, nor cold, nor pain, nor anger, nor fear, nor pleasure. We three Gods as mountains will reside in the earth for the benefit of the mankind.

(Eric Shipton)

In the beginning of this year, Sandeep and I had decided that this year we would do a scenic and moderate trek. One of Sandeep’s friends, Manoj, a beginner to trekking, also wanted to join us this year. We decided on doing the scenic trek of Roopkund.
JP has been our regular trekking partner. When we spoke to JP about this trek, he could not resist the temptation of another Himalayan odyssey and without any hesitation he said he was joining us. Later Ajay and Rajeev, both from Delhi, also decided to join us. We decided to go in the first week of June itself. We knew that it was about couple of weeks early in the season, but it was only this time that worked for all of us together.

We started the initial exchange of mails on the itinerary, supplies etc. One day, during an evening discussion, JP suggested on extending the trek to include the crossing of Junargali Pass and trying for the Ronti Saddle. I was immediately ready for it.

Although I was keen on doing the trek till Roopkund, I felt there was something amiss and also, the idea of spending another week in the mountains caught me on. Sandeep however was sceptical. He said, he had asked Manoj to join us and it was the first trek for him. Although Roopkund itself is by no means an easy trek, he had chosen the trek because Manoj was a fit athlete. However doing anything beyond that – it was definitely not a good idea. At this point, we decided that we would extend the trek only if it was not very dangerous and people could return back from Roopkund itself if required. This worked for us. It meant taking that additional one or two porters extra if anyone had to return back from Roopkund. This also meant asking Rajeev, Ajay and Manoj. All of them were also ready for another few days of adventure.

Roopkund is a small, shallow lake set in the towering mountain ranges of Trishul (~23500 feet). The lake itself is at around 15500-16000 ~feet. Roopkund ( or Roop Kund or Rupkund or Rup Kund ) is known as a “mystery lake” because of a large number of human skeletons found in the lake. There are many theories on what a large number of people were doing at such altitudes, what befell them etc. The skeletons themselves are thought to be more than 600 years old.
For the trekkers, however, Roopkund has been a very popular destination. The trek is known to offer one of the best views of the majestic Trishul and Nandaghunti (~21200 feet) ranges.

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Bangalore - Loharjung

2009-06-28T23:12:00.005+05:30

Sandeep, JP and I started on 5th of June from Bangalore. We met the rest of folks at the old Delhi railways station. We took the Ranikhet express to Kathgodam and reached Kathgodam at around 6.30 the next morning. There was a Sumo already waiting for us to take us to Loharjung. Raju Shah from Deval organises pick up from Kathgodam to Loharjung.
We started for Loharjung at around 7.30 AM. The route to Loharjung from Kumaon side [via Almora] is a very scenic route. The condition of the roads is excellent and there wasn't the “Yatra season” traffic that we would have to deal with, had we gone from the Rishikesh side. All of us had a good time during the journey. Some of us were meeting the rest of the gang for the first time and it was a good day for bonding and getting to know your trek mates. We stopped at Bhowali, known as the fruit bowl of Kumaon and picked up some real fresh fruit. The food lover JP got some hot pakoras which were emptied in no time. We stopped for a breakfast at Garam Pani a little ahead of Kainchi Mandir. All these reminded Sandeep and me of our first visit as tourists to Kumaon. The journey was quite eventless otherwise. We had lunch at Gwaldham and reached Deval at around 5.30 PM.

We met Raju shah who had arranged our commute. In his shop we found around 4-5 bird chicks in a small nest. The local people called these birds as “Dhan chidi” and they are supposed to bring prosperity.

Loharjung (~7900 feet) is around an hour’s drive from Deval. We shifted our luggage to another jeep as the road after Deval is not in good condition. The hour was quite eventful compared to the entire day’s journey. The jeep got a puncture twice, the driver ran out of his spare and he had to go a long way to get a spare. Finally we reached Loharjung at around 7 in the evening, but on the way we lost our tent mats and some other stuff.
We met Narendar, Mahender and our guide Chander singh at Loharjung. All the three brothers act as guides and organise treks to Roopkund. I asked Narendar if we would be able to cross Junar Gali during this time and . Narender told us that, this season no one has crossed Junar gali and snow is very hard so it will be very difficult to cross Junar gali.
There were 2-3 groups already in Loharjung and we thought we might get to see a lot of people on this trek. We also met a family from Pune who had been till Bedni Bugiyal. It is always so nice to see people spending their vacation on outdoors.
We decided to spend the night in a small room with 5-6 beds but before that we had lot of work left. We needed to arrange for the porters and for the rations. The evening was spent on all the pre-trek preparations, figuring out the number of porters required, the amount of kerosene, rations required etc. At the end of all that everyone was very tired. We had dinner at Chander Singh’s chowmin shop and headed back to the room to retire for the night.

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Loharjung - Tolapani

2009-06-28T23:05:00.005+05:30

Since this was summer, at around 4.30AM, it was bright already. We were all ready by 6.30AM and waiting for the guide and porters. Within few minutes our guide and porters came. Our guide, Chander Singh was a simple guy and we came to know immediately after the initial interaction that he was not able to manage the porters. None of the porters were listening to him and the head porter refused to carry any load. It was a total chaos for the next 2 hours. We figured out that Chander Singh was not the guide we would want to go with, if we have to attempt Junar Gali or Ronti. JP and Ajay were pretty much miffed that we had to go with Chander Singh when his capabilities were in doubt. They both convinced Narendar, to drop Chander Singh and instead send Mahendar along with us. Mahendar was ready, except he had to be back in Loharjung a day earlier than our itinerary. This meant we would have to possibly skip a camp. We took the decision of dropping Chander Singh and took Mahendar along with us. I thank God and all our lucky stars for this decision. Mahendar turned out to be an excellent guide, very able, very honest and always ready to help.
Finally we were ready to start by 9.30 AM. The trail was well marked. It was nice see some greenery around during the start of the trek.

Our destination was Tolapani (~8900 feet) via the campsite of Didna . The initial part of the trail we had to descend a lot and it was only because this was the first part, we were enjoying it. On the way the trail splits into two, one way goes towards Wan and the other to Didna. The climb to Didna starts after crossing the river using a small bridge. We had walked for about 3 hours to get till here. It was a gradual zigzag climb but the harsh sun made it little difficult. We took close to an hour to reach Didna. JP asked guide if we can get some fresh ghee from Didna and his wish was attended to within few minutes. We paid 300 Rs for a kg of freshly prepared ghee. It was very good investment and throughout the trek we enjoyed our meals with ghee. There were few camps already pitched at Didna and the campsite is really beautiful but our destination was Tolapani a climb of about an hour and half from Didna. There was no proper trail from Didna to Tolapani and there is no water point as well. It was a steep climb through the dense forest of Khirsu trees and finally at 3.30PM we reached Tolapani.

We pitched our tents and waited for some hot tea. Since our day started with so much of confusion from Loharjung, we did not get any packed lunch and we were all rather hungry by the time we reached the camp.
Manoj was not keeping well; he had vomited a couple of times and that made everyone to worry. We were very sure that it was not altitude because we had hardly gained height. Everyone except Manoj had a very delicious dinner. We had campfire and everyone enjoyed it. It had been a relatively tough day for a first day, but all of us had done fairly well. It was a full moon night and it was very bright outside the tent, so much so that we did not have to put on our head lamps as well. Around 8.30 PM we called it a day.

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Tolapani – Bedni Bugiyal via Aali Bugiyal

2009-06-28T22:52:00.004+05:30

We got ready by 7 the next morning. It was nice to see Manoj was back to normal. He was feeling fine and ready to enjoy the coming days. I was very excited from the morning because we would be passing via Aali Bugiyal and camping at Bedni Bugiyal. I had heard that the beauty of Aali (or Ali) Bugiyal is unparalleled and couldn't wait to see the high altitude meadow.
The initial part was a steep climb through a dense oak forest and in about half an hour we reached a small bugiyal called “Khana Bugiyal”. This place is famous because according to legends, Lord Shiva and Parvati have their food here. It was around a 3-4 km moderate walk from this point till Aali Bugiyal. The whole terrain was through moss laden oak trees initially, but as we approached the bugiyal, we left the trees behind us.

Aali Bugiyal is out of this world. It must have been around 5 Kms totally lengthwise. After seeing this meadow, it’s hard to believe that it is maintained this way by nature. We wanted to spend a lot of time here and we did so.

It was so enchanting that we did not want to move away from this bugiyal. We did move ahead after some time and we got some initial views of snow capped mountains. Mahendar told us that they were the Mrigthuni (~22600 feet) and Maikatoli (~22440 feet).

It was moderate walk of another 5 km from Aali to Bedni Bugiyal. On the way we met a villager whose horse had died a day earlier. He wanted me to click its photo and send it to him so that he could claim some insurance.
We reached Bedni Bugiyal (~11300 feet) at around noon. I had read lot of times that views of Trishul and Nanda Ghunti are awesome from Bedni Bugiyal. We thought since we had long day at campsite, we would quietly sit and watch Trishul and Nanda Ghunti.

But that was not to be. There were dense clouds on the eastern sky and both these peaks were hidden away for the whole time. In the later afternoon, our porters borrowed a volleyball from the shack owner and were playing in the Bedni Kund. We also had to pay the forest fees/camping fees for the entire group for the trek at Bedni. There was solar powered WLL phone available at the tea shack. Manoj and Ajay tried calling their homes and they had to try a lot of times, but were out of luck. Finally Manoj got a proper signal and was able to talk to his family members.
As the evening progressed, it got a little cold. Our porters prepared some hot pakoras and after hogging on the hot pakoras and some tea, all of us went for a stroll around to explore the campsite. This campsite was very windy and in the night the temperatures dropped down considerably. We decided hit the sack to beat the cold.
Sometime soon, when we were inside our sleeping bags, Mahender shouted from outside the tent that Trishul had come out of the clouds. It was very cold outside the tent, still I went out and saw both Trishul and Nandaghunti in all their glory. The views were just majestic. Both the mountains were aglow in the moonlight. This is the reason why I come to the Himalayas, bear the hardships, the cold.

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Bedni Bugiyal - Baghubasa

2009-06-28T22:40:00.004+05:30

In the morning the weather was clear and we got excellent views of Mt Trishul and Nanada Ghunti towards the east and Chaukhamba and Mt Neelkanth towards the north east. The morning was very beautiful and I was feeling very fit and fresh. There is a small temple near the campsite where we made a small prayer and started for the day at around 7 AM. Our destination for today was Baghubasa ( abode of the Bagh – or tiger ).
There was a small climb from the campsite towards the well marked trail via the Bedni Kund. The initial climb to catch the trail was good but after that it was a gradual walk on the trail. I really liked the terrain because on the left side the huge Nanda Ghunti was clearly visible and on the right side was the Trishul massif.

We were gaining height gradually. It took us close to 2hr to reach a place called Ghoda Lotani. From Ghoda Lotani the trail goes towards the base of Kalu Vinayak via the campsite of Pathar Nachoni. The top of Kalu Vinayak was visible but it looked too far and too high. On the way Mahendar also pointed out to the village of Tatada on the left side, down in the valley and said, that is where we would be headed to during the last part of this trek. On the right side, he said the bugiyal was called Kurmtoli. By the time we reached Ghoda Lotani, Manoj was not looking in good condition. After Ghoda Lotani, it was a gradual descent till Pathar Nachoni. Pathar Nachoni is also a good camp site but because water is not easily available, most of the trekkers go towards Bhagubasa. There is indeed no visible water point between Bedni and Bhagubasa. We took another hour to reach Pathar Nachoni. Manoj ‘s condition was getting bad now. We thought if he would rest for some time, he would feel better. Sandeep had decided that he would wait with Manoj and all of us should go ahead till Kalu Vinayak. I had never liked the idea of going ahead but Sandeep insisted and I had to go.
The climb to Kalu Vinayak was really steep. On the way to Kalu Vinayak, I was thinking if Manoj wouldn’t feel good by tomorrow then he could rest at Bhagubasa. Sandeep and I would go till Roopkund and then would return with him.
As soon as I reached Kalu Vinayak, I was awestruck by the views from the top.

The Lord Ganesha temple was small but indeed very beautiful. I bowed to the idol in the temple and clicked some photos there. After that I was waiting for some news from Sandeep and Manoj. I could not even see them down below. Meanwhile I met another trekker Arti at the Kalu Vinayak shrine. Her husband had gone ahead till Roopkund and she was waiting for him. They had both started from Pathar Nachoni in the morning, but she couldn't go ahead because of a bad knee. It was good speaking to a fellow female trekker.
After sometime, I saw Sandeep coming up to the top - alone. He came to the top and informed all of us that Manoj had decided to go back due to ill health. This was indeed very disappointing. I thought Manoj should have come till Bhagubasa at least.
We all took some rest at Kalu Vinayak. The views kept stopping us from moving ahead. They were enchanting – it was more than 180 degree view of those majestic mountains. In the meanwhile Arti’s husband also came back from Roopkund. We spoke him and got firsthand information about Roopkund. We said good bye to Arti and her husband and started for Baghubasa (~14000 feet). From Kalu Vinayak, it was nice and easy walk on the marked trail till Baghubasa where we reached at about 1 in the afternoon. We had left the green bugyals and beautiful green campsites far behind and were at respectable altitudes now. We could feel the slight change in the oxygen levels as well. The campsite at Bhagubasa was extremely windy. We decided to pitch our tents within the stone enclosures here.

Rajeev was feeling little tired so he decided to take some rest inside the camp. Ajay and Sandeep were chatting for most of the afternoon. We were also waiting for Hira Singh who had gone back with Manoj till Bedni Bugyal. Hira singh came back at around 3:30 in the afternoon. He informed us that Manoj was much better after reaching Bedni Bugiyal. All of us were relieved to hear this, but we still missed him.
There was another group of about four guys who had camped at Bhagubasa with us. Only one of them had decided to go till Roopkund. Later in the evening, all the members of other group and the porters were singing songs and that was really a good entertaining evening.
We decided to get back to the tents and go to sleep a little earlier. The next day was going to be long day for us.

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Bhagubasa – Shila Samudra

2009-06-28T22:08:00.010+05:30

We decided to start early but our guide said, it is better to start after the sunrise because the hard snow would melt which make it easy to walk. This is actually tricky, the snow should not have melted so much as to leave your shoes drenching and walking on very hard ice can be sometime dangerous as it can be like walking on greased roads. We left it to our guide to decide. This was early June and I had thought that we would hit snow at Bhagubasa itself, however till now we had not seen any signs of snow on the trail.
We finally started at around 7.15 AM when the sun was already shining. The initial climb was gradual and on the trail. After walking for about a kilometre, we saw first signs of the snow patches on the trail. We had an ice axe which was very useful for cutting the steps where required.

We were progressing very cautiously, because even a single wrong step and the whole trip for everyone would be in soup. We were now regularly cutting steps in the snow using the ice axe. We were carrying about 3 ice axes and it was indeed a very useful equipment. The whole trail is surrounded with huge mountains hence it was altogether a different experience. After one point the well-marked trail disappeared under heavy snow, so we followed our porters who had decided to clamber over the rocks. But this was not the correct route – it might have been ok for the porters but for us, it looked pretty precarious. We were climbing up on all fours on dangerously perched rocks. We got stuck at a point and did not know how to get out of this. We could see the lone guy from the other group looking at us from down below. He saw us in that condition and decided to return back from that same place.
Mahendar came to our rescue. He suggested that we try and climb upwards towards main trail. Some of us decided to clamber up the rocks itself . Sandeep tried to go towards the guide and at that point he slipped. He was now hanging on his hands with desperately trying to get his feet in place. I saw him in this condition and got the scare of my life, but immediately two porters went down and helped him up. It was only later that Ajay told me that he was looking at Sandeep from a few meters below and saw that the slip was more dangerous than any of us could imagine.
With all these adventures, it took us around 3.30 hrs to reach Roopkund (~15500 feet). All of us were extremely elated.

The best trekker amongst us was undoubtedly Ajay. He was the oldest among us but had a very strong determination and hoards of will power. We were all happy that we had managed to reach till Roopkund without any major incidences. We happily clicked some photos. I also cranked my neck up and looked at the Junar gali. It looked like it was about 400-600 feet above us. It also reminded me of the famous “Bottleneck of K2” which I had seen pictures of. Of course there’s no comparison, but that was the first thought I had.

The climb looked steep and the last part looked almost vertical. But I thought let me first enjoy the fact that we had made it till Roopkund, I would worry about the Junar Gali climb later.
We thanked our porters and guide. Our porters also did a small pooja.

Sandeep, JP and I went down from the ridge to the lake. The lake was completely frozen and there was no sign of any of the famed skeletons. JP tried to go a little further on the ice and ended up drenching his shoe in the cold water. This image of Roopkund reminded me of a perfect half fried egg :-). We spent about 20 minutes there and suddenly saw that some dark clouds had started forming over Junar Gali. Our guide said that it was time to move on and we should get ready for the crossing of Junar Gali.
It was almost plodding in soft snow for the first 200-300 feet and then we reached a point where we had to negotiate the rocks. Now was the part we had been really worried about. We had thought that we would need to fix up ropes here and then the climb should be done using the ropes. However, at this point, I would like to mention, our porters were the real heroes. Without fixing any rope, with the help of our porters we reached on top the Junar Gali and it had taken us all of under 30 minutes to complete the treacherous stretch from Roopkund. In the end, all of it looked so easy that I began to wonder why was there so much of a hype around Junar Gali. It was indeed a great feeling to be here on top at around 16000 feet.

We were the first group on Junar Gali for season. The feeling was exhilarating. This was the tough task and we had all done it together. We spent some time on the top. There are no views from Roopkund as the lake lies in a shallow crater like formation. However, the views from Junar Gali are great. The Mt Trishul ranges looked so close. JP being the faithful Yahoowala, clicked some photos of himself with the Yahoo banner.
While having some chocolates, I felt some snowflakes and that was an indication that the weather was turning bad. We immediately decided to go down. We all thanked the weather Gods for being with us; this climb would have been difficult if the weather had gone sour.
It has been my experience from the past three or four treks that I always feel happy after reaching the pass but after that the descent is always killing and sometimes more challenging than the climb to the pass itself. And the same was true for this climb as well. The descent from Junar Gali to Shila Samudra was a steep downward slope of about 1500 feet. As we started descending down we decided to use the ropes as the initial descent appeared to be very steep. The weather had now turned very bad and it had started snowing heavily.

All the porters went ahead. JP and a porter were going ahead of Sandeep and I. Rajeev was after us followed by Ajay with guide. There was a complete whiteout now and no trail was visible; everything was covered with snow. We were blindly going down. However, we had been in bad weather earlier and had seen such whiteouts during the Kalindi and Bara Bhangal treks. I even clicked some photos taking my camera out of my raincoat.
It took us about one and a half hour before we could see our camps down in the valley. I can’t express, it was such a big relief.

JP, Sandeep and I reached the campsite at around 1:30 PM.

To our surprise, there was another group which had camped there – a group from Bengal greeted us with loud claps. I had initially thought that the tents were of the “Keeda Jadi” guys, however it was indeed surprising to find another trekking group there. They served us hot soup, which was really needed after a long day. We had been walking for close to seven hours.
After talking to Bengali group, we came to know that, they had been trying for Ronti Saddle but had been unsuccessful in their last three attempts. So this time, they decided to do Ronti Saddle first and then climb over Junar Gali and reach Roopkund. They had successfully climbed to Ronti Saddle this year and they would be going to Junar Gali the next day.
We were waiting for Rajeev and Ajay – the weather had turned nasty now and we could not see anything towards Junar Gali. We knew Ajay was with guide but Rajeev was alone so we were little anxious about him. After sometime we saw Rajeev coming down with victory written all over his face. A few moments later, Ajay also came down. He was looking tired. His shoes had given him a tough time as he had slipped couple of times on the snow and rocks while coming down. He wanted to end the trek and go towards Sutol from here, but we all tried to convince him to be with us and in the end he agreed.
It was celebration time for all of us. We opened the Haldiram sweet packet , which we had got for this occasion from Gwaldam.
Shila Samudra literally means “Ocean of Boulders”. The campsite of Shila Samudra (~13500 feet) is at the base of one of the faces of Trishul. This the rock face and I am not sure if anyone has made an attempt of climbing Trishul from this face. We could see the huge icefall and the whole Shila Smaudra glacial moraine of Trishul ranges.

This campsite is also famous for another reason. The whole of the area around Roopkund is famous for different types of herbs. The most famous and popular amongst all these is the herb called “Keeda Jadi” in local language. One strand of this herb can be worth 100Rs. This herb is found in large quantities at this campsite. This is like gold for the villagers around this area who spend a lot of time looking for this herb amongst the melting snow and tall grasses. Our porters were happy at this campsite and I don't think they would have had any issues with a rest day at this place. They forgot they had to cook food etc, all of them went out hunting for Keeda Jadi.

In the evening we also saw a herd of Bharal (mountain goat), near our campsite. There were about 15 individuals in that herd. Before I could get my camera and click some photos, they disappeared in the snow pastures. Sandeep followed the herd for clicking some photos but the goats just disappeared in the snow and moraine.
It had been raining for a while in the afternoon and we all huddled in one tent. Rajeev is doctor by profession and it was nice to have a doctor on the trekking trip. For every small problem everyone used to bother him. In the evening, all of us poured out our health problems to Rajeev and got free consultation.
This was a wonderful day. One the way, we had met lot of trekkers going to Roopkund and believe me hardly any one of them made it till Roopkund. All of them dropped out much before reaching the lake. Before I came to Roopkund, I used to think that it should be possible for first time trekkers to be able to do it. Well I still think it is possible for first timers to come till Roopkund, it is not a difficult trek but a good amount of preparation is required. Trekkers have to fit physically and more so mentally to be able to come up till Roopkund.

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Shila Samudra – Dodang

2009-06-28T20:50:00.008+05:30

Today was Sandeep’s birthday. He had grown old on this trek itself. Everyone wished him early morning, from inside the tent itself.
Since yesterday had been a long day for us, we decided to start little late. The Bengali group started at 6.30 AM to cross the Juanar Gali pass. It was going to be a long and difficult day for them. Attempting Junar Gali from Shila Samudra can be more difficult than crossing from the Roopkund side. We all wished them good luck for a successful crossing.
We got ready and started at 9.30AM. It was an easy 20-30 minutes descent to reach the actual glacier of Trishul which gives its name to this area - Shila Samudra. We had to cross this big boulder zone. This is the glacial moraine of Mt Trishul.

It took us more than a hour to cross over to this ocean of stones and then we had to climb a ridge to go towards Dodang. At this point, we had trek along the Nandakini river. We could see the way which went towards Chandaniya Ghat which was supposed to be our campsite for the next day.
On the way JP and Rajeev found the skull with horns of a dead Bharal. Everyone clicked photos with it.

We were now walking along the Nandakini river bed on the boulders. The progress was slow as there was no trail and there was a lot of going up the ridge and then suddenly getting down to the river bed. Everyone slipped at least once on the boulders but luckily no one got hurt. On one such ridge, I slipped from the way and Sandeep quickly arrested my fall. JP pulled me up using his walking stick. On the way again, JP suddenly slipped on the boulders and landed on his back. Fortunately there were no injuries but these were really some scary moments.

We reached the campsite at Dodang (~13700 feet) at around 2.30 PM. The meaning of Dodang is “Two Stones”. The campsite was a small clearing between two very big boulders.

There was a small water creek very next to our camp which was directly coming from the glacier above the camp. After everyone reached the campsite, we realized one of our porters Hira Singh was missing. Nobody had seen him on the way. All of us got worried because yesterday he was having some problems with the altitude. Our guide Mahendar and one porter went back down in the valley to look for him. It was only after about an hour and half that they came back with Hira Singh. We were all relieved on seeing Hira Singh. Hira Singh was not feeling well and was resting on the boulders when Mahendar found him.
This campsite is at the base of Nanda Ghunti. Nanda Ghunti towered above us as we sat near the creek at this campsite.

The trail till Homkund is also very famous for another reason. Every twelve years there is a procession to Homkund called the “Nanda Devi Raj Jat Yatra”. It starts from a village called “Nauty” with a 4 horned ram leading the procession. The image of Goddess Nanda Devi is brought to Bedni Bugiyal and following this very trail brought to Homkund where the marriage of Lord Shiva and Parvati is celebrated. After all the ceremonies are over, the four horned ram disappears in the mountains. Thousands of pilgrims from all the parts of India take part in this yatra. Lots of people walk without any footwear. Homkund is supposed to be very scared place. The next yatra is going to be held in 2012.
Even today also, we met some villages who had come from Sutol to visit Homkund.

We celebrated Sandeep's b'day with Hot Pakoras and Halwa.
It was the coldest night of all the nights on this treks. The small water creek next to our tent was also frozen in the night. The place was again very windy and all our water had frozen. We had another long day tomorrow and had decided to start early at 5 AM. We decided to call it a day.

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Dodang-Homkund-Ronti Saddle-Chandaniya Ghat

2009-06-28T20:15:00.005+05:30

We already knew that today was going to be tiring day for us and had braced for it mentally. The plan was to go till Homkund (~15200 feet) which was about 4 km from Dodang, then climb Ronti Saddle (~17500 feet), come back to Dodang and after lunch to go down till the next campsite at Chandaniya Ghat.

We got up at 4.30AM and got ready. It was extremely cold and we knew sunrise would take some more time. Finally we started at 5.30M.
From the campsite it was it steep climb for about 30 mins and then it was all scary ridge walks. The widths of the ridges were so small that one can put only one step at a time. We were walking very cautiously. Looking around was a daring task. It was scary and caution was required at each and every step. We decided not to take any chances regarding being cautious and to take the help of the guide wherever required.

I was wondering if the same trail is going to be used for Nanda Devi Raj Jaat Yatra in 2012, with so many people walking together there can be disasters if precaution is not taken. But Mahendar later told us that the administrators for the Yatra would take all the precautions and would get the trail ready for use by the public before the yatra starts.
JP, Sandeep and I were walking together, Rajeev was in the middle and Ajay was coming with guide. While walking on such ridge, Ajay started feeling dizzy. He wanted to go back. We all knew that It was good decision because a wrong step could here could have been life threatening. We saw that Rajeev was also going back with Ajay. It was only later we came to know that they both had pact that they would do the Ronti part together if it all. I think it was a nice gesture on part of Rajeev. We all knew that he was quite keen on going till Homkund. One of the porters went back with Ajay and Rajeev.
We were making good progress towards Homkund. On one of the ridges, the path had broken down completely and we had to take some help from the porters cross it.
We reached the sacred lake of Homkund at around 7 AM. It was an amazing feeling. This was one of those places where one can really feel the presence of the Almighty.

We were very happy that we had made it till this point. There was a small temple where our porters offered pooja. We spent some time here. One of the porters explained the significance of the Yatra and kind of showed us around the Kund. The lake was partially frozen, but the water was very clear and felt strangely felt warmer too. We could have spent an entire day here but realized that we still had a considerable amount of trekking left in the day.
After about 30 minutes, we started for the climb towards Ronti saddle. The climb to Ronti saddle was initially all on boulders. We realised very quickly that we were now walking at more than 16000 feet as we could feel the lack of oxygen.

The best part was that the weather was superb for the climb. It was clear and the we would be getting sunlight soon. It was a tough climb negotiating the boulders and after a while we could see what we thought was the Ronti saddle. It looked so close yet appeared so far.
Since the Bengali group had visited Ronti saddle before couple of days, we thought we would get to see their footmarks in snow and we would follow the same. But strangely we did not get to see any such footmarks. Mahendar then told us that he thought they returned back after the initial climbing the initial boulder zone.
We had left the boulder zone behind us and were now negotiating the hard snow. The snow was slippery hence we were progressing carefully. We zig zagged our way on the slippery snow. At some point we were walking up at a very slow pace just because we were scared of slipping down. After negotiating the snow , we finally reached at top of the saddle at around 9.30 AM. The saddle is at around 17500 feet and is actually looks like a pass between the Nanda Ghunti and Trishul ranges.

The weather was very clear and the views from here were fantastic. Ronti – 1 looked very close to the saddle. Even the summit of Nanda Ghunti looked close and while we were there we heard couple of avalanches on the other side of this massive mountain. We were wondering if we should go a little further as we were neither tired nor fatigued. But we decided to stick to our original plans and decided to spend some time on saddle and then go down. Some of the mountaineers attempt Nanda Ghunti from this face via Ronti saddle.
After clicking photos in different victorious poses, we started our descent down.

It had taken us about 2 hours to climb from Homkund and it took us exactly one hour to get back to Homkund from the top. After negotiating the same scary ridges, we were back to our campsite at Dodang at about 12:15 in the afternoon after having walked for about 6-7 hours.
We were a little tired and after reaching the camp, we came to know Ajay and Rajeev had already left for the next campsite. We had no option but start for the next campsite after lunch.
When we were resting at Dodang the small creek which flowed next to the camp, had stopped in the night and there was no water flowing anymore. Suddenly at 1 PM sharp, we heard the sound of water and water started flowing again in the creek. We knew it was because of the glacial melting above but it reminded me as if we were getting timely water supply from Municipal Corporation every day.
We had a good heavy lunch and started around 1.15 PM for Chandaniya Ghat, our next campsite. None of us wanted to walk on the boulders, so we asked our guide if there was any other route. We could see that there was one route on top of the ridges on our right and it required a steep climb but we were not very sure how much feasible it was to take that route.
We descended to the boulders from our campsite. The river Nandakini was in its full flow at this time of the day and we had to cross the river at an appropriately safe place. We did manage to cross the river after some time.

After this point after having walked for about an hour, we decided to ascend the ridge and tried to do so after holding a very sturdy variety of grass that we had seen growing on the ridges around us. This was a special kind of grass, which I had seen mostly after crossing Junar Gali. After we reached the ridge, we had to trample our way on this grass on the sloping ridge. But it was still better compared to walking on the boulders.

Though there was no marked trail here, but we knew the general direction of the next campsite and it took us another 2 hours to reach the campsite at Chandaniya Ghat (~10500 feet)
The porters had already pitched our tents and told Ajay and Rajeev about our successful climb to Homkund and Ronti Saddle. Ajay and Rajeev came out of their tent and congratulated us. We were all very happy the way the day had ended. It had been fruitful and I was happy that we had made it till Homkund and beyond.
While we were getting down to the camp, the weather had turned bad and after sometime it started to rain. Looking back towards Dodang and Homkund, we could see that the whole of the area was under bad weather and it would be snowing there heavily. Again I think, it was our sheer luck that we got such beautiful weather whenever it mattered. We had excellent views and clear weather at the top of Ronti Saddle.
The campsite at Chandania Ghat campsite was much crowed – and no there were no trekkers there. We were the only trekking group. The rest of the folks comprised all the “Keeda Jadi” hunters who had come from villages like Sutol. It was kind of a base camp for them and everyday in the morning they would go all around in the mountains in search of Keeda jadi and come back in the evening.
This was one of the memorable days of my trekking life and a visit to the sacred Homkund had made it more special.

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Chandaniya Ghat – Sutol

2009-06-28T19:44:00.009+05:30

This was going to be another long day for us. Generally people camp at “Lata Khopra” but Mahendar wanted to reach back a day earlier and therefore we had decided that we would camp at Sutol. It was relatively cold morning as it had rained the whole night. The Keeda Jadi guys had already left for their work in the morning. By the time we started, it was 7.15 AM. We had to descend down to the Nandakini river and cross the small bridge which the Keeda Jadi folks have made using Birch logs. It was ridge walking along Nandakini river on loose earth which is more scary then walking on boulders.

After sometime the path entered a thickly forested area. This was Birch and Rhododendron country and we were all enjoying this walk. Nobody wanted to take rest because we were not much tired. It was one of the easier walks on this trek amidst very thick forest. After walking for about 4 hours, we reached the campsite of “Lata Khopra”. This is one of the most beautiful sites I have seen and I was a little sad that we were not camping here.

The campsite is really beautiful and one could just relax with a book in these deliriously beautiful location. If time would have permitted, we would have definitely camped here. After Lata Khopra, the forest became even thicker and we were wondering that trekking in these areas during the rainy season would be nightmare. We also had to deal with a lot of “Tree-crossing” on this trek.
The thick birch forest now gave way thick bamboo forest. The bamboo and fern forest was really beautiful; we saw lot of huge ferns and the cobra lily plants .

We were also starting to feel the heat now. There were quite a lot of creeks on the way and was really helpful because we refilled our water bottles many times. We had been walking for almost 6 hours now and still there were no signs of the forest giving way to villages. I asked our guide how far Sutol was and he gave me a big smile. I understood, we still had a long way to go.
JP had some stuff left from our emergency kit and we thought this time was more than appropriate to use the stuff from the emergency kit. We had some dry fruits which give instant energy, but still were feeling tired. I thought today’s tiredness was because we had had a long day yesterday as well. Finally at around 2 PM which reached a small village called “Tatada”. We decided we would camp here but after reaching the village we came to know, there was no water nearby. All the men of the village had gone for collecting the Keeda jadi and so no one was there to report the water problem as well. The women had to get the water from a water creek which was 2 km from the village. So we had no option but to go to Sutol which was another 3 Km from the Tatada. At least for me, it looked a very tiring walk and I had not had anything to eat since morning. We asked our guide if we could prepare some Maggi and he agreed for the same. After eating the noodles, we got some energy and we started for Sutol. It was an easy descent and it took us around an hour’s time to reach down near the river. On the way met a villager who informed us there was no water in Sutol as well and we decided to camp a little below the village by the river.
In the morning, when we had started from Chandnaiya Ghat, our guide had told us that we could get some place to stay and possibly some hot water in Sutol. But the villager's words disappointed us.
We finally reached our campsite at Sutol (~7800 feet) at about 4 PM after walking for almost 9 hours. After seeing the campsite, we were very happy and we realized that it was a good idea of not spending the night in the village. This was one of the best campsites. The camps were pitched on plain grassy land and the Nandakini River was flowing next to our campsite. There was small water canal and all of us decided to freshen up. It was one of the most refreshing afternoons after a seemingly long time. The water was cold but compared to what we had seen earlier it seemed to very refreshing. The campsite was comparatively very warm too. So all of us just hit the water and felt refreshed.

The Sutol village was at around 100 mts up from our campsite. Lot of children visited us in evening.

It was a celebration time; we were virtually at the end of the trek today. Our guide got some food stuff from the Sutol village and prepared some delicious pakoras. It was a perfect evening. Sandeep and I were enjoying the surroundings with hot pakoras.

I think the life in Himalayas appears to be very beautiful from outside; but I can very well imagine the tough life this people lead. In Sutol, they have a small school but no proper books are available. When we were in Tatada, we met a girl who had broken her arm ; but there were no medical facilities available around for miles. When this people see anyone from civilization, they ask only for some medicines. I hope the condition of the villages on this route and around here improves. I think the Uttarakhand government has lot of plans to develop this area before Nanda Devi Raj Yatra and I sincerely hope that the villagers are benefited from the development.
Our porters had gathered lot of wood and started campfire. We were strolling out in the open till late night – our porters had been on a singing spree and by the time they were done, it was about 10:30 in the night.

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Sutol – Sitel – Ghat - Karnaprayag

2009-06-28T19:41:00.007+05:30

We got ready by 6.30AM. We decided to start early because our guide told us there was a steep climb on the way to Sitel and it was better to climb that part during early morning.
Today’s walk on proper well marked trail which is used by the villagers. After a small climb we reached the village of Sutol. After the village we had to descend down for some time and then the climb started in hot sun. We took about 30 minutes to complete the climb. At the end of the climb there was a small temple and by the time we reached the temple, it was about 9:30 in the morning.

From this point, we had to go for another 3 Km. Sitel is the road head, but the plans are to bring the road till Sutol and we were able to hit the road head 3 Km before Sitel itself. Fortunately we got a jeep at around 11 AM near Sitel and we all got into that jeep which would take us to Ghat. We reached Ghat at around noon . From here we all got into another jeep which would take us to Karnaprayag.
At Karnaprayag, we checked in into the GMVN and with a heavy heart said goodbye to Mahendar and all the porters. They deserved all credit for the success of our trip.

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Looking Back

2009-06-28T19:40:00.006+05:30

This was one of the treks which we will always remain close to my heart. The whole trek is really a good mix of greenery, snow plodding, boulders and glacial moraines. One can feel the closeness of the mountains without going to very high altitude. Most of the times we were walking amidst huge mountains and got very close views of Nanda Ghunti and Trishul ranges. The trek is also spiritually motivating – Homkund is one of the most enchanting places that I have seen on my treks.

Having said all this, I would say that I have had the luck and pleasure of trekking with some really fine people. Treks like these are never possible without the company of great friends and one always has a lot to learn from your trekking companions.
If you ask me , is this trek suitable for beginners – I would say yes, but till Roopkund and that too with some level of physical and mental toughness.

I would also say that experienced trekkers should go beyond Roopkund towards Homkund and Ronti Saddle. The trek takes a very different perspective as you cross Junar Gali.
I have been thinking of what to do next. There are still many a trails to be trodden, many a passes to be crossed and many a mountains to be climbed. Stok Kangri, Lamkhaga Pass, Dhumdhar Kandi Pass, Auden's Col, Kang La are some of the treks we want to attempt sometime. So maybe it might be one of those or maybe something else. It is all up to the mountains. One thing is certain – it will be a trip to the majestic Himalayas. So keep following this space and watch out for my next trip report.

For more photos see Roopkund Ronti Saddle Photos

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Dodital Darwa Top

2009-01-08T12:46:00.038+05:30

The year 2008 has be a fantastic trekking year for us. We had done three different treks in almost different regions of the Indian Himalayas.
This is a trip report for the last of the three treks - the Dodital and Darwa Top Winter trek which started around Christmas time and culminated with us spending the new years eve in the Uttarakhand Roadways bus.

The germ of an idea of doing another winter trek for the year was already forming in my mind, as early as October. But I very well knew that if I asked Sandeep to spend the Christmas and New Year time in Himalayas, he would definitely give me a big NO. Not that he didn't want to do it himself, the guy would run towards and be in the mountains before I could say Nanda Devi. The reason was, with recession looming in the air, with us spending our money on our new house and low cost air fares not exactly being low for us, I knew he would say no. I still went ahead and booked the train tickets in advance.

There aren't too many options available for trekking during the winters. We had done the Tunganath trek earlier this year and after looking at a few other options, we decided to do the Dodital and Darwa Top trek.

So here we were finally on the 24th of December on the Rajdhani Express. As soon as we boarded the train, we saw few rucksacks and bag packs in our compartment. There was another group of about four to five guys going for the YHAI Dalhousie-Khajiar trek. They were all first timers and we had a really good time during the journey.

We reached Delhi, early morning of the 26th. Our plan was to try and reach Uttarkashi the same day and we knew it would be really tight during these cold winter days. It was indeed very cold as we reached ISBT to catch the bus for Haridwar. The ISBT bus station is huge and finding a correct bus was a difficult task. Finally we got a bus which was leaving soon, but it was a UP Roadways bus and in a very pathetic condition. We had no option but to board. To top it, there was a very dense fog in the morning and we got stuck in an around Delhi for a long time. I have traveled from Delhi to Haridwar many times but all the time it was an over night journey. This was about the most boring 200 km I have covered. It seemed we had been traveling the entire stretch in a thick concrete jungle.

By the time we reached Haridwar, it was 2.30 in the afternoon and chances of reaching Uttarkashi looked very slim. We knew that the last jeep from Rishikesh towards Uttarkashi would be gone by 2:30. We still decided to give it a try. By the time we reached Natraj Chowk at Rishikesh, it was 3.45 and surprisingly, we saw that there was a jeep which was waiting for last two passengers. We remembered we had had nothing to eat since the morning and asked the guy to wait for some time while we had quick tea and buns. Finally after a very tiring journey, we reached Uttarkashi in the night at around 10. Finding a hotel at this time was really difficult because for most residents in Uttarkashi it was well past their sleep time. Finally we checked in into some hotel, had some hot food and hit the bed.

The Dodital trail can be used to go from the Gangotri region to Yamnotri. The trek starts from Baghirathi Vally goes up to Dodital and then via Darwa top one can reach Yamnotri.

I knew that the Dodital Darwa top is a relatively easy trek in the summers, ideal for beginners but in winter the cold and the snow add some level of challenge to it. The temperatures in the afternoon were always around the freezing mark. The nights were horribly horribly cold. We have experienced temperatures as low as -8 celsius inside our tent itself.

We had decided to go with our guide Shambhuji and couple of porters. Shambhuji was arranging all the stuff for us.

The actual trek starts from Sangamchatti, about 20 odd kilometers from Uttarkashi. We started in jeep towards Sangamchatti at about 10 in the morning. Sangam Chatti (4500 feet) has some small dhabas and tea stalls. It also has a GMVN TRH. The trail crosses the bridge on the Asi Ganga and goes towards Agoda.

We had planned to camp at a place called "Bebra", a small settlement about 8 km from Sangam Chatti. The village of Agoda is on the way to Bebra. The village itself is divided into lower Agoda and upper Agoda. The pony trail is very well marked, and the climb too is gradual. The trail is amidst thick forests are on the way to Bebra. The trail was surrounded by sparse forest of oak.

Bebra (7500 feet) is one of the nicer places that I have been to in the Himalayas and I was happy that we chose to camp here rather than camping in Agoda. We reached Bebra at around 2.30PM and we had some time to explore the place. The place was extremely quiet and this being the winter season, there was no one around as well. The evening was perfect. Sandeep and I were in the one of the most beautiful and peaceful places, with campfire, amidst the Himalayas. As the evening progressed it became even more cold. At around 5.30 PM the place was in pitch darkness. The night was horribly cold. We had experienced real cold nights on the Bara Bhangal trek, but this was something that really required some bearing. Even inside the tent, the temperature watch was showing 0 degrees. We went to sleep earlier than usual, but the cold kept us awake throughout the night.

The next morning, at around 8 AM the temperature was around 1 degree celsius. We started for Dodital at around 9.30 AM.

Dodital is a sacred lake at around 10800 feet and it is believed to be the birth place of Lord Ganesha. Dodital trek is a forest trek. The trail is very well marked goes through the Oak, Rhododendron and some Deodar forest. The distance from Bebra to Dodital is around 15km. We did take some short cuts and it was good fun. On the way we got our first glimpse of the snow capped mountains. The whole route is through the forests of , mainly Oak and Rhododendron. It was long but an easy walk. There is a small settlement called Manjhi which is about 9km from Bebra. We reached at Manjhi in less than 2 hrs. There are some small dhabas at Manjhi but everything was closed because of winter. Some people also camp at Manjhi before going to Dodital. From Manjhi, the trail became a little narrower. We did not take a lot of time to reach Dodital which was around 5-6 km from Manjhi and were near the lake at around 1 in the afternoon.

There is always some amount of joy when one reaches the destination. Be it on a difficult trek like the "Kalindi Pass" at more than 19000 feet or the relatively easier Dodital with a well marked trail; there is always some elation. Of course, the other part is sheer curiosity. One reads about/hears about different treks and sometimes it almost feels like one has been to the place earlier. There is some level of deja vu that accompanies the elation.

The high altitude lake was surrounded by the thick forest. The lake is full of rare fish Trout or "Dodi" in the local language from which the lake gets its name. On the far end of the lake, we could see the trail going further towards Darwa Top which is en route Yamunotri. When we reached Dodital, we saw there were some tents already pitched there. Later on we came to know that there was a group from Delhi.

The lake was frozen in some parts even during this time of the day. There is small temple of Lord Ganesha near the lake. There were also couple of small dhabas and tea shops, one of which was open. But surprisingly there was no snow yet at this place. I believe we would be the last people for the season, as after this, heavy snow and cold would grip the region.

By the time our porter and guide reached and pitched the tents, it was late afternoon. Sandeep checked the temperature, it was -6 degrees. Sandeep wanted to explore the area but I was not ready to move a muscle. My teeth were chattering because of the cold and just felt like sitting at one place.

As the evening progress, we got clear weather and the sky was full of millions and millions of stars. I really don't remember when was the last time I had seen such a beautiful sky. Well, I don't remember, back in Bangalore when was the last time cranked my neck up to see stars in the night. Probably on one of my earlier treks ?.
We were planning to go up till Darwa Top the next day. I had read so many times that the views from Darwa top are very beautiful. With so much of excitement, we decided to hit sack.
The whole night, both Sandeep and I couldn't sleep. I was shivering like crazy even inside the down filled sleeping bag. Just out of curiosity, I asked Sandeep to check the temperature inside and tent as well as inside the sleep bag. The temperature inside the tent was -6 degrees and inside the sleep bag was -1 degree. I asked Sandeep whether we would be in a good shape tomorrow morning or not; what with this bone chilling cold. I was desperately waiting for morning to happen.
Next morning someone from the other group told us that we would be better off by borrowing a quilt from the tea shop. That is exactly what they had done and they were very comfortable. This was sweet news for me and I decided that no matter what Sandeep says, I would also do the same for tonight.

We started for Darwa top a little late, after the sun had come out and we were warmed and comfortable. The trail was from the far end of the lake, and initially was full of small boulders and snow patches. Darwa Top is 5km from Dodital and is at around 13300 feet. It was a tough climb as compared to easy walks of the last two days. The entire walk is an uphill climb. It starts with the climb along the feeder to Dodital breaking into a thick birch forest opening into the high meadows. However at this time of the year, we could see no meadows as everything was under a lot of snow. The last push to Darwa top was heavy snow plodding.

The snow was around 2 feet and was all powder. Finally at around 12 PM we reached the top. The place was very very windy and cold. It was bone chilling and my hands and feet had gone numb because of the cold. There are views of the Bandarpunch and Swargarohini ranges from here. I tried to take some photos but my camera batteries had drained out completely because of the cold. It really required lot of courage to change the batteries as I removed my gloves and took out the extra pair that I was carrying. I braved the act, but no luck. The extra pair had also drained out, possibly in the night.
But this was not new for us. It had happened earlier too, but generally we have other trek partners and we do get some photos. I felt a little disappointed, but thought it was ok. The views from the top will be etched in my mind for a long time.

After spending sometime at top, we decided to head back down. Sandeep's knee was giving him a real hard time from the first day, and he was in some real pain on the descent. We had thought that we would try and go towards the Dayara Bugiyal after we finish the Dodital hike, but I didn't want to take any chance what with Sandeep being in pain. The climb down is not very difficult otherwise. We could just stroll amidst the snow and meadows and cross some small streams and get back to Dodital within no time.

After coming back to the camp site at Dodital, we decided that we would directly go down to Uttarkashi instead of going towards Dayara Bugiyal. I was a little disappointed again, I wanted to spend the new years eve in the mountains and not the plains. Going to Uttarkashi would mean that we would have to get back to the plains soon.

This is what we did exactly. While coming down, we camped at Bebra again and then proceeded to Sangam Chatti after spending a night at Bebra.

Finally we were back in Uttarkashi on the 31st of December.

Year 2008 was a great trekking year for us. As I am writing this travelogue, I can feel the sudden urge to see and be in the Himalayas again.

Stay tuned for my next tryst with the Himalayas.

Search for a trek

2008-08-04T19:45:00.006+05:30

The first question which you will ask and which I must try to answer is this, 'what is the use of climbing a Mountain?' and my answer at once be, 'it is of no use'. There is not the slightest prospect whatever of any gain. We shall not bring back a single bit of gold or silver, nor a gem, nor any coal or iron. We shall not find a foot of earth that can be planted with crops to raise the food. It is no use.

So you must understand that there is something in man, which responds to the challenge of mountains and goes out to meet it, that the struggle is that is struggle of life itself upwards and forwards. What we get from his adventure is sheer joy. And joy is, after all, the end of life. We do not live to eat and make money. We eat and make money to be able to enjoy life. That is what life is for.
(George Leigh Mallory)

When we were on the Kalindi Khal trek last year, we had decided that we would be doing a simple scenic trek the following year. We had been battling with high altitude and extreme conditions throughout the trek of Kalindi Khal and we thought we had had enough.

And here I am; back again on higher altitude. When we were deciding on this year's trek, after a lot of discussion , we decided to to do something different. Mountaineering had always been intriguing for me. I used to wonder how people do it; what with all those gear, trying to tackle ice walls, glaciers etc. Anyways, as I said, after a lot of discussions, we decided, we would try to attempt climbing a peak. We would do some initial training that is required and then attempt the summit. Of course, finding a peak that would allow us to do just that in a matter of two three weeks was in itself a task. There were so many names taken at first Ladakhi, Shitidhar, Stok Kangri and we even tried to see if the mighty Kalanag was doable as a first peak.

However we decided on a simple peak, not quite known to the rest of the world. This peak is called Mount Yunum and is near the Lahaul - Ladakh border near Bharatpur in Himachal. Mt. Yunum is about 6100 mts (20000 ft). We spoke with Kaushal from above14000ft.com and after a few days of discussion, drew up our plans. It was going to be a two week affair.

It was the same team as last year's Kalindi Khal expedition with the addition of two new members. Dan and Chris were going to join us for this expedition, all the way from Sweden..

As I have said earlier, preparation for the trek is almost always exciting as the trek itself. But not this time. The most frustrating part was, there wasn't any kind of information on the internet available about Mt. Yunum, about its surroundings, route etc. So it was only until after we actually reached the area that we knew something about what we were getting into.

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To Manali

2008-08-04T19:44:00.001+05:30

We started our trip on the 11th of July and unlike last time, this time everyone decided to meet up at Manali itslef, on or before the 13th morning.
Our adventure started right from Bangalore. On reaching the airport, we found that our flight was delayed by about an hour. The problem was we had to catch a bus from Delhi for Manali at 6PM and on top of that, we were carrying the tickets for Dan and Chris as well. I called the HPTDC office at Delhi from Bangalore Airport and requested them to allow Chris and Dan to board the bus. The guy at HPTDC assured me that he would give them their seats. After sometime, I heard the announcement that our flight had got further delayed that nullified what little chance we had to catch the bus. Finally our flight took off at 3.45PM after a delay of about three hours. By the time we reached Delhi, our bus was gone. But the helpful people at HPTDC gave us seats on the next bus. We hoped to catch our original bus at Karnal where we would stop for dinner.

I was sleeping when our bus reached Karnal and the first thing Sandeep did, was looked around for Dan and Chris. Sandeep recognized the pair from the photographs we had shared during our email exchanges. It was really nice meeting them. We shifted our luggage to their bus and ordered some food for dinner. As soon as we started to have our dinner, the bus driver started honking. We had no option to leave the food and board the bus.

I was feeling extremely tired as since morning till about now we had been running against time. Our bus was pretty comfortable, however a 16 hour journey on the mountain roads can really tire you. I wondered how, Harsh, Moiz and JP would manage in normal non-deluxe bus. Dan too was feeling very uneasy and this was natural for it was his first time for so long in the bus.

The journey was otherwise quite event less. We reached Manali at 9.30AM and checked into a small hotel called Taj Palace, which was already booked by Kaushal. We left our luggage at hotel went to have some breakfast. We strolled around for sometime and then decided to come back to the hotel. On our way, we met Rinku who had been looking for us. Rinku was again going to be our guide (along with Bhagwandas). Kaushal also joined us after sometime at the hotel. He had brought Koflaches (snow boots) with him for us to try out. When I tried them on , it felt like my legs were cast into a plaster and I couldn't walk properly. Kaushal and Rinku assured us that as we start using them we would feel comfortable. Rinku told that his wife Sushma would also join us and I was a little happy on hearing this. I would have some female company on the trek.

As we discussed about the training plan, the trek and the climb, I realized that the terrain, the training and the climb were not going to be easy. Like Kalindi, the main thing to tackle here was the altitude.

The rest of the afternoon was spent just chatting about different treks. It was good to be in the mountains again. It was around 4 PM when Moiz arrived. We were now waiting for JP and Harsh.
In the evening we took a small walk till the Hidimba and Ghatotkach Temples. I still remember asking Dan and Chris to pronounce these temples' names; it was tong twister for them and fun for us. The later part of the evening spent in finding a good place for having food. We again went to bus stop at around 11 PM to welcome JP. The food lover JP, ordered some exotic Chinese food at small hotel in Manali and that too at 11.30 PM in the night and he was not disappointed.

After some time we called it a day and went to sleep.

Harsh was the only member left and everybody was waiting for him. He joined us the next day at around 6:30 AM and that finally completed our whole group.

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Reaching Base Camp

2008-08-04T19:43:00.001+05:30

We got ready and started a little late at around 11 AM for Jispa. As our luggage was getting loaded on the Sumos, a dhongi baba, carrying a snake started pestering for money. Apparently wanted money to feed his snake; for snake snacks.

Our driver was called Chunni Lal and was quite an interesting character; kept us entertained for the next couple of days.
On the way, we stopped at “Marhi”, where Kaushal and other members had their lunch. We saw a lot of tourists at this place, para gliding.

The next stop was at Rohtang Pass, which at around 3800m. It was extremely windy, when we got down at Rohtang. Again there were many tourists here, all with overcoats and snow boots enjoying the weather.

As we were going to gain considerable height in the next two days, all of us were wary of acclimatization and used to drink lots of water. The only person harrowed by all this was Chunni Lal; we made him stop very frequently on the way for nature breaks.

Further down, after crossing the Rohtang pass, we saw the road which goes towards “Chandra Tal.”. I have been wanting to visit this lake for some time now as I have heard that it is an extremely beautiful place. May be sometime in the future.

There is a checkpost at Khoksar and Chris and Dan had to show their passports here. We also wanted to have lunch at Khoksar, but we were getting a little late so decided to wait till we reach Keylong.

After Khoksar, the condition of road was little bit good. So our driver decided to speed up a little and what happened next was quite funny. There were a couple of cops, waiting for this moment, catching the drivers for speeding, using a speed gun. Now, the Manali-Leh road isn't in a very good condition. Theres only this 2 km segment which is probably newly done and the cops choose this same place to catch speeding drivers. Amazing business sense some people have; but not so fast. The cops called Chuni Lal, but couldn't give him a ticket, because their printer got jammed at that same moment. After they tried for some time, they managed to correct it, but now it printed only blank white sheet. Chuni Lal, was elated as he came back to the jeep with victory written all over his face.

The surroundings were amazingly beautiful. As we were now in Lahaul, there was a stark change in the countryside, which was getting more and more barren. But I should say, it was very beautiful. We could now see the beautiful snow capped ranges with tens of small glaciers around us.

We finally reached Keylong at around 4 in the evening. Everyone was pretty hungry and we had our lunch at a small Tibetan place there. We quickly grabbed a bite and started for Jispa; Chuni Lal told us that the headlights of his vehicle were not in a working condition. We wanted to reach Jispa before it got dark and we finally reached the town at around 7:15 PM. There is mountaineering institute in Jispa and we were going to camp there for the night. This campsite was on the banks of the Bhaga River.

After sometime Kaushal gave a briefing about the training; kind of setting the expectations for the training and climbing program. We had a great dinner, went for a small walk towards the town and finally hit our respective sacks.

From the day we decided to climb Mt. Yunum, I was trying to get information; some photos, write ups for Yunum without much luck. The thought of now seeing the mountain which we were going to climb was exciting.

As we got up early the next morning at 5, I could see that it was already quite some light outside. This was good, the days seemed longer in these parts during this time of the year.
We got ready, and packed our sleeping bags and folded our tents. After having our breakfast, we met a Bengali guy who has been living in Leh for the last 20 years.

He was accompanying a few bikers, riding from Manali to Leh and then to Srinagar and then Dharamshala on motor bikes. He was carrying all the luggage and fuel for the bikers. It was great talking to him and listening to his experiences. We finally started for Bharatpur at around 8.30AM. It was going to be a 4 hour drive from here. On the way at Darcha, Chris and Dan had to again show their passports for verification.

The drive was steep on the Manali-Leh road and Chunni lal was driving perfectly. After some time, we stopped at Baralacha La (4800 mts), which is again a famous trekking destination in Himachal.

This was an extremely windy and cold place and as we got out of our jeep, we realized that we were now at respectable altitude. We clicked a couple photos and moved ahead.

The vegetation and the terrain are really different in Lahaul. I have never been in such surroundings before and it was beautiful in its own different way.

We finally reached Bharatpur (4300 mts) at 11.30AM and found it to be a really small but nice place. Bharatpur has only ten odd small dhabhas, which remain open during the tourist season. We called Bharatpur the Las Vegas of India; this was a pretty happening place in the middle of the desert.
Theres a different kind of tea; “butter tea” served in those dhabas, but didnt have the will to try it at that time.

Our base camp was about 300 odd meters from here. We did load ferrying from the road head to the base camp. Dan alone carried a big 25kg potato sack and we were thankful to him throughout the trip; our “aaloo paratha”, “aaloo sabzi” were all courtsey Dan.

After reaching the base camp, all of us pitched our tents and after a while had our lunch. This was going to be our home for the next whole week at least.

The altitude was starting to show its true colors now. We had had this experience during our earlier treks, specifically during the Kalindi trek when we were hit by altitude for quite some days. This is definitely not a great experience. As the headache and nausea started to creep in, we thought we would go for a small acclimatization walk. Dan wasn't feeling up to it. So the rest of us started to climb towards a smallish glacier that we could see from our camp. We must have climbed a few hundred meters and just then we saw the mountain. Mt Yunum. So this was the mountain, finally my curiosity of the last few months ended. The peak looked beautiful in the daylight. There was a sheer slope the North-West face on one side; but the south face with snow and scree , what looked from here was a gentler slope.

On the way Kaushal showed us how to take a resting step while climbing, how to climb down on boulders etc. After some time we came back to base camp. Moiz and Chris were also not feeling good.
It was getting extremely windy and cold. We had our dinner and went to our tents.

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Training Days

2008-08-04T19:42:00.002+05:30

15th July - 19th July

15th
The going was not very good. All of us were battling the altitude and the terrain. The type of terrain was a little new to me. This place was extremely windy, extremely sunny and extremely dry. The first few days, Sandeep and I both had headaches so couldn’t sleep through out the night. Typically we used to wake up at 4 in the morning (we used to wait for the mornings eagerly), take a small walk for acclimatization, then try and come back to the tent and sleep. Invariably, we never used to get sleep again.

Today’s plan was to start around 8.30 for a walk till the glacier. We had our breakfast and started for the acclimatization walk. There was a small glacier about 250 to 300 meters above our camp and the plan was to go and spend the day on the lower part of the glacier. The terrain was full of boulders; different kinds of boulders and I do not like boulders. It took us around one and half hours to reach the lower part of the glacier. Rinku and Kaushal went further ahead to explore the area. I was talking to Sushma ji, Rinku’s wife for sometime. She herself is a climber and told me about her different expeditions and it was indeed nice talking to her. She is really a tough lady.

We explored the glacier for some time, recce-ed the area, spent some time exploring the surroundings and then decided to turn back. This whole area was to be our training ground.
Today we were going to learn about different types of climbing knots. So after lunch, we all met in the dining tent for the knots sessions where we spent time learning about different kinds of knots which are used while climbing and descending. It was fun and I actually forgot about my headache for sometime. After the knots session, in the evening, learnt a new game called “Wolf”, played it for sometime and spent the evening talking about AMS.

16th

I could get some sleep last night. A daily routing in the morning; when we came out of the tent and met each other in the morning, instead of saying good morning, the first thing we used to ask “hey how are you feeling today?” And the answer was invariably always the “hmmm better then yesterday.”

Today we were going to start the actual training on snow. We had breakfast and started at around 8.30. Today we were carrying our mountaineering shoes and seat harnesses. We reached near the glacier and put on our shoes.

Rinku first showed different techniques on how to walk on the snow. The walking techniques were good. I didn’t know them earlier. We did lot of practice of each of the walking techniques. After that he showed how to do self-arrest while falling down in snow and then finally fast descending techniques on snow. The whole session was very good learning experience and by the time it was over, it was already 2 PM.

Everyone was tired because doing all such physical activity at close to 5000mts was not an easy task. After lunch at around 3.30, Kaushal took a test on the knots session. Both Sandeep and I failed :-) As the evening progressed, it was getting cold and I started to feel feverish. I was hoping to feel alright next day.

17th

Today’s training was about different belaying and rappelling techniques. Everyday before starting, I used to think that today I would not exert much, as I was conscious of the fact that we were on high altitudes and did not want to expend my energy. But after starting the practice session, I used to feel energetic and did not want to stop. Infact looking at all the other members practicing used to give some kind of an impetus to me as well.

Belaying techniques are used while ascending and fixing the ropes. We divided ourselves in two groups with Chris, JP and I in one group and the rest of the members in the other group. We had selected an ice wall with a decent gradient on the glacier and we climbed around few meters using these techniques. While we were climbing, suddenly Rinku pushed one of the members and everyone started falling. This was a test for the self arrest techniques that we had learnt earlier. We spent a lot of time understanding and then practicing these techniques.

Rappelling was the one which I really wanted to learn because this is a very basic technique and I know that even normal trekkers like me should know about these techniques. Rappelling is used to descend down from a slope. We did this climbing and then rappelling down for quite some time. It was indeed very tiring but all of us were kind of enjoying the experience.

We came down to our camp late in the afternoon. Harsh was not feeling very well all this while. Although, all of us were still showing signs of AMS, Harsh was feeling it the most. One of the reasons was he had not eaten properly for the last two days because of the nauseating feelings. He wanted to try and have a change in taste; so decided to go down to the road and have something at one of the dhabas at Bharatpur. All of us decided to accompany him till there.
We had tea at the dhaba and after sometime, we decided it was time to head back. However Harsh, JP and Moiz decided to stay over at the dhaba itself, hoping it would give some relief. So Sandeep and I headed back to our camp along with Dan and Chris.
We didn't have much to do, so just whiled away the time at the campsite. Dan had a
board game and we spent some time playing that as well. We called it an early night today.

18th

For me at least, todays was the toughest part of the training. In the morning, I was excited because we would be learning cramponing techniques today. As part of this, we would be climbing some ice walls as well..

While climbing towards the glacier, I felt I wasn't able to get sufficient oxygen and was breathing hard. The initial climb was quite irritating because of this. Everyday we used to leave our mountaineering boots behind some boulders near the glacier and then we used to put them on along with the harness. Today we had to climb much further up in the glacier, nearly at 5100 mts because we wanted a bigger ice wall for the training session. We had put on our crampons also. The first sessions were on ascending and descending on ice using crampons. For the next sessions, we went further up for learning the climbing techniques on ice wall using crampons and ice ax. This was real fun. Everybody was tired but performed like mountaineering pros.

This was the last day of training on glaciers. We were all extremely tired today as I felt we had done a lot of aerobic exercises at more that 5000 mts.
When we were having our lunch, JP told us that Harsh was planning to leave the next day. This was a sad news as I felt that when you go as a group, everybody’s presence is equally important and is required for the motivation of the team. We tried to convince Harsh but he had already made up his mind.

19th

When we woke up in the morning, we got another bad news. JP was also planning to leave along with Harsh. JP was having chest pain for some time and he said he did not want to take any further chances. After Harsh's and JP’s departure, we were now only 5 people in the group.

Today's training was crevasse rescue, rock climbing, first aid and attending to a casualty. For a change, instead of walking towards the glacier, we walked down from the camp and then further up the road towards an area which was suitable for rock climbing. We might have walked around 3 kms from the camp.

Bhagwandas ji showed us how to do a crevasse rescue.

Some of us also attempted to do a mock rescue.

After this there was a training on rock climbing where the boys attempted to climb several of the rock walls around. I did not try my hands at this.

While coming back to the camp, we stopped over at Bharatpur where I finally tried the salted tea. The last thing, which was left as part of the training, was first-aid and attending to a casualty which we started to do post lunch.
Rinku showed us how to carry casualty in the mountains using ropes and sleeping mats. Chris and I happily became the mock casualty.

We also learnt how to make a stretcher using ropes. During the first-aid session, everybody asked lot of questions about edema and how people die because of edema. I thought, this was not a right time for these questions because tomorrow we would be starting for the summit.

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Summit Days

2008-08-04T19:41:00.001+05:30

20th - 21st

20th
We packed our bags and started for the ABC at around 9.30am.. The ABC was at around 5300 mts but the route was longish and was full of boulders. We crossed our first water stream on this “trek”. It was the first time on a trek that I was climbing with a lot of load on my back. Usually it would be just my day pack, but today, I had to carry my entire rucksack The initial climb was alright, but as we climbed more, I started to get tired and dehydrated. The whole climb was on boulders and scree. Earlier we had decided to do the load ferry, establish camp and the attempt the summit. But then Kaushal suggested that we could do it alpine style. We liked the idea, but I had not realized that even then we would need to carry so much of load. The climb would not have been that difficult if I would have had to carry the rucksack. But this was also part of our training.

I was very slowly moving ahead with my rucksack, after sometime my legs started shivering and it was almost getting impossible for me to walk.
It was only about 100m left when I asked Bhagwan Das if he would carry my rucksack. This is something which I did with a very heavy heart..I wanted to reach my destination on my own merit and strength but the altitude was killing and so was the dehydration.

We reached ABC later in the afternoon. The views from the ABC were wonderful.
We could even see Las Vegas of Lahaul, Bharatpur down below.

Saying, this place was windy would be an understatement. It was windy like crazy and after sometime it started to snow lightly as well. Infact, we experienced the four seasons, all in the next few hours. Heavy wind, harsh sun, rain and then snow. This clearly says how unpredictable the weather is at these altitudes.

It took some time for us to adjust to this altitude. We carried our water glasses and our plates and we had to clean them. The water was directly coming from the glacier and touching the water itself was a big mission. No body wanted to think about headache or AMS but we simply couldn't avoid it.
Generally I never play cards in the mountains because I some how feel it is kind of disrespectful to the mountains, however during this trek, we did play cards few times.
In the evening, we didn’t have any thing much to do. Going from one tent to another was a great ordeal in itself, so exploring the surroundings was totally ruled out as everyone wanted to preserve their energy for the summit day.

As the evening progressed, it became extremely cold, We had an early dinner and decided to hit the sacks. Sandeep and I decided to sleep in kitchen tent itself. For quite sometime Sandeep was talking to Tikkam Da, a very senior guide with our group.
Tikkam Da has spent all of his 60+ years in the Himalayas and has done a lot of climbing and trekking. He told quite many stories as well. One of the stories he told was when he was on one of the higher camps on Mt. Kamet, he saw all the Gods of the heavens come down and dance on the mountains, all with mridangs and tablas and other instruments. He also told stories of evil spirits and how they sometimes haunt trekkers and mountaineers. Now this wasn't very comforting.

After sometime we decided to sleep, as we had to wake up around 3.30 in the morning. The night was cold and windy. I was sleeping in the corner of the kitchen tent and could feel the cold air come into the sleeping bag. I couldn’t sleep for a while and waited for the morning.

21st
We woke up at 3AM in the morning and had some tea and oat porridge. Rinku asked Sandeep and me to go ahead, so we started earlier at around 4:10 AM with Sushma ji and Bhagwan Das. It was total dark outside, the sky was totally clear and we could see all the stars. Moiz, Dan and Chris started at around 4.30 AM with Rinku ji.

We were on the South-East face of the mountain. We were making slow progress and enjoying the surroundings (whatever we could see using our head torches). There were some patches of snow, but most of the way was on boulders and scree..
I was feeling very confident and was walking at a good pace, but the altitude was killing. With every few steps one deep breath-resting step was necessary. It was still dark so we couldn’t take any photos. After sometime we met Dan and Chris. Moiz was behind with Rinku ji

Everything was going on well. Till this point I never imagined what would happen in the next 20mins. As the morning progressed, the intensity of wind increased suddenly. The weather also changed and it got very cold suddenly. There was a big rock on the way and everyone decided to rest on a ledge there for sometime and let the weather pass. As soon as I reached there, I thought I was feeling cold and numb. Within minutes, unknown to me why, I started shivering tried to lie down on the rocks. Sandeep tried to make me feel better by rubbing my hands and Dan even gave his spare jacket. But, I just couldnt understand what was goind around me. I started to feel dizzy. I tried to walk, but was not able to see the rocks also properly. My hands and feet were still feeling numb, I wasnt tired or exhausted, but never had this kind of feeling earlier. Whatever it was, it didn't look good, not at this altitude at least.

Rinku ji then told Sandeep to go ahead with the rest of the group. He told him, he would wait here with me for sometime and then come up a little later. It was only a little way ahead; we were about 200-300 mts away from the summit. So everyone went ahead, while Rinku ji and I rested on the rock ledge. My condition was not at all good. Actually there was no sun and I was feeling extremely cold. I don't know, but I started feeling hypothermic. I just couldn't do anything about it. Rinku ji saw me like that and decided that we would have to go down immediately. In that split second I too decided to go down. As I started to go down with Rinkuji, Sandeep saw me from above and he also turned back. I already knew he wouldn’t go ahead without me.

I remember back home one day Sandeep had asked me “Will you go ahead for the summit if I do not feel well at advance base camp”. And I immediately replied “There is no meaning of the summit for me, if it is without you.”. I did not know that this same thing would get repeated except instead of Sandeep, it was me, who decided to abort the summit.

While coming down, when I felt little better, I realized what I had done. After that all the way till the Advanced base camp I couldn't stop crying. I was feeling very very very bad. I was thinking about all the hard work that we had put in for this climb and how excited we were about our first climbing experience..
It was sheer bad luck. In the morning when I started, I never thought it was going to end like this. When we reached ABC and Tikkam ji saw me crying, he told me that Tenzing Norge used to say “A good mountaineer is one who comes back alive.” But I was inconsolable. I still couldn't understand why all this had to happen.
Well, I very well know that mountains will always be there and it is in their hands if they allow you to climb. We could always go back and climb any day if; provided we are alive. But I was still having a very bad feeling

Meanwhile, our other teammates; Moiz, Dan and Chris successfully did the summit. They reached the summit at around 9.30AM and by the time they came back to ABC, it was around already post noon.. After coming back, Moiz told us that even he was not feeling very well and the “mighty” Dan helped him on the last few meters from the summit.

I knew, how difficult it is when you can actually see the Summit, few meters are left but every step that you take is so demanding that you are totally left out of energy. At such high altitudes, it is very difficult to take care of your own self, and it requires great courage to help your teammates as well. It was very heart warming to see Dan and Chris helping us out , not just during this summit attempt, but throughout our adventure. In fact sometimes just few words of motivation are more then sufficient.
Moiz told us, Dan told him, he wouldn't go to the summit without Moiz. Those words meant a lot to Moiz and gave him the energy to go the remaining hundred odd meters.

Well everybody was happy when they came to ABC. We decided to take some rest then decided to go back to the BC. By this time I was feeling completely all right. Everyone one was tired but after the summit the spirits were high. By the time we descended, the level of water in the stream had grown. So instead of crossing the water, we had to take a longer route to get back to BC.
Hot pakodas we were waiting for us when we reached our camp. Everybody laid down in the dinning tent and shared their feelings on how they felt at the summit.

So that was it. It was going to be our last night and last supper on this trek. Chris and Dan prepared pasta for dinner. We celebrated the summit of our friends by gorging on the very delicious pasta.
After sometime we decided to go to sleep.

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Looking Back

2008-08-04T19:40:00.003+05:30

As I write this section, I have heard the news that some people have died because of bad weather on the Kalindi Pass this year. I pray for the departed souls. May they rest in peace.

Every trek has been special for me. It has always taught me something new. This trek also ended with lot of learning and I also made two excellent new friends. It is always with a little bit of help from your friends that you achieve your own summits. I do sometimes wish that Sandeep should have gone ahead and made the summit, but I know he would have never done it. I do still sometimes feel a little bad on missing out on those last few hundred meters, but then as I have said earlier “Trekking is a journey and not a destination in itself”

So what next !! Well, the journey continues and theres still many a road to be taken, many a mountain to be climbed.
Mountains will always remain there for ages to come, so who knows you might sometime see a repeat blog entry for Mount Yunum itself.

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Tunganath Chopta Part I

2008-03-30T17:05:00.003+05:30

Our anniversary was approaching and this time, Sandeep and I decided to celebrate it with a small Himalayan trek. Of course in reality we had very limited options and this is because of both the season as well as time. We had a maximum of 4 days Bangalore to Banglore, including the weekend, with us. We contemplated the Chandrashilla-Tunganath winter summit, the Doditaal trek, some small trek in Himachal, the Dayara Bugyal near Uttarkashi. However finally decided on going to Tunganath.

The next thing was getting a decent contact in Chopta area of Garhwal who could tell us about the options we had as well as the weather conditions. We did lot of research and got a contact in Rudraprayag called Mr Rawat. Mr Rawat runs guest house in Duggalbitta which is around 7km before Chopta and about 20km from Ukimath on the Kedarnath-Gopeshwar-Badrinath route. We made all the necessary talks with Mr Rawat and decided to stay at his Duggalbitta guest house called “Maaya Deep”. Actually we had no other choice as well. Chopta is all closed in winters. We were not planning to carry any tents so had to resort to making arrangements at Duggalbitta.

Tragedy struck on the day before we were planning to leave to Delhi. Both Sandeep and I had to stay back due to some emergency in the office. It was quite disappointing, but then I consoled myself by thinking that the mountains probably didn't want us to travel yet. We hadn't canceled our trip, we merely postponed it by around three weeks. Finally we planned on going sometime in mid February. Harsh, one of our friends also decided to join us this time.

We all again called up Mr Rawat for reservations at his Duggalbitta guest house, but he informed us that it was snowing heavily in the higher reaches of Uttaranchal and it was not possible to reach Duggalbitta itself, forget Tunganath. His vehicle would be able to drop us some 3km before Duggalbitta. After talking amongst ourselves and then to Mr. Rawat, we all took a call and decided that we would in any case give this trip a shot. We would try going till a point where we could manage to in all that snow and cold.

Merely the thought of visiting the Himalayas again gave me a pleasant and an excitable feeling.
Finally we started on the evening of 19th February. We met Harsh on the Bangalore airport, we had to catch the evening flight to Delhi and as usual the flight was late. We didn't mind it though, because we spent the time watching a nail biting match between India/Australia. India finally won that match so I thought it was good omen for our trek too.

After reaching New Delhi, we still had more than an hour to catch the train for Haridwar. While having food at Cumsum, Nizamuddin railway station we refreshed our old memories of the Kalindi Khal trek. Finally at 11.30PM, we boarded the Summer Special train. I was feeling very tired so slept after some time. The train reached Haridwar at 4AM in the morning. We immediately got a bus to Rishikesh. We had to reach Rudraprayag as early as possible as we had to reach Duggalbitta before evening. Rudraprayag is about 4-5 hours by road from Rishikesh and Duggalbitta is further 3-4 hours from Rudraprayag. But we had to go through a lot of struggle to get a shared Taxi to Rudraprayag. Since this was the off season, there were very few passengers from Rishikesh to the higher towns in the Himalayas. Finally we got onto a news paper distribution vehicle and started from Rishikesh at around 7.30AM. This was after waiting for 2 hours at the taxi stand.

It was extremely cold in the morning. The roads were also in very poor condition and the BRO guys were reconstructing the road for the coming yatra season.
We reached Rudraprayag at around 11 in the morning. Mr Rawat's vehicle (a Mahindra Bolero) was ready for us. Sandeep and Harsh went to Mr. Rawat's office, thanked him and also discussed the program for the next couple of days.

The drive from Rudraprayag to Mukku bend [3km before Duggalbitta] was just excellent. Just after sometime of starting from Rudraprayag, we got the first glimpse of Mt. Choukhamba (23418 feet). The Mandakini river, which originates from somewhere near Kedarnath and meets the Alaknanda at Rudraprayag, was on our left throughout.

We had our lunch at Ukkimath. The town of Ukkimath is famous as the winter resting place for Kedarnathji. During the winters when the temple at Kedarnath is closed due to heavy snow, the God is worshiped at Ukimath. We decided to visit the temple on our way back.

At around 2PM, driver dropped us the Mukku Bend. After this, there was lot of snow on the road which precluded any further driving. We had to walk from here to our guest house in Duggalbitta.

It took us about 30 more minutes to cover the 3 km and by the time we reached the guest house it was around half past three in the evening.

The place was simply heaven and that is because of the winter snows. I do not have enough words to explain my feeling as I beheld the surroundings. The guest house was perched a little down the road, by a small rivulet. There weren't any people there except the three of us, the care taker of the guest house and a guide. It felt as if the whole village belonged to us.

At Duggalbitta (~8900 feet), there were couple of tea shops, shacks actually but they all remain closed in winters . One of the shack owners, Dinesh had join us from village of Tala, on the way to Mukku bend. We had some hot ginger tea at Dinesh's dhaba and spent some time talking to the care taker and Khadak Singhji, who was to be our guide.

The rest of the evening was spent in exploring the surroundings. The place was really awesome. The guest house was surrounded by snow and all around us we could hear the chirping of different birds. When we tried to follow them or tried to click some photos, they disappeared very quickly into the bushes. On one of the snow patches, we saw some pug marks of an animal. Khadak Singhji later told us that they were the marks of the small black bear.

As the evening gave way to the night, it started to get cold and so we decided go inside the guest house and take some rest. The next days was going to be very long day for us again. The plan for the next day was to start not later than7 in the morning, try to reach Chopta in about 3 hours and then try to attempt Tunganath from there. In the evening Harsh, Sandeep and I talked about settling down in the Himalayas, and then around 8 we had food and slept.

In the night, the temperature inside the room was around -3 degree C. But unlike any of our treks, this time we had got a proper bed and quilt we beat the cold.

Tunganath Chopta Part II

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Tunganath Chopta Part II

2008-03-30T14:30:00.002+05:30

We woke up at around 6AM, had breakfast and by 7 we were ready to start. We started with the hope and resolve that we would make it to Tunganath at any cost.

The initial climb was easy and but walking on the slippery snow was taking most of our time. The whole trail till Chopta was through dense forest and so the snow had become hard at some places. The strange part was that you would find very hard snow patches at some place, and after that absolutely clear patch without any snow, on the same trail. As the sun rose in the sky, it became more difficult to walk on the snow because the snow had started melting. At some places the snow was more than couple of feet deep and our legs would get buried deep inside the snow.

As we climbed we got panoramic views of Garhwal Himalayas. The entire range from Gangotri to Kedarnath was visible on our left.

We also saw some dhabhas on the way; they were all totally covered in snow and obviously closed. As we climbed higher towards Chopta, we encountered more snow and it was getting a little difficult to negotiate this snow now.

At around 8.30 AM,we reached Chopta (~9900 feet). We reached much ahead of our schedule. We had thought it would take us more than couple of hours, but since we had taken a short cut from within the forest, we saved on some time.

Chopta is a small settlement which is populated only in the Yatra season. This place lies on the Badrinath-Gopeshwar-Kedarnath route and during the Yatra and Trekking season, a host of dhabas, tea shops, restaurants, lodging houses sprout up. But at this time of the year, all the hotels and dhababas were closed and totally covered with snow. The road were also covered with snow.

We took a small break here and had some water. The problem was the water which we filled in our bottles smelled of kerosene and in Chopta all the water sources were either not working or they were frozen. We were damn dehydrated but didn't have any drinkable water with us. I couldn't stop myself from remembering the situation we faced while climbing the Kalindi Khal pass. At that time also we were running short of water. I decided that next time , any further trek we attempt, I would plan for sufficient water any time.

As we started from Chopta, the snow became 2-3 feet deep. There is a clear trail from Chopta to Tunganath, however this time we couldn't spot any trail as it was all buried under snow. The climb was not very tough, just that the snow made it appear so. We were not wearing any gaiters and a lot of snow had entered my boots. This was quite irritating. My socks had become all wet and we had just started the climb up. The forest part of the trail was over and now the sun was very hard. We could see that the powder snow was sparkling very brightly because of the sun. At this point we had to put on our sun glasses as the only thing visible in the surrounding was just snow.

I should say though that the weather was excellent. The skies were pretty cloudless and even though it was a little cold even at this time of the day, we didn't particularly mind it as there was no rain or snow. This also enabled us to get spectacular views of the Himalayas on our left. We were all doing peak guesses now. Harsh also pointed out to a “Rabbit Ear” formation and was adamant that it was the “Auden's Col” between Khatling and Rudugaira glaciers.

The snow was becoming very deep now. It was waist high almost throughout the trail. I was trying to place my feet on the footmarks made by the person ahead of me, still it was taking a heavy toll on our stamina. Few times, we accidentally slipped or fell down in the snow and then, then getting up and putting up the next step was really a great deal. The distance from Chopta to Tunganath was not very long, it is around 4 km but with this kind of snow it almost seemed to be never ending.

As we gained some more height, the snow became more and more deep. At one point we took almost 30 minutes to cover the next 200 mts. We tried to make way in the deep snow using our ice-axe. (This was the only piece of gear we were carrying to negotiate the snow), but it was totally useless. More than anything, it was the snow which had entered my boots and my wet socks was causing a lot of irritation. At some point after about 4 hours of climbing, we saw a small snow covered hut and decided to take some rest and eat our packed lunch.

All of us were a little (rather quite) exhausted at this point. This place was called “BhujGali”, we were to know later. There was a rock shelter nearby called “Raavan Shila”. From this point we could see the temple of Tunganathji at a distance.

At this point we all stopped to decide on the next course. Our guide was a little reluctant himself to go ahead. Sandeep tried to go ahead himself, but he couldn't walk after taking more then four or five steps. The snow was continuously more than waist deep. Our guide mentioned that further up it could be chest deep.

All of us realized that we wouldn't be able to make it and decided to return from this point. The thought of giving up and returning back was very painful. But we had the constraint of time. We couldn't afford another few hours of plodding through the snow and reaching the temple by evening.

However, the climb back down was easy. We just had to put our feet in the foot marks we had made earlier. The same 200 mts which had taken us 30 minutes to climb, took us about 5-10mins to climb down.

We took about a little more than an hours time to reach back to Chopta. Just as we reached the road head, we found some forest rangers waiting for us. They were following us from the Chopta when had started our climb. The trail from Chopta is all through the protected Kedarnath Wildlife Sanctuary and requires permission from the forest department to walk through. We convinced the rangers that we were mere trekkers trying to reach Tunganath, and not poachers. We assured the forest officers that we would pay for the the permit while leaving the area the next day.

By the time we reached Chopta, we were extremely dehydrated and we did not have any water as well. We decided to take the road this time to see if we could pass a rivulet where we could fill our bottles. We found one such rivulet just after some time and the water felt like elixir as we quaffed what seemed like gallons of the heavenly drink.

By the time we reached our guesthouse in Duggalbitta it was around 3 PM, which means we still had a lot of time with us before evening. Somewhere in the mind, the thought of not trying or not attempting further till Tunganath temple was still plaguing our minds. All of us were feeling a little bad because of the same fact; did we give up easily was the question in everyones minds. But then I recollected one of the lines which has been very close to me and which says; “Trekking is not about reaching the destination; trekking is about enjoying each part of the journey which takes one to the destination.”. With this thought, I consoled myself. Just being in the Himalayas was itself very a great experience and we shouldn't be feeling bad just because we couldn't reach our destination.

As usual the rest of the evening was spent in talking to the dhaba wala Dinesh, the cook Lakhpathsing ji and the guide and care taker of the guest house Khadaksingh ji. We also strolled around the guest house and admired the natural beauty around the us. After a while as it started getting cold, we had our dinner and hit the sack. We had to do another small trek to Deoria Taal the next day.

The next morning, we started from Duggalbitta and walked till Mukku bend where our vehicle was suppose to take us to village of Sari. Sari is where the trek to Deoria Taal starts. We reached Mukku bend at sharp 10 am and had some tea at one of the dhabas there. Another thing that never fails to amaze me is; no matter where in India you are, cricket is the one thing that binds us more than anything. At the dhaba near Mukku Bend, people were listening to the Sri Lanka-Australia cricket match on a transistor. There is no electricity in this area but people still know the batting average of Mathew Hayden and talk of the terrifying speed of Bret Lee.

On the way to Sari, we paid the forest permit fee at Tala forest chowki.

The drive to Sari was other wise eventless and we reached Sari at around 11.30 AM.

We left our luggage in the vehicle and immediately started to for Deoria Tal. The trail was well marked and the climb is little steeper than the Chopta-Tunganath climb. However there was no snow on the trail. Deoria Taal is at an altitude of about 8200 feet. On the way we could see the Chandrashila peak which is a little above Tunganath. We could also see the point till where also and the point till where we had reached a day earlier.

It took us about an hour and half to reach Deoria Tal. This is an amazingly beautiful place at least in the winters again. There were no tourists here. The lake was surround in patches with snow and there were green meadows all around. There was just one tea shack open. We had chai and omelets here. We also spent some time in appreciating the beauty of the place.

The place is worth staying at night, although there aren't any guest houses here. The tea shop wala actually provides tents to stay. Since we were again constrained by time and had to reach Delhi the next day, we just spent some time at the beautiful lake and decided to head back. Surprisingly it again took us about an hour and half to descend down to Sari, about the same time we had taken to climb up.

We decided to visit the temple at Ukimath on our way back. We had also decided that we would spend the night at the GMVN guest house either at Cahandrapuri or Syal Saur. We made a prayer offering at the temple of Ukimath. The priests here are from Karnataka and we spent some time talking to them as there were no other devotees there.

On the way to Chandrapuri, we met a very passionate bird watcher/ornithologist, Mr Negi. He had a lot of books on bird watching band also had a collection of bird nests. We reached GMVN Chandra Puri at around 4 in the evening. The GMVN is on the banks of Mandakini river. We got hot water after a long time, and there is nothing more pleasant then getting a hot water bath after your trek. This GMVN has lovely lawns where you could just relax with a book while watching the Mandakini rush past you. We did exactly the same thing.

The next morning we took a shared taxi till Rudraprayag and then one for Rishikesh. At around 3 PM we reached Rishikesh, dumped our luggage at the “Muni Ki Reti” GMVN and went to the Lakshaman Jhula.area to spend some time at the banks of Ganga.

I have come to Rishikesh every year, from the last four years and this place doesn't look like it has changed. I get the same divine feeling every time I come here. In the evening , we went to the Ganga Ghat to attend the Ganga Aarti. It was amazing to see that at Ganga Ghat, a foreigner was getting married, with Hanuman Chalisa chants echoed in the back ground.

So this was it. It was a two day trip to the Himalayas which will keep us refreshed us for the next 6 months. The Himalayas have become the most important part of our lives.It is not about challenging ourselves or achieving something; it is about feeling good, peaceful and happy.

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References

2008-03-30T14:29:00.002+05:30

More photos can be found at : More Photos

Here are some references for people traveling to this region.

Mr Rawat : Proprietor Mayadeep Guest House, Duggalbitta
Phone number : +919412029486

Dinesh Bajwal : Runs a Dhaba at Duggalbitta, also a Guide for this area and can arrange for
stay at Chopta.
Phone number : 919761212951

Rajendra Sing Bhatt: For staying at Deoria Taal
Sari Village
Phone number : +91 9359910475, +919359927389

To Gangotri

2007-09-30T14:32:00.001+05:30

23 - 24 August 2007

Once you've lived with mountains
You will return
You will come back
To touch the tress and grass
And climb once more the windswept mountain pass.
- Ruskin Bond

After our last adventurous trek to Bara Bhangal in the October of 2006, we had decided that we would choose a moderate trek for our next adventure. However as I was recounting the Bara Bhangal experiences to one of our trekker friends JP, in the November of 2006, he suddenly asked me "Kalindi Chaloge? (Want to join us for Kalindi?)". Kalindi was in there in our list but I had never thought it would be added to my trekking resume so early. I was but three Himalayan treks old.

I had a discussion with Sandeep that evening and he was more than eager for Kalindi.

Kalindi Khal (“Khal” is a mountain pass in the local Garhwali language) is at an awesome altitude of 5947 meters (19600 feet). The trek connects the two Hindu holy shrines of Gangotri and Badrinath. The trek itself is in a very remote part of the Greater Himalayas in Garhwal. The legendary mountaineers Shipton and Tilman had discovered this route in 1934. Traversing the Kalindi Khal requires a fundamental understanding of mountains, glaciers and high altitude trekking in general.

So Kalindi Khal it was, for this year’s adventure, that’s what we decided.

Finally after all the preparation, we started for our dream trek on the 23rd of August 2007. The following people were to be the “Super Six” team as we called ourselves.

JP, Harsh, Sandeep and Shilpa from Bangalore, Moiz from Mumbai and Yogesh from Delhi.

From left to right.

JP : Our leader - fondly called JP Bhai Yahoo waley , is a very experienced trekker.
Harsh : Our resident glacier expert .
Moiz : He is the boulder man, a mountain goat. He gets his energy from the surrounding boulders.
Sandeep : My husband - the motivator but always paranoid about AMS.
Yogesh : Our CFO and manager. Very enthusiastic about trekking.
Shilpa : Thats me.

All the members met in Delhi at the Comesum Food Plaza at Nizamuddin Station. We started for Haridwar by train the same night and reached very early in the morning the next day. The plan was to reach Uttarkashi the same day before 12 PM, get our “Inner-Line Permits” from the District Magistrate’s office and start for Gangotri by 2 PM.

We hired a Vikram (a six seater auto rickshaw) from Haridwar for Rishikesh, the foothills of Himalayas. It was five in the morning, and we realized that the auto did not have it’s headlight on. It was quite funny; we traveled the entire one hour in pitch darkness while discussing the ghosts that haunt the Kalindi Khal trail. Finally at about 7 in the morning, we hired a jeep, Mahindra Marshal, from Natraj Chowk at Rishikesh and started for Uttarkashi. Even this process was not without incidences. Harsh angered the driver of the jeep by making some really funny comments about the condition of the vehicle. The angry driver almost stopped short of telling us “Go take a hike” (no pun). After some coaxing, the driver did agree and we were on our way to Uttarkashi.

One of the things that had kept bothering us always had been the weather. We used to see reports of heavy rains in Uttarakhand. There were reports of landslides after Uttarkashi on the way to Gangotri, cutting of Gangotri from rest of India. The weather itself was not looking good from Rishikesh. It had rained the whole night and dark clouds still abounded a plenty. Everyone was keeping his fingers crossed.

Because of the new Tehri Dam construction, there is now a new route from Rishikesh to Uttarkashi increasing the distance between the two towns by 40 km. On our way we stopped to admire the massive man made reservoir.

We reached Uttarkashi at 2 PM sharp where we were met by Budhi Gusain who was to be our guide for the trek. Budhi was a smart young lad of about 25. I had spoken to him on phone before and knew that he had a Basic, Advanced and a Rescue course from NIM. Harsh,JP and Moiz had already been on a trek with Budhi and we were assured that we were in able hands.

Shambhuji hugged JP and started talking to him in a manner as if he was his son-in-law. From this time, we started calling JP, "Uttarkashi kay jamai raja". This added to the one more moniker which JP had - "JP Bhai Yahoowaley" since he always carried the Yahoo flag with him.

We had to visit the district magistrate’s office for the permit. This process did not turnout to be complicated and we got our permits on the same day.

The next day was a protest strike in Uttarkashi because of construction of the Tehri Dam (this is quite a contentious issue in Uttarkhand with opinions divided as to whether the construction of the dam will bring prosperity to the local people). The six of us got on to another jeep for Gangotri. This route is really breath taking, but at quite a few places, the road had washed off due to the recent heavy rains in the region. Thankfully there were no road blocks due to landslides. We reached the scenic village of Harsil as it started getting dark. Harsh, who had been to Gangotri earlier, had repeatedly been telling us about the famous apple orchards of Dharali, another small village after Harsil. So we took a small halt at Dharali and tried the “famous” apples. By the time we reached Gangotri, it was already 8 PM. We checked into a small hotel and went to deep slumber as everybody was really tired after the bone rattling rides of the entire day.

(Next)

Acclimatizing in Gangotri

2007-09-30T14:15:00.002+05:30

25th August

Gangotri is at an altitude of about 3048 meters (10150 feet). The plan was to utilize this day for acclimatization. We had breakfast, roamed about in town, which was surprisingly empty in spite of the pilgrim season and then started for the acclimatization walk. We crossed the Bhagirathi at Surajkund, and started on the trail towards Kedar Taal. The intention was to climb up the route for about 2 to 3 hours and then turn back.

We started around 11AM along the trail, did quite some climbing for 3 hours and then decided to descend down to Gangotri. By the time we came to Gangotri, it was around 3 PM. Our guides and porters had also reached Gangotri by then.

After lunch it was time to get some rest. We attended the evening “Aarti” at the Gangotri temple and prayed to Mother Ganga for a successful trip ahead.

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On the easy trail to Bhojbasa

2007-09-30T14:12:00.000+05:30

26th August

The actual trek started on this day. We had intended to start early and by the time we hit the trail, it was 7:30 AM. The destination was Bhojbasa which literally means “abode of Bhoj (birch) trees”, about 14 kilometers. The trail starts from near the temple and is quite well marked as it is used by lot of pilgrims who visit Gaumukh. It moves all the way up till Gaumukh on the true right of the Bhagirathi valley. We stopped at the check post after about 2 kilometers, where we had to pay some the forest fees. We got to see the Himalayan Goat - Bharal feeding on a ridge

We took our first break and had our breakfast at one of the dhabas on the trail. There are a few streams to be crossed on the trail and we were lucky since all the log bridges were quite intact in spite of the heavy rains.

We took our next break at Chirbasa (3500 meters, 11600 feet) literally “abode of chir or pine trees” and had some tea. As we proceeded towards Bhojbasa, the majestic triumvirate of the Bhagirathi peaks (6856 meters, 22624 feet) appeared on the horizon.

We were now in true Himalayan country surrounded by majestic peaks on all sides. From Chirbasa to Bhojbasa there was overhanging moraine and sometimes there was a danger of loose rocks falling on the trail. Finally we reached Bhojbasa (3775 meters, 12500 feet) around 1.30 PM covering the distance of 14km in about 6 hours.

The camps were pitched in the valley by the river. There was the Lal Baba Ashram and GMVN TRH on one side, while near the river, there was a meteorological center which apparently studies the Gangotri Glacier. JP knew a local who used to work at this center and with whom he had trekked earlier. He was quite keen on meeting this guy again but apparently the guy was off duty for some days. While having tea, we discussed a few other hard treks with our porters. Some of them had been on the “Auden’s Col”, “Dhumdhar Kandi” etc and it was quite a thrill as we listened to their stories.

During the evening we went for a stroll around the camp and suddenly on one of the mountains, Sandeep saw a formation in snow which closely resembled the holy “OM” character. Everyone was quite surprised and being skeptical, didn’t want to believe it at first. But then it did look like “OM”. Budhi later told us that the mountain itself is the holy Hanuman Tibba.

We had been told that the camp site would be quite windy as we were not closely surrounded by any mountains. This turned out to be true and the evening was quite cold, more so because of the heavy wind.

The first day trek was easy and all us knew the toughest days are yet to come. With these thoughts we decided to hit the sack.

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Strenuous climb to Nandanvan

2007-09-30T14:10:00.004+05:30

27th August

Sandeep and I got out of our tents early in the morning. We were expecting to get the excellent views of the Bhagirathi peaks during sunrise. However, the peaks refused to show themselves. They were hidden under a thick curtain of clouds and all we could do was wait.

All of us started for Nandanvan (4370 meters, 14420 feet) at about 7:30. I was a little excited at the thought of seeing Gaumukh. Gaumukh (literally “Cow’s mouth”), is the snout of the huge Gangotri Glacier and is about 2 kilometers from Bhojbasa. This is where the mighty Ganga actually emerges from the glacier as a small stream. The trail till upper part of Gaumukh is quite broad and well marked. Along the trail there are marks indicating where the glacier snout had been in a certain year. The glacier certainly has receded by a lot of distance and whether this is due to global warming or it is the nature of the glacier itself has been a very big matter of debate.

The ice walls at the snout looked quite imposing. We decided to descend till the actual snout and then had to go down on loose rocks and boulders. As we descended, we got a very good look at the glacier face. The face looked like an amphitheater made out of ice walls. There was tons of debris comprising ice and mud that was falling off in the stream frequently. Huge masses of ice were seen floating in the stream and nearby there were “sadhus” who were having a bath in that icy water. We spent some time there and then decided to continue as our campsite was still a long way ahead.

Now started the tough part of the trek. We knew that throughout this trek we had to negotiate glaciers, move on boulders, tackle scree and glacial moraines and this is where it all actually began. The trail (or I should say the route, there was no trail from here on) to Nandanvan climbs up the true right of the Gangotri Glacier and we had to negotiate this part first. We were actually crossing the Gangotri glacier laterally.

I had always imagined glaciers to look like white frozen rivers which flow gently down and this is what I had seen when negotiating the small glaciers during the Bara Bhangal trek. However, I understood that here in true Himalayan country; glaciers are anything but white and anything but gentle. Glaciers here were a total mess! They looked like nuclear test sites rather than gentle snow fields. Glaciers are extremely active as they move slowly creating crevasses and other rubble.

As we climbed, on the way met some porters who were coming down from Nandanvan. They informed us that they are coming back from Vasuki Taal as some of their team members had decided to return after seeing the terrain their.

Now that wasn’t very motivating was it? I think I got a little scared on hearing that account, but then let all those thoughts pass and decided to wait till I saw it myself

We desperately needed a break and some energy, but Budhi kept on pushing us and asked us to continue for some more time. As we reached the point where the Raktvarna (Rakt – Blood, Varna – Color, literally Color of Blood, so called because of the red stones which make up the glacier) glacier joins the Gangotri glacier, we took a short break, had Fruity and some dates. Raktavarna glacier itself looked like it was in a big mess. The glacier had severely cracked at many places. The route for climbing Thelu (6006 meters, 20000 feet), Saife (6161 meters, 20215 feet and Sudarshan Parbat (6507 meters, 21600 feet) was over this glacier and we wondered how would it be possible to negotiate this glacier. There was a stream coming from the Raktavarna glacier (called Raktavarna Dhara, we were to learn later), which had to be crossed.

After this point, started an extremely steep and arduous climb for Nandanvan. We had to put lot of effort for taking even a few steps. Our porters were walking with us and each time they saw me feeling down and tired, some one would motivate saying "Bas madam ji aa hee gaya". The altitude was now taking its toll. We could feel the air thinning and the effect on our lungs and to top it we were also running short of water.

Finally after the tough climb, we reached on the top of the ridge from where we could see our campsite and life suddenly started looking easy again. Much ahead of the camp, we found a big rock and decided to spend some time resting there. We reached the camp site at Nandanvan (4370 meters, 14500 feet) at around 2.30 PM after covering a distance of about 10 km.

The effect of altitude was seen on everyone. All of us had as slight headache and nausea.

Sandeep and I decided to take a walk till a nearby ridge for acclimatizing.

JP and Harsh too had gone for a walk for acclimatizing themselves. We asked Moiz to join us, but he wasn’t feeling like taking a walk and decided to rest near the camp itself.

As we approached the ridge on our walk, we could see the huge Gangotri Glacier down below. The glacier looked really scary as we heard loud sounds made by constant rock fall and glacier activity. Harsh, was the official glacier expert amongst us. He seemed to have a lot of scary information about glacier behavior. I had been ignorant all this while and later thought it would have been better that way. Now that you understand the glaciers more, you can’t help but feel scared as you wonder what might be going on inside the glaciers belly.

The campsite itself was surrounded by some huge mountains from one side. Beyond the Gangotri glacier lay the high altitude meadow of Tapovan. The beautiful and majestic peak of Mt Shivling (6543 meters, 21468 feet) rises from Tapovan. Looking towards Shivling, to its right were the peaks of Meru (6602 meters, 21661 feet) and Bhrigupanth (6772 meters, 22219 feet). To the left of Shivling and towards the Kirti Glacier were the peaks of Kedardom (6831 meters,22542 feet) and Kharchakund (6632 meters, 21885 feet).

Our campsite was at the base of the Bhagirathi peaks and Nandanvan serves as the Base Camp for climbers attempting any of these peaks.

The weather was still not very good and all these majestic peaks were hidden behind a thick cloud cover. We kept our fingers crossed. This campsite was renowned for its views of Himalayan peaks, especially Shivling and we just couldn’t wait to see it.

Finally in the evening, the cloud cover lifted and we got partial views of the mountains around us.

(Next)

The climb to Vasuki Taal

2007-09-30T14:05:00.001+05:30

28th August

Last night, the weather turned bad. It had started raining sometime after midnight. We were woken up by the sound of rain lashing against the tent. I lost all hope of seeing the clear views of Mt Shivling. The rain wasn’t showing any signs of stopping and just for a moment, I thought if we had to use our contingency day here.

But at around 8 AM, it had stopped raining. We got out of our tents and were ready to hit the trail again. Around 9AM, we started for Vasuki Taal (4890 meters,16200 feet).

As we started, I was a little anxious. Almost always when I had read about this stretch, it talked of the last climb which involved ascending using fixed ropes. Since, I had never climbed using ropes, I did not know what to expect and therefore the anxiety.

The start was slow. Walking at this altitude was making a big difference to our speed. Initially when we started, we had to traverse a very long ridge. The Raktvarna glacier was now on our left as we headed towards Upper Nandanvan, which serves as another camp for climbing Bhagirathi II. The slopes of Bhagirathi II were visible from a distance and we wondered how climbers braved these hazardous scree, rock and ice slopes.

On the way, we met a group of climbers who were returning from a successful summit attempt of Mt. Satopanth(7075 meters, 23347 feet ). Satopanth is one of the most popular mountains in this area and has been regularly climbed by different teams. Vasuki Taal serves as a base camp for Mt. Satopanth. As we congratulated them, they wished us luck and asked us to be careful on the treacherous route. At the place where the ridge ended, we had to descend down to the glacier floor. Raktvarna glacier had given way to Vasuki Glacier, another of the tributary glaciers of Gangotri Glacier. We took a small break at this point.

Moiz had a look at the route, came to me and said, “There’s good news and bad news. The good news is we are not far, but the bad news is look where do we have to go from here”.

I could now understand why some teams have returned back from this point. The descent to Vasuki Glacier and the next ascent to Vasuki Taal do look daunting.

The only person amongst us who was comfortable on these boulders and was more than happy to traverse them was our own Mountain Goat - Moiz. It didnt matter to him, if the boulders were big or small, loose or fixed - he just sailed on them.

The descent was indeed very risky. When we were actually negotiating the Vasuki glacier we could hear the sound of glacier cracking. I remember telling myself that I should get used to negotiating glaciers and the scary sounds that it keeps making.

The Vasuki glacier is very small when compared to the Gangotri glacier which we had to cross the day before. Crossing the glacier didn’t turn out to be as difficult as I had thought. The next part looked very tough though. We had to climb a ridge to reach the campsite at Vasuki Taal. There was no visible trail on the ridge. I had also read in all the travelogues that all the members of the group used fixed ropes here. Since it had been raining in the morning, the rocks had become very slippery which added that extra scariness to the climb.

Our guide and one of the porters fixed a rope. The rope was not long enough to reach the top. We had fallen short by at least 20 to 25 meters. Harsh and JP went first, then I and Sandeep followed by Moiz. While climbing, I did dare to look down and got the scare of my life. More than half of the way, we climbed using rope but after that our porters had to help us to reach to the top of the ridge as we did not have enough rope. The climb again was not as difficult as it had seemed.

After we reached the top, we could see our beautiful camp site in the shadow of the mighty Vasuki Parvat (6792 meters, 22413 feet). We also saw that there were few other tents pitched there. After going down till our camps we understood that there was a group from Slovenia on an expedition to climb Mt Satopanth. They had setup their base camp here. We reached our campsite at around 1.20 PM after walking for about 4 hours.

Joining the Slovenian team were a group of Indian climbers as well. One of them, Mr. Suresh Polekar, invited all of us to have tea with their team. Talking to Mr. Suresh and his members was quite an experience. They had a lot of experience in this area and they shared a few stories with us. They were quite motivating as well and told us that we should be able to finish our trek comfortably.

All of us still had a mild headache, and were beginning to worry a little about AMS.

One of our biggest worries was, one of our team members, Yogesh had still not arrived at the camp even after 3 hours. Budhi and two porters had been waiting for him at the point where the ropes had been fixed. Yogesh arrived at the campsite with Budhi after about 4 hours. His condition did not look very good and he was showing all the signs of AMS.

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Acclimatizing at Vasuki Taal

2007-09-30T14:00:00.001+05:30

29th August

Yogesh did not get any better during the night.Early morning around 3 AM, JP and Moiz went to the camps of the Slovenian team to call the expedition doctor. They kept on shouting for Mr.Jha ji and Mr. Suresh ji but did not get any response. Both of them had to return back. After coming back JP gave a reason as to why no one answered their calls. He said that probably on this campsite,nobody would come out for the fear of ghosts. After some time JP and Moiz gave another try and this time Suresh ji instantly came out of tent. Later on we came to that there was no one in the kitchen tent, where JP and Moiz had been shouting earlier. After this fact, we had quite a fun at JP's expense and the ghosts of Vasuki Taal still probably haunt our own dear JP Bhai Yahoowaley.

The doctor from the Slovenian expedition came to have a look at Yogesh and advised an immediate descent. We all felt bad, but that was the best thing for him. We saw him off as three porters went along with him. One of the porters would go all the way to Gangotri with Yogesh and two of them were going to come back from Nandanvan.

So today was our rest and acclimatization day. Everybody was feeling a little bit uneasy because of the altitude. So we thought we would take a good walk around our campsite today to help us acclimatize better. Possibly climb the ridge leading to Vasuki Parbat. Most of the time was spent talking to the other group who were to start for their Mt Satopanth expedition this afternoon.

Harsh was also building up signs of AMS. In the morning he had severe headache and once even vomitted blood. Everybody got really scared after this. Then he alone went for an acclimatization walk towards the Vasuki Parbat, hoping his body acclimatizes.

At this point, I would say that anyone who wishes to do the Kalindi Pass ever, should not take acclimatization lightly. Never overdo things or force yourselves. Then again, different people acclimatize differently and Harsh was one of the fitter members of our team.

We also took some time to explore the beautiful campsite. This was a beautiful campsite surrounded by mountains and the Taal itself was a high altitude lake. Vasuki Parvat, Chandra Parvat and Bhagirathi peaks were visible from this campsite.

As the cloud cover lifted, Vasuki Parbat was visible in its full glory. There was a glacier hanging precariously on one of the faces. Jha sahib, the liaison officer from IMF accompanying the climbers, told us that the glacier could collapse any day as more and more snow accumulates on the top. Vasuki Parbat has been unclimbed for a long time. The vertical face resisted all attempts of climbing.

The previous night was a full moon night and therefore the chances of bad weather for the next 2 -3 days were very high. Although we had plans to do quite a bit of exploration of the nearby ridges, we did not do much and preserved our energy. Budhi had told us that the next coming days are going to be more challenging.

We wished good luck to the Slovenian team and Mr. Suresh as they started for ABC. Mr. Suresh wrote all our names and contact numbers in a small diary he carried. I was surprised to see that some of the names in that diary had a big red mark against them and I couldn’t stop myself from asking Mr. Suresh about it. I wish I hadn’t. He told me that those are his climber and trekker friends, people like us, who he meets on climbs and treks. The red mark indicated, they were no more, they had perished in some or the other expedition. I looked around and saw a look of scare on all the faces. Our names were in the diary too.

The rest of the afternoon was spent talking to Mr. Jha, who had stayed behind at the base camp.

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Amidst falling rocks

2007-09-30T13:55:00.001+05:30

30th August

In spite of the acclimatization day, the mild headache and nausea was still persistent. The rest day was over and it was time to move on. Khada Patthar (5000 meters, 16600 feet) was to be our home for tonight. Budhi had warned us that the route from this point would be fairly tricky to negotiate and we would need help from all quarters possible. There was a small collection of stones at Vasuki Taal with prayer flags and an idol. This was the designated temple for trekkers and climbers. So we all went up there and prayed to the Mountains for good weather and to always be with us during the rest of the trek.

With Yogesh gone, the “Super Six” were reduced to “Fantastic Five” now. Before we started for Khada Patthar, we all huddled together, much like the Indian cricket team. This was to be our practice at all the following campsites. That was a real confidence booster.

The Chaturangi (literally “Four Colored”, so called because of the four types of colored stones that make up the glacier bed) Glacier was on the ridge adjoining the campsite. As we started on the route, initially Chaturangi glacier was on our left. We had to walk along a long ridge to cross Chaturangi. Walking on glacier was something we had become used to now. It almost looked like a common pattern, ascend on to some ridge, then descend down to some glacier and then climb up to our campsite. The descending part was always very risky and hard on the knees. The ascending part, although hard on your lungs, was still alright.

This long haul ended as the small Satopanth Glacier joined the Chaturangi Glacier. At this point we had to descend down and the descent itself was very risky with some of us descending on all fours. The Satopanth Glacier was flowing down from Mt. Satopanth which was on our right. Mt. Satopanth was one of the most beautiful mountains I had ever seen. It looked like a reclining man supporting his head with his arm. We were all amazed at the beauty of the mountain and took a break there just to appreciate the view. We could see the point where climbers set up an ABC.

The climb from Satopanth Glacier towards Khada Patthar was quite steep. As we climbed up the ridge, Budhi pointed our campsite on the glacier down below. Looking at the campsite from top of the ridge, all of us got quite apprehensive. The campsite was on the glacier ridge amidst rocky mountains. There were huge rocks on the mountains around us which looked like were just waiting to fall. After a small downward haul, we reached the campsite fairly early, at around 11.30AM.

One of these mountainous rocks near the campsite is called Khada Patthar (“Standing Rock”). We were still discussing about the risks on this campsite. There was no surface plain enough to pitch the tents. Rocks kept falling from the near mountain tops. This campsite was also very windy; even at afternoon also. However Budhi assured us that it was alright. The wind was horrible now and we just stayed inside our tents.

Later in the night, he told us of some trekkers getting killed on this campsite because of falling rock and avalanches a year ago.

The weather Gods had been with us till now. Generally every evening it would rain or hail for about an hour, never very hard. We were never bothered but were still apprehensive. One can never predict the weather in the mountains.

It was only sometime in the evening, we got out of our tents and decided to explore a bit. Some unknown snow clad peaks were surrounded this camp site.

(Next)

Traversing glaciers that crack

2007-09-30T13:50:00.001+05:30

31st August

The night was horribly cold and the wind kept howling outside the tent. Early morning, I heard Moiz, giving the cook recipe for “Poha” and was wondering if we were going to have Poha for breakfast. We were not disappointed. After breakfast, we started for our destination, Sweta Glacier at about 8:30 AM. We climbed up the adjoining ridge and could immediately see the Suralya glacier flowing below us which we had to cross. Mt. Satopanth and the twin peaks of Mt. Chandra Parvat (6739 meters, 22238 feet) were on our right and looked as if they too were ready to move with us.

We knew we would have to cross razor sharp ridges on this day and would have to probably cross them on all fours. As always, Budhi was leading the pack and I kept alongside him so that I could take his help to cross any sharp ridges today. However, we didn’t encounter any even after walking for some time. Budhi told us that these glaciers courses keep shifting and every year, the route keeps changing with no fixed trail. This was the first time I actually thanked the glaciers for their nature, as they had formed new routes for us. However, the shifting ice in the glaciers belly sometimes leads to huge crevasses. While negotiating the Suralya glacier, many a times we heard the sound of the glacier cracking. Harsh, our designated glacier expert wasn’t making things easy for us by giving us “gyan” on the cracking of glaciers.

At one place, we saw an amazingly beautiful emerald green lake and an equally beautiful ice cave nearby. The cave itself was very large, much like the railway tunnels that you normally get on the Mumbai-Pune route.

We spent some time appreciating the cave and the lake. None of us had the will to go down till the cave and explore it more. We were getting a little late also.

We finally reached the campsite of Sweta Glacier (5200 meters) around 2.30 PM. Although the surrounding was amazingly beautiful, the campsite itself was very scary. The camp was on the glacier bed very near a lake. We could actually see that the ice was very thin in this part. Behind the camps, there was one water stream flowing down from the mountains with a big bang sound. The twin peaks of Chandra Parvat looked imposing on the other side. A little further we could see a large hanging glacier, much like a water fall frozen mid way. There was nothing much around the campsite to explore, as it was all glaciers. In the afternoon, the weather was ok because of the sun but as the evening progressed it started getting cold. Our cook also asked us to have an early dinner so that we could call it a night earlier.

(Next)

Long ridge walks and flowing white glaciers

2007-09-30T13:45:00.002+05:30

1st September

Last night was the first time; I really had a severe headache. I thought, I was not able breathe in the tent at night. At this altitude simple things like getting in to the tent themselves leave you gasping. Thankfully, I was alright the next morning. As I walked out of the tent, I saw that the lake near the campsite was completely frozen. But I was so lazy; didn't have the will to go to the tent again for bringing my camera and click a photo. Our destination was the base of Kalindi Pass. I was excited because I was quite curious about the Avalanche Peak and wanted to see it with my own eyes.

We started around 8.30AM. I thought we would be walking on hard snow today as I saw flowing white glaciers. But I was so wrong. One should never think of avoiding traversing boulders on this trek simply because it is never possible to do so. We were again negotiating Sweta glacier and the thin air made things very difficult.

As we walked, we came to a point where the route splits at the head. There were two routes now, one going to the right and the other sharply turned leftwards. Harsh and Sandeep were discussing the route that turned right, with Budhi and where it would lead to. This told me that we had to go leftwards. The route that went right was essentially a short cut but has never been attempted, at least by trekkers. We could see that there were huge ice walls, crevasses lining
that route. Harsh was telling the group that some day, we would need to do that route as well.

As we reached the glaciers head, we got the first views of Avalanche Peak (6196 meters, 20238 feet) and Kalindi Peak (6070 meters, 20000 feet). The Kalindi Pass is between these two peaks. Budhi pointed out our campsite from this point. It looked very near, but it wasn't. This is always mystery in the mountains, distances can be so misleading. Walking at 5000+ meters was not an easy task and that too it the route wasn’t an easy walk.

I was a little worried about getting fatigued. On our last trek, Sandeep and I had learnt that in the mountains one should never overdo things and that’s exactly what we were trying to follow.

After sometime we could see our campsite and we reached it at around 2.10PM. Our camps were pitched on a small ridge which was separated from the Avalanche peak by wide glacier. The glacier bed was about 30-40m wide glacier bad and it curved a little towards the camp. All of us had read about this Avalanche peak and stories of many camps getting washed away by Avalanches.

It was really surprising to see that all the mountains around Avalanche peak were without snow and irrespective of very high avalanche rate; Avalanche peak is always covered with snow.

When we reached the camp, the sun was out we thought of spending some time outside.. But suddenly the weather changed and it started to snow a little. We huddled in one of the tent as we discussed the stories from the previous treks when suddenly all of us heard a big sound of falling snow. All of us rushed out of the tent immediately to see that there was a big avalanche coming towards us from the Avalanche Peak. It was the first time I was seeing an avalanche and I wanted to take a few pictures, but was really fixed at just watching the massive snow falling of the cliff.

True to its name, in the next few hours, we witnessed many avalanches emanating from the Avalanche peak. After sometime our guide joined us. He had a few boxes and utensils with us. On asking him, he very casually told us that he got them from a nearby campsite which was blown away by avalanches last year. I thought it wasn’t proper to get stuff like this, but refrained from saying anything.

Budhi had got his Koflachs (plastic mountaineering boots) and was trying them out at this campsite.

We had a very early supper and called it a night as we had to start very early, at 4 IS the next day.

(Next)

The D-Day

2007-09-30T13:42:00.000+05:30

2nd September

We were all woken up by a thunderous sound last night at about 2 AM. Actually nobody was sleeping. We just couldn’t sleep what with those avalanche sounds. Sandeep rushed out of the tent without putting any warm clothes. The sound had been so scary and so was the avalanche. The naughty Avalanche peak had been at it again. This was one of the biggest avalanches we had seen in the day and we had seen more than twenty five. The snow landed in the glacier and continued to flow till it stopped just a little distance from our camps. We were saved by the depth of the glacier. If the glacier had not been as deep, the following year some other groups would be picking at our boxes and utensils.

The weather had turned really sour too. It had been snowing the whole night so we decided to postpone our early start by a few hours to let the weather settle down.

Till about 5.30 AM there were no signs of weather clearing and we couldn’t wait any longer. Finally our guide asked us wrap up things and to get ready to leave. We didn't have anything much to do. We had to wear our warm cloths, gaiters, sunglasses, wrap up the sleeping bags, mats etc. But all this took the greater part of the hour and took a great deal of our energy. The porters had already packed up the tents; we had some very light breakfast, did our customary huddle, prayed for good weather and started for the pass at around 6:15 AM.

Today we were walking for the first time on white glacier and no boulders. That was some relief but the altitude was killing. We were negotiating the glacier between the barren Kalindi Peak and the deadly Avalanche peak. Just after some time, we all had to stop and all of us including our guide and few porters had to rope-up. The path was laced with deadly crevasses and we weren’t taking any chances. It did take some time initially for all of us to adjust to climbing with the ropes. After some time I think all of us adjusted to each other’s pace. Our guide and leader porter were finding the way between the crevasses using their ice axes.

While moving towards the pass, I remembered our earlier ascent of the Thamsar Pass ascent and how we had got down with fatigue. I had already prepared my mind not to repeat the same again and take things slowly instead of rushing up.

Loud avalanches were common and by now we had got used to these giants. We were moving slowly but cautiously on the glacier because of crevasses. After climbing a certain distance, our guide asked us to remove the ropes as we had passed the crevasse field.

As we un-roped and climbed on the rocks of the Kalindi Peak, Budhi pointed at the bodies of the climbers from Pune who had died while attempting Avalanche peak.

While we moved on rocks, some of our porters were still following the path on the glacier. After a while, we too joined them on the glacier. Just when we were about 100 meters below the, one of our porters, Govind, fell down in a hidden crevasse. We could see that he was in the crevasse till his shoulders and just then Budhi pulled him up using his ice axe. My heart had missed all it beats till then.

Finally after a long haul, at around 9 AM, we reached the pass. It was really a very emotional moment for me. We were standing at nearly 6000 meters (5947meters, 19600 feet to be exact). It took some time for me before the feeling could sink in.

As all of us congratulated each other on the pass, we couldn’t help but feel emotional. We had negotiated glaciers, trampled on boulders, camped on precarious ridges, battled the thin air and now here we were, on top of Kalindi Khal.

The only thing that upset me was, the weather was still bad and this prevented the grand views that one would expect. It was continuously snowing and even the Kalindi peak was not clearly visible. We didn't get any views from ~6000m. I had read about the views from Kalindi Pass.Kalindi Pass and seen the views from top, there is very little left in the world to be seen", one such article had said. But then it all depends on weather and at such height chances of weather being generous with you were very less. At the top, Sandeep told me not feel to bad about the weather and instead feel good that we could do it.

Everybody was happy. We happily clicked photos in different victorious poses.

Actually hats off to our porters, they are the real heroes. With very minimum or almost no gear, no proper gloves, no proper shoes, no warm clothes and carrying weight with happy faces, singing songs, they had crossed the pass. One of the senior porters offered Pooja” to the Gods.

We spent around 20 to 25 minutes on the top. The snowfall was getting heavier. We still had to go down a very long way. We again roped up for the descent. There was a complete whiteout by now and we knew that the entire snowfield till our next campsite of Raj Padav was heavily crevassed. One of the senior porters and Budhi were our leaders. This time the entire team including all the porters and we had roped up together. It was a very slow moving line and since the porters had the habit of walking fast, initially there was some chaos on the line. But then immediately, it was all sorted out. Budhi and one of the senior porters were checking the crevasses using their ice axes and then generally everyone followed their foot steps

The biggest mistake which we did while starting from the base camp this morning was, we didn't fill our water bottles. Actually there was no water source near the camp and when Harsh and I had gone to fill the bottles, there was no water left in the kitchen ten. All of us were extremely thirsty and getting dehydrated while descending down. I resorted to eating snow and literally ate lots of it before one of the porters asked me not to eat so much snow.

Finally we got some rocks on the way so we decided to take some rest before moving ahead. We ate some chocolates and had some fruit which helped to some extent compensate for the water. All through the descent we were walking on fresh powder snow but now we could see the hard ice field with crevasses. We descended from the slippery rocks and moraines and then the negotiating of ice field was really a difficult part. Again it was the experience of our senior porters and guide. They were opening the path for us.

On the way we found a pair of Koflachs and gloves scattered near a crevasse. I wondered who would throw away his shoes/gloves at this point. It was only later in Ghastoli that we learnt that about10 days ago, in one of the groups, a porter died on the descent to Raj Padav, after falling into a crevasse.

Everybody was now starting to feel tired. For me, I actually had got sick of walking in the shin deep and sometimes knee deep snow. Then ultimately I asked one the porters "Ye snow kab khatam hoga" (“When will this walking on snow end?”) and then with smiling face he replied "madam jaise hi ye snow khatam hoga boulder chalu ho jayenge" (“madam, just after the snow ends, you will have to start walking on boulders”). I didn’t say anything further.

Finally the snow field ended and the boulder zone started. Suddenly I saw a huge chunk of ice, as big as a mid size car fell from a mountain nearby. It made a sound which would have been scary but now we were used to the sounds of avalanches and falling rock. The only part which I didn’t like was, the rock had fallen on the way where we had to descend. The descent appeared very treacherous. I had heard that trekkers rappel using ropes to get down from the snow field to the boulder zone. I asked Budhi, but he said, he would cut steps in the ice and would make way for us. It took a complete one hour for all of us to descent to the boulder zone. We had to descend a further one hour before we could see our campsite. Finally we reached "Raj Padav (4900 meters, 16300 feet)" at around 3.30 PM. We had started at around 6.15 AM so it had indeed been a long day. After reaching the campsite, I really didn't want to move from the place where I was resting but it started raining again and had to forcibly go and arrange the mats inside the tent.

Once inside tent, I sat quietly for sometime and recollected all the moments of the day. I was thinking, was it really such big day? Deep inside my mind I still felt bad as we didn’t get to see any of the famed views from top of the pass. But then, I feel it was indeed a great day. We had been up at nearly 6000 meters and had crossed the pass without any serious incidences. As I talked to the porter who was leading our pack, he told me about the deadly crevassed zone that we had crossed. He was telling JP; "Bas sir ji aaya gaye thik thak varna to aaj thik thak aaney ka chance thoda kam lag raha tha.". (“Sir, we somehow managed to come till here alright. Otherwise the chances of us reaching this place safely were not looking good”).

After sometime, Sandeep and I went the other tent, to join rest of the group. Every day in the evening, we wouldn’t have much to talk to each other except discuss mountains, glaciers, crevasses etc. Today for a big change Harsh, Sandeep and Moiz started discussing Indian Politics, Indian economy etc. After a while the discussion started to border on boredom and at this point I asked them to stop but they didn’t. Even JP who looked to be contemplating on the days moments with his eyes closed all this while, asked them to stop. It was only when he blackmailed them by saying that he would start singing, if they didn’t stop those stupid discussions that they finally stopped.

If you ask any of us, what is the greatest thing you feared on this trek and expect an answer like, Glaciers, Crevasses, Avalanches, you would be thoroughly mistaken. The greatest thing we feared on this trek was JP’s singing. I think no Yeti or Snow Leopard dared venture near our campsite during the nights because of JP’s singing.

It was such a big relief when the guys stopped their discussion. We had our dinner and then decided that we would all start a little late tomorrow since everybody was very tired and wanted good sleep.

(Next)

Negotiating the Arwa Nala

2007-09-30T13:40:00.001+05:30

3rd September

Even though, we had decided on waking up a little late, we ended up waking at 5 AM in the morning. There was a big waterfall near the campsite and every time, the flow in the water increased due to glacial melt, it would make a big thunderous sound, very similar to the avalanches on the Avalanche Peak. This kept us awake in the night. JP and Moiz were also out of their tent and all of us spent some time talking. This was the day when we had to cross the Arwa Nala (“Nala” is a small river). This was to be another challenging task. The river has to be crossed early in the day, as during the afternoon, the flow in the river increases due to increase in the water level from glacial melt. Our guide, Budhi, in one of his earlier treks, had fallen in the river while helping one of the members cross it. Budhi had always been cryptic in his replies on our questions about how we were going to cross Arwa Nala.

To be honest, mentally I was quite reluctant about crossing the Arwa Nala as I knew that there was an alternative way of crossing the Nala. That was over a natural Snow Bridge a little further up the Arwa Glacier. The only other person who was with me on this was Harsh. Sandeep, Moiz and JP didn’t mind crossing the Nala. But today, neither of us knew the route that Budhi was planning to take.

We started a little late, at around 9.15 AM, negotiating – what else boulders again. After one point we reached a complete plain ground where 6 to 7 small water rivulets could be seen. We had to actually cross these water streams. One of our porters said this was the "Chota Arwa Nala". None of us were carrying our sandals with us today and this made things difficult as we had to cross the rivulets with bare feet. Sandals would have helped us while crossing the "Chota Arwa Nala".

I attempted first river stream and oh my God the water was horribly cold. It felt like putting your legs in cold fire. For the first stream, which was the biggest stream, I had to take help from one of the porters. Actually crossing the "Chota Arwa Taal" was trailer of things to come, about crossing "Arwa Nala".

Our guide himself had already decided that the he would be using Snow Bridge. The porters had decided that they would be actually crossing the river. All of us went with Budhi. Although JP, Moiz and Sandeep wanted to go with porters but since Snow bridge route didn't look too far, they came with us.

As we approached near the snow bridge, we found that the snout of the glacier was totally broken. There were huge cracks in the center of the snout. So we had to climb for another hour to find a suitable place from where we could cross the bridge safely.

After sometime I saw some of the porters also behind us. Actually while they were crossing the Nala, one of the porters had slipped into the water and that made rest of the porters to cross the Nala using the snow bridge.

Actually after crossing the pass, we had thought that the rest of the trek would be easier. But a trek like Kalindi will test your strength till last of day. The boulder hopping was not ending at all and I had started to tire of all the boulders.

We climbed around 200m on loose boulders and then we had to cross the glacier on the snow bridge. This was the scariest part. Harsh was after our guide Budhi and Sandeep and I were following him. When Harsh was crossing the glacier on the boulders, one of the porters told him to cross the glacier quickly as it might crack anytime. While crossing we could hear the sound of water flowing below the glacier. The glacier was really very thin and we wondered if it would give away anytime, but all of us crossed it safely.

We had a small lunch break on a rock bed after crossing the bridge. While having lunch, all of us discussed the plans for the next day. We had another campsite after todays but if we pushed a little hard, we could be in Badrinath, our destination by the next day. I wasn’t very keen on finishing the trek a day early, but decided to go with the crowd.

We thought we would decide about it after reaching our campsite for today "Arwa Taal"(4500 meters, 14900 feet). Finally we reached to campsite at around 2.45 PM.

This campsite was on flat ground and there was some greenery around. Budhi told us if we were planning to directly go to Badrinath then we need to inform the porters in advance. We took a poll and decided that tomorrow we would be directly going to Badrinath instead of stopping over at Ghastoli(3900 meters, 12870 feet). We decided that Ghastoli, we would re-look at our decision and if we were tired we would camp at Ghastoli itself.

Normally on a trek like this, one walks for about 4 to 6 hours max and the distance covered is 8 -15 kilometers. However, skipping a campsite would mean walking for 25-30 kilometers and possibly 10 to 12 hours.

The dinner we had today strangely felt more delicious then before. Probably this was going to be our last night in tents for this trek and I felt bad because I could see the trek nearing its end. We went to bed because again tomorrow we had to start early.

(Next)

Long, long haul to Badrinath

2007-09-30T13:35:00.001+05:30

4th September

We had to follow the course of the Arwa River today. We started to ascend a ridge at about 7 in the morning. We had a very long way to go today. Just as the ridge ended, we could see a sea of boulders. Harsh had already moved ahead with the porters and JP, Moiz, Sandeep and I were walking together with our guide. After descending from the ridge on to the boulder field and then to the river bed, we finally got to see some greenery. We had to cross a lot of streams possibly more than fifteen on this day. Most of them were simple jumps across but a few of them really required us to be cautious.

The massive Arwa mountains were around us. These are some of the trickiest peaks in the Himalayas for climbers.

Overall, the route was not as bad as every day and the final few kilometers to Ghastoli were on flat ground. Ghastoli is a very scenic place and I wish we had camped here for the night. There was an amazingly beautiful pond created by melting glaciers near Ghastoli. See the confluence of Araw Naala and Sarswati River at Ghastoli :

It was around 1 PM by the time we had reached Ghastoli. Ghastoli has an ITBP (Indo Tibetan Border Police) check post where our permits were going to be checked by the officials.

We found Harsh and our porters waiting for us at the check post. Usually this process does not take more than a few minutes and the ITBP folks are quite helpful. But in our case, one of us (Yogesh) and a porter had gone back from Vasuki Taal. We had the permits for both of them, and they themselves were not present. This created lot of fuss with the officials. One of the officials even asked Sandeep if Yogesh had run away to China. Finally they managed to let us go, after we gave a written note about Yogesh but the process had taken a better part of the hour. The ITBP folks were quite friendly otherwise and even offered us tea and suggestions on how to reach Badrinath. We had no option of camping at Ghastoli because we did not have any additional ration left with us. The only option was to go to Badrinath.

The road head from Ghastoli is just about 4 km. The terrain was well marked as ITBP people use this route regularly. We could not get a vehicle from the road head and this meant walking the additional 10 kms to Mana. Mana is the last village on the Indian side. We covered the final 10 kms in probably 2 hours as this was the easiest walk of the trek with greenery around. We could see Mana village from the distance and wow it was such big relief to finally see some civilization. On the way to Mana we crossed the mythological "Bhim Pul" which is actually two very big boulders on the Sarswati for crossing the River.

As we got first site of civilization, both Harsh and Moiz shouted, "Are dekho insaan insaan" (“Hey see, humans humans”). We were in civilization after around 12 days.

At around 5.30 PM we reached the village of Mana and we could see the villagers starring at us. I think all of us were in very miserable condition not looking like civilized beings at all.

All of us including porters had tea at "India’s last tea shop” in Mana. This is the place where our cell phones also started working and we called up our respective homes telling them we were safe. We also called up Yogesh and were relieved to find that he too had reached Delhi safe and sound.

As we got into a jeep for Badrinath, our wonderful trek ended. We were all happy that it ended with all us being safe.

With a little help from my friends

It was always sad moment for me at the end of a trek and sadder still when you have to part with your friends with whom you had the honor and joy of trekking. I think Kalindi for me wouldn’t have been possible if I did not have the company of such great friends.

What Next

When we were in the mountains, we all had enough discussions about our next adventure. There, all of us were of the opinion that we have had enough adventure on this tough trek and we would choose a simple trek for next time. As we started descending down and as we reached Badrinath, people have again brought out the tough Auden’s Col, Dhumdhar Kandi, etc. Some of us are even thinking that we should go climbing next.

So keep watching this space for our next adventure details.

I had always been intrigued by this line. I started to understand its meaning only after the trek of Kalindi Khal.

There is always a certain element of risk in being alive, but – The more alive you are the more the risk

- Ibsen.

(References)

References

2007-09-30T13:30:00.000+05:30

Following are the route and altitude chart for the Kalindi Khal trek. Theres also a table which gives the altitude, temperature and pressure readings. Note that we started in the last week of August. Hope that this information is useful for trekkers who wish to do Kalindi Khal sometime.

Checkout some more photographs at http://picasaweb.google.com/harsh.sharma/KalindiKhalTrek