The cancelled Himalayan expeditions of 2020 & 2021

I will have to go back to January of 2020 when my friend and I decided to go for a Himalayan trek. We planned to register for any of the IndiaHike treks, as I wanted to try a new trekking organization apart from the usual YHAI. After careful considerations of the trek duration and available leaves we booked Har-ki-dun Ruinsara Tal trek from Dehradun, Uttarakhand. The trek was supposed to begin during first week of May 2020. However, we all know, the pandemic showed its ugly face and many of the countries including India went on a lockdown and restrictions for many weeks, if not for months. Due to this, even our trek got cancelled. No doubt we were sad but somehow convinced ourselves that it was a good thing. The organizer provided us two options; either to get a refund deducting the processing fees or to collect a voucher, valid for 18 months, which could be used for any future treks. We opted for the latter option.

Fast forward one year. The whole world went through & still going through all the problems caused by the pandemic. Now, the virus was better understood and that was being controlled. Vaccines were in pipeline and there were signs of things getting under control. And then, we started discussing about the upcoming summer trek again in Feb 2021. I badly wanted to have a break and was looking forward for a wonderful trek. After checking the available treks, we booked Deoriatal Chandrashila trek starting from Rishikesh, Uttarakhand. Unfortunately, after few weeks of this, India was hit by the second wave of pandemic. The infection rate again climbed up and to control the situation, many state governments decided to declare curfews and few other restrictions. Undeterred, I still had my plans on. We were supposed to start on Apr 24th to Rishikesh and things were still uncertain w.r.t state-imposed curfews and other arrangements. But on 20th or so, it was informed by the organizers that they have decided to cancel the treks which were starting in next 2 weeks considering the high infection rates in state and city.

I was heartbroken. We all were, as it was our second trek that got cancelled in as many years after booking all the things including flight tickets. I was in the zone, to be in the mountains and having a peaceful time. But that didn’t happen. Again, we might end up saying that it’s all good for all considering the situation and the uncertainties surrounding it. But it was very disappointing.

Hoping we all come out of this pandemic strong and have our ‘normal’ back.