Himalayas 2019: Sar Pass trek

Like every year, I along with my friends planned for yet another Himalayan expedition. And after considering quite a few options, we decided to book for Sar Pass trek conducted by YHAI which is a 11 days expedition. This would be my second Sar Pass trek, as I had done it in 2009. The fact that out of 7 higher camps 4 are new ones compared to the last trek, I was ok to repeat it.

Sar Pass - 2009	Sar Pass - 2019
Guna Paani (8000ft)	Grahan (7700ft)
Fual Paani (9500ft)	Padri (9300ft)
Zirmi (11000ft)	Mingthatch (11200ft)
Tila Lotni (12500ft)	Nagaru (12500ft)
Sar Pass (13800ft)	Sar Pass (13800ft)
Biskeri (11000ft)	Beskeri (11000ft)
Bhandak Thatch (8000ft)	Bhandak Thatch (8000ft)

Day 1: Report to base camp.

We took HP tourism bus from Delhi to Manali, got down at Bhuntar and took another local bus to reach our base camp, Kasol. Since there weren't any activities planned for this day, we spent our day roaming around Kasol market, Manikaran and nearby park. I was happy to see this new park constructed at a place which previously was just a parking lot kept in dismal state.

Day 2: Acclimatization, Orientation and Training.

This day started with a morning exercise at a nearby location, followed by a small trek post breakfast. Also included a briefing about the program, details about the higher camps and general do's & don'ts.

Day 3: Acclimatization, Medical and Kit Inspection.

This day too started with a morning exercise but rigorous one. The trainer actually tried to kill us all before the trek started by asking us to perform some serious jumps, stretches and what not. I was smart enough not to follow each and every instructions from him and thereby stay alive for coming days to see ;-). Others were too, in case you are wondering!

This was followed up again by a small trek post breakfast. And on similar lines, this too was a tiresome trek; a steep one, which kind of gave us an indication of what might unfold in coming days.

There was a presentation later that day which explained about the High Altitude sickness, its symptoms etc. And finally there was a virtual campfire where our batch members came up with entertaining dance, singing and yoga performances.

Day 4: Trek to Grahan camp.

The group got ready early morning, had breakfast, packed lunch boxes and were ready to leave the base camp at 8 am. The batch is sent off with a customary guard of honor by other batch members.

This stretch of walk took us along the Parvati river and was a simple one comparatively. The Grahan village camp was a nice scenic place where everyone had a nice time taking pictures. And later, everyone enjoyed the card games in the tent.

Day 5: Trek to Padri camp.

Trek towards Padri camp took us through some streams and uphill areas. The lunch point was a beautiful place with some big tree trunks fallen down. This gave us all a place to have some wonderful snaps.

The camp was situated in the shadows of a mountain with a beautiful view of snow-capped mountains at the front. This place was an ideal place for us to enjoy a game of Mafia too.

Day 6: Trek to Mingthatch camp.

This was undoubtedly the most difficult day we had in this whole trek. It was about 9 kms long, steep stretch. And what worse, we had the continuous rain to beat too. Imagine walking a steep AND slippery climb in the forest. Of course, many of us had to deal with few falls here and there. At some junctions, we were even found crawling in that mud. We reached the lunch point anyhow after this arduous walk with swollen, bruised and numb fingers. We had no clue the ordeal was not yet over. The final stretch towards the camp had a steep climb, almost like mountain climbing. Many of us didn't dare to look down the mountain while climbing.

The camp didn't have enough level area to accommodate all the tents along with kitchen, due to which the kitchen was little away and we all had to take this mini-trek every time we went to have tea, dinner or to pack our lunch boxes.

Day 7: Trek to Nagaru camp.

This was the day when the snow patches started to show up. Though it was again a high elevation trail, it seemed quite an easy one after our previous day's stretch. The weather was supportive too as we didn't have any showers on this day to deal with. The lunch point was a very tight spot with less space to walk around. We finally reached the Nagaru camp post lunch and we were dumbstruck with the sight it provided.

This camp is situated on the edge of a mountain with snow all around. Due to muddy area with snow melting, this place had become too difficult to walk around. Many of the guys slipped and tumbled. The camp leader, Ankit from Haryana was an entertaining chap and who knew what was required to survive in those kind of tougher higher camps. He passed on some invaluable tips and even demonstrated different walking techniques in snow which apparently came handy the next day.

The camp, surprisingly, had enough network coverage due to which we saw most of us making video calls to loved ones, to share this awesome view we were witnessing.

Everyone at the camp had a sleepless night due to snowfall and high winds at night. Everyone in the tent were up most night holding the tent and pole in those high windy conditions. The next morning we were supposed to start the walk towards Sar Pass at 3:30 am.

Day 8: Trek to Sar Pass & then to Biskeri.

I was up at 2:30 am, went out to take a leak only to realize I need to walk around on the fresh snow to a toilet tent which was partially uprooted. It was cold, it was dark and over the edge. So without much thinking, I can surely say it was the most daunting walk I had to take for a leak ;-)

Everyone kind of got ready by 3:30 am. Cornflakes & milk were served as breakfast and immediately we had to pack our lunch boxes. We hit the road, rather the snow trail, at ~4:30 am and for next 7-8 hours we walked snow.

We reached the Sar Pass summit at noon and everyone were so glad and felt so proud of this accomplishment that we had a group hug and took lots of pictures there.

Immediately after that, the descent started with the most attractive aspect of this Sar Pass expedition i.e. the snow slides. Yes, for next few minutes, we went through ~5 slides. The first slide was around 400 meters and the penultimate one being the longest probably around a km long.

The slides were great and little scary at the same time due to the bumps formed.

Many of them went through the feeling of anxiety & nervousness at the beginning but felt fearless & elated at the end of those 5 slides, in fact wanting to have a few more.

Again, Biskeri is a beautiful camp. I remember our group enjoying a game of Cricket the last time in 2009. Once at camp, we had a task taking care of our wet clothes due to the slides.

Day 9: Trek to Bhandak Thatch/Kasol.

As we were towards the end of the trekking expedition, many of us got tired and due to a sense of completion, we decided to take permission from the camp leader to head towards the Kasol base camp instead of the final camp Bhandak Thatch. Camp leader was quite accommodative and agreed to send the half the batch to base camp along with a guide out of 3 guides who accompanied all through.

This final leg took us more time than anticipated through the Barshani village, from where we boarded a bus to base camp.

On the way to base camp, we decided to book hotel rooms instead of staying one more night at the camp tents. That's the way we decided to treat ourselves post successful summit of Sar Pass.

We reported to the base camp the same evening to collect our completion certificates too.

I must tell you, this was the most satisfying trek by far I’ve had so far. The routes and camps were scenic which took us through some unbelievable arduous trails and mountains which took my breath away. And needless to say, this expedition gave an opportunity to make some new friends, brought in some situations to learn from and some wonderful memories to cherish forever.

Himalayas 2017: Bhrigu Lake trek

“The mountains are calling and I must go” - John Muir

It’s always a great and peaceful experience soaking in the grandeur of the Himalayas.

Day 1: Reporting at base camp, Ramsu
As mentioned in my previous post, I planned for yet another Himalayan trek. And this time being Chandrakhani trek in Himachal Pradesh which was finalized after considering the fact that it was a shorter duration trek and at a location we hadn’t been before, despite it being an easy one.
Well, that was the plan until I along with my trek friends reached the base camp at Ramsu village, after our two days of visiting nearby places. The organizer informed us that he had a meeting with all other participants, before we had reached the camp, and unanimously agreed to change the trek to Bhrigu Lake trek (~14000 ft) due to less snow found at Chandrakhani at that point of time. Apparently, this is considered a tougher trek and has lots of snow on its way and I was more than happy.
The schedule was to start early the next morning at around 6:30am and reach the starting point of the trek in taxis which was beyond the check-point towards Rohtang pass. We slept immediately after making sure to keep our trek requirements for drying. Unfortunately, all our bags and contents got wet while reaching base camp. All thanks to the irresponsible and knucklehead driver who didn’t inform us that the sheet which he covered our bags on the taxi roof wasn’t waterproof. Not a great thing to start the trek with in that cold weather. 

Day 2: Trek towards Raoli Kholi
Anyways, the next morning the clothes were dry enough to be packed and we were ready with our bags on and full with excitement. However, the trek guide wasn’t happy with the group’s timing as there was a slight delay.
Adding to his frustration, we hit a heavy traffic towards the check-post and that added 2 more hours to the delay. Yes! That long we were on the road waiting to cross the check-post. We however got down and roamed around taking snaps.

We finally started our trek after a two and a half hours’ delay from Gulaba post. We were welcomed immediately by a steep climb which quite tested one’s fitness and stamina. We crossed some green pastures and small creeks on our way up before we reached a height where we encountered snow patches. The sight of snow thrilled us all and brought in a sense of comfort. However, the comfort feeling was short lived as once we started crossing these snow patches and slopes, we started slipping and fumbling. That surely is a scary thing considering we are crossing some steep areas from which we can’t even see the bottom we might reach if we happen to slip and fall. We continued further for few more hours through snow and creeks. Crossing the water streams was exciting too with intermittent drizzle. We had a lunch break at a nice scenic spot with the snow-capped mountains in front of us covering the whole wide angle. 

After a grueling few hours, we finally reached the next higher camp, Raoli Kholi. This is a beautiful place surrounded by snow covered mountains in all directions.

We changed into our warm and comfortable cloths, got few instructions from the organizers/guides, had tea and we were ready to explore the area. The stay was in 4 occupancy tents and post dinner our group of 6 got into one and played cards for quite some time. Late night we even explored out in that cold chatting on various subjects. These small things are such a delight when you think back and are something to cherish about.

Day 3: Trek towards Bhrigu Lake
The next morning, I was woken up at 3:30am by the strong winds hitting the tent. I further tried to sleep but to no avail. Finally went out of tent at 5:30am to witness the sun coloring the snowcapped mountains bright and beautiful. These are the very views which make you go to mountains again and again.
We were ready for our next ascend but only 14 out of 27 decided to move further considering the difficulty level and their health conditions. We started crossing snow slopes which obviously got trickier and tougher. We had to be more cautious with our footings on the snow. The group was made to walk at much faster pace and in quick few hours we reached the top i.e. the Bhrigu Lake.

This is a serene place with the partially frozen water body at the center. We reached at the right time of the day as we could get clear and complete view of the peak and the surrounding mountains. We walked bare feet to the middle of the lake to collect water, rather snow, in bottle. I bet, nobody could stand more than a minute bare feet on snow.

Within few minutes, we were surrounded by mist and clouds. We had lunch at the nearby spot and were ready to descend. This was much tougher as we were asked to slide down the snowy slopes, similar to the water rides we have in water parks. Trick to control the speed of slide using elbows and not using legs. Using legs at that speed would surely lead to bad falls. I felt this trek better than my previous Sarpass trek in this aspect. This gave around 5-6 slides compared to a long one in Sarpass. I enjoyed completely every aspect of it.

In no time we came back to the Raoli Kholi camp and started sharing our experience with those who couldn’t make it. Later, we played Mafia game which was super fun expectedly. Post dinner we got into tents and continued with our card games as usual.

Day 4: Return to Manali
Next morning, we all got ready and started back descending to the Gulaba post. The descend was quicker as everyone wanted to be head back to Manali to catch respective buses which were scheduled for departure at 5pm. At Gulaba, the group assembled, the guides went ahead with the formality of officially calling it a day and allowed us to board the taxis towards Manali. We reached couple of hours early and got enough time to visit a restaurant for food and also to get fresh before boarding the bus to Delhi.

The expedition was simply outstanding and thanks to my friends: Abhi, Minal, Esha, Mahesh, Siddhu, Abhishek and many others in the group of 27 who made it more enjoyable. The friendship grew stronger, I made new friends during the course and that’s what these treks and trips are all about; seeing new places, meeting nice people and experiencing great things.

Himalayas 2017: Kasol & nearby places

It was that time of the year when the Himalayan Expeditions are at full swing and I along with my friends, who had met during my trek to Khaliya Top last year, decided to trek one more Himalayan mountain. And we finalized on the Chandrakhani trek in Himachal Pradesh this time. My friends suggested to roam around nearby places before starting the trek so we planned our itinerary accordingly: Reach Kasol two days in advance and explore Kasol & nearby places and then head towards the base camp i.e. Ramsu village for the trek.

I will organize my trek experience details into two posts i.e. this one describing the Kasol and neighborhood and followed by other one describing the actual trek.

Delhi:

The trip started at Delhi where we all met. 5 friends from Mumbai, couple of them from Vadodara and myself from Bengaluru. We had few hours to spend and I took the group to Paranthe gali, Chandni Chowk for lunch and then followed by a stroll at Red Fort. Metro in Delhi is quite convenient and remember to take the Smart card for easy commutation.

We took a HP tourism bus from Delhi to Manali and got down at Bhuntar to reach Kasol. The bus dropped us at Bhuntar in the early hours and then we took another local bus to Kasol. Kasol is base camp for other treks like Sarpass, so there were many other trekkers in the bus along with school kids and locals. I made my group get down one stop earlier to the actual stop near to our hotel where we had booked our rooms. And I made them walk for extra 2.5 KMs with their bags and I am sure hitting me would have crossed their minds :-p. We stayed at Royal Palace and had a very comfortable and pleasant stay. The hotel is situated right in between Kasol and Manikaran, the two famous tourist places around.

Manikaran:

We headed towards Manikaran immediately after getting ready. There are some nice temples at this place where we spent enough time taking photos. We went near the gurudwara, hot springs spot as well and then passed through the local market. The bridge was also a nice spot to click some snaps.

Kasol:

We walked back and then proceeded toward the Kasol market, a full 5 KMs stretch. The market had similar products as what was seen in Manikaran but costlier. And we were surprised to see so many items being sold related to smoking, the hukkas and mixers. Hope you got what I mean ;-)

Food at local places was great. And then we headed back to the hotel calling it a day.

I got up early the next morning for a run in that pleasant weather. And one of my friend ventured out for early morning clicks in the wild. I ran towards Kasol and reached the other end where Youth Hostel Association of India has set up its Sarpass trek base camp. On the way back, I got down the river side and experienced the joy of standing bare feet in that ice cold water. It was a torture as well, as it's difficult to stand for even a minute in that cold water.

Malana:

Malana village and Tosh were couple of places to be explored and based on our hotel manager's suggestion, we headed towards Malana village in two taxis. Reached the spot in about two hours’ time and there was still a walk/trek of 90 minutes further to reach the village. It's a small village at a good height. Locals claim it to be one of the oldest democracies and if the legends are to be believed, these are the descendants of army men (Aryan?) who made this place their home. This place is also famous for high purity hash, Malana cream ;-), if you are interested to know.

There is a glacier nearby which we couldn't visit due to time constraints and tiredness. We returned to hotel and ended the day with some great fun playing cards.

Parashar Lake:

The next morning the plan was to visit a place called Parashar Lake, Mandi. This place is famous for its location and landscape. And boy! it was beautiful and peaceful, away from all the crowd and chaos. The temple next to the Parashar Lake is situated at the top of a mountain surrounded by bigger mountains and believe me, it was worth the time and effort.

We reached this place after a strenuous 4 hours’ journey from Kasol through Bhuntar and the road was bumpy if not terrible. Came back to Bhuntar from where we headed straight to the Ramsu village, our base camp hiring one more taxi through Manali.

P.S: Read my trek experience here.

Sar pass trek!

As previously mentioned in my post, I took part in the Sar Pass trek expedition conducted by Youth Hostels Association of India. This 11 days trek was truly an amazing experience. This gave an opportunity to enjoy the nature's beauty and to visit the 'heaven on earth' as many say and to be away from civilization for few days as well(not that I detest it). This trekking expedition normally happens in the month of May every year and I picked 16th May as the reporting day. Considering the fact that there isn't any activity on the day 1, I decided to skip the day 1 and directly report on day 2. So I reached the base camp, Kasol on 17th May taking a bus from Delhi towards Kullu/Manali, getting down at Bhuntar and taking one more bus to Kasol. Kasol(6500ft) is a small place having a pleasant climate throughout the year. I was surprised to see a lot of foreigners mainly Israelis making Kasol as their abode. Day 2(my day 1) at base camp: Since I was bit late to the base camp, I missed the acclimation walk planned for the day. Later that day, I met my batch mates i.e SP_19, a group of 52, during the orientation. In this orientation, the Field Director provides all the necessary information required to be known by the trekkers and some useful tips. Apart from this, orientation gives you some laughs because there will be some guys who do something mischievous which pisses off the Director and the whole group have to bear the lecture, the ones which we were accustomed to during school days :). We all dispersed to our tents after the orientation to follow the norms of introducing ourselves and taking the terms to the next level of fun. The whole group assembled together again during the tea break and during the dinner time which was followed by the camp fire. Camp fire was one different experience as it was with no real fire because burning of wood during camp fire is prohibited :-) Few guys came up with some nice skits and few others sung songs.

Day 3 at base camp: We were taken to a nearby place for the morning exercise which reminded me of Physical exercise class what we used to have in schools, the only difference being the absence of band. Seeing off the previous batch to higher camps is a ritual which we followed too. SP_18 batch was ready, everyone with their rucksack all geared up with so much enthusiasm and ready-to-conquer-the-world feeling. As per the schedule, we later went for the rock climbing and rappelling activities. It wasn't a tough job, however it introduced everyone with all the details involved, mainly the kind of knots required during these activities, the small tools and equipments and the techniques. Later that evening some of us bunked the camp fire session and roamed around having fun.

Day 4 : Now it was our turn to get ready with our rucksacks and walk out of the base camp towards higher camps. We all took a bus to Unch Dhaar, the place from where our trek begins. It was amazing to witness an already loaded bus to accommodate another 52 in it. We had to stack our sacks on top of the bus before starting. After few minutes, due to a road blockage, we had to get down that bus, walk past the blockage and take another bus. Here, few of us got an opportunity to travel sitting on top of the bus. The ride was great, sitting on top with absolute scenic beauty around you. We reached Unch Dhaar where everyone of us purchased sticks which comes handy during treks and it indeed made it easy. The actual trek started. We all walked past a steep valley and reached the next camp, Guna Paani(8000ft) after a 5kms walk. In between we all took rest at couple of tea stalls and lunch point. One good thing was that we found these tea stalls which mainly served tea, maggi noodles and omlet all the way to the top. But the rates increased exponentially with the height. The tea which costs Rs 5 at this first stall, costs Rs 25 at the highest camp!! We reached in the late afternoon so we all had ample time to roam around, spend time in groups and to have fun.

Day 5 : Early morning we all were ready after the break fast and after packing our lunch boxes to trek towards the next camp Fual Paani(9500ft). This day trek was the most difficult one as per me because of the steep climb for few Kms. It really tested us all. We walked past a water fall and a nice cozy lunch point below a huge rock before reaching the camp only to find that the tents are located again over a slope. Because of which walking around was strenuous and tents very uncomfortable. This camp was totally in the midst of pine trees and we were welcomed with drizzle and followed by a double rainbow!

Day 6 : We were all set again in the early morning with our lunch boxes towards next camp Zirmi(11000ft). This part of the trail was very scenic with part of it though the forest with pine trees and later with some wonderful spots between mountains. We got lot many points to have our photo sessions on the way. We reached Zirmi after around 6 hours covering around 6 kms. One more appreciable thing was the spot selection for these camps. All the camps were situated at the right spots where one could just sit and enjoy the nature at its best. Night time after dinner, we paid extra for the camp fire at the nearby tea stall and enjoyed for an hour singing and dancing in that very cold temperature around the actual fire in this case ;-)

Day 7 : The temperature was dipping as we progressed and this was the day when we hit the snow clad mountains. The scenes were mesmerizing and the Himalayan range seen with much closeness. We reached our next camp Tila Lotni(12500ft) with snow patches all around the tents. The rocks nearby gave us a nice platform to witness the spectacular view of mountains around. It was quite a scene to capture during sunset and sunrise. By this time, in this cold weather and high altitude, many guys started mumbling and fumbling as previously cautioned during orientation :)

Day 8 : This day was real adventurous and hectic. We walked through a very high steep mountain followed by in the snow for around 2-3 hours before crossing Sar Pass(13800ft). Walking in the snow was a great experience with some initial scary slips and feet getting in 2-3 ft in the snow during afternoon time. Once we crossed the highest pt of the trek, we all were ready for the next adventurous activity i.e. a slide for around 600 mts in the snow. I should tell you, it was the best part of the day. Its just that you have to sit on the snow without any mat or padding and let yourself slide down. You reach good speed in the process and the secret to go without any falls or vaults during the slide is to just rest yourself on your lower back n butt and not to get the legs down on the snow. But many did this mistake and gave all others to sit and witness this great comedy show :) After the slide we were all wet and more importantly our butts were numb! :) After couple more hours of walking, we reached next camp Biskeri(11000ft). To everyone's delight, we were served pakodas with tea. We had a game of cricket and that might be the game at the highest altitude by anyone so far.

Day 9 : We were now ready to hit the next camp Bhandak Tatch(8000ft). This camp is known as the Switzerland of India and rightly said too. There was a change in plan. Few of us, to be more precise, 10 of us decided to skip the stay at this camp and run through the last leg of trek on the same day itself. We had more than one reason for this plan(as a matter of fact, we cooked more reasons later to convince the camp leader) IPL T20 finals, party at the base camp, done with trekking are few of the reasons basically. As per the new plan the elite 10 of us started off towards the base camp after saying 'good bye' to the rest of the group. We walked for around 19 kms on this day. After 7 days away from civilization, it was with a relief and sadness we hit the road to reach base camp. Reached Kasol back in a taxi and decided to stay in a comfortable hotel rather than in those tents at the camp. The group had a party in a nice restaurant with IPL finals, and I missed it as I had temperature and had to take rest in the room :( But I was happy to know that my team won in the IPL match.

Day 10 : Unfortunately the stay at the hotel didn't turn out be very comfortable as there was no power supply and hence no hot water :( We actually saw our faces in the mirror after 7 days and frankly speaking nobody wanted to see their faces again :) After somehow forcing the hotel guys to provide hot water, we got ready and landed in base camp to finish off with final formalities and obtain the trek certificates. Finally bidding farewell to few of my friends, I, along with a friend of mine took a bus to Kullu to get on another bus to Delhi.

This has to be one of the best outdoor expeditions I had so far taking into account the place, the time and the friends I made during this trek. This trek gave me an opportunity to make some wonderful friends, to meet new people from different parts of India and to see new places. The trek would have been pale and less enjoyable without these new friends of mine.

You can check the trek snaps here.