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 2018: Sandakphu trek

Wandering one gathers honey.

It’s that time of the year again when I travel all the way to Himalayas to have yet another trekking experience. I, along with my friends, decided to participate in trekking expedition to Sandakphu in West Bengal state organized by YHAI, a place where the Mount Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lohtse and many other mountains are visible. The idea was to explore a new side of India where we haven’t been before. On previous occasions we trekked to Khaliya Top in Uttarakhand and Brighu Lake in Himachal Pradesh. And I had done Sarpass trek a few years back which was again in Himachal Pradesh.
And by the way, on this occasion my wife, Varsha accompanied me for a trek for the very first time :)

Here is how we reached Darjeeling, our base camp:
- Flight to Kolkata, where we spent a day visiting places like Victoria Memorial and Howrah Bridge
- Overnight train journey from Kolkata to New Jalpaiguri (Darjeeling Mail)
- Taxi ride from New Jalpaiguri to Darjeeling; Shared taxis readily available at the station

Day1: Reporting at base camp, Darjeeling
It was a comfortable hotel/hostel accommodation at Darjeeling. Once we were done with reporting formalities and freshening up, we headed out to explore the city. The railway station junction provided us a beautiful view of Kanchenjunga range in the background. The toy train with the vintage steam engine was a great sight too with its unique engine sound, drivers honking loud and the exhaust steam.

Day2: Acclimatization
Ours was the second group who would be heading towards Sandakphu the next morning. And we were around 25 people from all parts of India. A morning exercise activity at a nearby ground followed by a moderate walk to a Japanese temple was in the agenda. The group sweated it out on that chilly morning during exercise activity and then started our walk post breakfast. The Japanese temple called Peace Pagoda was built under the guidance of Nichidatsu Fujii, a Buddhist monk from Japan. It’s a serene place where we all spent some time chanting “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” and, of course, clicking photos. Once back to the hostel, we were asked to deposit any extra luggage so that we can carry lighter backpack during the course of the trek. And we spent again roaming around the city for the rest of the day.

Day3: Trek to Tumbling (9,500 ft.)
Big day and we were up early to start our journey towards Dhotrey, about an hour’s journey in taxi, the starting point of our trek. Here we met our 2 guides, Gopal & Biren and we were all set for the trek after a small pep talk by the representative. We walked for ~8 km in that Singalila National Park.

It was cold, it was foggy and it was good. We had a lavish lunch at Tonglu and the lunch point was a nice little cozy place next to a small pond.

We walked further along the concrete road to reach our next camp, Tumbling. A beautiful location where we spent good amount of time taking photos. This was again a nice cozy home-stay (Siddhartha lodge) where we boys were given the top floor dormitory which was a suitable place to play some games post dinner. We enjoyed playing Mafia, a clever game of identifying assigned mafias in the group. The night was colder and we knew we were in the single digit temperatures.

Day4: Trek to Kalipokhri (10,256 ft.)
The next morning, we packed our lunch boxes and began our trek. The 13 km walk was again along the free road with very less visibility due to thick fog. We were entering Nepal soil during the course and that gave us a sense of achievement as it proved to be our first international trek ;-) The camp was again a small hotel accommodation. The temperature dipped further at night time. However, the fun only increased as we played card games and we all sang as a group. And to add glamour to the occasion, a few local singers and guitarists joined the fun night.

Day5: Trek to Sandakphu (~12,000 ft.)
This was just 6 km walk but certainly the most strenuous off all the days. The last 4 km was a steep ascent and every step was a great effort. When we reached the camp, again a home-stay/hotel accommodation, we were exhausted. The hotel staff didn’t make it any easier as they got busy attending a local politician instead of us, the scheduled guests. Anyways, the soup and lunch revived us. Next was the interesting part where I got a crazy idea of making everyone dance to the Garba/Dandiya beats. Good that our group leader had carried a Bluetooth speaker which came in very handy. We were cramped dancing inside the hotel and it got crazier further as we all decided to dance outside in the open space. Let me tell you it was freezing and with thick fog. But who cares, we had our dancing shoes on, not literally though. We had some wonderful dancers as well; pun intended :-p

Day6: Trek to Gurdum (9500 ft.)
The next morning was full of dramatic events. We were praying for a clear sky to witness sunrise with the Everest range and Kanchenjunga range in sight at 5:30 am, but unfortunately that wasn’t the case. We all returned to the camp disappointed and started getting ready and with breakfast. While doing so, the skies cleared suddenly and there was sunshine and that’s when I came quickly back to the same spot to check if any mountains are visible. And guess what, the Kanchenjunga i.e. the 3rd highest mountain in the world was clearly visible over the layer of clouds. That! That sight was worth all the efforts. However, the Everest wasn’t keen to show up and grace us.
The 14 km descent was enjoyable as it was through the forest and steams and the weather was very pleasant. The camp was a beautiful hotel stay having a very few houses around and no drive-able road to it. People have to walk for a good distance to reach here. The owner had maintained a beautiful garden with some colorful flowers and strawberry tree stretch. The day ended with tasty dinner and many rounds of card games.

Day7: Trek to Rimbik (7500 ft.)
We walked in the dense forest again for few kms before reaching the lunch point, Sirikhola. The hotel was located next to a river and we didn’t require any special invitation to dip our legs in that cold running waters. In no time we all were at the river with all our cameras on.

Post lunch we headed towards our next camp and reached there by 5:30 pm. It was situated in a market area of the small town. In quick time, we took our rooms, got ready and were on streets for general shopping. 
A small ceremony was held before dinner to commemorate the completion of our trek. Completion certificates were handed over followed by some activities.

Day8: Ride back to Darjeeling
Early morning the taxis were ready to take us back to Darjeeling. On our way back, we were fortunate enough to get the view of the famous Sleeping Buddha, the Kanchenjunga range. This view was more majestic than the previous morning’s as this was the full stretch of mountains. What a wonderful sight it was!

After reaching base camp, we packed all our luggage and hired taxies to take us to New Jalpaiguri to board our return train to Kolkata. The wonderful trip ended at Kolkata where we all took our respective flights back. Our group parted ways with whole set of new ideas and plans for our next year’s trek :)

Khaliya Top, Himalayan Expedition 2016

It seemed a very long time since my previous Himalayan trek to Sarpaas so I decided to plan for my next one. As April-May is the time when Youth Hostels Association of India gets ready for expeditions, I checked out various treks offered and finalized on the Khaliya Top in Uttarakhand, India, mainly for two reasons: a. 7 days trek suits my available leaves ;-) b. This is in a state which I've not visited before.
I registered for this trek in the month of March with May 7th as the reporting date keeping in mind a Sunday for rest after my return. And that gave me enough time to plan and book the tickets to the base camp, Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. Flight from Bengaluru to Delhi, followed by an overnight train from Delhi to nearest railway station, Kathgodam. And finally a 12 hour bus journey to Munsiyari. Well, this bus journey turned out to be a tedious and frustrating part of the whole trip. Matter of 275 kms and takes ~12 hours due to the mountain ghat sections. 

Day 1: After the overnight train journey, the complimentary tempo ride was ready just outside the station. In no time all of us heading towards Munsiyari gathered at the tempo as per the instructions and started the journey towards the base camp. Little did we know that we will be forced to listen to some local songs being played in the tempo which made the journey more torturous :) Finally reached the base camp with couple of pit stops in the middle for breakfast and lunch. I was surprised to see a makeshift hotel to be our base camp (7200 ft) instead of typical YHAI camp with tents. Nonetheless a good surprise ;-)

Day 2: This was a acclimatization day and a morning walk to nearby mountain was scheduled. Basic exercises and couple of yoga aasanas were performed. Nice serene place to start off frankly.

After the breakfast, we were taken to a nearby uphill to tune us for coming days. At the top, beautifully constructed Gayatri temple awaited us. We all were invited inside the temple as it started raining where the camp leader decided to provide the whole expedition orientation and also select the group leader and environment leader. I nominated myself for the group leader position and was accepted due to my previous YHAI trek experience to Sarpaas. The group of 32 introduced themselves and it was really nice to meet people from different regions of India who are into different domains of occupation. We had among us a professional guide, doctor, bank official, professional photographer, sound engineer, NGO member, YHAI regional representatives, professors, advocates and many others including a 12 years old boy with his family.
The evening was well spent playing card games on the terrace in the cold weather.

Day 3: This was the day when we started to higher camps. We set out with our packed lunch boxes towards higher altitudes. After few hours of steep walk in the wood, we reached a pleasant place and decided to have our lunch enjoying the scene.

We had a tough 12 kms trek before we reached our first higher camp, Martholi Thatch at a height of 8500 ft, welcomed by camp leader, Manoj Kumar Sahu. 

 Everyone enjoyed the remaining of the day with a game of Frisbee until rain God entered the scene. It rained heavily in the late evening and to add to the excitement, water started entering our tents. Initially it was little scary but later we decided to just ignore the rain, the water, the tent and start the game of playing cards :) 10 of us in our tent played for more than an hour when eventually rain stopped. We stepped out to make a note of the damage. It was very cold and completely dark with no signs of electricity anywhere close to us. We called it a day to have the much needed sleep. Woke up early at 5am to enjoy the sunrise and the beautiful mountains.

Day 4: Again, we packed our lunch boxes and headed towards our next camp. We walked a good stretch in the mountains with quite a few water streams on the way. We had to increase our pace thanks to the drizzle. We reached the next camp, Roodkhan (9000 ft) greeted by camp leader, Rajiv Narvekar. The day followed again with a game of Frisbee, singing and a game of Mafia. Forgot to mention that we had a Radio(Doordarshan?) artist amongst us. A singer and a dancer who entertained us with nice classical songs. Others too accompanied with Hindi/Marathi songs.
It rained again for sometime and fortunately no leaks in tents this time. Hailstones actually which made the atmosphere more exciting.

Day 5: The next days trek was again quite steep with beautiful valleys with mist and clouds. Few of the members spotted rabbits and rare birds before reaching the next camp, Tanti (~12000 ft). On our way we had reached the maximum height of the trek of ~13000 ft. This camp was surrounded by rocky mountains and a small pond next to it. It was quite chilly and intense so we remained inside the tents playing cards and mafia until our camp leader reminded us of time and asked us to sleep.

Day 6: This was the day when we started towards the Khaliya Top. After few hours of ups and downs we reached a beautiful lush green plain with sheep around. The sky was not clear most of the time but provided us clear picture in between and that's when the whole group enjoyed photo shooting and other fun activities. One of the elite member came up with a crazy idea of taking off the shirts for the photo shoot. Most of the boys were hesitant initially but immediately went with the wind and enjoyed the act ;-) Frankly, it came out real good and everybody had a good laugh.

We continued further down for another 8 kms towards the base camp. The stone pathway created more problem as it was harder on our knees. Nonetheless a wonderful trek coming to an end. At the base camp the Field leader Vivek Kholey greeted us inside. 

I had this wonderful opportunity to visit a nice place and in the process met some fine people who were simply a great company. These new friends made the trek more enjoyable and something special to remember for many years to come.

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.