Trek to Sar Pass organized by YHAI

Note: People who are planning for this trek can skip to the end of this post for pointers on preparation.

This is my first experience as a blogger writing about my first experience as a trekker. I had done a few smaller treks before but none like the one I am describing here. Before starting on my trekking experience let me give a briefing on the organizer - Youth Hostel Association of India(YHAI) is a private organization which organizes expeditions to different locations in India at nominal prices. The motto of the organization is to promote adventure and also let people from different parts of the country come together. Don’t let the term Youth confuse you. It only means that the expeditions are open to youthful minded people. Sar Pass is located in the Parvati Valley of Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh. It is at a height of about 13,800 ft. It is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited and would wish to visit again. YHAI has a pre-set route to Sar Pass with many intermediate camps which may be subject to change. For more details on the route, check the YHAI website.

Base Camp - Here We Come

Let me take a leap into my experience here. The plan was done by my friends Bharath and Harsh Joshi and I joined them later. We had the expedition date booked for 13th of May 2011. So we took a flight to Delhi from Bangalore on 12th. We reached Delhi at around 5 PM and as soon as we got off the flight we were stunned by a sweltering breeze of 45°C! The situation didn't recede even during night. Being adapted to Bangalore, where the temperature is moderate in all the seasons, we had a very tough time in Delhi although it was just a few hours that we had to spend there. The only way to survive Delhi, for us, seemed to be staying in a A/C zone. We had a train to Kalka at 9:45 PM and we decided to visit a few places in Delhi before that.All the arrangements of travelling were done by Harsh and he said (guessed) that the train to Kalka was scheduled from New Delhi Railway Station (NDRS). So we thought of going to NDRS, keep our luggage in the cloak room and then go wandering around, mainly to visit Chandni Chowk. So we took a taxi to NDRS, and went in search of small locks nearby since locking our bags (even when there is no way to do it) is mandatory for keeping luggage in cloak room. After all that we went to the cloak room and asked him to keep our luggage there. He asked for the ticket and we gave it. Only after the guard informed, we realized that the train to Kalka is actually scheduled from Old Delhi Railway Station (ODRS). Phew..! Luckily for us ODRS and Chandni Chowk were close by places. So we again took an auto to ODRS and finally managed to keep our luggage in the cloak room in ODRS. By this time, we were half-baked in the scorching temperature even though there was no sun and we were desperate for something cool to drink. So we had a lemon soda as soon as we came out of ODRS. It was so satisfying that we failed to even notice that it didn't taste that good! After all that we finally walked to Chandni Chowk. We had some shopping to be done for a few necessary things for the trek which we had missed to pack. But our main destination there was the Haldiram’s, which is renowned for its chats. We asked a few people and finally reached the place. It was so pleasing to sit inside because, it was an A/C restaurant and finally we were breathing cool air! We took a while to settle down and started deciding what to try. After all, we were at one of the most famous destination for chats! We had a tough time deciding, looking at all those yummy looking chats in the menu. So we ended up asking the person there for his recommendation. We took Raj Kachori for starters. It tasted very good. Then we took Pani Puri. It was different from what we get here in Bangalore. Then we thought of having Aloo Tikki, the reason being we only had tasted McAloo Tikki in McDonald’s till date and wanted to try the authentic Aloo Tikki. We only ordered one plate of Aloo Tikki to be shared among three of us since we were almost full. Thank god we took the right decision! Aloo Tikki was prepared completely in pure ghee and the taste was so persistent on our taste buds that we had great difficulty finishing it! We would never ever buy Aloo Tikki in Haldiram’s again. Even now when I pass by Haldiram’s, I get the same taste and smell lingering around! We then started shopping in Chandni Chowk road. Our train departure time was soon approaching and we had to wrap up our shopping as soon as possible. So we bought whatever we could buy there and returned back to ODRS. To much of our dissatisfaction we found that the train was delayed by 2 hours. The painful part was that the temperature continued to be high even at that time! We had to take up shelter in a A/C zone to spend the rest 2 hours and we found exactly what we were looking for and that too in ODRS – McDonald’s! We weren’t hungry to have anything at McD but still we got in and bought ourselves Pepsi so that we can occupy some place inside. I kept sipping Pepsi so slowly that all the ice cubes in it melted and diluted Pepsi to a very bad taste! (I know it sounds very cheap :P). Finally we got into our train at 11.45 PM. We had booked a sleeper coach for our travel to Kalka. We got into the coach and sat in our reserved place and talked for a while. Since we were already tired we slowly started occupying place on berth to get some sleep. Harsh had occupied the lower berth, myself the middle and Bharath was on the top. Our luggage was kept in the lower berth in front of us so that we can keep an eye on it. On the side lower berth to us was a guy who was in his early 20’s in posh clothing. I somehow felt that he had been observing us since we got in. I pretended as if I hadn’t noticed him and took up my place in the middle berth and closed my eyes although I didn’t sleep. The feeling that he was observing us kept getting stronger and a suspicion started bugging my head. After half an hour or so of pretending to be asleep, I partly opened my eyes to see what that guy was doing. To much of my surprise the guy seemed to be looking at me! My suspicion that he might be planning to flick our luggage only grew stronger after this. I again went back to my pretension and closed my eyes. This time, since I was very tired, I couldn’t hold it any longer and fell asleep for real. After a long sleep, my cautiousness all of a sudden woke me up in the middle of the night. I immediately checked for the guy and he was nowhere to be seen! That very moment I jumped down to see if our luggage was intact underneath the lower berth. The reason for me to be so cautious about the luggage was that we had kept all our valuables in the bags before sleeping, which the guy had seen. The other biggest reason was that I was carrying an expensive camera which I had bought just a few days ago. I started searching for my rucksack in the darkness, pulled it out and was about to check if my camera is inside. Suddenly somebody hit my neck and held my shoulder from behind! I turned back to see who it was and it was none other than our dear Harsh Joshi. He was even more cautious about our luggage than I was and he was carefully looking after it. I was relieved that he was taking care of our belongings and slept peacefully later. I am thankful to Harsh for cautiously looking after our luggage and really don’t mind that he actually hit me! We woke up in Kalka on 13th morning. We had to report to the base camp in Kasol on this day and we just had to do it by evening. According to the information that we had gathered with the aid of Google Maps, the duration of travel from Kalka to Kasol was roughly 4 to 5 hours. Going by this fact, we had a lot of time before we actually start to Kasol. So we freshened up in a short time and went around shopping for the things that we couldn’t buy even in Chandni Chowk. Harsh had informed us that the return flight from Delhi to Bangalore was booked for 25th May 2011 and our trekking was supposed to get over by 22nd. So we had 3 days time before we return and we planned to visit Shimla in that time. We went to Kalka railway station and booked a toy train from Shimla to Kalka and also a train from Kalka, back to Delhi accordingly. Finally we were all set for our return. It was nearly 12 in the noon and we thought of finding a commute to Kasol so that we can reach there by evening. To our surprise we came to know that there were no buses to Kasol from Kalka. All the buses go over Chandigarh which was 20 kms back from Kalka. Thanks to Harsh for getting us to Kalka. Added to this, we got to know that the travel actually takes nearly 11 to 12 hours and not 4 to 5 hours as reported by Google Maps! So we were in no position to go back to Chandigarh and our only option was to take a taxi. After some searching we found a taxi and we set out to Kasol.

This is what google maps said

A view from the cab

A birds eye view of villages on mountains

It was a beautiful ride from Kalka to Kasol and we traveled over hilly roads for most of the time. There were villages on almost every hill and not just on flat surfaces but even on slopes! We were wondering how those people commute in such a place and how did they even build those houses in the first place. As time passed and the sun set, those villages started appearing much more beautiful since the houses were lit. By this time we had started to move in a road close to the banks of Parvati river. There were several dams built across the river at different stages to generate power. At one of the dams, we saw the lights of the villages reflect in the backwaters. It was a brilliant scenic beauty. We had our dinner in some dhaba en route. Later, the driver started to drive the taxi a bit rash as it was turning late and we started getting chill in our bones, not because of the driving, because it was getting really cold outside! Still we enjoyed the ride although we had time ticking and we were getting late. After a long journey we reached Kasol. We could very vaguely see a snow-clad mountain at the far end. It was so vague that we were not even sure if it was a snow-clad mountain or just a cloud. We finally reached the base camp at exactly 11.59 PM! So used to being software engineers that we only complete things by EOD (end of day)! It was very cold outside. The moment we reached the base camp we were hoping that someone be there who could give us a place to stay and luckily we found the right person. He made us fill some quick and most necessary formalities and immediately gave us place in some tent and also a YHAI rucksack and two woolen rugs. We made ourselves comfortable in the tent and slept very soon.

Camp Days

Day 1 (Kasol):

Our first day at the camp started with a wakeup whistle at 5.30 AM. This was a bit too early for us since we had got very little sleep in the night. We were thinking if we should really wake up and go. After fighting a lot with our lethargy we finally woke up. Went to the wash basin to brush and "chillllllllll", the water was freezing cold! We had a tough time washing our face, forget about taking bath! We got ready quickly since we were already late and assembled in the line. There is a tradition being followed in the camp. Everyday a batch leaves for the trek and everyone in the camp lines up for them and cheer the group by clapping. After sending the group we were instructed to jog to a field 2 kms away from the camp for morning exercises. we jogged for a quarter km with lot of difficulty and walked the rest. Finally we reached the field. A physical education teacher started instructing us on a few warm up exercises. Although he claimed that those exercises were very basic, for somebody who never works out, even those basic exercises seem to be extreme. We were in such a situation. But I felt light and better after the workout albeit. I decided then and there to continue to workout after coming back to Bangalore. I haven't started yet though. We went back to the camp after workout and by then breakfast was ready. Breakfast, in all the camps followed this format – Roti, Veg Dry, Dal and some Liquid Sweet like kheer, custard etc,. Food was always served in a buffet. We stood in a line got our breakfast, had it and again got assembled. We were informed that the plan for the day was to do acclimatization trek. Which means something like getting used to higher altitudes and also to the ideal luggage weight that we will be carrying for the rest of the trek. So we were asked to carry our rucksack filled with two woolen rugs and a liter of water, the weight of which came out to be around 6 kg. The general instruction was not to take long breaks, not to put the weight down and also keep sipping water frequently since we lose water quickly at higher altitudes. Our guide for the trek was Jagadeesh Thakur, a local teen. He guided us to a mountain nearby and we started climbing. The mountain was thick of pine trees and the view was very appeasing. We walked amidst the pine trees and climbed around 500 to 600 ft. It wasn’t much of a difficult trek and was helpful in giving us the impression that the whole trek would be this easy. We were soon to be proved wrong.

A glimpse of SP-13 doing acclimatization trek

We were back in the base camp after the acclimatization trek and it was time for lunch. The lunch menu was pretty much the same as breakfast except that there was rice. We had some time before our next program at the camp. Let me take a moment here to describe the surroundings of our base camp. What we saw the last night, on our way to base camp, was indeed a snow-clad mountain. It was very far and appeared to us in between two other mountains. The mountains on either sides had pine tree forests. The camp itself was situated next to the beautiful Parvati river. All in all the whole view was magnificent.

View of snow clad mountain from base camp

Parvati river next to the base camp

All through this, we kept meeting a lot of people. People who were different in more than one ways - linguistically, culturally, behaviourally etc,. I was wondering if we could really blend in and make friends. All those differences were soon to melt down. Later we had a meeting. First we introduced ourselves to each other. I was surprised to know that there were a few people in our group who had done this trek several times already! I began to wonder how much beautiful Sar Pass could be. One of the camp guides explained us the trekking route, things to be carried, the precautions to be taken for our safety and stuff like that. He then chose a group leader, deputy group leader and an environment leader. The responsibility of the group leaders was to ensure that nobody is left behind because of any problems. Environment leader had to ensure that we the trekkers do not litter in our trail. We then went to the Kasol town. Kasol town is a small place crowded with Israeli people! There are restaurants that serve Israeli food and play Israeli music. there are cloth shops that cater to them. Even the sign boards are written in Hebrew! The whole place is commercialized for Israelis. I guess you might be wondering why not anywhere but Kasol? The reason is that there is a lot of weed in and around Kasol. Not just any weed but Ganja! Added to that there is less police vigilance. So there it is, the reason to stay in Kasol! We wanted to try some Israeli dish and hence walked into a nearby restaurant. We looked at the menu but couldn’t understand anything. So we asked the waiter over there to suggest a good vegetarian Israeli food. He suggested something named “Zeeba” (Thank god it’s not Zebra!). We were 3 of us in the restaurant yet we ordered only for a plate of it since we were not sure of the taste. The waiter gave a weird look at us and went in. We kept waiting (waiters!?) and all the waiters seemed to be giving more preference to the Israeli people. We waited for more than half an hour yet there was no sign of anything being served to us. We asked the waiter several times and even “escalated” it to the owner but with no outcome! So finally we had to leave the restaurant without having anything since we had to reach camp as it was dinner time. We went back to the camp and people had already started taking dinner. We too got our plate and had dinner. Every night there will be a camp fire event where the new batch presents cultural events. We chose a guy from our batch to be the anchor for the night. He gave some introductory speech and asked the camp master to “fire the camp”! (instead of saying light the camp fire). Everyone burst into laughter. The camp master smiled and lit the camp. When I say camp fire, don’t be misguided and assume any fire. The camp fire (in this camp) was a permanent setup of colorful electric lights. After a few cultural events certificates were distributed to the batch that had returned to camp after completing the trek. Some of those people shared their trekking experience and one of the guys really scared us! The reality was not as scary as that guy had explained. So, anybody planning for the trek, don’t be misled. Also keep in mind that the trek is not very easy either.

A view of the base camp during night

We slept in a different tent since the tent allocated to us last night was just temporary. We made a good number of friends in this tent and eventually sticked together in successive camps. It was a wonderful experience together.

 

Day 2 (Kasol):

The day started pretty much same as before with a wakeup whistle. But we had a good night sleep and hence had no issues waking up. W got ready soon and assembled to cheer another batch for trek. Then we again went to the field where we were supposed to do exercises. There was a different instructor today. He was much young and energetic than the previous instructor and he, in the name of “simple exercises”, made us do all sorts of knee bending exercises that were very difficult! We cursed this guy left and right and also thought that the instructor last day was far better. The days activity was to do rock climbing and rappelling. We went to the rock where both these activities were to be done after our breakfast. First activity was rock climbing and it seemed to be very time-consuming and tedious. Many of the people who tried were successful at it. I had never done rock climbing before but inspired by others' success, I decided to give it a try. Somewhere (less than) half the way of climbing, I felt like I can’t do it. So I had to come down. After all were done we went back to the camp, had our lunch and came back to the same place for rappelling. This time it was pretty quick since all we had to do was to climb down and not a single person missed a chance to do it!

Rappelling down the rock

After rappelling, we had ample time till evening. This was the last chance for us to do shopping for anything missed out since from next day we were to start trekking. We bought a torch and some miscellaneous things in a general store at Kasol. In the evening we were asked to pack our rucksack with all the necessary things and assemble with it. The instructors would do a rough check of the rucksack weight and see to it that it’s not very heavy. Also we gave our other luggage to be kept in cloak room. There was a camp fire in the evening as usual and slept soon after dinner since we were to start trekking from next day.

 

Day 3 (Trek to Grahan):

Finally came the day when, we were cheered away for the trek by new batches in camp. We didn't have to wake up very early or do any early morning exercise. We just got ready, had breakfast, got our lunch packed and started from the camp at around 9 in the morning. Everyday when we had to trek, we had to pack and carry our lunch, to be eaten in lunch points. Grahan is a small village around 9 kms from Kasol and at a height of 7700 ft. There is absolutely no road connectivity to the village and people are used to walk all the way (what we call as trekking!) or use horses to carry things to and fro. With all the confidence we had got from our acclimatization trek, we started our trek to Grahan. It didn't take very long for the path to break our (over) confidence! Soon people started to spread apart. But I must admit that the path was very admirable. We were walking through the valleys on the bank of River Parvati flowing in all her glory. Every pic that we took there appeared like a poster. We crossed the river at few places over wooden bridges. After some trekking, we started to get comfortable with all the walking and climbing and the trek had almost started to become less tiring and more enjoyable until, we reached the lunch point.

So began the trek

The super hero of our trek..

A view, on the way to Grahan

One of the bridges I was talking about

We reached lunch point at as early as 11.30 AM. It was a cool place shaded with trees. The person at the lunch point had cleared up some place on the ground and spread a plastic sheet for us to sit. After reaching the lunch point we started to feel that we were already hungry. We soon unpacked our lunch and had it. But the lunch we had carried seemed to be not at all enough. All the lunch points have eatables like Maggi and Omelet that we can buy. Anything tastes good when you are hungry and we indeed were very hungry. So we bought Maggi and I frankly don't remember how it tasted. It sure was filling though. In the meanwhile our group leader showed up. He said that we would have to wait in lunch point for all the people to come. So even though we had no plan of dozing off, we did it since we had to wait and secondly we had a heavy lunch and added to that the place was ideal for taking a so-called power nap. When we woke up, it was 1:15 PM! In the name of power nap, we had slept for nearly an hour! After waking up from our "power nap", we again started to trek. We felt like rusted steam engines this time. Very lethargic to take our steps. The reason being, all the heat/momentum we had got in the first session of trek was completely lost after the nap. Added to this, the path had no shade and we were walking under burning sun. We also had more climbing to do compared to first half. So by the time we could take our first glimpse of Grahan far away, we were all drained like the bunnies in Duracell ads!

The Duracell bunnies :P

Entering Grahan

Camp at Grahan

After a while we passed through Grahan village and reached the camp at Grahan at around 3:00 PM. We were so relieved that we did. The camp master welcomed us and informed us about the schedule for our stay at the camp. We took some rest and were all charged for the evening. The camp master had also informed that mobile phone network is available near a tree somewhere far off. Some of us went there and returned with no success. I was so desperate to "check-in" to Facebook since my last "check-in" was done only in Kasol. Later in the evening we had dinner and did camp fire. We Cracked a few jokes, sang few songs in the camp fire and slowly started to disperse to our tents. We needed a good night sleep since next was destination Padri.

Sunset at Grahan

Day 4 (Trek to Padri):

Padri is a place at a height of about 8900 ft. The total trekking distance is 10 kms from the previous camp - Grahan. We started the day's trek keeping in mind the mistakes we had done on our way to Grahan and hence were prepared mentally for this trek. We didn't have a lot of surprises this time other than trekking down once and trekking up again. We had comparatively more climbing to do amidst serene streams and thick pine woods and hence reached the lunch point at around 1:00 PM. As we were all hungry by the time we reached the lunch point, we had our lunch quickly and went around to check the place. The view from lunch point was very pleasant with snow-clad mountains around. We could see a placid waterfall formed out of a glacier at a distance. All in all the view was pretty pleasant. In the meanwhile, it started to drizzle. This is something we really didn't want while trekking. They say that the weather keeps getting random as the height increases. Taking the sign of rain we started pretty quickly from the lunch point. The person at the lunch point said that the camp was just 20 mins walk from there. Well, we took a whole hour to reach!

So started the trek to Padri

Making our way through the woods

Resting in lunch point

The moment we reached the camp, we immediately placed our luggage in tents and went out to explore the place. We were at a height where we had glaciers. We had a beautiful water fall very close to the camp and the water was flowing down from a small glacier cave! The water fled as a stream on the bank of which the camp was situated. The camp master here was a very young and slightly dignified guy. We asked him to lead us to another glacier which according to him, was around 2 kms from the camp. He agreed to take us there on a condition that we should return immediately when he notifies. The reason being random weather. After walking for a while, we reached this glacier where we had our first step on snow. We all started to play on it and some of us even started sliding. We took a lot of pics and were very enthusiastic in spending more time but the camp leader called us back. He said that it is going to rain heavily anytime soon and we better get back to the camp.

Our camp at Padri amidst snow clad mountains

Waterfall next to the camp

Our first step on the snow

We saw a lot of cattle bones scattered in the grass lands. When we asked the camp leader about it, he mentioned that it is a popular belief among the residents that the cattle would be reborn in the same place if done so. They have so much love and devotion for the cattle.

Cattle skull in the field

The view from the camp was fantastic with snow-clad mountains everywhere around us. I started to feel that every pic I have taken prior to this is not all that good compared to what I was seeing and capturing right now. The temperature dropped in a very short while and we were in a high spirit to do camp fire. This time we indeed had "fire" setup a bit away from camp. All of us stood around the fire, warmed ourselves and started exchanging a few jokes and stuff like that. It was not long when it started to rain and soon started to pour heavily. So we had no other way than to return to our tents. It even turned dark because of clouds. We had to have dinner before sun light goes off as there was no electricity. After the dinner, we continued our "camp fire" within our camp. We had a lot of funny conversations some of the dialogues of which, might stay in our minds for a longer time! In the night, the moon rose from behind the snow-clad mountains and if there were no clouds it would have been the most beautiful scene I would have ever witnessed. Even then the scene looked very nice. I tried taking a few pics and was close to successful. After a while, we returned back and went to sleep. Next morning we were to go to camp RātaPāni.

View of the moon in a cold night at Padri

Day 5 (Trek to RātaPāni):

The third day's trek was to RātaPāni, a place at a height of about 10700 ft and a distance of just 7 kms! Now that's enough to make anybody happy (and confident) when they have trekked distance of 10 kms isn't it!? But ask anybody who have trekked to Sar Pass, I am sure they will agree that RātaPāni is the most toughest stretch in the whole trekking experience. That is because we don't just climb in this stretch, we climb down and climb up thrice passing through two valleys! The effective height covered is only 1800 ft. But actual height covered would be close to 3200 ft (ohh yes, close to double the height!) Of course, this trek had its own good things. We had to cross two rivers on our way. They were very refreshing and energizing although we ended up losing all that energy soon. We were trekking mountains of higher inclination through thick pine forests. The view was very good but we were in no mood to enjoy the view much as we were all busy wiping the sweat!

Crossing rough rivers

By the time we reached the lunch point, it was around 3 and we all were already tired. So tired that we could not even stand up to order something to eat in the lunch point. Unfortunately we had something in the heavens that forced us to start soon towards the camp. It was nothing but the rains.

Lunch point en route RātaPāni

The second part of the trek was sober compared to the first. We had less distance to cover, but provided the condition we were in, we took two hours to cover even that. And not to forget, we had one deadly place to pass through, where we had to jump over a gap which, if missed, would take us straight down. When we crossed all that, we saw the camp leader calling out for us since rain was about to catch up. We climbed with haste in a hope that we are close to camp and reached him all to see that we had to go through some more distance through a grass field. Ahh! I don't remember how I could control myself and walk even that distance when I couldn't even feel my own legs! This is the only camp where we reached at around 5.30 in the evening.

Range of mountains as seen from RātaPāni

Evening at RātaPāni

From here we could see our next destination - Nagāru. We could see trekkers at Nagāru camp (feebly though). We shouted loudly in a group and we got a response back from the trekkers at Nagāru! We had dinner in the night with the usual menu and slept soon hoping that next day's trek be not this tough.

View of Nagāru from RātaPāni

Day 6 (Trek to Nagāru):

We were getting close to our destination - Sar Pass, and Nagāru was the last camp on our ascend towards it. Nagāru is a place at a height of about 12500 ft and at a distance of about 9 kms from RātaPāni. As I pointed out earlier, we can pretty much see the camp at Nagāru from RātaPāni and hence we kind of knew how much we had to climb, so no surprises this time. We started to climb at around 8.30 in the morning and it was plain ascend all through the way. Although we were accustomed to this kind of climbing, our last day's trekking still had its effect on us and we were slowed down eventually. On the contrary we saw a native old person, carrying a 14 kg cooking gas cylinder (for our next camp) on his back and climbing the hill even faster than us! and we were panting just to carry a 5 kg bag. On our way we met a native lady. We talked to her and took a few pics.

Climbing our way to Nagāru

Meenakshi - The native lady

We had done almost half our way and there were no trees further. The tree-line seizes to exist above around 10000 ft and it was all grass and bald hill beyond this point. Some more climbing over steep hill and we were at lunch point. The view was a bit scary from here as it was a steep hill and added to that there were no trees. So if you happen to fall you would end up rolling down all the way till 10000 ft! :P. But we saw a group of young ladies who were running down cheerfully and fearlessly! I am sure I would just topple down if I ever tried to do so. We had our lunch and took a lot of time before we started climbing again.

Bingo, there goes the tree line!

View of the steep hill from lunch point

There wasn't much to climb from here but we were now near snow zone. One bad thing about snow is that it's slippery and yes we were climbing a steep hill. So that makes it double scary. With lot of care, we climbed and reached the camp finally at around 3.30. The weather was sunny at that moment but very windy. We placed our luggage in the camps and came out to explore the place when our camp leader asked all of us to assemble to give instructions. The camp leader gave some information about the place. He informed about a rock at the place which the localites worshipped in the name of Nagāru devta. Then he pointed at the snow-clad path to Sar Pass that we were to take next day. There was no running water source, as we were covered by snow. So water was at a premium. He also told us when we would have tea, dinner etc, and the place for loo. For men, it was towards one of the edges of the hill which was snow-capped and bald without trees of course! :P. He told us that we can go as far as our balance supports us! and many of us (me included) just dropped the idea of going to loo right away!

Struggling over snow at the mountains steep edge!

Chilling out (literally) at Nagāru :P

Nagāru devta

Very soon the weather turned cloudy and it even started to rain. So we had to have our dinner sitting in the camps itself. The dinner was very special in this camp. We had Gulab Jamun at 12500 ft! and it tasted very good :P. Thanks to YHAI for arranging such an unforgettable moment for us. The efforts of YHAI is really appreciated. We slept off soon as we were to wake up early in the morning (very early in fact) and trek towards Sar Pass. In the night we couldn't get enough sleep because it was too windy outside. So windy that our camps started to shake! Added to that the camps were situated on the edge of the mountain. We woke up and held on to the poles of the camp for fear that the camp might fly off!

That's how random, the climate at Nagāru is

Day 7 (Trek to Biskeri Thatch through Sar Pass):

At last, came the day when we would visit Sar Pass. We had to wake up as early as 3 in the morning and get ready soon along with pack lunch. We even had breakfast at 3.30 in the morning. The idea behind leaving early while trekking on snow is that, as sun rises, the snow would start to melt and would eventually result in slippery path. Hence we started from the camp by 4.30 when there was some dim light (since we were at an elevation), accompanied by Sherpas. Sherpas are very well accustomed to walking on snow and hence came with us as guides. Since there was a lot of rain and wind, the previous night, the treading path that had formed on the snow by all the previous trekkers had become hard. The consequence, we were walking on hard ice which was very slippery. Added to that we were to walk in a single line. So if one person slips, he would take the whole line behind him down! For a moment, I lost my confidence since I slipped a bit at few places. Then I somehow made my mind and proceeded further.

Voila! ahead lies Sar Pass

Range of beautiful snowy mountains

After some trekking, we reached a region of soft snow. From here we were a bit comfortable walking on snow (although still cautious). Finally, without shredding any sweat (as it was very cold!) we climbed 1500 ft and reached Sar Pass at around 7! The place is such a wonder that it's worth all the pain. Any direction I looked at seemed like a wallpaper, alive. We could see a lot of other snow-clad mountains around us. Some covered with clouds, some shining with sun light, some with snow slides. It was mostly white everywhere. The only colors I could see was us!. We had become kids on the lap of nature. We played there for a while, took a lot of pics and enjoyed a lot. But finally we had to leave Sar Pass since sun was rising and snow would start to melt. So Sherpas called us back and lead us further. The adventure was not over yet.

That's Sar Pass for you

The blazing sun at 14000 ft

The Blues and Whites

Another view

More snowy mountains

Surrounded by lots of frost

Finally, leaving Sar Pass :(

We had to reach Biskeri Thatch from here. Biskeri Thatch is a place at a height of about 11000 ft (yes, we are now descending) and 9 kms away from Nagāru. We continued walking on snow along a narrow path formed on a slopy snow mountain. The mountain itself had an inclination of around 60 degrees and our path was just as wide as a feet. Having a good grip while walking on snow is essential. For this, one has to kick the snow harder and crush it under the feet. By doing this, our legs soon started to pain but the Sherpas never let us rest. They kept talking to us on some silly topics and kept our minds busy so that we don't realize the pain so much. After a long walk of about 2 kms on such a narrow path, we reached a near 80 degree wall of snow. We had to climb it and on the other side of it was a sliding point! The climbing part was a bit painful but we enjoyed the sliding a lot. We had two such slidings to do so that we can descend easily by several feet. Each of us slid in a different styles. Some of us landed on our back, some on chest and some even on their face! But the fact is, no matter how bad your slide/fall is, you would still enjoy it on snow :P.

Behold the 80 degree wall of snow!

Taking the "slide of faith" over snow

Yeah! that's how far we slid

After the slide we were almost close to our lunch point, it was just a small walk away. We reached lunch point by 11 or so and it marked the end of snow. We had descended to a height beyond which, there was not much snow. Mostly there were glaciers. We were welcomed by the camp leader of Biskeri Thatch at the lunch point itself although we couldn't believe that he is the camp leader. The camp leader was a very young and energetic guy. He was still a student but was volunteering as a camp leader. We spent some time in the lunch point, had lunch and left for the camp in Biskeri Thatch. We still had at least 1500 ft to descend and eventually we realized how difficult descending is, compared to ascending! After a lot of knee paining descend, we reached the camp. In the meanwhile the tree-line had started and now we were back in the woods.

Feels great to step on grass after a long struggle on snow!

A view from our camp at Biskeri Thatch

The young and energetic camp leader Ali

We settled our luggage in the camp and started exploring the place. It felt great to walk barefoot on green grass after all the difficulty we had on snow. The camp was situated in a place surrounded by astounding scenic beauty. It was soothing to see lot of green after all the white we saw back on Sar Pass. We had an amazing view of lot of green and white mountains from the camp. There was a small stream of water unlike Nagāru which served as a source of water for the camp. Later, the camp leader gave us the schedule. We sipped hot tea in the cold weather that was not very violent or random but rather peaceful. We had a good time together, although worried a bit that the trek is about to end and we had to part.

The scenic beauty around the camp

View of Barshaini from Biskeri Thatch

Day 8 (Trek to Bandhak Thatch):

Bandhak Thatch was the last camp in our trail. It is at a height of about 8000 ft, 10 kms away from Biskeri Thatch. This again was mostly a descending trek. We started from Biskeri at 8.30 or so after breakfast and packing our lunch as usual. We were descending through thick pine forests as, the tree-line had already begun. The days trek was filled with lot of fun and we went through enjoying all the way (well, most of it). We had to cross a small water fall over a bridge made of bark of Pine tree. It was fun crossing it and we took our time taking pics while doing so. Added to this, we had a feeling of more close-ness to each other compared to the days before since we were to part the next day (sad, I know).

So bagan our descend to Bandhak Thatch

Crossing a stream over wood log

Some more trekking and we reached a place where we had to do a small rappelling (although we could have got down with no strings attached). Well, all the training we got on Day 2 came to some use finally. Immediately after getting down, we had to cross a river, right next to a glacier. Again the only bridge we had was two Pine tree logs across. The guides helped each of us cross it and they were in haste. The reason being, the water level was increasing as sun rose higher and it would turn impossible to cross the river else. When the last person crossed the bridge, the water had just rose to the top of the wood log! Finally all of us crossed across and climbed up and we were in lunch point.

One more river crossing

Lunch point en route Bandhak Thatch

The lunch point was run by a granny, old, yet pretty cheerful and energetic. We had lunch in lunch point and also bought a few things from her. In the meanwhile we talked to the granny and got to know that her name is Krishna Devi. She was from a nearby village named Pulga. We took a few pics of her and with her and stayed in the lunch point for a while before we started. The reason that we were a bit slow was that, descending treks should be done slowly so as to avoid any injury to knee. Eventually we resumed our trek towards Bandhak. For a distance the trek was mostly through plain land and not much descending. We even passed through a place from where we could see civilization! I mean, we could see a small town named Barshani from where we were to catch a bus to Kasol the day later. A little trek further led us to a place from where we again had to do ascending trek to reach our camp. In fact it came as a surprise to us since we were assuming that we would be descending all the time. But unfortunately that was not the case. So left with no other choice, we started ascending. Maybe that we were not prepared or the trail itself was like that, we got drained very soon on the way, but anyways we indeed reach the camp after some struggle.

Grass lands on the way to Bandhak Thatch

The ascend at the end of the trail

Bandhak Thatch is a very beautiful place situated in a grass land. There was plain grass field in all directions around the camp and first thing people think of seeing it is - Cricket! Yes, the camp at Bandhak Thatch has a tradition where every batch of trekkers play cricket. It also gives a big relief after all the trekking done for days together. So, as soon as our luggage found a place in the camps, all of us started playing cricket. The camp leader here was also a very friendly person here and even he joined us for a game or two. The only problem with the camp that we realized was that the water source for the camp was feeble. All we had was water dripping out of a small water pipe. Rest everything was nice. The camp leader even promised us that he would make us noodles for breakfast the next day! Well, it might not excite you as you read it here. But, the very sound of noodles was a big relief for us after all the boring roti (and not to forget, alu ki sabzi) we used to have all through the trekking days, day in and day out :P.

Everyone was affected by cricket fever after a long trek

The serene visuals around Bandhak Thatch

We had an option to leave the trek, the same day and still collect the certificate of completion of trek. But none of us opted for it. As everyone wanted to spend some more time together. One of us even collected the contact details of everyone in the batch so that it can be passed on to all. Thanks to her, we all are still in touch. In the night, myself, Bharath and Harsh started discussing our plans further along with our camp mates. They suggested us not to go to Shimla as per our earlier plans since there is nothing much to see in Shimla. Instead they suggested us to visit Kullu. We thought that it could done and slipped into deep sleep.

 

Day 9 (Back to Kasol):

Alas, came the day to say goodbye to all the friends who were part of this wonderful journey. Lots of memories lingered in my mind. Memories of us getting together breaking the barriers of language, memories of people helping each other while trekking, memories of all the funny conversations we had in camps in the name of camp fire (without fire, of course), the timeless songs sung, the unforgettable clichés spoken, the exhausted look on fellow trekkers while trekking (me included), the mini treks we used to do early morning :P, the rich in water yet hot and delighting tea and lot more. Memories of the repetitive roti and alu ki sabzi that we used to have together for lunch passed by my mind as I ate noodles for breakfast. Everything that happened in the past few days was memorable and I had already started to miss it. But, separation seemed inevitable. People had breakfast and unlike other days, started leaving the camp in their own groups. We bid adieu each group and started preparing ourselves to leave as well. There was a local festival going on right next to our camp and we witnessed all the traditions of the people there. The celebration was very colorful indeed. We stayed there watching their rituals and took some pics as well. Later we left the camp in our own group, planning our next action. We started descending towards Barshani - the place from where we were to catch a bus. I began taking pics of all the people and surroundings as always. A lot of natives were climbing up for the festival whom we met on our way down.

A festival at Bandhak Thatch

Local kids at the festival

At one point, I asked a girl in our group for her pic. She had refused it before but thought I'd ask again. She again was hesitant but somehow I managed to convince her and took a pic. A conversation kicked in and we continued walking together. While I was trying to convince, the people who were ahead of us had gone further and were no longer seen. The people who were supposed to be behind us were not there yet. Anyways the trekking paths are marked with arrows and anyone could just follow it. We continued walking in some path as we talked. Going a bit further for some 15 minutes, we realized that there was no one before us and no sounds either. We couldn't see any arrow markings either. We were lost in woods! My god, we had taken a totally different trail and now we were lost. Thankfully we realized soon and started tracing our way back. After a while we heard people calling out for us and finally we reached the group back. It was a memorable experience though :P. After a long tiring descend we reached a village named Tulga. It's a small village close to Barshani (although not too close). We talked to people over there and took pics of a few kids and people. They were very friendly too. We left Tulga after spending some time and proceeded. Now we were mostly walking and no longer descending. Still, our legs were protesting from walking any further. We were walking along the banks of a sub-river to Parvati river and it was very peaceful. It formed very a beautiful landscape and to an extent, helped us forget the pain of walking. Finally we were close to Barshani and walked our way to bus stand. We got into some restaurant near the bus stand. While we were taking rest and talking about the trekking experience, there was a bus and all of us got in. Our plan was to go to Manikaran. The bus took us through a challenging path of about 13 kms along the banks of river Parvati. The river was running wild and so did the bus! The road seemed to be like one way which could accommodate only one vehicle but those drivers are so skillful (and brave) that they can drive even on the narrow edge of the road and make place for other vehicles to pass by. Altogether it was a roller coaster ride which we enjoyed. After a while we reached Manikaran.

Houses at Tulga village

Resting in Tulga after a long descend

A wallpaperish scenery on our way to Barshaini

Still a long way to reach Barshaini

Manikaran is a place about 5 kms away from Kasol, famous for naturally occurring hot water springs. There are even private facilities that have arrangements for people to take bath which was one thing we were missing from past several days (since day 1 of trek to be precise!). We had to take our first step towards getting back to being civilized (although we enjoyed not being so :P). It wasn't easy for us to part so, we had planned to book rooms in the same lodge in Kasol for us to stay after attending the certificate distribution in the base camp. Hence, being aware the plan, we split up into smaller groups in Manikaran and now it was just Me, Bharath and Harsh. We took bath in a lodge which we booked temporarily just for taking bath. Wow! what a feeling it was when hot water was running over my body. It was very refreshing. After the refreshing bath, we had our lunch in Manikaran Sahib gurdwara. It was a big relief for us after all the monotonous roti-alu ki sabzi. Deep within my mind I was longing for Idli and Dosa! :P. After our lunch we left to Kasol.

Shaky pic of a shaky ride from Barshaini to Manikaran

Manikaran - A bird's eye view

River Parvati flowing gracefully through the heart of Manikaran

Hot water spring at a temple in Manikaran

In Kasol, we (me, Bharath and Harsh) went to our base camp and collected our certificate of completion. In the meanwhile we realised a mistake in our planning. We had done all our planning thinking that our flight from Delhi to Bangalore was on 25th but it was actually on 24th! We had even booked our train tickets based on the wrong date and now all that was void. Thanks to Harsh (again) :P. In effect we only had a day and half in hand before we took off to Bangalore. So all we could do now is to do rafting in Bhunter and then leave to Delhi the same evening so that we get some time in Delhi to visit places. So we immediately went to a travel consultant and booked a bus to Delhi from Bhunter and returned to our lodge.

Ride from Manikaran to Kasol on top of bus!

In the night, we (the bigger group) decided to go to a good Israeli restaurant and have something tasty for dinner since we were bored with the routine roti-bla bla combinations. We went in and ordered some good food. We got our food after a long delay. It continued for several more times. It was the same experience we had on Day 1 in another restaurant where there were lot of Israelis. In almost all the restaurants in Kasol, Israelis always get first preference. Some of us turned impatient and left the restaurant. Then some more. Everybody left except me and Bharath! My god, we checked our wallets and all the amount that we had summed up to just a few bucks! Not at all enough to pay the bill and we had no other way (as it appeared to us) than to slip off silently as well! :P. I can't even imagine the situation we were in and also felt very bad about it. We decided to pay the money the day later but a guy from the restaurant had traced us to the lodge and made us pay more than the bill amount on next day morning.

 

Bye Bye, Kasol

As planned on the previous day, we were to go to Bhunter and do white river rafting. So we woke up and got ready soon so that we can have breakfast and leave. We went to a small kaka hotel around a corner and ordered Alu ki Parathe. We started eating it as and when the Paratha was served to us along with Amul butter. Yummm, the Paratha was so tasty that we kept eating more and more. It was much better than the Restaurant that we had been to last night. I didn't keep a count of the number of Parathas that I had. All I can say is I had enough Parathas with butter that would compensate all the fat that I would have burned throughout the trek :P. Later, myself and Bharath went around Kasol to get some souvenir for our families and by the time we returned, it was already late to leave to Bhunter. We packed immediately and caught a bus to Bhunter. We had said goodbye to Kasol and base camp. The bus travelled along the banks of river Parvati that was flowing wild. It was sometime close to noon by the time we reached the rafting spot from Bhunter, completed our negotiations on the price of rafting and started to raft. We even stroke a deal on our rafting video. Due to all the wild flow of the river, the water had turned muddy and we could no longer call the rafting that we did - white river rafting. But anyways, we had a great time rafting our way 14 kms towards Bhunter in chilling water that kept splashing on us every now and then. There were times when we used to just pose as if struggling to raft even though there was no water flow or as if victorious over rough waters since camera man was shooting our rafting and it had to come well! :P. Overall it was a nice experience. Later, we were taken back to the place where we started rafting so that we can collect our luggage and now we had to go back to Bhunter. The time had come close. Time to part.

Victorious over rough water!

Breathtaking action on plain waters! :P

We reached the place from where the buses were to leave towards Delhi. Many of our friends had come to the same place since all buses leaving to Delhi starts from there. Myself, Bharath and Harsh were feeling very hungry since we hadn't had our lunch and hence, searched for a restaurant around but couldn't find any. Left with no option we got into a bakery close by to have something. My dear friend Harsh suggested that we have burger and we bought it. I uncovered the burger and as I began to eat, I felt that the burger was smelling a bit fowl. I told Harsh the same and he convinced me that there was nothing like that. Ohh I wish I hadn't listened to him. But unfortunately I did :(. As buses came in, people started to leave and the group kept getting smaller and smaller. Finally it was just me, Bharath and Harsh. Our bus came at around 6 and we too left to Delhi. Thus the group just faded into thin air. The bus mostly travelled close to river Parvati that was flowing bigger as we went further with all its glory. The view outside window through the bus was fantastic at times. There were villages on the slope of the mountains all through the way, the light from which reflected on the water of the river. Once the bus passed across a dam in the dark and there were villages on the slopes of the mountains at the other end of dam. The view was astounding, with light from the houses in the village reflecting in the water! Wish I could take a few pics of that place. But I couldn't as the bus was moving but the view is still imprinted in my mind. I yearn to visit that place some day. The bus stopped near a dhaba for people to have dinner. The journey continued soon after dinner and we went to (or tried to) sleep.

 

Chalo Delhi!

I took out my iPhone and searched for distance to Delhi from current location of the bus and also the approximate time taken to reach (Although it could be totally wrong). I kept repeating it several times as I continuously kept checking my watch. It was 6 in the morning and I kept relentlessly checking when I would reach Delhi. The burger I had last evening had started its work. It was troubling me more than anything I had faced in my life earlier and I had to reach Delhi to relieve myself. I continued checking my watch and my iPhone for distance and time left. I couldn't notice any significant change in distance left, but time on my watch kept ticking high. When the bus stopped in Delhi, it was around 7.30 and it alighted us in the outskirts of Delhi. We again had to take an auto or taxi. Harsh talked to a taxi guy to take us to a lodge closeby Chandni Chowk. The driver convinced that the lodges over there would be very expensive and hence took us to a different place where it would be less expensive. After some negociations with some lodges we finally got a room along with cab facility to roam around Delhi. I finally could relieve myself and was back on full energy soon after. We had a busy day ahead of us with lot of places to visit and finally reach airport by 5. There were two things that we had to do first. Have breakfast and cancel the train tickets that we had booked based on wrong planning. Breakfast was of top priority though. One of our camp friends named Surender had asked us to go to a restaurant named Shiv Mishthan Bhandar in chandni chowk. It was maintained by one of his family members. So we asked our cab driver to take us to Chandni Chowk. The driver instead suggested that he would park the cab in front of Red Fort and we can take a cycle rikshaw to our destination as the streets were busy. He also told not to pay more than 20 bucks for the rikshaw. Keeping his suggestion in mind, we went searching for a cycle rikshaw. One guy asked 80 bucks and another 50. We rejected both based on the drivers suggestion. Then came a pale, weak and a bit old guy and he agreed to take us there for 20 bucks. We agreed and sat in. I repented a lot as he peddled through the streets of Chandni Chowk. He was struggling like hell to peddle the rikshaw as it was occupied by one heavy weight (Harsh), mid weight (me) and feather weight (Bharath) champion each! I even thought of getting down but we were already close to our destination. Looking at all the pain he took, we paid him 50 bucks instead of 20 bucks that he had agreed to :P.

Chandni Chowk - A busy place of Delhi

The poor rikshaw guy and the (fat) rich passengers

The person at Shiv Mishthan Bhandar named Bittu, getting to know that we were friends of Surender, treaded us with warmth and served us with all the best food in their restaurant. Chole batura was awesome. Jalebi was the best. We liked the food over there a lot although I had to be a bit cautious because of my previous stomach upset. We took a few pics with Bittu and thanked him. After our breakfast, Harsh went out to ODRS to cancel the train tickets while myself and Bharath went walking towards the cab as it was not big a distance. The sun was already blazing hot and that was the only trouble we had, walking.

At Shiv Misthan Bhandar with Bittu

Later, we left by cab for visiting places around Delhi. The first place we went was to India Gate. We spent some time there although not a lot since we were to visit more places and also sun was sucking all the sap off us. We took a few pics in India Gate and left for our next destination - Rajbhavan and Indira Gandhi museum. All we could do was to get a glimpse of Rajbhavan as we passed in front of it and later we got in to Indira Gandhi museum. This was a very pleasant place. Not because we had lot of good things to see. The reason was that the museum was air controlled and hence we could breath easily inside. Time was running and soon we had to leave. The next destination was Central Cottage Industries Emporium since it was mandatory for all cab drivers to take tourists there. We just went in for name sake and came out of it. We wanted to travel in metro once and told this to our driver. He dropped us at one of the metro stations and asked us to come to Hauz Khas metro station to be picked up again. We had a nice ride in metro and reached Hauz Khas. When we came out of the station, the driver was already waiting for us outside. Then he took us to Qutub Minar which, was our next destination. This was the last place we could visit in the time we were left with. We spend some time here taking pics and it was evening. Our trip was at the verge of coming to an end and now we were at the entrance of Indira Gandhi International Airport.

India gate

Rajbhavan

Qutub Minar

We thanked the cab driver and checked in at the airport. Had some food at the airport as we hadn't had our lunch. Later we called up all the friends who left to other places and had a small chit chat. Time came for us to board the flight. We did and the flight took off.

 

Pointers on Preparation

While taking things for trekking, we should be extra careful about the weight. YHAI mandates a maximum weight of 6 kg on the luggage. Many a times we would carry unnecessary things to the trek. Below I will list down the essentials along with where to buy it and also how to distribute among friends so that weight can be kept under control. Hence you can indulge yourself more in enjoying the trek rather than being agonized by your luggage.

Things to carry	Quantity	Where to buy	Note
Clothing	1 or 2 Pair	Carry	Depends on your convenience and luggage weight.
Thermals	1 Pair	Carry
Hand Gloves	1 Pair	Kasol/Carry
Jacket	1 Pair	Carry	Ensure that it not only protects you from cold but also from rain.
Thin Towel	1 Unit	Kasol/Carry
Soap/Body Wash	1 Unit	Kasol	Won't be useful for taking bath though.
Deodorant	1 Unit	Kasol	Useful to keep yourself socially acceptable.
Sunscreen	1 Unit	Kasol/Carry	Very necessary at high altitudes.
Socks	2 Pair	Kasol	A minimum of 2 pairs is necessary.
Sandals	1 Pair	Carry	This is very important for early morning trek. So choose wisely.
Shoes	1 Pair	Carry	Choose it such that it helps on terrains as well as on snow.
Plate and Cup	1 Each	Kasol/Carry
Lunch Box	1 Unit	Carry	Necessary for taking packed lunch from camps.
Water Bottle	1 Litre	Kasol/Carry	It is adviced to distribute the weight on both the sides of ruck sack by storing water in half litre bottles. Beverage bottles (Mountain Dev, Limca Etc,.) could be useful.
Torch	1 Unit	Kasol	Useful for latenight wandering. Can be shared.
Toilet Paper	1 Roll	Kasol	1 Roll is enough for nearly 4 people. So divide among friends.
Glucose and other energy stuff		Kasol	You can take chocolates, biscuits, dry fruits etc,. Carry as much as you wish but ensure proper disposal of wrappers.
Rucksack	Optional	Carry	This is only optional. YHAI provides rucksacks for the whole batch. If you are accustomed to your own rucksack, you can carry it.