Mr. Ronnie Thomas Joseph, Bengaluru , India
I had barely recovered from the terrible sinusitis and allergy infection after my cross-country trip last December that I was bitten by the travel bug yet again. This time it with a vengeance, all because some of my closest friends had quietly made trip to all those places on my bucket list and informed me of it afterwards, making me seethe with envy, anger and feel wasted.
As I was ruminating over my fate, yet another classmate of mine quietly dropped a few photos of her solo trek to the Himalayas in our WhatsApp group. I immediately jumped out of my recliner called life and asked her how she managed it. And she quietly added me to the trekking community and asked me to sign up for the next trek in Himachal coming up in June. Now that’s an improbable decision I immediately said. June is still a good four months away and you are asking me to decide now itself? My indecision was partly due to my dithering self and also because I was grossly unprepared for it. My physical fitness regime was just some lazy stretches and exercises in the morning followed by occasional commute to office by public transport, and sometime a walk for few kilometers in the evening. None of these in regular cycle. How am I to undertake trek in the Himalayas with such preparations?
Anyways, I kept dithering over the decision – neither making any efforts to get physically fit nor firming up my mind. During this phase months passed and my annoyance about not able to head out for a vacation kept peaking like the summer temperatures around. So much so a dear colleague at office gave me an ultimatum – “Go anywhere. Just get out but dare you go to Singapore.”. Singapore? Singapore has always been my fallback plan, as my brother lives there. It’s the easiest getaway for me and I had done it couple of times already. Visiting Singapore is akin to going shopping to MG Road and Comm. street. Excited about getting there but once there the excitement dies, no novelty.
It was at this point that my classmate messaged me saying that there are still some open slots for the Sar Pass trek. This time around without batting an eyelid I signed up. After that the reality struck me. The trek is in two weeks and I had to prepare by getting basic mountain trekking gear and ready my rucksack packed with bare minimum essentials and cold wear. Wait a minute – rucksack?? I don’t have a rucksack. The only consoling factor about preparing for the trek was the classification of the trek – it was “easy to moderate”. Of course, I can do an easy to moderate trek. I had done some trekking and jaywalking on the western ghats some eons ago. That’s enough qualification for me. Anyways, my friend suggested I talk to the trek lead and get my doubts clarified. And it was good I talked to him. I told him about my issues with my shoulder and he suggested I should positively engage a porter to lug my bag around, and otherwise I should be able to do the trek easily. I said it’s easy to moderate trek so I should be able to and he let out a low chuckle saying “if your mind is up to it, you will do it.”. With those words of encouragement, minus the chuckle, I firmed up further. In a week’s time I was all set with my luggage for the trek as per the checklist given.
Now there was only one thing left to do – book tickets to Delhi! To get to Sar Pass we had to reach Delhi first and onwards to Himachal. The trek starts from a village called Grahan which is an hours’ trek from Kasol, in Himachal. It’s an eight day program with first and last day being the travel days to and from Delhi. The actual trek is a five day trek from base camp to base camp. But for me the trek started the moment the flight took off from Bengaluru. I was out of my comfort zone.
On Sunday afternoon I reached a very hot, burning Delhi. By this time, I had managed to connect with few other people in the group – Shine and Arun from Kerala. We were all absolute strangers meeting for the first time and going to spend the entire next week with each other. All through the trek prep meets our lead kept emphasizing that even though we do not know each other we have to stay together, trek together, help each other out and reach back our homes safe and sound. It played a big part – each of us were responsible for ourself and each other. We had to keep political leanings, prejudices, bigotry, selfishness, privacy, religious practices, dietary habits and our city bred squeamishness aside for a week.
That evening we boarded the bus for Kasol after a quick diner. Day breaks quite early in the mountains I suppose. My eyes opened to the views of the mighty Himalayas all around our road and we were driving precariously close to the edge of the road. The raging Beas was a few hundred meters below us. But the way the manic driver was driving we could have been in the Beas any moment. The sight of huge mighty mountains is always mesmerizing and draws away your weariness immediately. My sleep was gone in a flash. All of us of the trek group, who are from the southern India, were wide awake soaking in the refreshing views irrespective of the manic driving. Overnight we were transported to a different world, a world where the air was clean, fresh and cold. The thoughts of the searing heat of rest of India suddenly sublimated. We reached Kasol and went further to Manikaran to freshen up.
Manikaran is a revered spot of the Sikhs and a temple town by the banks of river Parvati. It has a few hot springs. We checked in a guest house to freshen up and change into our trekking gear. Manikaran is to the trek what Dubai is when flying out westwards. It’s the last port of call where you get your rear end washed properly. For the rest of the week it was going to be wet wipes, cat holes, and tissue paper and cold glacial melt water for all purposes. That was all the luxury we could afford during the trek, if at all we could afford it in the cold. At Manikaran we had our last good bath and got into our fresh clothes for the last time during the week. After breakfast we set off for Grahan.
The way to Grahan is very interesting. We were taken in a 4x4 pickup truck. This was the most bone rattling ride I ever had in my life. The slightly elderly, women and children were packed into the truck, the rest of us able bodied menfolk had to share space with the luggage in the trunk of the truck. The moment the driver took off, we clung on to dear life in the rear of the truck. All our joints were getting rattled with the truck going at top speed over the dusty, rocky mountain trail. End of the trip we were coated in a fine layer of mountain dust and were happy that neither of our shoulders, hips or knees had dislocated. The trip ended at the foot of a mountain which we had to trek up to reach Grahan, our first camp.
This was day one of the trek, the simplest and easiest trek. The road from Kasol ends at the foot of mountain and this is the end of modernity for the next few days. We have to trek up to reach Grahan village. Grahan sits at 2,350m altitude and we ascend nearly 700m in a 2Kms trek. The path takes us through pinewood forests with the path lined by wild orchids, all in bloom. Up ahead you start to see the snow-clad mountains in the distance with their ragged peaks. These peaks reminded me of the Toblerone chocolate and the ice patches on the peaks and slopes like the patterns on Jersey cows. We had offloaded our big rucksack to the porters and were carrying the small backpack with water and other essentials on our back. The 2Kms trek happened in a breeze and on the way we had to give way to mules carrying supplies and porters. We would often encounter them during our treks. The golden rule of any trek is to give/make way for the porter and mules to pass always. It always amazed me how these porters would lug loads in excess of 40kgs on their backs and trek up and down these steep mountain trails without breaking a sweat. They are so nimble and sure footed, with absolutely no footwear or support sticks they would trundle down the slopes with great speed or climb up with steady pace.
We reach Grahan by late afternoon and have the remainder of the day to ourselves. The air is definitely colder now and the mobile signal patchy. We spend the rest of the evening lazing around the village, trekking around a bit and getting to know our fellow trekkers and making new friends. It is here we are assigned our tentmates and tents. Life in the rough starts. We sleep in early and try to get acclimatised to sleeping in a sleeping bag in a tent with two others.
The next day we wake up at day break. The air still clean and fresh and filled with the sounds of chirping birds. It’s a bright day and one other reason for waking up early is to get access to the washroom earlier than the rest. Also, the mountains have this effect on me, I tend to wake up with the first break of sunray at such locations.
Day two trek starts a bit lazy and late. We had our breakfast and got the lunch wrapped in a foil. For the next few days its going to be various combinations of rice, dal, roti, paranthas with tea. We had to sort our backpacks as we were ascending further and needed more essentials. The porters set off and we trundle behind them. We are with them till we get out of the village and hit the pine trail. After that they are off like a rocket and we are huffing and puffing behind. The first of the steep ascend starts. We trek towards Min Thach, which is a base camp for the Sar Pass. It’s a 10km trek where we make an altitude gain of 1,050m. The trek takes us through steep climbs through the pinewood forests. The views keep getting better and the snow clad peaks closer and closer. You get to see tall pine trees and sharp spikes atop. All those of us who have lived with the memory of John Rambo jumping off the cliff face to crash land safely through those pine tree beware! This Hollywood is full of bollocks. Each of those pine trees are spiked like the spears of Vlad the Impaler. Any foolish attempts to jump off on to them hoping to crash land safely would leave one’s body in tears and tatters, if at all anything remains.
We take our time to finish the trek by late afternoon and reach Min Thach which is at a height of 3,400m. On the way we had multiple stops, sipping water and ORS, munching on nuts and raisins, and giving way to porters and mules. The situation at Min Thach is very different and you feel it suddenly when you arrive at the camp site. It’s way colder now, and the air much thinner. We are clearly near or above the tree line. Some of us start showing symptoms of mountain sickness. What can be done effortlessly at the plains take an effort now. Simple things like trying to get things out of your bag or tying your shoe laces take much more effort and leave you breathless. Another thing that leaves you breathless is vistas the mountains now offer. Deep valley with trees and amazing sunset and sunrise, the lofty peaks and snowcapped mountain ranges in the distance. It’s all a sight to take it. This site also gives us some time to acclimatize to the mountain conditions – thin, cold air. Another thing you get to know is the unpredictability of the weather high in the mountains. One moment its blazing sunny, the next its cloudy, dark with thunders rumbling. The rain falls hard and the cold droplets make it harder. And in an instant the weather clears up yet again.
We start experiencing below 10C temps in the nights, interspersed with light rains and absolutely clear night skies. After all these decades of living in the cities with high light pollution it’s an absolute beauty to see millions of stars in the dark, dark skies of the night. Without your torchlight it’s pitch black outside in the night. There was no moon in the sky too. We did try to brave it till midnight to see the Milky Way rise in the south. But it was short lived as the cold got better of us. We did see beautiful twinkling stars way more than what we get to see from our well lit cities.
The next day we had to cross the high ridge line behind our camp site to get to the Nagaru camp site. We have an altitude gain of 400m to cover, but that’s easy on paper. In actual it’s a very steep ascend on rocky trail paths with high winds blowing. We encounter small ice patches here and there and this sets the tone for the next two days. There are no more trees here and we are exposed to the harsh conditions of the weather. Bright sunlight to howling winds with lashing cold rains. Our weather gear holds up well and protects us from these harsh conditions. The thinning of air and lack of oxygen tells. The trek distance is 14Kms and it seems like an eternity to finish the day.
We reach the grassy camp site of Nagaru before end of the day. And we are lucky to have reached here in time. In a moment after we settle into our tents it starts pouring and there seems no let up. After more than an hour it seems quiet. Our friend Sarith ventures out to see if he can get some sleeping bags. He steps out and shouts with excitement. It’s snowing outside! It’s actually sleet with ice that’s falling. In an instant we are gripped with fear. Ice on the tents means that pretty soon it will cave in on us. Sarith had already mentioned that the big supplies tent pitched in front of us is flattened. Shine and I start thumping the tent to dust the ice off it. We are cold, shivering and trembling out of fear now. We haven’t had a proper lunch or anything to eat till now. That’s when we realized that the packed parantha is lying in our bag. We quickly take it out, only to realise it has become frigid like an ice pack. We anyways munched on it in hunger. I’ve never had a tastier super chilled paneer parantha in my life ever!
But our hats go off for the support staff in the midst of all this. Despite these conditions they took turns to step out to check on each tent, dust it off the ice and prepare some hot food as well. They forced us to eat in the night to keep warm and to build up for the next day. Though most of us were not in the mood to eat, fatigued by the weather and long trek but mostly frightened by the weather. During the rains the thunder was rumbling right above our tents as the clouds were just few meters above us at that altitude.
By late night the weather had turned but none of us had the energy or enthusiasm to step out. Outside our tents it was wet, slushy and we were susceptible to fall. No one wanted to venture out rather we slept it in, tucked into our warm sleeping bags in our dirty, soiled clothes.
The next day was a sight to behold. All around was white of the ice and the sun was out in all its blazing glory. We had to wear our sunglasses to protect ourselves from snow blindness. It’s on occasions like these that you actually experience what you’ve read about all the while. The light reflecting off the snow, ice is prickly and harsh. One look at the ice around in the sunlight leaves you blind for few mins. Over exposure will cause severe damage to your optic nerve. We were obedient enough to listen to our trek guides and leader to wear the sunglasses always. During our ascend the guide told us not to look back and down. I realized it was a sight not to be missed and looked back. Right behind me was a deep void and misstep here would take me down by few thousand meters, ready to be shipped to my city of origin in a casket. One should experience these sights at least once in their lifetime. Just for the thrill of it and to write pages of memoirs about it later.
We were supposed to start the trek at 2am on day four but ended starting it by 11am thanks to delays due to the weather. This meant we would be ascending the snowcapped ridge behind us and crossing the Sar Pass in the day. It also means we would reach our lower base camp late in the night, in pitch black darkness. Now that is a trek we would like to do, right?
Day four trek is a 14Kms trek with an initial 400m ascend to Sar Pass then slight descent all way to the lower base camp of Bishkeri Thach. The initial 400m ascend is scaling the snow slopes and climbing over the ridge to reach Sar Pass. Over the ridge line is the beautiful glacial ice fields of Sar Pass. It took us some effort to clamber up the ridge peak and cross the summit. We had to tackle the slippery ice and slush slopes. Once we crossed over the ridge it was an amazing sight to behold. The sun shone brightly with light reflecting off the ice. The lofty Vasuki peak was in front of us to the right. We took some time to take pictures and frolic in the virgin ice of the glacial field. Behind us were the view points on the ridge. We could see the distant villages of Parvati valley down below. They were all dense green, standing out in contract to the snow white around us. The distant peaks of the Parvati ranges were also glistening in the sun. The winds were howling around us. But none of it could subdue the excitement we were experiencing.
But since we had a long way to go and the daunting trek in the dark, we had to make way from the Sar Pass summit point quickly. We trekked through the trail path carved on the glacial slopes. At the far distance we could see the trail crossing over a small ascend over the mountain range. That was the end of the Sar Pass. Apparently in the coming days all the ice would melt and the slopes would be green, green meadows that the shepherds would get their sheep to graze on. There were numerous streams and often we could see water gushing below the layer of ice. We collected as much glacial melt water we could and kept taking sips of the runaway water. Each splash of this ice cold water on your face brought life and energy into you. The waters tasting very sweet and refreshing. Each sip of this water replenished our energies. It helped us to trek further. And the further we trekked, the further it seemed the cross over point to start the descent down to Bishkeri camp site.
By the time we crossed over the hump and started our descent down it was getting dark. We were now descending 1000 odd meters. The weather Gods helped us along the way as there was absolutely no cloud cover, rain or howling winds the entire day. It was a pleasant walk through the ice and slush through the day. The funny thing about the mountains is the moment the sun goes behind the mountains it starts getting dark, not necessarily it’s sunset. So, by the time we got down to the base of the mountains now it was getting dark and we had to turn on our torches. This also threw up another problem. Everything in the dark looks dark and familiar. Which means we lost our way. But our trek leader was our beacon of confidence, he kept saying “follow me, we are on the right path”. After a while we realized he too was walking lost in the dark, only difference being he was confident in leading us in the dark. And we were more than happy to blindly follow him. We had no other choice. But after a lot of stumbling and walking around lost we seemed to be back on a trail and some hours of long walk we finally started seeing lights of our camp site and villages deep below. We still had some water left with us and the dim light from our torches.
We had no idea of the time when we reached the camp site. All we know was that we were famished and out of breath. All the exuberance of the day turned into fear and anxiety by nightfall. Human emotions too are like the weather patterns in the mountains. Unpredictable and unreliable, prone to changes any moment. And near and dear ones around us take the brunt of it.
We had a very late dinner that night and the next days was the last day of the trek. The next day we were descending down to Barshaini village where we had a guest house to check-in to.
Our descend the next day started early after breakfast. We slowly inched down pinewood forest to the village of Barshaini where rooms with beds and bathrooms with hot water awaited us. We were getting back to civilisation and modernity at last. Though after all these days of living it up in the rough I didn’t seem to want it any more. Change of clothes and shower, yes indeed!
Through the tall pine trees with sounds of wind rustling amongst the long slender pine leaves, it was easy trek downwards with an occasional sense that your knees are getting busted. After an entire day’s trek we are back to civilization. As we reached the base of the mountain, we were greeted with sights of Insta craving humans posing and prancing around trees and shades. Welcome back to life! Further ahead awaits your hot shower and end of the show.
But it’s not that we were out of modernity during the past 4 days. Though the mighty Himalayas offer grand vistas and we are thrown about to live it up in the rough, the entire landscape is strewn with litter all through the trails. Not an inch of earth is spared. It’s all plastic wrappers of chocolates, biscuits and sachets of fruit juices. All left behind by the merry trekkers. Wonder who these people actually are? Are these the same bunch that take up the broom and mop to sweep the streets and parks clean as part of the Swacch Bharath mission or save the soil? Anyways, with a blink of an eyelid I can sweep away all that litter and have the clean image of the mountains and the green meadows and ice fields yet again. And it fills me with wonder and awe. Wonder and awe about myself too on how I managed this “easy and moderate” trek without any issues and complaints. The cramps on my shoulders are a distant memory all of a sudden.
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