Revel in Rupin Pass
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Published: June 22nd 2014
Mixed thoughts and emotions swirling around as i was sitting in the Delhi-bound flight to undertake my second Himalayan trekking expedition to Rupin Pass with Indiahikes. My first one being Sandakphu trekking expedition with YHAI in Dec 2013.
I landed in Delhi on June 6th, 8.30 PM and was welcomed by 43 degree Celsius mercury level. My respect for Chennai increased after facing the near-furnace level heat of Delhi. I met with my good friend Kuttu in the airport, who has done Rupin pass in Oct 2013. Then I reached NDLS to catch the overnight train to Dehradun. I met another trekker from Kolkata who was undertaking a trek in Uttarkashi. Then I got to catch up with some of my trek mates before boarding the train. As much as I wanted to catch some good sleep in the train, my mind had other ideas. It did not let itself go to sleep mode for quite a long time. I sent birthday wishes to my sister and played some music from my ipod. As i was about to get some good sleep, I heard a girl screaming in the train, at around 3 AM. The train was stopping in a
random station in UP and a guy tried to pull away the bag from this girl. I woke up to see this man running away from our coach. That certainly ended my sleep for the night. This is happening in an A/C compartment and I do not see any cops around. Pathetic.
DAY 1 - A way of life After a long sleepless night, I finally reached Dehradun. I joined my fellow trekkers there and refreshed a bit. We then hired 4 cabs to start our long journey to Dhaula (our base camp). We stopped on the way near Mussoorie to have some breakfast. Then we continued our long bumpy journey along the curvy mountain roads that are very prone to landslides. This cab driver was playing this one kickass song (
">Ganja Baby) and we stopped for a break near a falls and spent some time in the banks of Yamuna river. After having lunch in a dhaba on the way, we embarked the cab ride to reach Dhaula at around 4 PM. As I was walking towards the camp, a horse just untied itself from the stable and was running fast towards us. I had no other way
than to lean myself close towards the stone wall on the side and it just crossed me continuing its run further downwards with a man chasing it. That is definitely a way to start the trek. We were greeted with Tang, tea and pakodas. We then got refreshed in a nearby stream. Some hard-skin folks took a head bath in that cold waters. Then we had a briefing session by our trek leader Preet. We introduced overselves. Most of the members in the team are first time trekkers. We were also introduced to our guides Parvesh and Prakash. I remember the mantra Preet said to us for the trek - "
Work high, sleep low ". Proper acclimatization and gradual altitude gain is important to avoid
AMS. Dhaula camp has wooden stay with 6-7 people accommodated in a room. Apart from the bug bites, I had a decent sleep that night gearing up for the trek next day.
DAY 2 - Fire in the mountain After some breakfast and tea, we all packed our bags and assembled outside the camp to start our trek. Some folks offloaded their backpacks to porters while I preferred to carry it by myself
throughout the trek. After a quick briefing session by Preet, we all set off the trek to Rupin Pass. The first day's trail had some quick ascends and dusty roads. The sunny weather was taking a heavy toll on our energy levels. Above all, I took a longer route during an ascent and that made me further more tiring. We halted in a resting point by noon. (alt - 2100 mts). We ate the oranges we brought from the camp. That gave a bit of relief from the hot sun. The worst part here is I already emptied my 1 ltr water bottle and not able to find the next water source. It was really tough to continue without water. After quite a bit of walk, i finally came across a water source and like an elephant, i drank gallons of water there. At around 2.30 PM we reached our next camp at Sewa. This is also a wooden stay but with 10-11 people accommodated in a single room. That was quite a bit challenging but if trekkers can't adjust, then who can. Our trek staff prepared some noodles and tea for us. Then we took rest for a while.
I was reading a book and took a nap as the breeze was good outside. At evening, we went for a short walk to a nearby temple which was closed during this time. The architecture of the building was amazing as it was built only with wooden logs and stones. We returned back to our camp and a cricket match was started between Locals and Trekkers just outside the camp. It was quite a bit of fun and I think the game ended in a tie. We then had our dinner and got into our sleeping bags. I had a bit of headache mainly due to the scorching heat i endured during the day.
DAY 3 - A hard teacher I had a decent sleep last night and it cleared my headache completely. After breakfast and tea, we started off from Sewa camp. Initially it was a heavy descent as we reached all the way down to the rupin river bed. Then we started ascending to finally reach a motorable road. BSNL mobiles were able to catch some signal here and we started off a 5 km walk on this dusty, rugged road. The road looked very much
landslide prone and there were some mending works taking place on the way. We finally reached our lunch point, which is a small waterfall on the way. I decided to wash my Barca jersey (the name of David Villa was almost torn apart) and dried it up in the sun. Post lunch, we reached a point from where we took a very steep ascent that was grueling. We gained around 500 mts in 1 hour. The trek staff smiled at us staying this steep was nothing compared to the ones we are going to encounter in next few days. I had to prepare myself with the quote from Boondock saints "
And Shepherds we shall be For Thee my Lord, for Thee Power hath descended forth from Thy hand Our feet may swiftly carry out Thy commands. So we shall flow a river forth to Thee And teeming with souls shall it ever be." We finally reached our next camp which is a little before Jiskun village. This camp had some nice spots to sit, relax and enjoy the view. Lots of tea, soup and conversations with fellow trek mates in wide range of subjects. We took a stroll around the
camp to see some nicely built houses. We met a 80 year old person who appeared like a 60 year old. The purity of the environment they are living keeps them young and fit. I felt that is how God wanted all of us to be. Then man built the civilization to destroy himself. Anyways, today we got to adjust 10 folks in a room. I somehow managed to get some good sleep that night.
DAY 4 - A long measure of peace We all knew today is going to be one really long day. We mentally prepared ourselves and started the trek from the camp. We reached the village Jiskun on the way. One thing to mention here is the villagers here. They are so respectful and kind. I wonder if it is the 'non exposure to modern civilization' that is keeping them very nice. The trail is more of a descent from Jiskun and we reached the river beds again. We came across many school kids on the way. They were enroute to their school in Jiskun. They looked very cheerful and respectful. It was so refreshing to see the school going children with a bright
smile in their faces. They are full of hope and energy. It is certainly contagious. We were at an altitude of around 2300 mts. Then we started ascending a lot. It was very strenuous especially under the hot sun. As we reached another village Jhaka, we were super drained. We took a little break here, having some biscuits and juice. Jhaka is the last village in Rupin trail. Post Jhaka, there will not be any traces of civilization until Sangla. From Jhaka, it was furthermore ascent for a while, then we descended to reach our lunch point Rupin riverside. The river was roaring here in the valley and we had a mild lunch. Post lunch, we had to cross a very tricky trail on the slopes of the valley. There are boulders, slippery slopes, streams to cross. The long tiring day finally came to an end in a camp at Udaknal. This is the first camp with tent accommodation. In the evening, we had an acclimatization walk to climb a small peak nearby. It was both fun and challenging. Here, we could feel the effect of the altitude a bit. In the night, we had bonfire which was a bit
helpful in warming us. The weather get really cold at nights. The sleep was a bit discontinuous this night. I had a series of short dreams which were weird and funny. Had I noted them down, I could have made a movie like Akira Kurosawa's Dreams.
DAY 5 - slip and slide and rock and rave As soon as we started from Udaknal, we came across a snow bridge on the river. This is the first time ever I am stepping on a snow bridge and it was quite tricky. The snow walk was very slippery here and we had to try by all sorts of intuition plus creativity to reach the other end without slipping. After crossing the snow bridge, it was a heavy ascent for a while. Then we get to see the amazing view of Rupin valley and the river as well. We spent some good time on the riverbed - writing, photographing and strolling around. Then we endured lot of snow-crossing. There are some places where the snow is very soft and one get immersed down to knee level in snow. After quite a bit of snowy adventure, we reached a picturesque camp in
Dhanderas Thatch. It provided an amazing view of the Rupin waterfalls and the snowclad peaks. At evening, we were taught some basic snow walking techniques like duck steps, side stepping, kicking, plunging and sliding without the use of crampons. Its quite a bit of learning. As we were trying out all these techniques it started to rain, so we had to slide down the snow and lock ourselves up in the tents. The rain lashed for quite sometime with gusty winds. Inside our tent, we were chatting about some yummy food stuffs. Its imminent that we were craving for some heavy feast already. The rain stopped and we could see the upper waterfall regions filled with fresh snow. We got a clear view of where we are going to climb tomorrow. We even got a glimpse of our next Upper waterfall camp. I was thinking about how i am going to climb this with a 10 kg backpack but then said to myself - "
He who walks with the company of God never had to fear the darkness". It was biting cold here at the night and we settled inside our tents pretty soon.
DAY 6 - ice-land affair We were given micro-crampons to walk on the snow. There were multiple climbs today that pass through 2 waterfalls. The first climb on the snowy slope was very arduous as the snow was melting and there are high possibility to get slipped and slid down to lower slopes. The thought of getting slipped and climbing the whole stretch again made us extra careful. These climbs were real tests to a person's physical and mental endurance. After the arduous climbs, we reached the Upper Waterfall camp which was surrounded by snow. The thing about snow is it is considered romantic in most cases. However, trekkers wont feel that way. We always think how to cross and climb them without getting slipped. For us, snow is a challenge. However, nature has its own way of dealing with trekkers. During our evening acclimatization walk, we witnessed snowfall. Yes, for the first time in my life, I was witnessing snowfall. At first, i thought it was raining. Then, I could see tiny white flakes spreading all over my gloves and jacket. I see them snowflakes falling in front of me. Although It was biting cold and we were shivering, that first moment of
snowfall reminded me of this quote - "
Is duniya mein agar jannat hai, to bas yahi hai, yahi hai, yahi hai" (translation -
if there is heaven on earth, then it is here, it is here!). We then slid all our way to the camp and tried to revel in the snowfall for a while but the freezing cold forced us into our tents. The night at this camp was horrendous due to the spine chilling weather. I was almost close to dropping the idea of having dinner as i needed to get out of my tent to get the food. Once i get out of the tent, the chillness hits my bones. Skipping the dinner is never a good idea during the trek as we need to keep fueling ourselves. So we braved the weather and managed to somehow venture outside for a while. At night, before we go to sleep, our leader Preet informed us that tomorrow we will be starting at 5.30 AM and we knew it is going to be THE day of the trek when we will be crossing the mighty Rupin pass. As the gusty winds slowly turned into a lullaby, I drifted into
a sleepy state at the height of 4100 mts.
DAY 7 - The final charge As we woke up during the wee hours of 4 AM, we saw the yellow bright full moon greeting us above the scenic Rupin valley. It was a spectacular sight for one to wake up at. We had macaroni for breakfast. THE day begun with a steady walk on snow for a while and then moving on to steep ascents. The climb was hard for any fit person and the chilling winds with snow dust made it harder. Our technical guide told us to continue walking slow and steady. Halting was never an option while climbing as we need to capitalize the hard snow as much as we can before the sun gets to its glorious shine mode. As we reached a plain surface, we could get a glimpse of rupin pass above us. The whole place was snow-clad and we were made to walk in line till the final climb to ensure we maintain a rhythm. The final climb to Rupin pass was the greatest physical test I had ever encountered in my life. Every step is a giant leap here and
makes your lungs wanna explode. I was climbing and climbing all the way. All our trek staff were motivating us with full josh (Every
Sappaash from Parvesh was pushing me one step ahead). The last 30 steps of climb was the most excruciating. I knew my body gave up but my mind did not.
The maximum limit of a man's inner strength is displayed only when he was put into the hardest of hardest endeavors. Those last 30 steps clearly showed me who I am. As I touched the summit point called Rupin Pass, that feeling of accomplishment was immense. I always tend to remain modest with my happiness but this time I let go of that. I was bubbling with joy. We were all reveling in the altitude of 4650 mts. For the next 30 minutes, it was full of hi-fis, handshakes, hugs, photos and videos around. We could see immense joy among our trek staff too. After the celebrations are over, we started sliding down the pass. This was pure fun as it directly takes you to your childhood days. All you need to do is sit straight, hold your hiking poles up and believe in gravity. In
some 10 seconds you will slide down to a flat surface from the pass. As much as we thought the tricky part was over, the testing times commenced from here. After the pass, it was a long walk in the snow desert under the scorching sun. I felt like some sort of diode while walking, with frozen snow under my feet and burning heat above my head. This long walk almost made me a zombie material. Fortunately, two of our staffs - Bhagat and Parvesh gave me helping hand to get myself back to normalcy. Even during this walk, one slip down the snow can take you all the way down in the valley and climbing again is certainly a daunting task. The snow trails finally got over and we were back in the floral trail. I was looking for the traces of our next campsite in the every other turn of the trail. At the end of this long march, we reached our camp at Upper Sangla Kanda. The rains greeted us as we reached the camp but soon stopped. We were served with Tang, Noodles and Tea. The feeling of accomplishment coupled with the tiredness of the walk
made these items taste like elixir. It was pretty light time at this camp here as this is the last stay on the trail. Although we could feel lots of pain points in our body, our minds are very relaxed and joyous. I had an amazing sleep at the night with the company of Coldplay & AR Rahman's soothing tunes.
DAY 8 - An idyll end Today we woke up to a pleasantly cold morning. There was an upbeat mood in the camp. Coffees and conversations took the center stage. Our trek leader Preet summoned us for one final briefing session. We thanked all the trek staff with a big applause. We are eternally grateful to them. There are lots of moments when these people did not let us give up and made us push ourselves to reach the destination. I personally thanked Bhagat (who calls me Chennai Express, although i became as slow as a passenger mail towards the end) and Parvesh (who sprained his leg in the last day after so much of help he rendered to us). We took one final group photo outside the camp and started the walk to our final destination Sangla.
After a small initial climb from the camps, the walk was gentle along the slopes. The Sangla valley all through our trail was picturesque. We even got our mobile signals back and made calls to our folks back home to ensure that we are alive and healthy. On the way, we got the 10th grade results of one of our trek staffs, Manish and he passed with flying colors. A nice reason for a mini-celebration. The sound of chirping birds, small streams, gentle breeze, warm sun, herbal aroma, snow clad mountains at the backdrop, stone houses, lone trees and mini ponds lined up to welcome us the trekkers after a successful and arduous expedition. Sangla valley is just beautiful. As we reached Sangla, there was a religious procession being held by the natives. Before we touch down the hotel at Sangla, we had to do one more short climb into the streets. This made us realize
"It's never over, until it's done". At last, we got into the hotel which was reserved for us. We are back into civilization. We refreshed ourselves and had lunch in a nearby restaurant. We bid each other a warm adieu. Friendships made in treks
can last for lifetime. Then we booked a cab to begin another long journey to Kalka (90 kms from Shimla).
After more than 12 hours of back-breaking cab ride, we reached Kalka railway station almost on time to catch the Shatabdi Express to Delhi. I reached NDLS at 10.30 AM and took an auto to Kuttu's place. After the lunch at Cafe Lota and a sunset time lemon tea at his home with
">Moby's Porcelain playing, I reached the airport to board my flight to Chennai. I was irresistibly tired and dozing off in the flight. I took a cab from Chennai airport at 12 am to my house. As I was nearing my house I had this thought of why we trekkers are doing these expeditions with so much pain and efforts. I could think of only one answer and here it is - "Tot: 0.146s; Tpl: 0.015s; cc: 8; qc: 49; dbt: 0.042s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
anonymous
non-member comment
Beautiful! Thanks for bringing the Himalayas to us :)