Finally after walking somewhat aimlessly for a while, Dinesh stopped and declared that this was where we would camp tonight. It was a neat little clearing in the jungle. Dinesh and 'dhai' set down to set up the tents - they had one tent for the two of them and one smaller tent about 50 meters away for me further into the clearing. They meticulously set up my tent and placed the sleeping bag in it and then went about setting up our little 'kitchen'. It must have been around 3pm when we were all done - with a cup of steaming hot tea in hand, sitting next to a crackling bright fire (which 'dhai' set up after gathering dry wood from around the site; gathering dry wood when it had just snowed was challenging to say the least but the two dudes with me managed it very well) followed by two bowlfulls of Maggi, I was a man content and warm. The latter feeling did not last long, as it began to snow again, light and flaky at first but heavier as time passed. I was enjoying the snowfall so much that I did not realise when the fire went out, when the two dudes disappeared Into their tents and most importantly, when my lower jaw lost all control and began to ram up repeatedly against my upper jaw! Dinesh shouted from inside his tent "sir, thank mean kyon khade ho... Apne tent mean jao". Very sound advise, that....given that my arms were also losing control over themselves and my whoe body had started to shiver feverishly by then! The temperature must have dropped very sharply and quickly - too fast for me to realise the effect it was having on me. I scampered into my tent, unpacked my sleeping bag with violently shaking hands and slipped into it swiftly. It was only after a full 15 minutes that I began to feel warm. The eager beaver in me compelled me to almost immediately step out of the tent and behold the sight of our now whiter and perceptibly more pristine surroundings. Several more photographs later, it was time for dinner @ around 630pm. This was not before at least an hour of sitting close to the fire listening to Dinesh's stories one after another built around his experiences with several people whom he had guided on their treks. Had daal Chawal for dinner and proceeded to hit the sack after attending to nature's call somewhere in the dark woods (never spent lesser time doing this than today) The night was not as uncomfortable as I thought (it being my first night ever in a jungle inside a 6 foot tent). I was waking up every hour or so only to doze back off after imagining sounds and movements near my tent of animals and ghosts. Its amazing how fatigue can conquer fear in such times! On every occasion that I woke up I could feel the only part of my body that was not covered by anything - my nose - numb and cold. Day 4 (1st May 2012); Global warming? Sez who?: It must have been about 6 when I woke up and stepping out of the tent saw that the two dudes were already up and about. 'dhai' was collecting wood for the fire and Dinesh was just coming around to the state of being awake. "Tea?", he said. "absolutely!", I said. Before this, Dinesh broke news that apparently a fox stole our eggs that he had been carrying and he had kept just outside his tent. I wasn't particularly pleased about the fact that I would be deprived of my omelette. Wondered if Dinesh with all his experience shouldn't have known better than to keep the eggs outside... Had to contend with corn flakes for breakfast which were so excessively sweet, I could hardly swallow them. My main nutrition that morning was a pack of rusks. After multiple cups of tea and more stories around the fireplace by Dinesh, we packed up and set out for the next milestone - Khullara Pass. Today's walk was going to be short and easy in Dinesh's words. Given that he was typically prone to exaggerations, I figured today's trek would really be like a walk in the park, which in fact it turned out to be. Before I could even get into the rhythm of walking, we emerged from the woods, almost suddenly, into a wide open meadow surrounded by snow capped peaks all around giving a clear 360 degree view. We found one lone soul sitting with a pile of foodstuff packed into steel suitcases under a tent under an overhanging rock. Dinesh informed that this guy had been sitting here for the last 2 days waiting for the Marathi group. Dinesh reckoned that they would have hardly reached Tali by then. The guy told Dinesh a bear had come really close to him the night before, perhaps attracted by the smell of all the food; but apparently the fire lit by the guy had driven the bear away - sleeping alone in the tent that night began to look like a much more challenging prospect after I heard this; my fertile imagination had found another centerpiece around which it would build all sorts of scary scenarios tonight! I would have thought this was the perfect campsite but Dinesh proceeded further downward to another smaller clearing and announced that that would be our campsite. Slightly disappointed with the rather limited view for this vantage point, I was inquisitive about why we could not camp at the larger site. Was told that it was more open and hence more cold and also that the ground was wetter there. I decided that the other site was also pretty good and gave majestic views of the Dronagiri, haathi ghoda and several other peaks. The tents were set up quickly with the same dexterity and we were sipping tea next to a nice crackling fireplace soon enough. This site had another tent the inhabitants of which were a Gujarati NRI and his guide. Apparently they had left from Joshimath one day before we did and on account of bad weather, had abandoned their original plan of crossing Kuari Pass over to the other side and perhaps visiting some villages there. I was crestfallen because I feared I might have to face the same fate. Let stone climbing Pangharchulla (the highest peak up from Kuari Pass), even going up to Kuari Pass began to look iffy In my head. While I was determined to make an attempt, I was paranoid that Dinesh would veto it. So on every little occasion, I would bring up the topic during conversation trying to get out of Dinesh that were, in fact, going to Kuari Pass tomorrow. He did not decline but kept making oblique references to the weather. My fingers were firmly crossed and a prayer for the weather god was constantly on in my head. Sometime during the day we saw a fox roam around the campsite. It drew my ire for depriving us of our eggs, not that there was any overt way in which I expressed that ire... :pWe lazed around the place - and what a perfect place to laze around it was! I must have taken a hundred photographs from different angles when I decided to start listening to some music. There is something about listening to your favourite music while staring into a scenic valley feeling the cool hill breeze rush against your face. Something that is indescribable in any way or any language. Supplement this with a ciggie watching smoke swirl out as you hold it between your fingers and look at the red glow brighten up with every breath you take in and you have got a setting that would surely rival heaven. And then, add light and increasingly heavy snowfall to this setting and you surely have something that far surpasses heaven. That is what exactly happened that afternoon. I was listening to some of my favourite songs (Wishlist and Given to Fly by Pearl Jam, November Rain by GNR, some Alanis and U2 along with Cold Play and REM) and could not resist lighting a cigarette, when it started to snow, first very small light flakes lazily swirling down and settling on my jacket and then faster larger flakes piling up incessantly all over the landscape. Everyone got into their tents but I was standing, arms outstretched, like a man in a trance taking snow right on my face, the feeling was beyond comprehension - it was sheer joy! From the corner of my eye, I saw the NRI scamper past me towards his tent, a confused and amused smile on his face. I lay myself down on a flat rock and for several minutes just let the snow fall on me... When it got unbearably cold, I came back to real life and ran into the tent in which Dinesh, "dhai" and the NRI's guide were chatting away. We must have spent 2-3 hours chatting, listening to their stories and sipping multiple cups of tea all the while it was continuously snowing outside. Even the most experienced amongst the three - Dinesh - admitted that such snow was unseen at this time of the year ever. My heart sank a few floors further. But something told me that tomorrow would be a clear day and that I would not return disappointed. Stepping out of the tent, we beheld a sight that was one of the most beautiful I have ever seen. The green of the landscape was now sparse and peeped from behind a thin layer of white.The fireplace was lit again (god only knows from where they managed dry wood; though a lot of it was actually wet wood assisted in being lit by kerosene that had been brought for cooking). The fire used to not only warm us up but also very effectively dry up our shoes besides, later being used as the key source for cooking food (when we started running out of kerosene). We had a nice (though extremely cold) evening around the fireplace chatting away. Dinner was roti and daal which, given how hungry I was, had never tasted better. Since I had been cribbing about there being no eggs, Dinesh arranged for his friend (the NRI's guide) to prepare egg curry for me. �ll the unconventional and unconventionally cooked food I was having had taken its toll on my tummy; the resultant repeated visits to attend to nature's call deeper in the forest along with the dreaded washing of hands with icy cold water (which set to naught all the effort spent in warming them at the fireplace) was not adding any comfort. I left for my tent (which was almost a 100 meters away from Dinesh's tent now - perhaps because i had insisted that my tent be setup in a place where i could wake up to the sight of the rising sun) at about 930 and slid into the sleeping bag but just could not control my shivering. My hands and legs were extremely cold and nothing I did warmed them up through the night. It was a rather uncomfortable night with me waking up all almost every half an hour or so because of the cold and on several occasions imagining a bear circling my tent! I wasn't much bothered about the bear as I knew (and it was confirmed by Dinesh the next day) that the poor animal would be more scared of me than the other way round particularly because I snore exceptionally loudly in my sleep! But the cold was what kept me up much of the night.
Kuari Pass Trek
For me, trekking has been that one thing that I have wanted to do much more than I have been able to in real life. Though that is true for a lot of other things like playing the guitar, taking looong drives, playing Angry Birds the whole day, flying a plane etc etc, the yearning (and practicality) of being able to undertake trekking been much greater.
And here I was, in between jobs, with a break that I could use as I chose to! I had one week before I had to join my new job on the 7<span>th of May. I frantically began to search for trekking options. My criteria was clear; the trek had to be
<span><span>- a 4-5 day trek (excluding travel ex-Delhi to and from trek start point)
<span><span>- must including camping and not have any civilized places to stay overnight
<span><span>- must be beyond an altitude of 3000m at least
While the first condition was dictated by the time constraint I had, the 2<span>nd was more because I had never done a trek that involved camping. As a child, visiting grandparents in Nainital had seeded in me a very deep liking for the mountains and the several small treks I had done as a chile fuelled my passion to keep going back to them even after my grandparents long expired. The third condition was to ensure there was enough challenge. This meant that I looked for only the “moderate” category treks.
Hundreds of hours of googling and very much more productive tens of hours on indiamike.comhad me narrowing down to The Kuari Pass trek and Sundardungha valley trek. Somehow, for reasons I do not remember or perhaps sheer gut feel, Kuari Pass made the cut finally.
Being the discerning “value for money” buyer that I am, I did not leave any stone unturned in finding out the best and most economical guide / porter service providers in Joshimath – the base for the Kuari Pass trek. After speaking / writing emails to some over the course of 1 week, I narrowed down to Himalayan Snow Runners who are recommended by Lonely Planet and also by several IMers. I must clarify though that I was specifically against taking some sort of a “luxury” trek where one would be accompanied by several mules and porters and blah and blah spoiling the whole fun. I consciously wanted to make it a barebone trek ensuring that I had only the bare essentials which would be indispensible for doing this trek. Two reasons for this – one, and more important, I wanted the trek to be as close to nature, as raw, as challenging as possible and two, I am a VFM buyer to the point of being obsessive about it! <span>J
Let me start the day-wise account from here
Day 1 (28<span>th April 2012); Kotdwar, here I come! : During my planning for the trip, I spent several hours vacillating over whether I should try to cover the Delhi-Joshimath distance in one day. While it would have been a good kick, I also wanted to ensure that I was fit enough to start my trek the next day. Good advise from IMers led me to decide that I would take a night halt in between. <span> So while my trek was to start on 30<span>th May, I planned to leave from Delhi on 28<span>thApril. Had to attend my brother’s daugther’s birthday party and hence was able to leave only around 415pm instead of the desirable time of 2pm. My target was to cross UP border before nightfall having been advised about potential risk of driving late on the roads of UP. And being the iconoclast that I have always been, I chose to take the route less taken – the one via Meerut-Bijnor-Najibabad-Kotdwar-Srinagar-Rudraprayag-Joshimath. And maybe, another reason I took this route was to at least cross through the place I was born in – Bijnor – to which I had never been after being born there.
So my target was to lay my head in Kotdwar which lies just inside the border of Uttarakhand. That effectively meant that I drove continuously without break from Delhi to Kotdwar hitting the latter at 915 sharp. Was quite pleased with myself for having done the stretch in 5 hours which I guess is at the lower end of the range. Was lucky to not find too much traffic and surprisingly, the roads were awesome. While Delhi-Meerut is always bad, from Meerut, right upto Kotdwar, the roads were smooth as butter! The last stretch from Najibabad to Kotdwar was a little scary since I was almost completely alone on it (even at ~8pm) with no activity / human beings / cars around. I must clarify though that the “scary” was not in any way due to any threat that I overtly faced – for all I know, this road is one of the safest in the country, but just the sight of an empty road at night kind of gives you the creeps <span>J.
There are a few twists and turns on the otherwise straight road which are not so well marked (especially near the cities) – on one such instance, I was at a T-point close to Najibabad with a non-descript board with the arrow for Bijnor and Kotdwar pointed in the same direction!! Now, that was obviously incorrect, so I looked around for someone to ask and all I could find after roaming around a bit (this was just outside of the main city of Najibabad), was three motorcycle borne youth, who looked from all angles characters from a movie like Gangajal... Now, as I realized later, I was clearly paranoid in seeing those simple young folks in this light. But nevertheless, the dark lonely stretch does do things to your imagination; since I had no one else to ask, I pulled over next to these dudes and asked them; one of them got off the motorcycle and started to explain when the other guy turned the motorcycle headlight right onto my face through the car window (and this guy looked completely like what us city-bred, Bollywood-kitsch-watching snobs have been made to believe are goondas) and in a rough voice he said “aap to galat aa gaye”; “chalo mere peeche!!” I turned the car and started accelerating and when they turned to the right from where I had originally come, for some silly reason, I turned away; the poor guys shouted at the top of their voice to guide me back on the right path but Aman Khanna was convinced that these guys were going to kidnap him!! Nevertheless, I lost them, went back into the city, asked and found out that those guys were right and sheepishly went along on that route; very soon, I could see them in front of me, but this time we were in a busy market; being embarrassed about what I had done, I rushed past them, apologizing to them aloud in my car. :p
Well, nothing more eventful than that happened in the rest of the journey and soon I was on the main street of Kotdwar asking for GMVN’s tourist rest house (heard these are good, sturdy, trustworthy though basic hotels albeit at the best places in the town); unfortunately could not find it and, on the recommendation of a local, drove upto a place called “Dev Vani”, just off the main highway where I got into an AC room and crashed for the night; had to leave at 5am the next morning for the longer stretch of 10 hours up to Joshimath. Thankfully, had brought along a packed dinner which I relished before settling for the night. Also realized that I had forgotten<span> to bring the adapter for my phone charger which meant me having no connectivity (read no google maps) the next day. The hotel had good parking space and the reception guy was very nice and helpful.
Day 2 (29<span>th April 2012); Hilly roads, take me to Joshimath!: The alarm on my Blackberry dutifully did its chime repeatedly until I was wide awake at 445am. Took a quick bath and was ready within minutes to go forth. After some shouting to<span> call the reception guy (who had locked the main gate), was able to roll out of Dev Vani at 515am. Took full advantage of little / no traffic and drove continuously till 800am by when I was in a rare and extremely dangerous condition – kadak-adrak-tea deficiency!! <span>J Did not stop before this partly because the ride was so smooth, partly because the tarmac in front of me was so inviting and partly because I am a sucker when it comes to stopping driving!! Was also hungry but as luck would have it, the place where I stopped (I think it was just before Pauri though I do not remember exactly – can anyone guess from the pic? Dilliwala?) only had light snacks (what they called “fan” and looked like wafers). After two cups of tea, some stretching, taking pics and having the “fan”, I was on my way again – the stop being only about 10 minutes.
The road from Kotdwar had been very good, though as all hilly roads, did require good concentration. After Satpuli, there are two roads that lead upto Pauri (as shown by google maps) one of which is shorter and goes via Mohar and the other goes via Pathisan. I looked for the former but somehow still landed up on the latter but had no regrets since the road was good (though in the latter half of the stretch, the road is narrow and one must have good hill driving experience to navigate it). While there was not much traffic, one could find the occasional Sumo shared taxi.
One such Sumo had a particularly eager driver and for some reason had a fancy for racing. He was inching closer to me from behind but even though I gave him a pass on a couple of occasions, he was unable to overtake – this went on for 10-15 minutes when the guy got very impatient and overtook me in a manner that could not be called even remotely safe. When he was in front of me, I was relieved and for a large part of the rest of the journey just kept tailing him. Tailing someone who is fast can be really helpful on hilly roads – the person in front pretty much clears up the road for you and is in the first line of fire in case something untoward happens – really like a shield, so I did not mind tailing this eager beaver. Incidentally, when he crossed me, I could not help notice a bold sticker on the rear window – “Ziddi Boy...”. “Yeah, right, I know, good for you (and me!)” I muttered. <span>J
Pauri is a busy town and the main junction from where one almost take s U-turn to go towards Srinagar had a broken road which took some precious time but was overall ok. My next stop was Rudraprayag at about 1130 by which time I was starving to death. Had parathas on a roadside dhaba with 2 cups of tea, took some pictures and was on my way again within 20 minutes!
About 50kms before Joshimath, it started raining cats and dogs which made driving even more taxing but was fun and also multiplied the enjoyment of driving. I rolled into Joshimath town at 315pm – a complete 10 hours from the time I left; again I gave myself a pat on the back for making it near perfect time. Now there are two GMVN hotels in Joshimath – one in the Main Market and the other one which is called “New”. The “New” one’s access road was blocked so after some back and forth (thankfully the market had no traffic) on the road, I reached the one in the main market, where I took a “deluxe” room – which was very basic but had what was required. <span> My first task was to charge my phone and camera battery<span> for which I immediately went out and bought an adapter; also bought some mineral water and snacks. Almost as soon as I plugged my phone into the charger, Ajay Bhatt of Himalayan Snow Runners called and offered to come and talk with me along with my guide to explain the 4-day trek itinerary. I found the proactiveness of these guys refreshing. He came soon enough with the guide – Dinesh Bhatt - who was extremely reticent (I was to discover later that he was actually one of the most talkative persons I have met!). I agreed to carry some of my own load which would perhaps not amount to more than 8kgs. I had the choice of offloading a majority of it to the porter who would be carrying everything else – sleeping bags, our 3 days ration, tents etc. but I reserved that choice until my fatigue would surpass my concern for the porter’s welfare. And also, I wanted to “test” myself – after all in a real real trek (which I hope to do someday) one should carry everything that one needs oneself. We were to start at 930am tomorrow but I made Ajay agree to start earlier at least at 9 – the weather was inclement with every afternoon becoming cloudy and wet, and I wanted to ensure that I could move a good distance on day 1 without letting weather play spoilsport. And of course one could catch the scenic beauty much better before the clouds would drape them in the afternoon.
Rest of the evening was spent walking the main market and seeing, on Ajay’s advise – a temple of the Shankaracharya. GMVN does not serve non-veg so dinner was in a hotel behind GMVN – Shailja where I had butter chicken that was worth dying for <span>J (in the process also perhaps taking in all the calories I was going to burn on the 4-day trek!)
Day 3 (30<span>th April 2012); Oh, for the love of the Himalayas!: Slept like a log and was at Ajay’s office at 830am after a quick breakfast of omlete and chai at GMVN. Within minutes, we were set to go with the porter (who was a Nepali and fondly called “Dhai”) me and Dinesh and all our stuff in a car on the way to Auli from where the trek would start. The road to Auli was narrow and steep and offered some really good views. On reaching Auli, I found that there was another large group of Marathis also intending to do this trek (albeit in 6 days). The group was full of auntyjis and unclejis and bachchajis yapping away in chaste Marathi. Nice set of folks but I was not particularly amused about having to trek with a crowd.
Various people kept telling us that the weather was particularly bad this year with a lot of snow being there at the peaks and on the way. I had already been told that climbing Pangarchulla (the highest peak near Kuari Pass) would be next to impossible but I had a glimmer of hope that we would be able to do it. In this scenario I was half-hoping that this crowd would give up halfway or just camp midway and spend the rest of their holidays there (which is what really happened later <span>J).
Dinesh’s reticence disappeared soon enough and he began telling me of his adventures – apparently he has experience of 15 years as a guide – which I did not have much reason to disbelieve given his rich knowledge (being the sceptic I am, I cross checked some of the things he said and he was almost always right!) and several war stories he told me. He proudly told me that Sonu Nigam would be coming for the same trek after me and that he would be his guide and that Sonu was a Garhwali and how great Garhwalis are <span>J For me, all mountain people are great, so I did not disagree.
Auli has a beautiful ski resort and Dinesh told me that the slopes we were puffing and panting upon are filled with snow in winters and provide the best skiing ground. He is a ski instructor himself and told me of his shop where he rents out skiing equipment. The guy had good cross-selling skills – he offered for me to come with family to try out skiing. <span>J
Like in every trek undertaken after a long break, the first few steps were tough and I was panting like a steam engine and taking frequent breaks but thankfully, the trekker in me caught up with me soon and I started getting comfortable with the climb; though the large crowd was a constant source of irritation.
Picked some flowers on the way – Dinesh was quick to point out that the flowers on this trek were no less than those seen at The Valley of Flowers – and took a tea break after just 20 minutes of walking before moving on towards Gorson Bugyal. <span> Dinesh claimed good knowledge of the flowers and kept blurting out their names as and when we saw them.
Within about 2 hours of our walk we came to Gorson Bugyal where I saw several campsites. I thought that this would be just a 10 minute stopover after which we would proceed. To my utter surprise, Dinesh came back to me (after chatting with some of his peers) that we would camp there tonight. I was flabbergasted – how could we camp just 2.5 hours after we started at 1145am? I had just about warmed up for a long haul... Like a stubborn kid, I cajoled Dinesh to take us further; he was guarded as clouds were starting to gather (and the supposedly great view from Gorson Bugyal was also fast getting covered up) and the porter also wanted to let off some load (the food that we would eat that day) before moving on. But somehow I could not swallow doing such a short walk when I had been all geared up for at least a 5 hour trek and for reaching a greater height. So, despite my guide’s best advise, we started onwards after a cup of tea and some pictures. I asked Dinesh one last question before we proceeded – “Bhai jaan ka khatra to nahin hai na?”; he replied “Nahin, par risky hai, hume to sab dekhna padta hai na; kya aapko chalega if all your clothes and sleeping bags get wet and we have to shiver through the night in snowfall?”; I said “Yes! As long as jaan ka khatra nahin hai, chalega!”
As feared, very soon it started snowing incessantly and the narrow hill track that one needs to cross to get to Tali became wet and slippery. We were sloshing through the snow and I was shivering to the bone but despite the hardship I had the childlike thrill of taking the challenge. Dinesh had exaggerated the difficulty and length upto Tali (or perhaps underestimated my speed) in telling me that it would take 4-5 hours to reach Tali. I therefore plodded on with all my strength and, to my surprise, we were at Tali within 3 hours! Though it snowed heavily and the narrow path was wet etc etc, frankly, it was not half as dangerous or risky as it was made out to be. So, all in all, I was very happy with myself for pushing Dinesh to bring us on. We also lost the Marathi group in the process and now were on our own.
Tali lake, as anyone who has done this trek will agree, cannot be described in words. It is a phenomenally beautiful small lake surrounded by snow capped mountains that takes forever to take in. We must have stayed there for 30 minutes but I felt like I had been there only a minute when Dinesh said we should move on to our camp site a little further ahead, at Chitrakantha.With great effort and will power, I pulled myself away from the lake, turning back almost every half a second as it grew further and further away and we walked deeper and deeper into the woods. Once we were sufficiently deep into the jungle, Dinesh began hunting for a suitable campsite. He was to tell me later that the exact location where one should set up camp is determined by several factors and cannot be a casual decision - the direction of the entrance to the tent, level of the site, proximity to (running) water source etc etc were all important. Apparently the reason we could not camp at Tali lake itself (much as I would have liked to) was that the water was still and hence not good for consumption besides the fact that the site being open from all sides would be much colder than inside the jungle. We encountered a couple of friendly people already camping on the way - we exchanged some pleasantries and moved on.
| [blog=717043] | [blogger=239858] |
Ajay
non-member comment
Auli trek
I am planning to go for Auli Trek in October. I have read several blogs and i am very impressed. I am looking for a travel buddy. http://www.365hops.com/social/event_detail.php?eventid=VkZod1NrMTNQVDA9