The trek was long and so is the blog entry. Out of experience, I can say that attention span and patience are two things we are losing very fast. In order to make it easier I have divided the trekking experience into three parts. The first part contains how I came across the idea of trekking, planning the tour, itinerary of the trek, few things about Kasol and my experience in the first three days in the camp. The second part is about the trek, which lasted 7 days and 6 nights, starting from the base camp till the return. The third part is about few things which should be kept in mind during planning for the trek, and some other thoughts/information. The link to all the parts are given below.
Part-I
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek.html
Part-II
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_38.html
Part-III
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_27.html
Photo Blog:
http://coloursinarainbow.blogspot.in/2014/06/up-above-world-so-high-sarpass-trek.html
Happy reading.
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Part-I
Some of us had planned the trek for celebration of their graduations, some had planned it for adventure, for some it was part of their work and for rest of us, at least two of us, it was just a gateway to break away from the mundane activities accompanying a 8-5 job. Personally, months prior to the trek, I was bored, frustrated and fed up with life. A phase which had occurred previously many times but not as intense as this one. When someone suggested a break, trekking in the Himalayas was the first thing that crossed my mind. Ladakh trip and trekking were few things that I had already discussed with Om and Monty but the plans made four years ago never materialised. As soon as I decided to go with in few days I booked the seat in YHAI's website and all other travel arrangements were done. March and April were spent researching about the trek and discussing with person who had already completed the trek. Most of the things I needed were shopped online.
Getting there:
Kasol is a small town situated near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. On the Chandigarh-Manali highway, one has to take a right turn at Bhuntar, just before Kullu, and have to travel around 30 kilometres, to reach Kasol. Manikaran, which is a holy place for Sikhs, is about 5 kms from Kasol.
I had reached New Delhi via train and did the onward journey to Bhuntar by state government operated Volvo bus. The bus left Delhi (ISBT Kashmere Gate) at around 8:30 PM in the evening and reached Bhuntar by 9:00 AM next morning. From there on I had to take a local bus upto Kasol. The road to Kasol from Bhuntar is a scenic one, the Parvati river flow along the left bank and one can see the snow capped mountain towering on both sides of the roads. After a ride of about 3 hours (We had a traffic jam since road repairing job was going on) I reached the YHAI base camp at around noon. Rest of the day was spent doing some paper work and meeting fellow travellers in the group. I was allotted Tent No-2 and their I met Sunil (a doctor) and Laxmikant (a Clinical Researcher) from Mumbai. Later on two other tent mates (Ajosh and Lennin, both professional photographers from Kerala) joined us. Late in the evening, Angad (from Ludhiana) shifted from Tent-1 to Tent-2. A group of college students from Mumbai formed the majority of our group and they were allotted Tent-1. In the evening I explored the Kasol market with Sunil and Laxmi and did some shopping.
Kasol is a very small town, known (and infamous) for the easy availability of ganja, charas and other narcotics. Many foreigners stays here, spending months. Most of the tourists are from Israel which was evident from the rampant use of Hebrew by the display boards of shops. Foreigners can be seen lazing around. Indian tourists made very few of the population. Indians, mostly sikhs, stop here on their way to-from Manikaran.
Itinerary for the Trek:
The trek is of 7 days while 3 days are for joining and acclimatization etc. So a total of 10 days are required for the trek. SP-29 followed the following schedule.
Day-01 (29-05-2014): Reporting at Kasol Base Camp
Day-02 (30-05-2014): Acclimatisation Trek and Briefing about the trek
Day-03 (31-05-2014): Rock Climbing and Rapelling
Day-04 (01-06-2014): Trek from Kasol Base Camp to Grahan
Day-05 (02-06-2014): Trek from Grahan to Padri.
Day-06 (03-06-2014): Trek from Padri to Minh-Thatch
Day-07 (04-06-2014): Trek from Minh-Thatch to Nagaru
Day-08 (05-06-2014): Trek from Nagaru to Biskeri-Thatch
Day-09 (06-06-2014): Trek from Biskeri-Thatch to Bhandak-Thatch
Day-10 (07-06-2014): Trek from Bhandak-Thatch to Barsani. Barsani to Kasol via Bus.
Day-11 (08-06-2014): Departure from Base Camp after breakfast.
Staying in base camp on 10th day evening is optional. If your itinerary does not permit you to stay, you can leave the base camp on 10th day evening itself.
The attached charts gives an idea about the altitude and distance to be covered during the duration of the trek.
Day-2 &3 (Acclimatisation and other activities):
The first two days in the camps are spent making an effort to acclimatise your body to the rigours of the upcoming trek. On both the days you have to jog for about 15 minutes and do some stretching and other exercises under the guidance of the local trainers. On 2nd day a small trek to a near by hill is conducted, with two blankets and a water bottle in your back pack, as a mock exercise. On 3rd day, rock climbing and rappelling is practised in near a rock near the camp.
For me Day-2 started as early as 4:30 AM. The starts were just fading out from the eastern sky and a faint glow of light was just beginning to appear behind the mountains in the east. By 06:00 AM almost all the members (except those who had not joined) of our group had lined up for the morning exercise. The displeasure and discomfort of waking up so early was clearly painted on most of the faces. After jogging for about a kilometre we reached a plain spot just at the end of town. After a brief warm up, the exercises began and soon our physical fitness (or lack of it) was evident from the facial expressions. The exercises were interrupted by a brief spell of rain which allowed us to catch up our breath. After returning from the exercise and having breakfast, we gave a send off to the SP-27 batch. By 8:30 am we started our acclimatisation trek to a hill near by. Initially it was a steep climb of about 200-300 vertical distance, then the climb was gradual. The local camp boy Jagdish was our guide along with 3 dogs from the camp.
After trekking for about an hour, we reached the rest point. As soon as we reached, it started to drizzle mildly and we had to use the rain sheets. We had our introduction session where all of us introduced ourselves. As it happened, SP-29 was well represented by people from all parts of India. Angad, Neel+Mumbai public, Ajosh/Lenin and myself representing the north, west, south and east India respectively. As a part of our task, we had to choose the group leader, environment leader and a host for the evening programme. Pratik, Yamini and Isha were chosen for the above positions, unanimously. Another thing we had to do was to create a slogan for our group. Among many lame options, we had chosen this one..."Oh my darling give me a kiss....हम हैं SP-उनतीस (SP-29)". Since it started to rain heavily, we decided against climbing any further and returned to the base camp. After returning from the trek we had lunch, which consisted of simple Indian vegetarian food, then we had the briefing sessions which mainly gave us a vague idea about what to expect and not expect from the trek. Rest of the afternoon was spent buying few accessories we found would be necessary during trekking in rain and booking our return ticket to Delhi.
In the evening we practised for hosting the evening. Actually, as per the camp rules, every group has to host the evening on their second day at the camp. After dinner, the camp fire is lighted (which is an electrical arrangement, no burning of fire wood), and the programme is carried out.
Our group did some songs, dance by Pratik and Shamita. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhhWh3gLdNQ).
The Mumbai boys did a spoof on the "baby doll" song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Miuy9Ly75iA). Rest of the guys did a poker faced dance on the song "ओ जाने जान, ढूंढ़ता हूँ कहां..."(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDlDZ2HunA). The baby doll song was a hit among the audience.
On the third day, after the compulsory physical exercise session and the send off to SP-28, we went for rock climbing. The highlight of the session was Angad and his ingenuous antics to pretend physical activity without spending too much of energy. In this session, we had to climb on a almost vertical surface for about 20-25 fts just using our hands. Trained guides we there to help us but the climb was much difficult than I had anticipated. Few of the guys did it effortlessly but for rest for us it was a task. Luckily, we did not encounter any such climb during the trek. At the end, we entertained ourselves by the useless tantrum of a drunk local. He showed how he could climb the cliff without any help. I thought, more than his skill, extra alcohol in his cardiovascular system helped him achieve the fit. A heavy drizzle in the evening prevented us from doing the rappelling session. We spent that time in the tent packing our bags and taking rest. We had to keep our extra luggage in the base camp. Hence, we had to put them in a bag and submit it to the authorities. Plan well or else you will spend many hours packing and unpacking/repacking, just like I did.
These two days may seem boring for some, since no actual trekking is done, but I feel it was important. It gives you time to gel with your other group mates, tent mates and more importantly make your body a little fitter. And these two days will pass just like that in anticipation of the adventure to follow in the next seven days.
For reading more about the actual trek click on the following link.
Part-II
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_38.html
Part-I
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek.html
Part-II
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_38.html
Part-III
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_27.html
Photo Blog:
http://coloursinarainbow.blogspot.in/2014/06/up-above-world-so-high-sarpass-trek.html
Happy reading.
:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Part-I
Some of us had planned the trek for celebration of their graduations, some had planned it for adventure, for some it was part of their work and for rest of us, at least two of us, it was just a gateway to break away from the mundane activities accompanying a 8-5 job. Personally, months prior to the trek, I was bored, frustrated and fed up with life. A phase which had occurred previously many times but not as intense as this one. When someone suggested a break, trekking in the Himalayas was the first thing that crossed my mind. Ladakh trip and trekking were few things that I had already discussed with Om and Monty but the plans made four years ago never materialised. As soon as I decided to go with in few days I booked the seat in YHAI's website and all other travel arrangements were done. March and April were spent researching about the trek and discussing with person who had already completed the trek. Most of the things I needed were shopped online.
Getting there:
Kasol is a small town situated near Kullu in Himachal Pradesh. On the Chandigarh-Manali highway, one has to take a right turn at Bhuntar, just before Kullu, and have to travel around 30 kilometres, to reach Kasol. Manikaran, which is a holy place for Sikhs, is about 5 kms from Kasol.
I had reached New Delhi via train and did the onward journey to Bhuntar by state government operated Volvo bus. The bus left Delhi (ISBT Kashmere Gate) at around 8:30 PM in the evening and reached Bhuntar by 9:00 AM next morning. From there on I had to take a local bus upto Kasol. The road to Kasol from Bhuntar is a scenic one, the Parvati river flow along the left bank and one can see the snow capped mountain towering on both sides of the roads. After a ride of about 3 hours (We had a traffic jam since road repairing job was going on) I reached the YHAI base camp at around noon. Rest of the day was spent doing some paper work and meeting fellow travellers in the group. I was allotted Tent No-2 and their I met Sunil (a doctor) and Laxmikant (a Clinical Researcher) from Mumbai. Later on two other tent mates (Ajosh and Lennin, both professional photographers from Kerala) joined us. Late in the evening, Angad (from Ludhiana) shifted from Tent-1 to Tent-2. A group of college students from Mumbai formed the majority of our group and they were allotted Tent-1. In the evening I explored the Kasol market with Sunil and Laxmi and did some shopping.
Kasol is a very small town, known (and infamous) for the easy availability of ganja, charas and other narcotics. Many foreigners stays here, spending months. Most of the tourists are from Israel which was evident from the rampant use of Hebrew by the display boards of shops. Foreigners can be seen lazing around. Indian tourists made very few of the population. Indians, mostly sikhs, stop here on their way to-from Manikaran.
Itinerary for the Trek:
The trek is of 7 days while 3 days are for joining and acclimatization etc. So a total of 10 days are required for the trek. SP-29 followed the following schedule.
Day-01 (29-05-2014): Reporting at Kasol Base Camp
Day-02 (30-05-2014): Acclimatisation Trek and Briefing about the trek
Day-03 (31-05-2014): Rock Climbing and Rapelling
Day-04 (01-06-2014): Trek from Kasol Base Camp to Grahan
Day-05 (02-06-2014): Trek from Grahan to Padri.
Day-06 (03-06-2014): Trek from Padri to Minh-Thatch
Day-07 (04-06-2014): Trek from Minh-Thatch to Nagaru
Day-08 (05-06-2014): Trek from Nagaru to Biskeri-Thatch
Day-09 (06-06-2014): Trek from Biskeri-Thatch to Bhandak-Thatch
Day-10 (07-06-2014): Trek from Bhandak-Thatch to Barsani. Barsani to Kasol via Bus.
Day-11 (08-06-2014): Departure from Base Camp after breakfast.
Staying in base camp on 10th day evening is optional. If your itinerary does not permit you to stay, you can leave the base camp on 10th day evening itself.
The attached charts gives an idea about the altitude and distance to be covered during the duration of the trek.
Day-2 &3 (Acclimatisation and other activities):
The first two days in the camps are spent making an effort to acclimatise your body to the rigours of the upcoming trek. On both the days you have to jog for about 15 minutes and do some stretching and other exercises under the guidance of the local trainers. On 2nd day a small trek to a near by hill is conducted, with two blankets and a water bottle in your back pack, as a mock exercise. On 3rd day, rock climbing and rappelling is practised in near a rock near the camp.
 |
| Camp Site (Pic by Ajosh) |
 |
| SP-29 on Day-2 |
 |
| On a after thought, Angad, in this pose, could have been used as a perfect scare-crow. |
Our group did some songs, dance by Pratik and Shamita. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhhWh3gLdNQ).
The Mumbai boys did a spoof on the "baby doll" song (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Miuy9Ly75iA). Rest of the guys did a poker faced dance on the song "ओ जाने जान, ढूंढ़ता हूँ कहां..."(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtDlDZ2HunA). The baby doll song was a hit among the audience.
On the third day, after the compulsory physical exercise session and the send off to SP-28, we went for rock climbing. The highlight of the session was Angad and his ingenuous antics to pretend physical activity without spending too much of energy. In this session, we had to climb on a almost vertical surface for about 20-25 fts just using our hands. Trained guides we there to help us but the climb was much difficult than I had anticipated. Few of the guys did it effortlessly but for rest for us it was a task. Luckily, we did not encounter any such climb during the trek. At the end, we entertained ourselves by the useless tantrum of a drunk local. He showed how he could climb the cliff without any help. I thought, more than his skill, extra alcohol in his cardiovascular system helped him achieve the fit. A heavy drizzle in the evening prevented us from doing the rappelling session. We spent that time in the tent packing our bags and taking rest. We had to keep our extra luggage in the base camp. Hence, we had to put them in a bag and submit it to the authorities. Plan well or else you will spend many hours packing and unpacking/repacking, just like I did.
These two days may seem boring for some, since no actual trekking is done, but I feel it was important. It gives you time to gel with your other group mates, tent mates and more importantly make your body a little fitter. And these two days will pass just like that in anticipation of the adventure to follow in the next seven days.
For reading more about the actual trek click on the following link.
Part-II
http://circulatingreflux.blogspot.in/2014/07/a-trek-through-wonderland-sar-pass-trek_38.html
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