A trek to Himalayas

Five of us (Ak,An,G,K,N) went for a trek to Himalayas. I present here a day by day account of our experiences. I also hope to make it useful for the those who plan to trek along this route.

Trek route: Dharmkot - Triundh - Lahesh eelaka - Indraharpass - Lahesh eelaka - Mana - Dharmshala.

Day 1. (October 12, 2007)
G started out from Chennai in a train for Delhi. K and N went to T. Nagar to arrange for Theplas -food stock- for the trek. (Thepla is a sort of roti. It remains fresh for 30 days. Tastes awesome. Perfect food to carry for trekkers. Place order in advance at Mansukh at T. Nagar tel no:044-24341867, 044-243451258 )

Day 2.

Ak,K and N took off by a flight from Chennai to Delhi. Met An at her residence at Faridabad. Ak, An met up G at train station and they went to rent sleeping bags, mattresses, ropes from a dealer called Bhagwansingh-ji in Delhi. (Contact no: 09350225713). Sleeping bags-deposit Rs 1000/- each. rent Rs. 25 per day. Mattresses - rent Rs. 10 per day. Left from Faridabad for New Delhi railway station. Got into the train (Jammu Express. We were to get down at Chakki Bank, near Pathankot)

Day 3.

Reached Chakki Bank at 7:00 am. Took a taxi -rs 1650/- to
Dharmkot. Reached in approx. 2 hours. (abt 100 km). An had arranged for a guide - Mr. Jango (next post exclusively about him. He deserves to be advertised.) Jango-ji had booked 2 rooms for us at a hotel in Dharkot, Paul House. Really basic hotel. Rs 200/- per room. Fantastic view of the mountains. Windows facing the view.
Left the luggage. Walked down to Mcleodganj (2km down from Dharkot). Ate mouth watering momos and Thukpas at authentic Tibetan joint. Later went around to see market and waterfall in Dharmkot. I promise another post just to talk about Dharmkot. I absolutely loved the city. So much so that, I actually wanted to stay back and cancel the trek. Jango-ji dropped by. Observed us to gauge our ability as trekkers. He went off promising to arrange for stove, cooker and a porter. This day served well for acclimatisation. Dharmkot 2000mts above sea level.

Day 4.

Bad start. G got down with fever. Everybody felt a bit reluctant to
leave the lovely Dharmkot. Breakfast was taken at a small hotel nearby. Jango-ji brought all he promised. We loaded the porter with all the food. We carried our own sacks. Jango-ji finally managed to get all the lazy people out of inertia. On the feet, up the mountains. The walk to Triundh started. He took us by a non-standard way. He warned us beforehand that he will do that. He said he wanted to check our fitness. We failed miserably all his tests, to say the least. G was still feeling ill. An was not getting used to the climb. Ak seemed most comfortable. Everybody had hard time keeping up the stamina. The initial climb was moderately hard. (Jango-ji planned it so). Later it became quiet easy. On the way up, stopped at a cafe called Magic cafe. (apparently they sell magic mushrooms here. We could only find cold-drinks though.) Having reached the lush green plateau of Triundh (2800 mts above sea level), we pitched tents for the first time. The Dhaula Dhar ranges were supposed to be seen from here on the east. But thick clouds covered whole of the ranges. Jango-ji helped us again. Ninni was the fellow who provided the Jango-ji's brigade food for the night. Ninni also set up campfire.
We took snaps, rested, chatted around for a while. The night sky looked awesome. The city lights looked like a mirror image of the night sky. Retired to the bed. First time in sleeping bags and in tents. A novel experience. One of the many 'firsts'.

Day 5:

Woke up and did "it" in the wild!!! (an eew experience... long live
clean rest rooms). The thick curtain of clouds was drawn away and there stood the huge, scary, lovely, magical Dhaula Dhar ranges right before our eyes. We were spellbound by its sheer strength, rawness. Nothing can describe it better than itself. We packed tents. Packed bags. G was back on his feet. A good day!! Started the climb towards Lahesh Eelaka (a camping ground just a few meters before the Lahesh Cave). This climb seemed relatively easy. However, the complexity got added when it started sleeting/snowing. At 3200 mts above sea level, we reached snow line cafe. By then the snowing had started vigorously. We waited in the shade of the cafe. The cafe, let me add, was nothing more than few tarpaulin sheets. But it was well-stocked. It had a chulha running. We warmed ourselves here. Had a real hot tea. In about 45 minutes the snow
stopped. We resumed our walk. In another hour we reached Lahesh Eelaka. Jango-ji asked us to pitch our tents here. He had shepherd's hut for himself. It was like a mini-cave with stone walls. Its apparently a place used by shepherds during 3 months every year. For the rest of the months during the year, it is used by people like Jango-ji who know the gaddis (gaddi = shepherd). Ak, K and N went to get woods for campfire. A broken house nearby provided for the wood logs necessary for the same. Jango-ji and porter went further ahead to find more wood. Jango-ji prepared food for us. We ate happily by the campfire. We were freezing to death but were still very happy. This was the day with
least amount of effort. Little did we know what was in store for us the next day. The plan for the next day was, to leave the luggage and tents down at the camp. Leave at 6:00 am for Indrahar pass. Reach up and descend down all before the weather gets too bad. Sounded good and very innocent....

Day 6:

Jango-ji woke us up at 5:00 with hot bed tea. Long live jango-ji and our porter-ji. Started the climb at 6:00 with minimal baggage (a single bag containing extra warm clothes, rotis, dates, 2 bottles of water, mathari). (Should have carried some toffees, electral, some energy drink like Ensure. But forgot them at the camp. sob sob..missed them....). What happened next was an experience hard to describe. Just for the short, we all surprised ourselves. We all made it to the Indrahar pass and also down. People on the net have been rating this part of the trek as moderate. But let me warn you, if you are an inexperienced trekker, count this one as hard. Specially if you trekked under the conditions that we did (when we started our descend it started snowing, clouds came in, visibility was less than 10 feet, N's shoe broke, An got sick of heights and had a brief break down, K's knee
started complaining, it kept snowing, the ice was almost 1 feet, rocks were slippery) you can even rate it as dangerous. We were warned previously by other trekkers that if the weather got even slightly bad avoid this route. Unfortunately for us, till we reached the top it was bright as hell and as soon as we started our descend the weather showed its ugly side. In any case, with a whole lot of ups and downs we all made it at the top and back. And looking back, this was the high point of our trek. More about how Jango-ji made it all happen for us, when I write more about Jango-ji. At the camp, could hardly eat anything. Went to the tents, but hardly could get any sleep....a whole of tension release. When finally sleep "happened" it was one of the most peaceful sleep. Never got out of the tent for dinner. Had lost all sense of time by this day. I can't report the time taken here. You may chose to trust the time line of the plans available on the net.

Day 7:

Descend down to Mana. This is a village reached by going east from
Triundh towards Dharmshala. This is another of the Gaddi addas. The
trek to this village is relatively easy. (After Indrahar anything could be easy). We however had become very slow due to cumulative effect of tiredness of many days. Every muscle was aching... Knees, thighs,arms...name it!! At Mana pitched tents again. We are now the best tent pitchers. Call us if you need to pitch a tent. Here the porter got us goat milk. Jango-ji made tea and served us. The house in which Jango-ji stayed at Mana was a lovely Gaddi house. It was bigger than the cave at Lahesh Eelaka in which Jango-ji stayed. And so pretty. It had a small courtyard and a place to tie cows. Apparently, gaddis use this house only for a month every year. Jango-ji happens to exactly know all such places. Not only that, he happens to know all the gaddis in the locality. The weather here was very pleasant and we could actually sit out side of the tents in open with merely a jacket. The dinner was again by a campfire. This was the first time when all of us, jango-ji and porter ate food together. G chit chatted with Jango-ji about his trekking experiences and the rest became listeners. Here we could get in touch with people outside. The airtel connection worked here. (2000 mts above sea level)

Day 8:

Ak, K and N woke up as early as 5 am. Watched the whole sunrise sitting inside the tent. Jango-ji prepared the bed tea for the last time. Made payment to Jango-ji and porter. Packed our tents. Packed the bags. Again started our descend. Now to Dharmshala. We were tired, exhausted. We talked about how for a long long time to come, we will not go for a trek. But none of us said "never". This was one in a life time experience for us. In spite of its hardness (let me tell you again, those who call it a moderate trek are either pro trekkers or simply repeating what people have said about this trek. We beg to differ. We are not alone.) it fascinated us beyond words.

Now when I see these photos again and again, I almost feel like going back to see those clear night skies at Triundh, the glaciers at Lahesh Eelaka, the Kailash. This was a highly unforgettable experience for all of us. And we hope to preserve each memory for a long time to come. I hope I don't suffer from amnesia, for I have so much at stake after this trek!!

Indrahar Pass