My experience with Himalayan Trekking Expedition to Saurkundi Pass - Part 1 of 3

I participated in Himalayan Trekking Expedition to Saurkundi Pass this summer.  This trek was organized by Youth Hostels Associations of India (YHAI).  I want to share this amazing experience in detail.  You can check out the YHAI website for other adventures.

http://www.yhaindia.org/

Disclaimer:

This blog is exclusive of my views/opinions/thoughts of this trek.  I do not intend to hurt feelings of any individual or group or region.  While we continue to respect each other, we must also enjoy benefits of “Freedom of Speech & Freedom of Expression” for being part of the largest democracy in the world.  One of the core quality of a Trekker is being SPORTIVE.  I hope everyone who reads this blog and whose names were mentioned would take the entire story in the right spirit.  To reiterate, I love everyone and I only mean well and share our true experience of the entire Trek.  Some of us take plenty of photos and some even take videos to capture our memories, I like to write about my experiences.  I am not much into Photos or Videography but I love to write and love to share my opinions/thoughts/views.  I am not sure how many people would have patience to read this excruciatingly detailed write-up.  I wanted to write only because this is my way of capturing my memories.

Why did I want to do this trek?

When I was working as a Consultant for a large oil company in Houston, Texas, one of my American colleagues travelled to India for a Himalayan Trekking Expedition.  If I remember correctly he was here for about three weeks in fourth quarter of 2004.  Being curious to try out various adventures and fascination for beauty of the Mother Nature especially mountains I wanted to try out Himalayan Trekking Expedition once we moved back to India.  Father of one of my son’s friend went on Himalayan Trekking (Pindari Glacier) organized by a private group last year.  I did not come to know about this Trek until he came back.  If I had known about this trek, I would have taken part last year itself.  I have been doing a bit of research on Himalayan Trekking expeditions.  I came to know about YHAI program on a local news channel (TV9) coverage of Sar Pass Trek.  TV9 had shown about 30 min special program on this trek.  I checked out YHAI website after watching this TV program and decided to venture out this summer.

I tried to motivate my colleagues at my current employer as well as friends from my previous employer.  Surprisingly I came to know one of my ex-colleague (Rahul) has already done couple of Treks organized by YHAI and he was also planning to do one more this year.  Although twenty odd people from my current employer expressed interest in Himalayan Trekking, no body turned up when it comes to actually doing the trek.  Luckily, a few of my colleagues from my previous employer and their friends & family signed-up for this trek.

When to do this Trek?

We reported to YHAI base camp in Babeli (just outskirts of Kullu in Himachal Pradesh) on May 19, 2008.  Ideally, you want to trek early May.  You have greater chances of rain during later part of May.  Rain is your worst enemy on the Trek so I suggest to trek in the first week of May.

What else to do in Kullu area?

River rafting is a popular adventure sport in Kullu/Manali area.  You want to do River rafting when there is water flow (current) so that you can get excitement of Rafting.  If there is no current in water flow it almost feels like a boating exercise.  Needless to say, you should try River Rafting while you are in Kullu/Manali area.

Manali is right at the foothill of Himalayas; Manali is about an hour drive (50 K.M) from Kullu.  Babeli is only 7 K.M from Kullu on the way to Manali.  Manali is a great tourist place with lots of resorts, restaurants etc.  It is quite refreshing just to walk around Manali watch beautiful mountains in comfortable temperature.

How to get to Babeli?

There is no train route to Kullu/Manali area.  It is about 8 hour Bus drive from Chandigarh and 12-14 hour drive from New Delhi.  If you catch any Bus to Manali you can simply get-off at YHAI base camp in Babeli which is located right outside of Kullu.  Perhaps taking the Bus is only the realistic option. 

There is a small airport near Kullu; I believe Deccan and Kingfisher Airlines fly there.  You may also consider this option if you don’t like long bus journey. 

You can catch train to Ambala or Chandigarh in Punjab then take a private taxi or Bus to Kullu/Manali.  It is about 8-9 hour Bus drive from Ambala or Chandigarh to Babeli.  It is only about 250 K.M distance but you are driving on the ghat road so it takes 8-9 hours drive and private taxi can be fairly expensive.  If you have 7-8 people, private taxi can be cost effective and convenient option to consider than Bus journey.

Do not travel by Himachal Pradesh Bus Service, they are horribly not comfortable.  In addition, they only drive slightly faster pace than a bullock cart.  I will share my experience with bus travel below, Himachal Pradesh State Bus stops for any passenger they find on the street, they operate like a local/city bus service.  You should find VOLVO or some other Private Bus Service.  You can find Private Bus Services in New Delhi (Connaught Place area) and Chandigarh.

Gang of Ten:

Srini – There is so much about me on this blog so I don’t have to give any special introduction.

Rahul – Has already done couple of Trekking expeditions, he was our group leader – he handled 46 member trekking group to Saurkundi Pass exceptionally well.  Rahul is very talented when it comes to singing, mimicry, drama, dances, sports etc.

Chintan – Simply fun to be around.  Chintan just wanted to do this trek purely for the sake of adventure.  Chintan has enormous data bank of names of big-time flops and one-off Hindi movies, this makes tough to play dumb charades or any sort of movie game with him.

Manan – First time trekker, he just finished 12^th grade and eagerly waiting to get into Engineering college.  We all know how to slide on the snow, Manan can also slide on the mud – he gave new meaning for trekking on the downhill.

Trupti – What can I say about Trupti, a women of many talents and lots of aspirations. 

Neha – She had finished couple of Half-Marathon runs, she is definitely ready for any challenge.  Neha and Trupti were supposed to drop out of this Trek.  On the 11^th hour they decided to join the group, they did not have much time to acclimatize yet they were able to challenge themselves to complete the trek.

Laddu – I am terrible when it comes to tongue-twisting names so I have decided to use her nick name.  By all means, she does not look anything like a Laddu.  She is skinny to bones but she is sweet like a Laddu, she wears pink shirts and drinks coffee in “Winnie the Pooh” mug.  From overhearing her conversations in Marathi, she still has a bit of baby talk.  She also had done 3 or 4 treks in the past.

Prachi – One talented young woman, I really think she should give her best shot with next Indian Idol contest.  She is a good singer, trained in classical vocalist – she has potential to pursue career in her passion which is music.

Sonal – Like Rahul, she has also done trekking in the past.  Sonal was our Environmental Leader, responsible to keep folks from trashing camp sites, mountains and pathways.  Frankly it is not an easy task because we Indians love to through away junk anywhere as long as it is not our house.  We have no regard for community or public hygiene.

Vysali – First time trekker and determined to finish the trek.  I must say I am impressed by Vysali’s determination; she did very well on the trek.  She wanted to collect couple of live lady-bugs so that she can talk about Lady Bugs with pre-school kids where she works. 

Two Indias:

Times of India ran a campaign called “India Poised” in January 2007.  They talk about Two Indias:

One India wants. The other India hopes 

One India leads.  The other India follows.

To describe our Trekking group, I have to relate to “Two Indias” quote.  We also had 13 (12 men and 1 woman) from West Bengal – we started calling them Bengal Babus or Blue Birds, they all wore same Blue colored trek suit.  They reminded an example of what decades of communism can do to human beings, they can quickly become “Wanting things” rather than “Making things”.  When I was in college, I read a quote –“if you are wise you become a communist.  If the wisdom continues you get out of communism”.  I grew up attending RSS Sakha in the evenings while I was also an active member of SFI in my high school.  There are only a few patches of communism still alive in the entire world – I belong to a district, we still elect most number of communist leaders in our state.  Communism is definitely engrained in my genetic code; I am absolutely inspired by Lenin philosophy.  However, I have to say my wisdom continued so I no longer believe in Communism or associated with RSS.  Coming back to our trekking group, these Bengali babus pretty much stayed as one sub-group, they always had their own tent and they did their own things.  Rest of the group was a bit scared to associate with them closely, it could be a perception issue more than any reality.  They looked like typical state govt employees; some of these guys had done multiple treks in the past.  One of the Bengali babus had done 8 treks; another one is suffering from all kinds of knee/joint pains but still decided to take part in this trek – to me, that is crazy!

Out of 46 members in our group, we had significant number of folks from Maharashtra.  People like Raj Thackeray cribs about Marathi sentiment and sounds like Marathi is a dying language.  Believe me, I heard most Marathi in my entire life during this 10 day trek.  Most of these folks from Maharashtra were only speaking predominantly in Marathi.  As per YHAI guidelines, we were only suppose to converse in Hindi or English, guess what I can only hear so much of Marathi or Bengali.  I also figured “Ekkada” or “Akkada” mean the same as in Telugu and in Marathi.  These are the only two words I picked-up hearing from so much Marathi during this 10 day trek.  Laddu kept on saying she can teach me Marathi, I know my linguistic inability so I didn’t take up on her offer.

Our group comprised of 13 women and 33 men, ranging from 15 years to 64 years old.  We had lot of teenage boys/girls in our group, quite a few of them gave 12^th standard exams and anxiously waiting for engineering entrance exam results.  When I saw these young folks, I felt good about India’s prospects in next decade.  I am sure these young kids can take on any global challenges; they can stand upto global competition and make India proud.

Who should try out this Trek?

I strongly suggest folks with any knee/joint pains should avoid this trek.  Anyone in reasonable shape can complete this trek.  To me Trekking is nothing but an adventure, if you love mountains and enjoy Mother Nature at its purest you should consider in Himalayan Trekking.  I do not suggest family re-unions for this expedition.  Furthermore, do not consider trekking as a relaxation or a vacation, it is definitely a physical activity which requires your physical capability as well as mental toughness to deal with constant changes in weather conditions and rough terrain.  As I mentioned above, we had folks ranging from 15 yrs to 64 yrs old so I really think it is no big deal, anyone with an ounce of brain and commitment can finish the trek.  More important thing, you should self-examine why you want to put yourself through?  Men and women can do, teenagers certainly enjoy this experience.   I suggest folks to go for these sorts of camps in groups (at least 3 or 4) so that you will have decent company as well as help each other with any unforeseeable things.  Unless you are in excellent physical shape, I do not recommend trekking expedition for folks above 50 years old.  As I mentioned, walking downhill can take toll on your knees and ankles.  Also, you may not be able to handle high-altitudes as well and you may not enjoy living in the tents.

Preparation:

Things to Bring for the Trek (all of these items to carry with you in your back-pack for a reasonably comfortable trek – don’t worry about weight, you can easily carry 5 to 6 KG without much difficulty).  Knowing what I know, I strongly suggest taking the following things for Trekking Expedition:

YHAI provides backpack so don’t need to take rucksack or backpack.  Rain is your worst enemy while you trek so you must have rain-proof light jacket, trousers and hood.  Buy a comfortable pair of Sports shoes (needs to have good grip, try to choose light-weight trekking/outdoor shoes).  If you can find a pair of sports shoes relatively rain-proof with good grip they make perfect trekking shoes.  I bought Jungle/Hunter Shoes from a Military Store in Secunderabad.  They are pretty cheap (170 Rupees) but they are not comfortable and they soak pretty badly if it rains.  Lots of trekkers buy these shoes, YHAI folks also told me these are not good shoes when it rains so you need to check out various options at Nike, Reebok, and Adidas etc.  Some of the trekkers used their normal running/tennis shoes, they are comfortable but they do not provide necessary grip to walk in mud or on snow.

Socks (4 to 5 pairs plus one pair of woolen socks to handle cold weather), Tracks (2 or 3 pairs of track pants), t-shirts (3), undergarments (3), jacket (light jacket which is rain-proof with hood), steel plate, cup (for Dal), spoon, lunch-box, glass (steel), water bottle, wax candle (1), torch (with extra batteries), water purifying tablets, cold cream, sun-screen, chap stick,  medicines (any prescription medicines, cold & cough, pain killers etc.), soap, soap strips, small shampoo, slippers, toothbrush, paste, thermal wear, monkey cap, baseball cap, rain-proof gloves, glove sleeves (cotton gloves which you can wear inside leather/rain-proof gloves), sun-glasses (any color, you MUST NOT  wear Blue Sun-glasses), tying rope (to hang clothes in the tent), body deodorant(remember you won’t take bath for number of days you trek so deodorant is your best friend to keep basic personal hygiene, toilet paper(remember you may be using outdoor toilets so you must take toilet paper), wet-baby wipes (I am not sure you get them in India, these are baby wipes since they have moisture, they can maintain hygiene better than standard toilet paper), talcum powder(to keep feet dry), towel, 200 to 300 Rupee cash, cotton (to place it in shoe to prevent shoe bites and to put it in ear at high-elevations) and shawl/muffler.  You also want to carry a stick which can help you a great deal on the trek.  Locals sell these sticks for 5 to 10 rupees on the trek, stick is very handy on the snow, waling downhill and walking on the mud.

You should buy a good pair of shoes with good grip and use it for 2 to 3 weeks prior to the trek.  It would be beneficial to go for 5-6 K.M walk on daily basis; preferably you try to walk in hilly area (such as Jubilee Hills to Whisper Valley in Hyderabad).  Also, learn to hydrate yourself.  You want to drink lot of water when you go higher elevations.  Usually people drink 3 to 4 liters of water a day, when you are at higher elevation you should drink 5 to 6 liters.  Again, there were lot of folks in our group who had almost no experience of physical activity yet all of them finished trek.  I am suggesting these things to make things easier during the trek.  I strongly suggest you practice stretching/yoga and Pranayamam for 2 to 3 weeks prior to the trek.  Pranayamam helps you to increase your lung capacity; it is well known fact lung capacity helps with endurance for physical activity.  Pranayamam help you to breathe through nose rather than through mouth.  When you start breathing through mouth during any physical activity, you get tired quickly.  Breathing exercises also help you to deal with low-oxygen on higher elevations.

Optional stuff:

Cell phones do work throughout the trek however you won’t be able to recharge cell phone.  Therefore, you can get D.C (Duracell has a product) Cell phone charger so that you can continue to use cell phones while you are on the trek. You can hear to F.M Radio stations so having a D.C charger and cell phone with F.M radio option is a nice thing to take.  Camera, of course you will find lots of interesting things to take pictures.  I don’t like to carry camera.  I prefer to enjoy mother nature while trekking and capture memories than photos.  Junk food/snacks, playing cards, UNO cards, shaving kit, small board games (something like a ring/tennicoit – there is absolutely nothing to do at most of the camps; it would be nice to have small/easy to carry games).

Our Trekking Expedition:

Saurkundi is a small pond located in Himalayas, the pathway between two hills in this mountain region near Saurkundi is called “Saurkundi Pass” which is located 12,900 ft above mean-sea level.  Saurkundi has holiness, local people take a bath in this pond to cleanse their body and get rid of their diseases.  Our guide told us that there is a Mela coming up where locals pray Lord Siva and take cleansing bath in this pond.  One of the local school kids told us a story:  if you walk to Saurkundi without footwear and take bath early in the morning (around 5:00 A.M before anyone can watch you) they believe that it can cure any disease.  This kid actually told us he had some sort of severe rash which got cured after he did this ritual.  I don’t believe in these sorts of superstitious beliefs but water in this pond is pure and full of minerals so you might benefit from taking a mineral bath.  I visited Budapest couple of years ago, Budapest is popular tourism destination for SPA services, water suppose to have higher levels of minerals and SPAs do all kinds of mineral water treatments/messages to help heal pains and skin problems.  I can relate to both of these things in the same lines.

Day minus one:  I caught a flight from Hyderabad to Delhi and reached Delhi by 3:00 P.M.  Our train from Delhi to Kiratpur Sahib at 11:15 P.M so I decided to put my luggage in Clock Room at Old Delhi Train station and go on city tour.  I heard so much about scorching heat in Delhi during the summer, I personally witnessed it.  I could not stand for an hour roaming around Delhi in the afternoon in an auto rickshaw.  To save myself from the heat, I decided to watch a movie at PVR Cinema in Connaught Place.  They were only screening “Bhoothnath” movie at that time and I could only get front-row seats.  I did not want to spend another minute in the scorching heat so I had to watch no-so-good Boothnath movie from front-row seating by spending 200 Rupees for the ticket.

After the movie, I walked around Connaught Place for a while.   I realized Delhi is extremely crowded place and still quite muggy even at 7:00 P.M.  I saw TGI Friday’s restaurant, my taste buds started to kicked-in.  I had enough with Delhi heat and crowd so I went into TGI Fridays to cool down with a chilled beer and enjoy their famous Cajun Chicken Sandwich.  Lucky me, TGIF had happy hour until 7:00 P.M where you buy one drink to get another for free. 

I headed back to Old Delhi Train Station around 9:30 P.M.  I met rest of the gang at Train Station around 10:30 P.M.  Train supposed to leave Delhi at 11:15 P.M but it was late nearly by an hour.  Old Delhi Train Station is no better than a solid waste dump site – it stunk big time!  I had bought train ticket in Tatkal so I was in different bogie than rest of the gang.

Day 1: Reporting to Base Camp in Babeli

Interesting Ordeal:

I woke up at 5:00 A.M hoping to get-off at Kiratpur Sahib by 6:00 A.M.  Train was late arriving Kiratpur, we reached Kiratpur around 8:00 A.M.  Once I got-off in Kiratpur, I asked folks on how to reach Babeli or Kullu.  They said I was still in Punjab and needed to go to Himachal Pradesh.  Day 1 started off with a shocking surprise.  I asked them how far is Kullu from Kiratpur, they said it is about 5-6 hour bus drive on the ghat road.  I was simply shocked started searching for rest of the gang on the platform.  I did not see anyone on the platform so I got worried.  I started calling couple of my buddies in the gang I can only hear background noise.  I asked someone again if it is Kiratpur Sahib or not, he said it is but we are at least 200 K.M away from Kullu.  We purchased train tickets with the impression Babeli/Kullu is only about 30 to 40 K.M from Kiratpur. 

I came back to platform after 10 to 15 min chaos to see if I could find my friends.  I noticed our train was still on the platform; it was only suppose to stop for 2 or 3 minutes.  Finally, Rahul and rest of the gang arrived; they missed the stop so they had to pull the chain.  Since they pulled the chain for non-emergency reasons and faced with tough questions, railway officials wanted to take them to nearest train station to launch complaint etc.  Luckily Rahul managed to get out of the ordeal without much trouble.  I must say I only saw folks pulling these chains in movies; this was my first live experience.  Once we were re-grouped I told them where we are and what are our options.  We decided to rent a private taxi instead of catching bus to go to Babeli.   This whole episode is a good example how difficult to travel within India and how little information you can get on-line.  Unless you know someone who has been to a place where you want to go, it is still difficult to get right information remotely.

At this time, we were only eight members in our gang; we started driving in a Taxi from Kiratpur to Babeli.  When you trek, you will always face uncertain situations like bad weather, terrain, body condition/health, missing stuff etc.  As a trekker, you must always be ready to take on these challenges and make things most out of the situation.  Well this travel experience set us to face one of those unanticipated events.   We stopped for breakfast at Himachal Pradesh Tourism hotel in Swarghat.  After completing morning rituals and breakfast, I went to a local store and bought couple of decks of playing cards.  Perhaps best 30 rupees I spent during this trek.  We started playing “Knock Knock” cards game in taxi, there was no radio/stereo in the taxi so folks started singing to pass time.  We stopped for lunch in Mandi; Mandi looked like a decent size town.  Finally we reached Kullu around 3:30 P.M.  Kullu is a decent size city yet it has narrow roads, only one vehicle can pass through these narrow roads.  After travelling for 6 hours on the Ghat road, we finally reached YHAI Babeli base camp around 4:00 P.M.  We completed the check-in formalities, volunteers at YHAI assigned tent (separate tents for Men & Women).  Base camp is pretty good, it has proper Indian style bathrooms and toilets, tents are well built to handle any weather challenges.  Once you checked-into the base camp, you cannot go out without taking permission.  You must be back to the camp site before 6:00 P.M.  They try to impose certain discipline, they kind of run it like a boys-scout or RSS Camp.  They clearly display hour by hour schedule for day 1, 2 & 3 at the base camp.  In our tent, we had 12 guys.  We were four of us plus eight guys from Pune.  YHAI provides rugs, inner/bed sheet and Rucksack (backpack) when you check into base camp.  You must return Rug before you head on the Trek and return inner & Rucksack after completing the trek.

Taxi journey was not bad at all.   We got to see a glimpse of Himachal Pradesh and drove through an long tunnel on the Ghat road.  This tunnel is at least a kilometer long, definitely showcases achievements of Indian engineering.  When we used to drive from Denver to Ski Mountains in the U.S, I used to be surprised when we passed through 3 to 5 mile long tunnel.  Well our Indians Engineers proved that we can also build highly-engineered tunnels. 

There is absolutely nothing to do at the base camp so we were glad we only reported at 4:00 P.M instead of reporting early in the morning.  After having evening tea and snack, we started wandering around to pass time; we played dumb charades with Hollywood flicks until dinner time.  They serve full course dinner:  Roti, Rice, Curry, Dal and Desert.  After dinner, they conduct “Campfire” to socialize for couple of hours.  I was too tired so I did not go for the Campfire.  I decided to take “Tylenol P.M” tables to get rid of any body aches as well as to get good night sleep.  By the way, Campfire is just the name.  It is against YHAI policy to burn wood so there is no real Campfire.  However, folks kick it off by shouting Campfire, Campfire, Campfire.  YHAI management takes this opportunity to award certificates for batch which completed trekking, give motivational speeches then folks started showing off their talent: Jokes, Shayaris, act, mimicry, sing songs etc.  You get to enjoy Hot Bournvita drink at the end of campfire and lights off by 10:00 P.M.

Day 2: Acclimatization and Orientation

We stayed first three days at the Base Camp to acclimatize, get to know each other in our group and prepare the body for the Trek.  We had to wake-up by 5:00 A.M; they served Bed tea as we woke up.  We lined-up for the morning exercise by 6:00 A.M.  1 hour morning exercise consisted of jogging, stretching and fitness routine.  They served breakfast at 7:30 A.M; you get about 1.5 hours to complete daily morning rituals.  We went on acclimatization walk to a nearby hill for a couple of hours.  After the acclimatization walk, we chose our Group Leader as Rahul and Sonal as Environmental Leader for this Trek.  We also had a Bengali Babu as Co-Leader. 

Upon returning back from the Acclimatization walk, we had lunch and got couple of hours of break.  We got orientation from Base Camp leader, Field Director, Deputy Field Director etc. which included an overview of the entire Trek and tips/instructions.  All of these folks are volunteers, they spend anywhere from 3 to 5 weeks as volunteers for YHAI.  I am impressed by their commitment and passion to help Trekkers.  They served evening Tea and snack following the orientation.  There were no other scheduled activities until dinner at 7:30 P.M. and Campfire at 8:30 P.M.  At the Campfire, they had rewarded certificates for returning Trekkers followed by usual talent show.  YHAI folks constantly advised group to speak Hindi or English when we are together.  However, most of the sub-groups continued to speak their own languages.  I heard so much of Bengali, Marathi and Hindi than I have ever heard.  My Hindi is pretty bad yet I was forced to speak as much Hindi as I can (or as bad Hindi as I could).  Bengali babus shared couple of semi-dirty jokes, sang Vandemataram in Bengali accent – being a liberal Democrat (U.S), I should be broad minded but I simply could not take funny Bengali style Vandemataram in which they kept on pronouncing “V” as “B”.

Day 3: Rappelling and Rock Climbing

Trupti and Neha joined our gang; they dropped out of this expedition due to work pressures.  However, their work priorities changed so they decided to join us for this Trek.  They took lot of pain to join us on the day 3.  These two girls did not have adequate time to get acclimatized like rest of the group yet they were determined to participate in the trek.  We became “Gang of Ten”.

Again we got to wake-up by 5:00 A.M with bed tea on Day 3.  After morning exercise, daily routine and breakfast, we went for Rappelling.  It was first Rappelling experience.  We had couple of mountaineers helped us to set-up whole Rappelling off a large stone.  They demonstrated how Rappelling works and helped all of us to enjoy this unique experience.  I must say I was a bit scared getting off the cliff first-time so I decided to try again.  Since we had a large group, we only got to do rappelling once.  I had to charm my way with these mountaineers to do Rappelling second time – I loved it!  I would have felt bad if I did not get to do the second time.

After lunch and a short break, we went back for Rock Climbing.  I had tried indoor Rock climbing at NTR Garden, Prasad IMAX etc in Hyderabad.  Indoor Rock Climbing is nothing compare to the real-thing.  I decided not to try Rock Climbing.  I am sure I could have done it.  I was afraid if I scratch my knees it would hinder me from Trekking.  Only about a third of our group tried Rock Climbing.

After evening Tea and snacks, we had to turn-in our extra luggage.  Once we stored extra luggage, we were left with Rucksack full of stuff we wanted to carry on the Trek.  You want to take bath every chance you get, because you never know when you will get chance to take next bath.  I took bath again after playing volleyball for a little while in the evening.  There is no hot water and the tap water is pretty cold.  This was my last bath until we finished 7 day Trek and returned back to the base camp.

My experience with Himalayan Trekking Expedition to Saurkundi Pass - Part 2 of 3

Day 4: Trek to Segli - 7,100 ft. elevation

Rahul started leading the group as our Group Leader; he had to make rounds to line-up everyone by 9:00 A.M for the departure.  We had a catchy Hindi phrase as Slogan for our group.  I asked Rahul what does it mean, it is just a catchy phrase there is no real meaning.  Well it worked; group got excited and energized to shout this slogan as well as Bharat Mata Ki Jai and a few Hindu religious slogans.  Next Trekking groups in line at the base camp send us off to the Trek; this is a normal practice for in-coming group to send-off out going group to the Trek.

We left the base camp in a bus; it was about an hour bus journey to approximately 5,000 ft elevation.  We started trekking, within a few minutes we passed through a small village called “Badagam”.  This village has unique tradition; they want men and women to be segregated so we formed in two separate lines as we passed through this village.  Obviously we want to respect local traditions.  In Badagam, there was a Hindu temple.  Please note that most of the local population is predominantly Hindus, they have word “Ram” as a prefix or a suffix in their names.  Badagam has another tradition with this temple; they only permit locals into this temple.  If any outsider enters or even touch the temple, they must pay 5,000 Rupee fine to chastise the temple.  YHAI provides one guide who knows the trekking route, local history, drinking water sources etc. for the group.  Everyday there was a different guide and some of these guys were really good in explaining things and motivating trekkers whereas others simply took us from one point to another.  Our guide told us chastising process includes sacrificing a goat to the god and doing a puja type of thing if a non-local enters or touch the temple.  It is a beautiful antique looking temple; you can take photos and see it from a distance but can not touch it.  We took lunch break in an Apple Orchard around noon.  Guide again gave us strict guideline not to cross a virtual line within this Orchard.  He said the other side belongs to a private party and they would get really upset if we trespass.  We were supposed to take 1 hour lunch break but we almost took 2 hours of break.  During the lunch break, locals came by and sold Tea and Buttermilk.  Locals are not that commercially savvy, they were selling these things for 5 rupees a glass.  They could have charged 10 to 20 rupees per glass and our guys would not have any issue consuming them.

I told guide that he was pretty useless; he did not explain anything about the route, people lifestyle, sociology etc. other than telling us not to touch this and that.  Guide bribed me with a local fruit, he told me the name of the fruit – it tasted pretty good.  After nearly 2 hours lunch break, we started trekking again it only took about an hour for us to get to Segli camp.  On the whole we may have trekked no more than three hours on this day.

Segli camp site is a beautiful location – awesome Mountain View, it has decent Indian style toilets.  We were welcomed by Segli camp leader.  All of the camp leaders are YHAI volunteers.  There were three tents for men and one tent for women.  This was very much the same set-up at most of the camp sites.  We gave one tent for Bengali babus, split two other tents for rest of the group.  No one dared to mix with Bengali babus.  At every camp site, as soon as we checked into our tents, we normally tie a rope and hang any wet/dirty clothes (particularly socks) and remove horribly unbearable Hunter shoes to give a break to feet.  Camp leader/group leader blows whistle for assembly, Camp leader provides all instructions about toilets, schedule etc.  We got welcome drink (usually lemonade) around 3:30 to 4:00 P.M, received rugs and got evening snack with Tea around 4:30 P.M.  They also served Soup at 5:30 P.M and served full-course dinner between 6:30 to 7:00 P.M.  Depending on the weather condition, we may have Campfire at 8:00 P.M.  Campfire is a great way to socialize and let out stress/tiresome from the trek.  One thing I must say, YHAI serves pretty decent quality food and lots of things throughout the day at thier camp sites.  Of course they serve lot of potato and cauliflower, food at most of the sites taste about the same.  After one week of eating similar food, you start craving for anything.  Locals set-up a small tent at most of the camp sites and sell Coffee, Tea, Omelet, Maggie etc. We eat these things like we have not eaten in many days. 

There was no Campfire at Segli but our gang wanted to do something at least until 9:00 P.M.  Trupti came up with Pictionary idea; we had no board game so we decided to draw pictures on the ground using a stick and rest of our gang supposed to guess the clue.  As I mentioned Trupti is a woman of many talents, she is creative and energizing.  It was fun watching Manan drawing pictures; no one can come even close to guess what he was drawing.  Chintan is one tough guy to beat in these sorts of games.  We played this game for a while then started playing “What is the good word”.  You get a dictionary word; you are supposed to give all kinds of clues related to the word and make your team to guess the WORD.  You cannot give out any synonyms or antonyms as part of clues.  Again Chintan came up with toughest/unknown words and he was quite good in giving out clues for us to guess the WORD.  It was fun socializing for couple of hours before we went to bed.

Day 5: Trek to Hora Thatch - 9,000 ft. (10 km) elevation

Base camps at higher-elevations woke us up by 6:00 A.M and served bed tea.  After completing morning routine (brushing, toilet, cleaning the tent, handing back rugs, re-packing Rucksack, breakfast etc) and collect lunch pack and line up for the departure to the next camp.  Sonal had a tough job as Environmental Leader to make sure Tents are clean, no one trashes junk all over the camp site and no one trashes on the Trek route.  When we line up in the morning, usual thanking of YHAI volunteers, kitchen staff etc.  Our Bengali babu, deputy group leader was hilarious, he pronounces “Staff” as “Stapp” and passionate about shouting hip-hip/hurray.  In a funny way, instead of three cheers he ends of lauding nine times (three times of three Hip-hip/hurray). 

Rahul had to make sure all 46 members of our group lined up and the Camp leader in Segli flagged off for our departure to Hora Thatch!

In my opinion, it was perhaps the easiest day of entire Trekking expeditions.  Although we trekked for longer in duration than previous day, we were used to the terrain and trekking routine.  In addition, we were only trekking up by about 1,000 feet high in elevation.  We trekked through couple of small villages, took plenty of breaks and tried to enjoy the mother nature as much as we could.  We saw pretty much tall Pine trees throughout and did not see many birds.  YHAI Deputy Field Director kept telling us to listen to birds, look out for tree line and enjoy the mother nature on the trek rather than just walking from one point to another and carrying rucksack like a porter or a horse.  I must say we did not see many birds at all.  We saw usual crow, eagle etc. you can find these birds any small village.  I did not see any colorful birds or hear unusual bird whistles.  Up to 9,000 ft elevation, I felt terrain and tree line is very similar to what you see in Kodai Kanel or Smokey Mountains (U.S). 

You can use Cell phones pretty much anywhere on the Trek, you can hear F.M Radio.  Some of the guides carried radio with them; it was nice to hear good music in a peaceful serenity.  We reached to lunch point by noon.  As usual, there was a tent in which locals sold fresh hot food, also sold buttermilk/lassi.  They were selling it for mere 3 Rupee a glass.  I advised the local lady to start charging 10 Rupee per glass, she refused it.  She said it should only be 3 Rupees – as I said local folks are nice people, they are not commercial minded and spoke decent Hindi in additional to their local tribal languages.  We spent about 1.5 hours at lunch point and trekked for another hour to reach Hora Thatch Camp site.  As we were reaching Hora Thatch, I noticed tree line has changed. 

We were received by Dr. Raj Kumar, Camp Leader.  I checked into the tent by 2:30 P.M.  Although temperature was only 20 degree centigrade, when you trek for hours you tend to sweat a lot.  In addition, I was wearing Ski bib (trousers used during Skiing) to handle Cold weather in higher elevations so I sweat quite a bit.  I could not wait to change clothes as soon as I entered into the tent.  Once I let air trousers for a few minutes, I had to head towards a water body nearby the camp site to wash my t-shirt, face and refresh a bit.  During this process I forgot to collect small soap that I had.  I walked back to this place and searched all over couple of times; I was disappointed to lose my last chance to keep minimal personal hygiene.  Toilets at Hora Thatch was a big problem, they just dug a hole in the ground and put a tent around – believe me, it is really nasty to use these toilets after a few folks used.  Since there is a village nearby and primary water source is located downhill to the campsite, you cannot use outdoor toilets at this camp which was a pathetic experience.  Not able to take bath everyday and not having decent toilets were my major issues during the trek otherwise I would have loved this experience.

We had the best evening snack at this camp; they served Batada Vada along with evening tea.  Of course, we paid serious price for eating gassy Batada Vada and sharing small tent with 11 to 12 people.  We had to ask everyone in the tent to hold their own gasses so that we won’t have to suffocate.  This was another nasty part of my experience; I had no tolerance for folks passing gas in the tent.  Batada vada effect hurt quality of breathing air in the tent for next two days.

Dr. Raj Kumar is PhD in Botany so he wanted to assemble the team for a presentation on plantation in the region.  He also took some folks who were interested on a field trip to show them different plantation.  He spent about 30 to 40 min lecture on the plantation, changes in the tree line etc.  Although I loved his passion, I don’t think we cared for his lecture.  He talked about history of the earth, how earth was formed, source of water, weather changes, tree line. 

Dr. Raj Kumar was quite insistent on asking folks to respond to whistle sharply and adhere to the schedule.  He also coordinated Campfire after the dinner.  At Campfire, a local kid shared brilliant shayares on love and other things.  This kid is gifted, if he gets right opportunities like our kids he could become something.  However, they love mountains and want to live only there so who are we to judge what is success and what they should do and can do?  Bengali babus continued their torture with tasteless/repeated jokes and rest of the group started signing, sharing jokes, mimicry and playing antakhari.  Bengali babus also started shouting “Mone Monet – Mone Monet…” they continued this ritual throughout the trek and bored the hell out of everyone.

Day 6: Trek to  Maylee Thatch - 10,500 ft. elevation

At around 2:00 A.M in the morning, we had pouring rain and it continued until 8:00 A.M.  Our worst fears came true of facing rain while we trek.  We also heard trek to Maylee from Hora Thatch is supposed to be the toughest day of entire expedition.  We were thinking of cancelling or come up with plan “B” because it is a pre-planned trek route on daily-base.  It was quite difficult to complete morning routine; we flagged-off to trek around 10:30 A.M.

Luckily there was no rain on the route; however there were leaches on the route.  Fortunately no one in our group was stung by a leach.  We reached to lunch point without any glitch; it started getting cold on the trek.  Local folks had a tent at lunch point and they also put together real Campfire by burning lot of junk stuff.  We enjoyed well deserved heat and started trekking after 1 hour lunch break.

Trupti and I were trekking together, we talked about lot of silly stuff ranging from career, movies, blogs, crazy incidents in life, things we liked to do, things we have done in the past etc.  The local kid who cracked shayares previous night also started trekking with us and we also had another local guide for the trek.  This kid asked if we wanted a porter, just to help him out and get a bit of relief from shoulder pain, Trupti took this option.  She enjoyed rest of the day of trek.  We used to trek 4 to 6 hours a day to reach from one camp to another, several guides told me that they can complete the same trek in an hour and can complete entire trek (round trip back to Babeli) within a day.  Obviously I am a charter box so I kept on talking to Trupti on different things (hopefully I did not bore the hell out of her).  I am much much older compared to rest of our Gang of Ten, all of these folks were born pretty much after I joined college (B.Tech) so I obviously have more experiences/stories to share.  In addition, it does not get take much effort for me to get into trouble.  I love movies, travel and always ready to party so no chance of running out of things to talk about.  Furthermore, I have an opinion on everything ranging from global warming to movies to world politics so I always have lots of stories to share. 

Since we did not care to watch tree line and did not find any interesting birds on the route, talking with each other was the best way to socialize and enjoy the whole trekking experience.

We reached Maylee Thatch camp site around 3:30 P.M.  Camp leader was not as vocal as Dr. Rajkumar, he walked about 0.5 K.M from the camp site to greet us and welcome us to Maylee.  It was pretty cold at Maylee so they started providing sleeping bags in the tents, we did not have to collect these bags as we did at other camp sites. 

I had my worst Toilet experience at Maylee camp.  I could not breathe inside the toilet tent and I almost puked.  Then I told myself I would not use toilet unless there is an outdoor option or a proper toilet.  Water at Maylee was pretty cold.  By the time we washed lunch box, plate, glass, and brush it literally numbed our hands.  Girls in our gang were complaining about washing dishes after every meal, modern Indian women does not think doing dishes is a part of our daily routine. 

Treeline pretty much disappeared as we reached Maylee.  It is a beautiful scenic mountain view and quite joyful to watch snow covered mountains up-close.  You can also have long-distance view of Himalayas foothill region/Manali area.  There were only a handful of photos I had requested my buddies to take mine, Maylee camp was one of it.  I wanted the toilet experience at Maylee as a memory (perhaps a nasty memory) and the beautiful view of mountain series.

There was no chance of having Campfire at Maylee due to cold weather.  However, we played “Knock Knock” cards game in our tent using Torch light.  There is no electricity at any of these camps but cell phones continued to work.

Day 7: Trek to Doura - 11,300 ft. elevation

We were flagged off at 9:30 A.M.  As usual our deputy group leader thanked “kitchen Stapp” and made three cheers of hip-hip/hurrays in nine times as we assembled in the morning.

There are no more trees on this route, but lots of beautiful mountains.  Guide was having casual chat with one of the trekker, during the conversation guide said it only takes about an hour for him to complete entire day of trek.  However, it can take 5 to 6 hours for our group because we have lots of older people and obese/less fit people.  One of the trekker overheard this conversation and got real angry with the guide.  He took this comment as guide pointing towards some of his family members.  In the reality, guide was merely saying it can take longer for us because we are not seasonal trekkers and lot of us are not in great shape – both are valid and true statements but misunderstood.  Guide wanted to quit for the day, he did not want to help us with the route.  Rahul really handled this situation very well, he reverted tensions and convinced guide to continue the trek.  Rahul quickly re-grouped entire group to assure we trek at a consistent pace and follow the guide. 

We get to experience our first slide on the snow before lunch point.  I had Ski bibs which has no friction so I slid much faster and a bit of dangerous manner.  Trupti is so light she could not slide at all, I am sure there is some sort of co-relation with body weight and her sliding technique.  She started using stick to slide, she enjoyed that very much.  Locals were sliding on their feet (standing up) like the way you do parallel skiing.  They have great balance and control.  You sit down on your butt and stretch your feet and put your elbows on the side to slide down on the snow.  If you push down on your elbows and keep your feet down, you would stop.  Sliding is really fun; it brings back kid in you.  Playing in snow or water is always fun.  It is really fun to shout loud in mountains, it also helps you to clear lungs and enjoy mountains.  I strongly suggest doing 20 min of Pranayamam Yoga in the morning and evening while you trek, this helps you to breathe through nose, increase lung capacity and helps you to breathe easier on higher elevations.

We also saw couple of guys with guns, they appeared like hunters.  I am very curious by nature so I asked one of this guys what he hunts.  There were no birds or animals; at the most he could shoot down a crow.  Raul told me that he saw one of the hunter walked far away mountains to shoot a bird (most likely it was a crow).

It started raining while we were heading towards Longa Thatch, although it was supposed to be relatively easy day of trek, rain made it so much more challenging.  Folks were not able to walk in narrow ways; guide had to help them to prevent sliding-off the route covered with mud and snow.  We reached Doura camp site by 3:30 P.M, Mr. Samar Singh received us graciously.  Samar Singh was trekking mate of Rahul and Sonal during their previous expeditions.  When we reached to the camp site, they told us there was no water – not even for drinking.  Bad weather prevented snow from melting so they did not have a water source for us.  Samar Singh told us about couple of water bodies in that area, I had to walk nearly ½ K.M downhill to use outdoor toilet and get drinking water from nearby spring.  To get to this water body, I had to slide down on the snow.  I tried to use my skiing skills to “Wedge” and slide down to the water.  At the end of the snow, there was a small patch of shallow patch – as I stepped on that part, snow caved in and fell into water.  Luckily I did not get hurt.  I filled two bottles of water, cleaned lunch box and walked back to the camp – it was tough walking back to the campsite on the uphill.  Once I got to the camp site, they told us that they found another water source and put out a pipe for us to use.  I felt bad for taking so much pain to get couple of bottle of water whereas rest of the group could get water easily – well it is OK I guess!

It was quite cold at Doura camp, washing dishes with cold water was a challenging task.  Routine tasks can be challenging while you are  trekking/camping due to weather and lack of amenities.  All you have is time, so take time and do things at your own pace.

Despite lack of water, Samar Singh and his team managed to serve tastiest dinner of the whole trek.  They served Gulabjamoon as desert, usually I don’t eat Gulabjamoon but it felt really good to have warm Gulabjamoon in the cold weather.  They also served non-potato/non-cauliflower curry for the dinner so we got a nice break.  Once again, we did not have Campfire after the dinner due to miserable cold weather. 

Day 8: Trek to Youth Hostel Longa Thatch - 10,800 ft. elevation via Saurkundi Pass (12,900 ft.).

Samar Singh flagged us off to next camp; we are reaching to peak elevation of our trek and started descending after the lunch.  Samar Singh also accompanied us on the trek until lunch time.  Due to shortage of water, they provided dry lunch pack (biscuits, peanut brittle, juice etc.) it felt good to try some other stuff for lunch than usual Poori or Paratha with Potato curry.  I always packed extra salt in my lunch box, you lose salts as you trek so you want to eat a bit more salt to replenish it.

We reached Saurkundi (pond) in the first hour of the trek, we got to see complete snow covered mountain range and well as Manali area downhill.  We saw Rothan Pass which is located at about 15,000+ feet elevation.  We played on the snow, we made not-so-good looking snowman, and I did couple of somersaults on the snow.  Our gang took lots of photos, it is simply a beautiful location.  When we were at Maylee camp, Sonal asked me what I thought about beauty of India.  I said every mountain is beautiful; all of the ski resorts look lovely.  I also loved the serenity and magnificent beauty of Himalayas.

Before the lunch point, we slid down on a hill to Saurkundi pass.  I had practiced sliding down by standing up using Wedging technique; I wanted to use this technique to slide down on the hill.  Unfortunately I lost control and fell down on my butt and stared sliding at much faster pace.  I reached downhill but continued to slide down at pretty fast pace onto the next slope (which is not on our trek route).  Local guide, Sunil saved my life, he slid down as fast as he can to catch me at the bottom of the first hill but he failed.  He continued to slide down and was able to stop me at the bottom of the second hill.  Sunil later told me if he did not stop me there I would have gone downhill to a no point of return.  I seriously doubt that being the case, knowing ski mountains I really think there is a patch of grass or rocky land at the bottom of the third hill.  However, it would have been tough ordeal to climb back up two hills on the snow.  Regardless to say, Sunil saved me.  I don’t think I can ever thank him enough but I can make one promise if I have a chance to save someone in a similar situation I would do it.  This is the only way I can truly show my gratitude to Sunil who I may never get to meet again in my life.  Obviously several folks in my group were concerned about me, I was quite fine.  Of course some of them were also making fun of it; I can deal with that too.  I will always be taking risks, if not on the snow – it could be something else.  I would not hesitate to take risk if I like to do something.  Of course, I would like to take calculated risk but it is not always practical.  The reason you call an act as a risk because you may always have unavoidable situations and which could be dangerous as well as deadly.  I truly believe in “Fallow your heart” so if you cannot follow your heart there is no pointing living forever – that is my belief.  As I am getting older I am not as bold as I used to be.  However, I will continue to take risks and try out different things that I like to do: Bungee Jumping, flying an aircraft, glider ride, scuba diving etc.  One of our gang member, Prachi, said don’t even do this kind of thing again, I simply smiled and said can’t say I won’t.

At lunch point, we wanted to do Macarena as a group after the lunch.  Bengali babus started trekking but rest of the group joined for Macarena.  It was fun doing couple of minutes of Macarena at the peak of our trek.

After lunch, we stared trekking downhill; there was another long slide which is in “L” shape.  This time I wanted to be careful and did not want to be adventurous.  I started sliding on the hill then realized it actually takes L turn and continued slide downhill.  I controlled myself and sat at the edge of a little hole at the bottom of the hill.  We had one unique Guajarati couple with another man, these three never left each other side.  He is supposed to be a good friend of her.  As I said I am a broad-minded person but not as wide as an airport runway I guess.  This threesome combination was very interesting; they eat in the same plate and did virtually everything together.  When we were sharing each other home address, this friend of the couple gave their home address as his.  The infamous friend of this couple slid down on this hill and could not control himself to stop and banged right into me.  As I was sitting at the edge of this hole and enjoying watching rest of the group slides, he threw me right into the hole.  Luckily I did not get hurt but did not want to face any more episodes.  Rahul, Laddu, Neha, Chintan, Sonal, Vasaili, Manan and Prchi started sliding downhill as a group – it was quite fun sliding down as a group in a train formation.  Trupti also joined another group and stared sliding like a train; she particularly enjoyed this slide otherwise she would not slide on her own.  The person in the front of the group really controls the speed of the slide. 

We continued downhill trek to Longa Thatch.  We were greeted by Camp Leader Mr. Sharma and another Volunteer, Rakshit.  Rakshit is a pretty young guy whereas Sharma is in his 50’s.  Both have serious attitude issues.  They think they are organizing some sort of a military camp.

After checking into our tents and walked around surroundings of Longa Thatch camp, we started playing “T” game and dump charades of Hindi movies.  Trupti suggested “T” game, you write first letter of Hero and first letter of Heroine at the bottom section of the “T” and write first letter of Hindi movie in the top section of the “T”.  Again, Chintan, Prachi and Laddu came up with bizarre Hindi movies with lame Hero/Heroines so we had hard time guessing them.  Rahul, Neha, Sonal and Visali were also good at this game.  Manan is also really good with Hindi movies and songs, he was able to guess quite a few movies as well as give out several tough clues.  Trupti has this auctioneer talent, if someone writes “A” for Hero, she would start saying loud as “Akshay Kanna, Akshay Kumar, Abhishek Bachhan, Amitab etc..” in a rhythmic way.  Once you are able to guess the actor correctly the person who gave clue has to acknowledge and move to the next steps.  Rakshit and Sharma also joined us for this game; they are pretty good with Hindi movies and songs.  I must say I sucked at this stuff.  Being a movie freak, it hurts that I was no good with Hindi movies.  Of course I would have done much better if we were playing with Hollywood or Telugu movies – well everyone liked Bollywood.  I was suggesting that I should come-up with names of dubbed Hindi movies based on Telugu movies, they have crazy/bizarre names I am sure our gang would not have guessed any of those names.