Trek To Sar Pass - One Unforgetable Experience

Trek Sar Pass (YHAI SP13- 2007)

- Alpana Satam [YHAI-SP13, May 2007]

NOTE: There are lots of spelling mistakes and typos. please bear :-) because I am getting bored to correct them now.

Feb 2007: [In the Office Canteen]

It was in the month of feb, we were having our lunch in our office canteen, when Amol brought up the idea of going for a trek in Himalayas. Everyone was excited. I was a little doubtful and not that enthu. Actually, last year when Amol and others had done the Saur Kundi trek I had decided that this year I will go with them. But now I was little skeptical about my dad agreeing to it. I told them that I will ask my dad.
Days passed. Amol use to ask me everyday whether I asked my dad, but I use to forget regurly ;D Then one day I set reminder in my cell phone and it worked out well in reminding me ;-) And for my surprise, my dad gave me the permission in one go! That was amazing. The very moment I sms Amol and asked him to count me also. So now Vidya Amol and I was in ! Later Varsha and Divya also agreed joined us.
Actually out of 5 of us, Vidya really had to work hard in getting the permission from her parents :D But finally she succeeded. And why not, who can live up to Vidya’s arguments. She must have not stopped talking untill her parents said ‘Yes’ ;-)
So we did bookings. Amol wanted to book some day in the 2nd week of May. But I had to goto my native place in that week, so we booked 13th May as our reporting day @ base camp, that’s in the 2nd week of May. We didn’t do anything, every thing was done by Amol, Right from the bookings on internet, or getting the forms from YHAI office, then making the DD and courier it to YHAI etc etc. Varsha and Divya did their booking on their own. They are little better than Vidya and me :D But sadly Reshma couldn’t convince her parents. Last year she was there when they did Saur Kundi.
So now bookings were done, big question was getting the leave sanctioned. All 5 of us applied in the month of Feb only, for a 2 weeks leave in May [for me it was a 3 weeks leave that I applied for].

Mar-Apr 2007:

Our leaves got sanctioned in the month of Mar I guess. And now it was clear way to Sar Pass :D Amol use to tell us to do start with exercise, jogging and skipping. All 4 of us use to nod and do nothing. But according to him, he had started with some running. Who knows how true it was :D hehehe.
We were also supposed to start with our packing and gather things that we were suppose to take for the trek. Sometimes we also had meetings for our trek discussions and planning in office itself ;-) hahaha Amol use to call the meeting, in which he hardly use to get a chance to talk and convey his point. Those were really funny meetings. Still remember the way Amol use to get irritated. Thank god he never broke the meeting room glass to jump out of it :D heheheheh We did trouble him a lot. But he never minded and helped us in everything.
In this period, I always thought that I will start with my packing in the coming weekend. But that weekend never arrived :D

May 2007

So here comes the month. I had taken leave of 3 weeks ! from 7th may to 25th may. As I had applied in the month of feb only, it had got approved. 1st week I was suppose to go to my Native place for Gondhal. And next 2 week for the Sar Pass Trek. I started as well as finished with all my packaging in the 1st week of may. I was all set to trek now. Amol Varsha and I had been to Chembur for shopping for things that we did not have.

11th May 2007, Friday:

It was Friday. Our journey started. We had our train "Golden Temple" from Mumbai Central. My bag was all packed. I left my house at around 6.45pm I guess. I remember the scene when I was leaving. All my colony people had come out to say byeee :D Children were asking me to get Ice and snow for them form himalayas. heheheh My friend Apoorva's dad droped me near Varsha's house by his bike. Frm there Varsha and I took a rik to Kurla Station, where we met Amol on the platform. Kurla to Dadar we went by train and on Dadar station we met Divya [who had come with her dad] and Vidya [who was late]. Dadar to Mumbai Central we took a fast train. I had bookings of 2nd AC couch while rest 4 had in 2nd class. But I went with rest of them in the 2nd class couch only. WHY? long story. I will tell u in short. Actually my AC couch was HA1 which was in the end of the train, and their 2nd class couch was S4 which was in the start of the train. In between these two was the pantry, which was like a deewar. Meaning at 10.15pm it was going to close, which will block the way to pass from my couch their couch. Also I had to have food which was with them :D And food is imp than AC compartment :D hahahah. So I choose to stay with them in their compartment.


[L-R] Varsha, Divya & Amol [L-R] Vidya & I

The train started at excat 9.25pm surprizingly. We met 2 guys in the same S4 couch with sack. We wanted to negotiated with them for exchange of berths. And SP13 ppl u know who were they? they were Ashish and Deepak, who were with us in our SP13 group :D wat a coincident. So they happily exchanged their berths. So now we all had berths together. While in the train we played a lot. Enjoyed, giggled, which disturbed rest of the people. So we also had little bashing from one old lady on the adjacent berth who claimed that she couldn't sleep due to our noise. So we lowered our volume. Slowly even our battery was down and we also went to bed on the small uncomfortable berths of the train. Upon that Varsha and I were sharing one berth :D

12th May 2007, Saturday:

In the morning when I woke up, I saw that our train was passing through Rajastan. It was very hot, and we were still 7hrs away from our destination New Delhi. We played dumb sharades. Amol and Varsha were self sufficient to keep them selves entertained with their PJs :D hahahah Vidya was not getting tired of talking. Divya and I were balanced :-> There was a small baby gal named Drishti in our couch, in our bay only. She was very sweeet. We had some time pass with her as well. Once she came to Varhsa, and varhsa was very happy that she succeeded in entertaining a baby. But that clever little chik asked whispered some thing in Varsha's ears. THere she goes, she wanted chocolate :D And hence she had come to Varsha. Varsha ka popat hogaya. As soon as Drishti got the chocolate, she jumped down from Varsha's laps and back to her DAD ;-) hehehehehe With all this time pass and some tiring moments, we reached Delhi by 7pm in the evening. We travelled from Ajmeri Gate to Kashmiri Gate via Delhi Metro. Experience of travelling in Delhi Metro too good. Its so smooth. Well maintianed platforms. Didnt feel like I was in India. I wonder when this will work out in Aamchi Mumbai. Photography is strictly prohibited in Metro. So I couldn't click any pics. But one of my SP13 members cud. Kashmiri Gate in delhi is where the ISBT bus terminal is there. So now from Delhi we were not 5, but +2 (Ashish and Deepak) = 7 to reach Kasol (base camp). We had already travelled now almost 10 hours to Delhi and now from delhi to Bhuntar (a place in Kulu district in HP) it was a 14.5 hrs journey by bus.

We took a bus from ISBT to Kulu Kashmiri gate delhi. It left at 10.30pm. These interstate buses are really horrible and their culture is also strange. Firstly they have 2 doors, one in the front near the driver and 2nd at the back. When the bus was standing in the depot and passengers were getting in and setting their luggages, faltu feriwalas were entering the bus. Look at their himmat. I was surprised. They in full enthu at night 10.15pm were marketting their chinddi faltu products like chana chat, artificial jwellery, torches, toys etc... with funny marketing strategies. Varsha Di and I were sitting together and Amol and Vids were behind. One thing to state is that, our this bus to Kulu, half the crowd was young and seemed to be going for picnic/trek like us. Finally the bus left the depot at 10.30pm.

13th May 2007, Sunday:

In the morning when I woke up I saw many seats were empty. It was the 3rd day today that were travelling nonstop, in the same clothes without bath. [This was nothing and acceptable in comparison to the days when we actually trecked ;-) wherein we did not bath for more than a week] We were in Himachal Pradesh already, on the land of Himalayas. Our bus was passsing through ghats and valleys, on the narrow dangerous roads. There was a big boys group sitting behind us. They were really nuisance, but their sense of humour was hilarious. Before us were also sitting 3 gals and 3 boys ka group [They were Becky, Neha, Sumant, Swarna, Ruben. Who we know so well now]. By now we had understood that both these grps were goign to treks only. The boys grp behind us was going to Saur Kundi trek of YHAI and the group before us was also going to some trek of YHAI only, but not yet understood which.

This journey in HP, was really a treat for eyes. The scenes outside were amazing and the Beas river running parallel to the road was chasing us continously. All four sides surrounded by mountains. Beas river racing with us. It wasn't cold yet. Clear sky with bright sun. Floral meadows here and there. My eyes were hounoured by all these views and it was my memory's pleasure to store all these scenes. I was all set with my cam. Clicking all possible moments. I was totally equipped with 2.5gb mmry cards and total 10 pairs of duracell battries ;-) So that I don;t fail to capture moments just because memory / battery shortfalls. In this journey by bus, we come across a 2 km long tunnel. As soon as the bus enters this tunnel, the air becomes cool. So cool that u feel the difference. Its too dark in there, and there aren;t much lights. When the bus comes out of this tunnel, there starts the Kulu district.

So we reached Bhuntar at arnd 12pm. When getting down at Bhuntar, a gal from the grp before us (Becky) asked me as to are we also going to Sar Pass. And that was when I came to know that they were also going to be with us :D these people with whom we did not talk the entire 14hrs journey in the bus, became my tents mates during the 11days of trek. We stayed together in one tent and became best of pals by the end of trek. From Bhuntar we took a local bus to Kasol. We travelled on the top of the bus for abt 1.5hrs. I was scared in the start, but later it was worth it. It was more than the Rainbow or Cyclone rides of Essel World. No safetly belts nothing. Simply sitting on the bus carrier, and the bus went thru the narrow road in the valley. They driver drove as if he was unaware that we were there on the bus's top. On the top when u sit, u have to be alert so that u don't dash against any tree branches or wires running across the roads. It was a thrilling bus ride.

This route started in the BEAS valley, and gradully to the Paravati valley. So in the start we see the Beas river accompanying us, and then we dont even understand when the Parvati river started and we are in the Parvati Valley. This Parvati river merges with the Beas river at Bhuntar. I saw the 1st snowclad mountain on the way. It was far far away. My eyes were searching for this sight since I enterd HP(Himachal Pradesh). I was very eager to see ice and snow. I was already high with expectations from this trek. I wanted to see ice, snow, snow fall, rain with hailstones etc etc...

Around 1pm in the afternoon, we reached the base camp Kasol,which was at a height of 6500ft. Husssh .... we left a big sigh of relief when we got down from the bus carrier. Our seats were paining ;-) though it was a amazing experience.

The base camp site was too good. It was not like I had imagined, but yet not disappointing. People were having lunch when we reached the base camp. By the time our tummy also had started giving indications of hunger. We reported on 13th may so were in SP13. We gals were allocated the tent.no. 16 and amol was in one of the boys tent.

We got refreshed, washed our faces and went for lunch. In the evening we were given sleeping bags, blankets and sacks. I had heard of the cozy sleeping bags from amol, vids and resh, but was going to use it for the 1st time. Everything was new for me and for the first time. I was very curious and eager as to wats next.

Base camp Kasol is very beautiful surrounded by mountains dressed with green pine trees. Also one of the mountain ranges far away is covered with snow. Parvati river flows rigorously beisdes teh camp. But there are fences and trek participants are not allowed to go near it. The water current is very fast and continously we hear its noise as if it was raining heavily. There are also Apple and pomogranate trees in the base camp area. For drinking and cleaning purpose they supply this Parvati rivers water only, which is very chilled. We took a bath in the afternoon, so it was bearable. Dont even think of taking bath in the evenings. That day we did nothing specific, other than taking a bath and exploring the camp site. We understood that everyday 3 groups are there @ basecamp, this balance is maintained because each day one group leaves the base camp for higher camps and a new group reports. And the routine was

• @5.30am one shud wake up and take tea and get ready for the day
• @6am get set and go for exercise and to jog
• @7am campus cleaning
• @7.30am its breakfast time
• @1pm its lunch time
• @ 5pm were given tea and snax By 6pm all the participants shud be in the base camp area, incase u had been out to see surrounding.
• @ 7pm there was dinner
• @ 8.30pm there's camp fire without fire. which is hosted by the batch who reported a day before. And the program for the next day for each batch is declared.
• @ 9.30pm goto bed
• @10.30pm Lights off
  

14th May 2007:

In the morning we were suppose to wake up at 5.30am. But it was 5.45am by the time we got up. All the gals in the tent were rushing to get ready. It was already 6am and the trainner(Michael Sir) was giving whistles, but hardly anyone from SP13(my grp) was ready standing before him. We were suppose to rush to a grnd for exercise session. It was very cold in the morning. After a lot of warnings finally Michael sir succeeded in getting 3/4th of the group in a queue and pushed them to jog and run. I started running. In a few steps only I was tired. I had not worn the sweater, no cotton in ears and it was very cold outside. Still I tried to jog. But then I did not succeed. Finally I decided to walk fast. But Michael sir came from behind and he forced me to run again. I jogged a little forcibly and breadthlessly till I reached the ground. Amol and Vidya were already there. Varsha Di and myself reached together. After the execise session for half an hr, we returned back to base camp. That time also it was horrible to jog. Amol got a chance :D and reminded us abt what he use tell us since feb month, ki start regular exercise. My heart was beating fast. Total palpitations. I was breadthless again. I was not opening my mouth, head started aching. Ears were ringing with the cold. I was feeling terrible. When I reached back to base camp, I ran into the tent and sat down silent, counting my heartbeats, I cud feel my lungs. I was trying to control my breadth. I saw Chaitanyya and vidya going behind the tent and also others roaming arnd the camp. I did not understand y? Later I realized they were cleaning the campus ;-) heheheh whilst I was resting in the tent. That day I had lost all the hopes. I felt that I will not be able to do Sar Pass. If this is my condition on the 1st day at just 6500ft, then how will I make it up to 13800ft. After little rest I was normal and I went out, had breakfast.

SP11 was leaving on that day for higher camps. YHAI has the tradition of giving a see off to groups leaving for higher camps in a peculiar way. And also there is a peculiar YHAI clapping style. Also that day SP4 returned from trek, so we also welcomed them at arnd 12.30pm.

Today at 9am we had Orientaion with field director D.N. Pratap. Orientation is a sesseion where in all the grp participants introduce themselves and we are informed abt the DOs and Donts in the trek. In this session we choose our grp leader as Mr Naresh Jakhar, a co leader and one environment ldr (neha gaggar).

@11am we left for our Acclamatizatoin walk, which we were suppose to leave by 10.30am ;-) as usual SP13 never on time. In this walk we filled our sacks with sleeping bag,blanket, water bottle and trecked to the hill just opposite to base camp till we reached 1500ft high. This is like a trial trek to test ur own capability. After reaching the top we prepared squash in a bucket which was served to all with a mug ;-) [sounds horrible now, but there we felt nothing].

Then after this walk, I had still not gained the confidence. As my shoulders were paining carrying the sack. Also at base camp, experts had adviced me to buy hunter shoes, and said that I will not be to trek in my sport shoes. Same Back to base camp, we had our lunch. After lunch I sat near peaceful spot [a big rock near the parvati river, right behind the store room tent]. Sitting there peacefully alone I was writing my diary. Later Amol and Vidya accompanied me.

Nothing else was planned for the day. So in the evening we went to explore the Kasol village. It was nice. The market, the shops the surrounding was amazing. Plenty of woolen and cotton tops. Very cute and trendy. But price, they say is never perfect. But not to worry, bargain bindas to its 50% like we do in mumbai. While coming back to base camp [which one shud come in before 6pm as per YHAI rules], we found a short cut route. This route gave entry from behind the camp. It was nice expisition :D So later when we use to be late, we never entered the camp from the main gate, we used this chor rasta :-)

That day eve's camp fire was suppose to be arranged by our grp. I sung a marathi song 'Hi chi chal turu'. Many others presented different songs. Then after camp fire we are given Milo and then goto bed.

15th May 2007, Tuesday:

Same like yesterday, we had to wake up early and go for jogging. And even today our grp was not on time. Michael and Manish sir had to yell behind our grp to be in time. And even today we did not assemble together to stand in lines. But today I was better. I jogged well. Was not that tired either. After exercise I did campus cleaning as well. Had breakfast. Then we left for rappling. For rappling they took us to a beautiful place in kasol only, which was near to parvati river and which had no fencing that cud stop us from going near the river. For rapling they had selected a 45 feet rock. Rapling is not a big deal. It was easy. After that we went to explore the sites around. Tracking the rivers murmer, we reached the river. It was awesome. The water was even more chilled than it is when supplied to us thru taps on the base camp :D We enjoyed that site for a while and then returned back to Base camp for lunch.

After lunch we came back to the same place, for rock climbing. Manish and Michael sir showed us how we are suppose to climb the same 45 feet rock without harness. Simply a rope will be tied to our waiste and we have to climb using the small clifs on the rock using our feet, arms and momentum. After seeing the demo, I was like "Wuuuh ! Its impossible! Its so difficult." Well I still decided that I will try to make it till one level which I felt was in my scope. But later when I saw even some of men not being able to reach there I lost hopes. Manish sir then urged some gals to come ahead and give a try. VIdya was the 1st gal to it till the top. After her 5-6 gals did it. But I was still in my thoughts, struggling to convince myself that I will be able to do it. Amol also did it till the end. He urged me to give it a try. Varsha and Di ne toh pehla hi hatyaar dal diye the. Finally it was cloudy, and manish sir declared that now they will wind up the session. Then I thought if I dont give it a try I will surely not be able to sleep at night and I will keep repenting for not doing it. So finally I got up and said I wanna give a attempt to fail. But Manish sir said no. I forced him to give me a chance. He said just one chance. If I fail once then its over. After his is warning toh I was totally gone. Abhi to hoga hi nahi. But you wont belive it, once I started climbing, I was able to do it in my 1st try only. Nor did any of the 2 sirs had to some to help me at any point. Dekhte hi Dekhte I didn't even understand when I reached teh top 45feet high. Standing there at the top I was feeling a sense of achievement and relief. And thank god that I gave it a try, as it was my unknown self which I discovered. This increased my confidence in myself and my shoes. Now I was sure that I have faith in my shoes and my footsteps. I know how to use my feet and my arms. And I will make it to 13800ft. It was the right time to get this confidence as the next day we were going to leave for the higher camps.

In the evening by 5pm we were suppose to pack sacks and take minimal things. And rest of the luggage is deposited and locked at the base camp. My sack was rejected at first as it seemed heavy to the moderator. Then Varsha helped me to repack things. SHe arranged my bag very well. I learned from her how to pack things in a sack, seriouly.

16th May 2007, Wednesday

All set to trek. Today we had no exercise session nor campus cleaning. We were all set with our sacks. Again today, it was very difficult for our grp leader to gather the entire grp in a proper lines ;) SP13 was a miserable grp :) hahaha. O yes ! today we were ready with our slogan. Its a tradition in YHAI, that each grp have its own motivating slogan, which the grp keeps chanting throughout the trek. Our slogan was 'Bom bala Bom bala bombastic, SP13 fantastic'.

While departing from base camp, it started raining and we wrapped ourseleves in barsati(its a plastic sheet used mostly by shepherds). Its was a wonderful start.

We waited outside the base camp for a local bus to come. As from base camp to Unch dhar we were suppose to go via a bus. We waited long, before we got the bus. We sat on the top of bus. Kasol to Unch Dhar it took us arnd 45mins via bus. At Unch Dha one guide was already waiting for us. We started our trek from there. There were 2 kids selling wodden sticks. Almost all bought the sticks, but my 5 of us. We are self sufficient ;-) We first had to climb down from Unch Dhar and then cross a small wodden bridge, which connects to another hill. Then climb up tat hill to reach Guna Pani (camp 1, 8000ft). This was a wonderful 5kms trek through a jungle. We pass thru Shila Village. It was cloudy when were trecking. The entire trek route is surrounded by variety of trees and flowers. Upon that it had rained so the nature looked so fresh. All teh plants and flowers we fresh and wet. Dew drops on the leaves and flower petals. Its a easy trek. Not difficult. On the way we took a hault in Shila Village for maggi. There it started raining heavily. We took shelter in house. It was very big. It rained and rained continous, wind was blowing as a speed of 180km/hr may be. Nature around us was becoming even more beautiful. The hills far away which looked green and brown before, had face snowfall there and had become white. It was a awesome sight. But atmosphere was getting so colder, that all had started shivering. Rain didnt stop, so we had our packed lunch there in that house. Rain Cloudes were like dacing around and moving from here to there, as if they were having a walk :D It was incredible. I was really lucky to have seen them trailing like this at leisure. Later after our lunch, I was just standing with Kamal Uncle, when I asked him to play antakshari with me. Kamal uncle is a real sport. He was very young at heart. We both started antakshari. Gradually entire SP13 was joined us one by one. and all played and enjoyed. It was the 1st time that SP13 was in a single grp playing as one. It was for the 1st time that we all mingled together.

At 2pm rains slowed down and we took a decicion to move on. And within 3 more hours we reached Guna Pani, our Camp-1 which is 8000ft high. The camp leader Satish Shirodkar welcomed us.

At Guna Pani the halat of the tents was horrible. Also all of us were wet due to rains. But Still we did cleaning. dried our shoes, the tent blankets etc... Finally the sun came out, and there was a little sunlight. We felt better. The camp leader whistled and it was time for our welcome drink. At every higher camp, YHAI greets all the trekers with welcome drink. Its nothing but some orange/lemon squash. We got bored of it by the end of the trek :->

Guna Pani camp site is beautiful. It's on a hill. surrounded entirely with green/brown and snow clad mountins. In the night the sky had got cleared. There were plenty of stars. I had never seen the sky like this. Every min there was a shooting star. The best thing at Guna Pani camp was the star gazing session. Satish sir had his telescope. He showed us Saturn, North Pole, Milky way, Nebulae etc etc. He also enlightened us with some astonomical info. I liked it very much. But it was very cold. I had worn just one sweater & monkey cap. I was shivering. I couldn't sleep at night.

At every higher camp the schedule is that

• welcome drink when u arrive at the camp
• 6pm u get hot soup
• 6.30pm u collect your sleeping bags & blankets
• 7pm u get dinner
• 8pm sleep next morning
• 5.30am bed tea
• 6am deposit sleeping bags & blankets
• 7.30am tea + break fast again.
• 8am packed lunch
• 8.30am start trek to next camp
  
  

17th May, Thursday

Accordingly we woke up at 5.30am. I never use to have that bed tea. Everything went according to the schedule, but the packed lunch. Anyways, we started our trek to Fual Pani our next camp, in the same clothes without bath :D

We started at 9.30am I guess. They way to Fual Pani is very a little steep and tthrough a jungle. While on the way it was for the 1st time that we drank natural stream water. We filled our bottles on the way. Our camp ldr Satish sir accompanied us half the way. It was today, when we got the 1st traces of ice. 1st we were crossing a stream, when a grp mmbr Bhushan place ice on my plam. O man ! there was no refrigerator there. It was natural ice. We were close to the snowline somewehre. Ice was flowing thru the stream water. I was eager as to know where is ice. Sir said it there ahead. Patiently I treked ahead. And there I saw a considerable ice patch covered with mud. So we got our 1st snow line on the way to Fual Pani. 1st time in my life I was walking on ice. I touched ice. I crushed ice in my palms. I wanted to lie on it, but it was full of mud. I was enchanted. I took a live video there. By now I had expertised walking in mud and slopes. Now I had to learn how to walk in ice & snow. Amol gave me tips as to how to walk in ice. I implemented wat he said and it worked. But I will tell u, walking in ice/snow is not easy for beginners like me. In films and songs we see the actors and actresses dancing and running, that is becoz they are on a plain grnd covered with snow. But when in treks, u will have to walk on icy slopes and that risky and not easy. So anyways, back to my trek. So this 1st snowline was not to long. It was short patch tat we got. On the way we stopped at a point to have lunch. Localites have set their small canteens at excat distances where trekers need to take a brk. They provide maggi & egg omlets. I am sure YHAI commissoin khata hoga inse :D Wat prices they set, Maggi Rs25 ! kuch bhiii

Moving ahead in the jungle, I understood that the YHAI had marked arrows at regular distances on trees and stones. So we come to know the path easily. When u come near to the camp, the route is very steep and muddy. Its a total slope. Your treking speed decreaces here. You got to be slow and steady. And what I discovered is, the YHAI's Yellow welcome board was abt 2km before the actual Fual Pani camp site ;) hehehehe. After walking 5kms for 6hrs, I saw up there the camp leader standing. He was urging me to come up fast. Looking at him I was glad that finally the camp side aagaya. I went ahead, though I was very tired and breathless. I reached him, he greeted and said "Welcome to Fual Pani". I saw arnd, there were no tents. I aksed him where are the tents? He said they are just few kms ahead! O Noooooooo ! Yeh YHAI wale kya ullu banate hai. I was so happy that trek hogaya, ab tents aagyee, but there was still 2kms trek to do to reach tents. This 2kms trek is a little interesting. Because the rocks have formed amazing shapes and by their grace we get to pass thru a cave type passage, and finally we reach the camp site.

Fual Pani, 9500ft high is a very small campsite site amidst the jungle. There is harldly any place to move or sit. Tents are also so tigltly arranged at different levels. Way from one tent to another is also another trek expericen :D Here our Camp ldr was Ashish Kapdekar. He was also marathi like our prev camp ldr satish sir. Here near our gals tent I there was a bone. I guess it was a spinal cords part. But not mine ;) Anyways, here I had the welcome drink, then the dinner and slept early at 7.30pm only here. As the prev night at Guna Pani I couldn't sleep. But here at Fual Pani I was fully set to face the cold. I wore the thermocot shirt and pant, gloves, and sweater as well, abv tat monkey cap :D I really looked like it ;-) hahahah

18th May 2007, Friday

O! its friday today. As per our office tradition, it the day when we can wear informals. Its weekend. But here i was still in the same clothes. I was going to change but ppl suggessted to do the same at next camp. So i didn't change.

So, this morning, I was very fresh. I had nice sleeeeeeeeep. We had nice brkfast as well. And all set to trek to next camp. To reach the next camp Zermi, its not that far and not at all tiring.

Zermi ! 11000ft high. Its an amazing camp site.Surrounded by beautiful snow clad mountains, closer this time. And most importantly you get the view of Sar pass from here for the first time :D We can see the Sar pass Choti, which apparently is our destination. Again here the welcome board is away from the actual camp site. But not as much as it was in Fual Pani (prev camp). Here I dont remember the camp leaders name, but her was very strict. He was giving us warnings. As he noticed that our grp is not disciplined :D Here the climate awesomely romantic. It rained in sunlight and we got to see rainbow. That was beautiful. The mountain peaks with crowns of white clouds were dressed in sunlight of dusk. The site was incredible and is still fresh in my memories. Here after having welcome drink and hot soup, we had plenty of time till dinner. So we played antakshari. There was a skull of a cow here. It was sahi ! The cow was a victim of a bear it seems. Yes, the cooks said that on the opposite mountained lived a bear with his family :D He also showed us the excat place. The water here was as usual chilled and icy. But still I managed to wash my feet hands and face with soap gently. I felt nice & fresh :D It was a semi-bath.

After dinner, we went up in the canteen, paid the canteen ppl and asked them to lit fire. So we had actual camp fire here. Everyone sung a song. It was nice. We also looked in the sky to revise what we learnt at Guna Pani. :D Once into the tent, everyone was sleeping. But Varsh and I were still awake. Neend hi nahi aa rahi thi. Today trek was not so tiring. The camp ldr was not allowing us to go out of tents as well, as per the rules of YHAI. :-( So we just laid down and don;t know when we fell asleep.

19th May 2007, Saturday

Nice beautiful morning at Zermi ! So fresh and cool. I came out of the tent, and saw the wonderful sky, so clear and wide. The mountains were already awake and bathed in early sunrays. It were wishing me 'Good Morning' and took away all my laziness :D I felt so fresh. When talking to Varsha at 5.30am for the first time we noticed that vapours were coming out as we were speaking. It was so cold there. Like everyday, after having deposited the sleeping bags, done with the packed lunch and brkfast, we started our trek to our last and highest camp Tila Lotni.

This route to Tila Lotni is again a journey between more & better flowers, meadows, fauna, more snow clad Mountain peaks. The peaks here are more icy, than those seen before. As we are getting closer to them and at high altitudes. Here on the way, there were nice big icy glaciers to cross. But yes as I said, its not easy :D And the point at which we took our lunch brk was marvelous. IT was so windy there, and so many flowers and greenary.There is no word to describe. After having our lunch, we started. The trek after lunch was too much. Meaning it was so steeep, absolute steep. Like this is wat u call steep. That too so long. WE are climbing and climbing and climbing and climbing , yet its not ending only. O god I felt like my patience is being tested. I was a little mad on the trek route. But its ok. Thats wat is trecking ;-) is what I feel now. BECAUSE ! the place we reached after climing so high, washed away all my madness and exhaustion. Yes, I had reached heaven. In fact I gained more energy after reaching there out of excitment. My god! the snow clad mountains over there beat all the scenes before. And upon that, there was a verrrrrrrrrrrrryyyyyy big glacier that i saw we had to cross. And crossing glaciers is my fav kind. So I was again charged up. We were in enuf snow. Here we played in snow, we slided. I literary slept in it ;-) WE threw snow one each other. Those are the unforgetable moments. For the first time in my life I was in ice finally. Playing in snow. Lying in peace. All of us had gone mad. Everyone was thrilled and overjoyed. First Amol started playing in ice. Then I joined him. Varsha was sitting in a corner and we were aiming snow balls on her at first. Later Vidya came with her cam, taking a video, then we aimed her :D further divya, karan, abhishek all joined us. Then it was mess ! every one was aiming at one another. No one was in their senses :-) All had gone mad. The Jodhpur grp boys even ate tat ice :D It was only when our hands started burning, and losing their sensation, we gained back our wits. hehehe All this we did with bare hands. And now we know how it feels when you use bare hands in snow. We immediately started exercising wrist, fingers and hands. So that blood circulation in that area increases and it becomes normal. And soon they were normal. We still wanted to be ther and play in ice, but our guide hurried up and asked us to move ahead.

So after walking for 6hrs, we reached Tila Lotni. Tila Lotni was our highest camp. IT was 12500ft high and very close to Sar pAss. OUr camp site was awesome. At every camp the site became even better always. Sar pass from ther was like at a step ahead. But that was not the case. Here there were 2 camp ldrs. Mintu Shah from Calcutta and Mahesh from Delhi. Both were very strict. On his 1st whistle, for the first time in trek, SP13 stood in lines by themselves. Everyone was shocked. We clicked this picture to record it in the history of this trek ;) hahaha.These leader gave us instructions abt next day's trek to Sar Pass. They showed us the route of trek. All of us trilled there only while listening to him. He talked abt the mishaps that took place with prev batches. And gave us some warnings as well. He also told us the schedule. Schedule at Tila Lotni is different from rest of the camps. Here

• 6pm only we had dinner time
• 7pm we had to sleep
• 3am we had to wake up and will get the bed tea.
• 3.30am deposit the sleeping bags, then take the brkfast then packed lunch
• 4am departure to Sar Pass [but we as usual did not follow the schedule ;-)]
  

This was the "ideal" schedule. WE were also warned as to not to dirty the tiolets etc etc... Anyways, now lets talk abt the camp site. Its really really ... which word can do justice to its beauty? I am falling short of words. It was like god had done some magic over there. The mountains peaks, the clouds had come so low, or I guess were at so height. The sunrays in the eve..... Uff! I have no words to describe. I can still see the in front of my eyes. I cannot forget it. I am blessed that I saw it. God has made this earth so beautiful. There is no need of a seperate heaven. He has made this for the people to see heaven even when they are alive :D One just needs to have will power to reach these heights. As the sun setted and the sky became dark, we got a chance to see the mountains dressed in twilight. We were at such height that Moon seemed so close to us. The white snow, didn't loose its milky whiteness in the night. It glowed in moonlight. Sar Pass looked heavenly in the night.

20th May 2007, Sunday

Finally the day came, when we will cross Sar Pass. I woke up at 3.30am. And by the time scheduled things got over and we left it was 4.25am. There was one guide with us. It wasn't totally dark as it is in Mumbai at 4.30am. The sky at 4.30am here was like its at 5.45am in mumbai. We started our trek. I was a little tensed and curious as to how wud it go? Will I be able to cross it properly? Will it all go smooth? So many questions. They all were answered YES when it all got over. So, we started at 4.30am. The sunrise there took place at arnd 5.45am.It was a awesome site to see sun rise in himalayas. I have clicked the moment. WE were getting tired soon here, as the oxygen level had decreased. As soon as the sun came out, we all were instructed to wear our goggles. I had bought new at Kasol, as I didn't have one. And its compulsory to wear goggles in snow. As we are already at high altitude the UV sunrays are high, and upon the white snow they get sharply reflected and can harm our eyes. So now were walking totally in ice and snow. Like I had imagined. Like we see in the movies :D Actually there is a Sar lake up there, which is frozen, and hence the pass is names after this lake as Sar Pass. Crossing Sar pass was tougher than that steepest phase that we climbed on the way to Tila Lotni. Because, if we slip, we will go straight down. And chances are slipping are very high. We have to walk one after another only, following next person's footsteps. And at many places you cant predict as to how deep your feet can go into the snow. As said by Amol I used my ankle to dig into ice, make a firm foot and then put the next step. That is how it wrks. Now I know ;-) Then sun was burning our skin. We applied tons of sunscreen and cold cream. We walked and we walked in that snow over Sar Pass. WE didn;t even realise when we attained the 13800ft height and pass it. We did take haults in between for photographs. I know, we waited for this moment when we will be on Sar pass, but when were actually crossing it, total concerntration was on our footsteps, whether we are walking correct or not? Whether I wil slip or not? Also the guide and grp ldr was hurrying. We had to cross Sar pass ASAP. It better to cross the snow lines before hot afternoons. Suddenly someone realised that we are right before the Sar Pass choti. And we all looked up! O yes. We were. That was the place of our destination. But didn't enjoyed it much. WE had to hurry ahead. Like this we didn't understand when we crossed the entire pass and reached Biskeri Top at 10.30am. So from 4.30am to 10.30am we walked with very few haults of 5-10mins.

It was only when we reached Biskeri Top, and we turned behind to see the vast patch of ice tat we covered. We all wondered as to how we did it? But we did it ! Now from Biskeri Top we had to slide down.It was a 2km long snow slide. All our exhustion was lost by that thrilling slide. It wetted our clothes inside out :D That is a amazing patch and we got to enjoy it a lot. Then down to reach Biskeri Camp we had to walk further for 2hrs. Biskeri Camp is 11000ft high. So on the same day from 12500ft(Tila lotni) to 13800ft(Sar pass) and now to 11000ft(Biskeri camp). This camp site is also awesome. It started raining when we reached Biskeri. And it was now that I was changing my clothes. Clothes in which I started my trek. Finally I changed and I was feeling clean :D After having the welcome drink and snax, we got to see amazing prominent rainbow. Better than wat we got to see at Zermi. There were horses here. I sat on one of them namedChutki and took a pic. It was very cold there. At Biskeri we played Dumb Sharades. My all the warm clothes had became wet while sliding down from Biskeri. I was wearing simply pant and top, like I wear in mumbai. I had nothing warm. So I stayed inside the tent. I put my thermocots and sweater in sun to dry. In the night also I slept early. Rest of the ppl our grp had camp fire that night. I missed it.

21st May 2007, Monday

I woke up early at 5.30am. I woke up Varsha also. We both went out of the tent. As usual it was refreshing outside. We took our brush and face wash. In full enthu we went to the water stream and as soon as we put our hand in water our plans changed. hehehe The water was so cold that we cud some how dare to brush our teeth. WE wetted the tissue paper and wiped our face. That was too much that we did :D others didn't even do that. Actually I forgot to mention at Tila Lotni we didn;t even get time to brush our teeth ;-0 hahaha but that how it happens in the trek. I just took little water and out on my face. Thats it.So after having brkfast, depositing the sleeping bags and cleaning the tents, we all the were all set to leave to Bandak Thach.

Now we had to trek down. Down to 8000ft. It wasn't so difficult. On the way to bandak thatch there is a small patch where u will get to rapple down on a rope. Its chindi rapling patch. Some can manage to come down without that rope. But Divya and I used the rope only. Varsha Vidya and Amol didn't. On this way, the guide accompaied us only half the way. Further it seemed to be quite clear cut route. So the grp has to manage themselves till Bandak Thatch. And yes tats true.

After walking for 4hrs we finally reached bandak thatch. Already 50% of the ppl had reached before us. They had started playing cricket. Yes ! This is the Camp where there are no rules ! And not time regulations. And food served here is amazing. There are nice, small, colorful tents. Accomodating only 5 persons each. Other wise in rest of camps there use to be one gals tent, of plain white color and all 15 gals in that one tent. So it was different here. So this camp is different from the rest. Its on plain green plateau at a height of 8000ft. Closely surrounded by snow clad moutains. small stream of water flowing besides. Pine Trees grove at one side.

The sky at dusk and the scene of sun set here beated the ones at rest of the camps. It can never be better that that. I remeber how ppl ran leaving their dinner, to capture the sunset in their cameras. I was one of them. We were having at 6.30pm I guess, sitting on the wet grass. I had removed my slippers aside. Suddenly some one notice that there was fire towards west ! All of us saw. O Man ! It was not fire, it was the sun setting. I sight was incredible. I ran bare foot, didn't have the patience of spending time in wearing slippers :D

Now I dont know the camp leaders name, but he was also very joyful. He monitored all the games that we played. WE played:
Cricket !
Tug of war between Boys !
Tug Of war between Gals !
Dog and the Bone !
KHo KHo !

Bandak thach games I will never forget even if I try to. We all played and fought like kids. Tug of war was the best. Also dog and the bone, where we all fought literary like dogs. I have its videos, I watch them every alternate day. They are so funny.Funniest thing was, hamari team aage aage aa rahi thi, and opposite team was complainning abt it. Then Naresh Jhakar use to come, and tell us - "peeche ho jao peeche ho jaao, abhi peeche ho jao badhmain aake aajo chup ke se" eheheheh that was so funny. He was cool. Also we cheated and decided in one rnd that abhi koi bhi number call ho Abhishek hi jaye ga :D ahahah that was so childish. But we did that. We really palyed and cheated like kids. And I remember how we came to knw that the 13th person who batter in the opposite team was Murli :D thats a secret heheheh And I cannot forget kho kho that we played. We played the game just for 20mins, but we discussed and prepared for it for an hr. ;-) Then in the night we had camp fire till 9.30pm and we slept at 10.30pm. 1st time in the 11 days trek we slept so late.

Sar pass cross karte waqt ke etne memories nahi hai, jitna Bandak Thathch ke hai.

22nd May 2007, Tuesday

I wish this day never came. It was the end of our trek. I wish the trek cud be extended at bandak thach. It was our last camp. All of us were feeling so sad. We didn't wanted to go back to base camp. And mumbai toh bilkul hi nahi :D

In the morning we woke up at 7am. Can u belive it? Rest of the camps we woke up at 5.30am. We got ready to leave. Started with our last patch of trek via Barsheni Village to base camp. WE had to trek till Barsheni Village and then take a bus till Manikaran, then trek from Manikaran back to Base camp.

Like this our trek ended up on 22nd May :-( We reached the Base camp. That too in installments ;-) Meaning SP13 didn't come together to base camp. Everyone at their own ease roamed in Manikaran and came back to base camp. We maintained consistency in indicipline ;- )

After all !

'Bom bala Bom bala bombastic , SP13 fantastic'

I am still feeling sad, that all these moments are over. The trek is over :-( I can never foret these memories. I will cherish them forever. And for all this I would like to specially thank Amol from the bottom of my heart. It was he who got this opportunity to me.