9th July 2018, 12:37
| #1 |
| BHPian  Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
Posts: 118
Thanked: 490 Times
| A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Disclaimer: I am not associated with any organization / brands mentioned in the travelogue and not promoting any of them. At about 5pm on 16-Jan, I got an email: "Your friend has added you for a trek". It seemed like yesterday when the four of us (My wife and I plus my friend and his wife) were discussing how we could arrange backup for kids at home so the school is not affected, arrange for transport, how to prepare and which trek to go to. Looked like my wife had done the bookings for the four of us for the trek. I quickly logged-in to the dashboard with the credentials provided by Indiahikes (thats the organization we went to the trek with) and checked the trek details. Everything was in order. It was the Hampta pass trek! So now, it was real. The trek dates we had decided were 30-June to 5-July. I decided to get few more details regarding the trek, did a quick search on the site itself regarding this, and to my surprise found that this trek is a moderate difficulty trek. I had always assumed that we were going to choose an easy trek. I called up my wife to make her aware of this fact. To my surprise, she already knew. She was calm and confident about our choice and said we can talk about it at home. I was a bit worried. At home, the four of us sat down to note the things that will need to be done before the trek. The core part of the trip was booked. The trek infrastructure (tents, food, pick and drop from Manali, sleeping bags, guides, etc.) were being provided by Indiahikes. All we needed to do was the following:
We had to keep the number of leave days in check as well because they are a scarce commodity of course. All four of us are working professionals, we had a small risk of leaves being disapproved or last minute leave cancellations due to some reason or the other. For reaching Manali by 11am on 30-June (the appointed time for pickup), we explored a lot of options keeping in mind the travel time and cost. Finally, the option of Pune-Delhi flight combined with Delhi-Manali cab was booked in around mid-April. During this time, since the designated pickup point was Prini in Manali, we had booked a couple of rooms in a hotel in Prini itself. However, on 24-May, Indiahikes informed us that the pickup & drop points have been changed from Prini to Manali bus depot at 1pm. This prompted us to change our hotel booking for 29-Jun from Prini to mainland Manali (near Mall road). However, we kept our Prini booking for 5-July. On 11-Jun, we were informed on the Hampta pass 30-June Whatsapp group by our Trek Coordinator that the pickup and drop points are changed again  . They were now back to Prini. The reporting time was 11am and lunch would be served. We did no change to the hotel bookings this time.The Plan The overall plan for our trip was as follows: Day 0: Pune to Manali via Delhi Day 1: Manali to Jobra Day 2: Jobra to Jwara Day 3: Jwara to Balu ka Ghera Day 4: Balu ka Ghera to Shea Goru via Hampta Pass Day 5: Shea Goru to Chhatru, drive from Chhatru to Chandrataal and back Day 6: Chhattru to Manali via Rohtang Pass Day 7: Manali to Pune To give an approximate 3D perspective, refer to the following map:  Legend:
We had also come to know from our Trek coordinator that the weather was clear on the trek for the previous batch and they were able to see the Indrasan peak clearly from the top of Hampta pass (Indrasan peak is shown at the bottom right corner in the image). We were all very excited to get started on the trek. Also, I am grateful to all the fellow trekkers who have shared the pictures I have uploaded here. I could not manage to click many shots due to bad weather and it was the gutsy ones who took their mobile cameras out at the right moments which made this travelogue possible ! Last edited by GTO : 17th July 2018 at 17:13. Reason: tiny typo :) |
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9th July 2018, 13:40
| #2 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
Posts: 118
Thanked: 490 Times
| re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Preparations Part A: Getting fit The preparation for the trek began few months back. With loads of dedication we followed the fitness routine. Daily jog / run became a part of our daily routine. We used to look forward to getting home from office by 6pm so as to have at least an hour of long walk after the evening tea. By the end of May, with 1 month to go to the trek, we were able to meet the fitness target set by Indiahikes for moderately difficult treks. It was:
We continued to improve on the fitness aspect. Our routine included a daily morning run of 5 kms, an evening walk of 6km in 1 hour and the standard exercises (squats and stair climbing). As we progressed, we realized that the fitness aims at improving leg strength required for climbing / descending and a little bit of shoulder strength for carrying the trek bag. It also aims at increasing the air intake capacity of lungs to cope better with the low oxygen levels at higher altitudes. Going by the 20-mile marching principle outlined by Jim Collins in his book, we made sure to go for a daily jog - irrespective of the weather conditions outside, or whether we slept late, didnot get any sleep due to any reason, etc. The thought was that these could happen on the trek as well (example: not getting enough sleep), and it is always better to be prepared for a walk the next day rather than find excuses. We also cut down on sugar and since the target BMI required was below 25, we wanted to lose some excess weight to reach there. Cutting sugars and exercising helped us reach there (well almost !). We continued this routine until the last week before leaving for the trek. By the end of it, we were pretty confident of completing the trek. The only scare that remained was if AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) struck. As part of additional requirement by Indiahikes, we were also made to upload screenshots of completing the 5km jog in 40 minutes (or less) using a fitness app. Along with this, they made us sign a standard disclaimer form and also get a fitness certificate from a doctor. Part B: Getting stuff for the trek "There's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes" - I heard this a lot in Norway. Since we could encounter any kind of weather (sunny, wet or windy), we were supposed to be equipped to handle it. For all three types, the solution was to cover up. The type of cover up varied as cotton to woollen to waterproof. As is customary, a comprehensive checklist was made of all the items that we had to bring, so shopping was on the cards. The recommended list of items we had to bring on the trek were:
Out of the above, the items critical to our success (shoes, bag, pants and pole) were bought new. The padded jacket and poncho (one time use type) were rented. The other stuff was either borrowed or found at home. Also, we made sure that the common stuff (like medicines) was being carried by one person only. Apart from the above, we also carried a separate bag for the non-trek days in Manali. This bag could be left behind in a safe room with Indiahikes before the start of the trek and would be returned when back from the trek. My wife also carried binoculars for bird-watching !! Part C: Bookings and Misc My wife and I were going to carry our own bags. However, our friends decided to offload it. They booked the bag offloading online through the dashboard. We also uploaded our fitness proofs and got it approved in time. Apart from that, we made "another" comprehensive checklist for our parents who would take care of our kids during our time away. Things such as which school uniform on which day, school timings for month-end, etc. were detailed and a proper KT was done  We also signed and carried our disclaimer forms. We got the medical certificate signed and stamped from a neighbourhood doctor. We had already booked all our stays in Manali (2 nights - 29-June and 5-July), cab from Delhi to Manali on 29-June and Manali to Delhi on 6-July and flights on 29-June and 6-July were booked through various portals like yatra.com, cleartrip.com and makemytrip.com. Leaves were approved and everyone & everything was ready to go !! Last edited by Maddy3008 : 12th July 2018 at 19:21. |
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9th July 2018, 16:44
| #3 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
Posts: 118
Thanked: 490 Times
| re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Day 0: Pune to Manali This was our first time in the himalayas in a decade, and our excitement was at its peak. The flight from Pune to Delhi was at 0500 hrs on 29-June. Even though we went to sleep at around 10pm the previous day, the excitement of going on our first ever trek in the Himalayas did not allow us to sleep peacefully. The airport was around 15 minutes drive away so we had asked a friend to drop us. He was to come at our house at around 0330 hrs. We were afraid we will oversleep and kept waking up at every honk to check. Finally we decided to get out of bed at 0230, get ready and have a cup of tea. Our friend showed up, we loaded our luggage, kissed the kiddo goodbye with a very heavy heart and began our journey. We reached the airport within no time and after luggage check-in and security check, we binged on a samosa at 4am ! After boarding, some of us caught up on sleep in the flight and only woke up after the captain announced that it was ok to remove seatbelts on reaching Delhi. We landed in Delhi at 7am. The flight was on time. The plan was to travel further in a cab from Delhi up to Manali. We had booked the cab via makemytrip. The cab driver details were already communicated to us. We called him up and we were in a Renault lodgy rapidly escaping the growing Delhi office traffic on a friday. I was a little skeptical of the lodgy initially, as we were fixated on getting an Innova. However, the lodgy was well maintained and it had a very nice ride quality. The potholes and bumps were not felt much. In fact, the body roll was also quite controlled on the ghats and we did not have many head bobbing experiences. Our first break for breakfast was taken at around 9am at the Shiva dhaba. We ordered north indian food consisting of chhole bhature, parantha and lassi. It was lip-smacking. We found the overall food quality and the price points at all food joints in the north to be exceptional. After resuming the drive post breakfast, the driver took a diversion on the Delhi-Chandigarh highway somewhere between Kurukshetra and Ambala and we reached Panchkula (outskirts of Chandigarh). The village side roads in Haryana resembled those shown in the NH10 movie. The roads were single lane for some time after which we were greeted with butter smooth roads up to Panchkula. At Panchkula, he took a right towards the mountains which could now be seen in some distance. Monsoon months also bring a lot of clouds into the magical scenary and we started clicking pictures of as many scenes as we could. We took a lunch break somewhere after leaving Panchkula and before starting with the ghats. The food at the dhaba was awesome again. We ordered more north indian food like dal makhani, a paneer vegetable, rice, roti, etc. The bill for 5 people was only Rs. 500 and the taste was amazing. We resumed our journey towards Manali. After driving on the Himalayan expressway for an hour so, we were discussing about the progress Indian roads have made. Our driver for the day proposed going via the unusual route and assured us that the drive up to Manali won't be longer than usual with the roads he is suggesting. We decided to give it a go. He took a diversion from Solan which lasted for a long time. When we finally made it to the main highway towards Manali, I suppose we had bypassed Mandi also. On the way, we saw this Gorkha training center - with the gate which says "Veer Yodha Dwar". We took two breaks more - one for evening snacks and tea and another one for dinner before reaching Manali. The roads from Kullu to Manali were in poor shape and we managed to reach our hotel in Manali by 11.30pm. We crashed into our beds as soon as we reached our alloted rooms.  Yummy breakfast  Trotting along on the himalayan expressway  Ancestors !  Gorkha training center  Dark clouds looming ahead Trek Day 1: Manali to Jobra (camp 1) It was a deep sleep with the fatigue of the previous day. We woke up late in the morning, and after breakfast, we spent the rest of the morning lazying around the hotel and rearranging stuff between bags to get ready for the actual trek. Finally at 11am, we took a cab from the hotel to the pickup point (Keylinga Inn, Prini). Keylinga was about 3-4 kms from our hotel. After crossing the bridge on the Beas river to get to Prini from Manali, going left takes you to Leh which many T-BHPians will be familiar with. We had to take a right to reach Keylinga. After taking a right, there was another narrow road where traffic was stopped on our side and cars from the other side were allowed to come in. It took about 15mins of waiting for our side of traffic to be opened. We thought we were getting late as the pickup time was 11.30am and it was already 11.35 by the time the bridge opened. After reaching Keylinga Inn, we saw a number of fellow trekkers already waiting. However, there was no sign of any representative from Indiahikes. As a result, we got a chance to click photos of the magnificient scenary all around, while wondering all the time how spending time in the mountains for 5 days will feel like. The first trek leader arrived at around 12.30pm followed closely by the second. We got to know that they were stuck in a big traffic jam on the way and apparantely had to walk a lot to reach the pickup point. After sometime, we could see that some more staff from Indiahikes had come in. We came to know later that the other staff consisted of trek guides (local folks) and other admin staff for rentals, etc. Once the trek leaders settled, they gave us an individual health card. The health card was a booklet having guidance on how to detect AMS, HAPE or HACE, what to do in case it is detected, track intra-day and end-of-day heart beats and blood pressure. The leads setup a "mini-path lab" having BP checking, oximeters, etc. and started filling details of these one by one for each one us. They also reviewed the medical certificates and collected the disclaimer forms. It was a long process, but a necessary one to establish the baseline at Manali. Once the medical formalities were completed, a simple but delicious lunch was served consisting of Rice, Roti, Vegetables, Dal, Papad and Salad. After lunch, we came to know that a group of trekkers have not yet joined and the group will need to wait for them. The trek leads also started coordinating with the trek coordinator to get the next steps in such a situation. Finally, at about 2.30pm, it was decided that those who have shown up will go ahead. The group consisting of 5 individuals will have to catch up later. Finally, the journey began. Excited, we went towards the parked Tata Sumos. The drive from Prini to Jobra drop point was like the Old silk route, with many twists and turns. We also got to see a Eurasian Griffon (looks like a vulture) nibbling away at the carcass of a cow. Upon enquiring, we came to know that many cows were dying due to cold and not due to the presence of wild animals or predators. The drive was bone-jarring and back-breaking, especially for those of us sitting in the side-facing seats. Our trekking bags were already offloaded in a separate pickup, which were given to us at the Jobra drop-off point. It was sunny but markedly cooler at the drop-off point as compared to Manali. We ordered a cup of tea at the local tapri before starting. After tea, the trek group huddled together for a short round of introduction and thus we began the trek on foot. The weather today was sunny and the walk was relatively short. The enthusiasm of the group combined with good weather made the walk very easy. The altitude gain was miniscule. We reached Jobra campsite with one short break. The Jobra campsite was setup in a picturesque location at an altitude of 9800 ft. The views on both sides of the valley were mesmerizing. It started getting cold very soon and most of us covered ourselves with quilt jackets to escape the wind. The trek leads setup the mini-path-lab again in the dining tent and took our oximeter and blood pressure readings. The health card was duly updated. The oximeter readings were taken very earnestly by the trek leaders throughout the trek and the health cards were updated. This also helped us to alleviate concerns regarding our oxygen levels. Throughout the trek, one thing that fascinated me was how Indiahikes folks had managed to cook delicacies throughout our trek. As a starter, we were served Schezwan noodles at around 6pm and a delicious vegetarian dinner consisting of roti, rice, daal and vegetables along with a sweetdish. The sweet dishes we were served during our trek varied from Kheer, Jalebi, Gulab Jamun and Fruit custard. We were also served soups on most days 1 hour before dinner. The dinner and lunch was also simple but very delicious. Once dinner was over, our joy lasted for only a short while. We were supposed to get into our tents where a 6x6 foot tent was occupied by three people. This made us all very uncomfortable due to many reasons over the next few days. In case if anyone fell sick, it was almost sure that the small tent would have to do very little to make the other two occupants sick as well. Secondly, we faced heavy downpour on most days and it made things worse. There was already a shortage of space for us and our bags. The wet clothes that needed drying along with the wet shoes and socks and general lack of space made things very complicated.  Manali as seen from Keylinga terrace  Decorative flowers at Keylinga Inn  Manali landscape from Jobra  Curvy roads while climbing Jobra  Mother Nature's canvas with her drafter  The group at Jobra drop-off point. Also seen is the tapri where we had tea. Also seen are the mules for carrying the offloaded bags during the trek.  Trek begins !  Prayer flags on the river. Not sure how someone managed to put them up across the fast flowing river  Looking back at the drop point  Trekking to campsite 1 continues across the meadows  Reached Jobra - Indiahikes campsite banner - 9800 ft   Scene from Jobra campsite towards Chika (coming up on day 2 of the trek)  Row of tents at Jobra Last edited by Maddy3008 : 16th July 2018 at 11:07. |
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15th July 2018, 17:36
| #4 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
Posts: 118
Thanked: 490 Times
| re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Day 2 (Jobra to Jwara) The plan for today was for 6-7-8 which meant morning tea at 6am, breakfast at 7am and we leave for the next campsite at 8am. When we got out of the tents we could hardly see anything due to the fog all over the mountains. Our tents were lost in this fog. A hot cup of black tea with honey and lemon was just the next perfect thing to have (first being the normal tea). The oxy reading was taken while we waited for breakfast. With normal readings on the oximeter, we were ready to start off the trek. Meanwhile, the group who were left behind had caught up in the evening itself and all systems were a GO ! The trek finally started at 8:45 am (45min behind schedule) with a warning from our trek lead that this is not to happen again. With a final head count done, we started off to Jwara campsite. The trek was nothing like I had imagined, coming to the beautiful view first. The Rani ka nalla never left our side, it kept us company continuing to flow on our right. The huge mountains that were full of huge tall tress now transformed into smaller tress and bushes. With the cattle grazing and these lush green mountains in the backdrop was just picture perfect. We saw a lot of Eurasian Griffons on the way, sometimes gliding high in the sky and at times just lazing around on the hill side. One of these was posing for us with its wide blackish wings stretched wide open (the standard SRK pose). The griffon looked majestic and was kind of telling us, this is my kingdom and I am its ruler. The ascend slowly got tougher as we climbed. We were given the much needed breaks in between both to catch our breaths and also to soak in the beauty of these mountains. We were slowly leaving the huge mountains behind and the landscape transformed to lush green meadows with hills filled with green grass and a variety of different flowers. Before we reached our campsite, we also had a river to cross. The thought of getting bare feet into this ice cold water made me nervous. Our lead guide was standing in the middle of this river crossing helping us cross the river. The crossing was hardly a minute job, but the ice cold water made it seem endless. Our lead guide was standing in this water until all 25 of us crossed the river. I wondered what his feet would be like, did he feel his feet anymore? But to my surprise, he was ready to lead us again even before we were up on our feet. We finally reached Jwara campsite by 12:45 pm, thats 4 hours of trek and the distance covered was just about 5kms, but it did feel much more than that. We were served hot rajma chawal as soon as arrived, just the perfect meal. We hogged as if we had not eaten for days. We were all completely drained and wanted to take a nap in the tents, however we were not allowed to do that so that we could acclimatise better. Later, we also played a few games so that we get to know each other. After a hot mix veg soup, Baingan ka Bharta, roti, daal, rice and gajar ka halwa we called it a day and retired to our tents.  Early morning fog at Jobra  Fog got cleared within an hour and we were ready to depart  Trekking starts from Jobra  Tired group taking a break at pitstop 1. The person seen in shorts was our trek guide leading the pack. There used be a sweeper guide as well  Looking back at Jobra campsite from pitstop 1  Between pitstop 1 and 2  We were attacked by sheep and mountain goats at pitstop 2  Wallpaper type scenary on the way  Had a mini river crossing today. Water was freezing cold. Thankfully, the sun was out  Reached Jwara campsite  Jwara campsite Day 3 (Jwara to Balu ka Ghera) We woke up early as always and the campsite was serene. The weather had cleared quite a lot and we started clicking pictures of the nearby visible peaks. The camp was colder than previous days. The honey-lemon black tea at 6am was a welcome drink. The trek leads got our oximeter readings in no time and after a Indiahikes grand breakfast (Poori-bhaji and corn-flakes) at 11,000 feet, we started the trek towards Balu ka ghera. Today's trek was comparatively easy as compared to Jobra to Jwara. There was a gradual ascent of around 1000 ft. In fact, even though we were late in starting from Jwara and we took at 1.5 hrs pit stop at a local tapri, ate the himalayan staple diet of maggi, and we were still able to reach Balu ka ghera by 1.30pm. However, all this delay proved costly in the end as there was constant rainfall from the pitstop up to Balu ka Ghera. As we had stopped for a long time, our bodies were cooling down and we wore quilt jackets by the time we were supposed to leave. While starting, since it was raining constantly, we just placed the ponchos on top of the quilt jackets and started. This made the jackets quite wet by the time we reached the next camp. The other problem was that since we were three in a tent, it made the tent very stuffy and almost impossible for three to be accomodated. Most of us did not come out of the common dining tent till about 6pm when the rain stopped and provided us about 30mins of clicking time. The path for tomorrow was shown to us by our guide. There were a lot more peaks today than yesterday. We tried to capture the beauty all around us in the lens as well as the eyes as much as possible. After a while we were given the Indiahikes grand dinner with Jalebi as sweet dish. Since the next day was the summit day, the trek leads had a briefing session and we were told that the slowest members of the group will be walking in the front. Also, since there was a lot of fog that was expected, the guides wanted all of us to maintain the queue and not break the line. The third and most important thing was that we should not be forgetting the above two rules. With this brief and crisp instructions, we called it a day.  Peaks seen at Jwara in the morning  Maggi at pitstop between Jwara and Balu ka Ghera  Rain clouds had gathered outside pitstop 1  Reached Balu ka Ghera campsite  Some respite from constant downpour at about 6pm. Everyone came out of the tents to witness the clearing of clouds  They were racing with us. They stopped if we stopped !  Looking towards the Hampta pass climb  I cannot describe this in words  Not sure which peak. It was looking gorgeous in black and white Last edited by Maddy3008 : 16th July 2018 at 12:05. |
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15th July 2018, 17:46
| #5 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
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| re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Day 4 (Balu ka Ghera to Shea Goru) Today was the summit day (the day when we scale the highest point of our trek at 14000 feet). We were supposed to follow the 5-6-7 timings (Tea @ 5, Breakfast @ 6 and leave @ 7) today with strict instructions that anyone who was late would be left behind. This had a positive effect on the group and everyone was ready at 7am. As already decided, a few members were chosen to lead the queue. Today's was the most difficult climb with more than 2000 feet of steep and cold ascent. We had to cross a rivulet, walk on snow twice and get into the Spiti valley. The campsite Shea Goru literally means Heart of cold weather. This campsite is supposed to be cold and windy. However, as luck would have it, we encountered dense clouds around us all through the ascent and hence very few folks had the guts to take out expensive cameras or cellphone to click pictures. Due to the rains, we encountered a lot of tricky situations during descent as well. The spiti side of the Hampta pass is dust, stones, boulders and mountains. After mixing with water, it was mud, stones, boulders and mountains. The stones had also come out loose at a lot of places and we had to be extra careful while stepping. The descent proved to be much more demanding than ascent to me. The constant burden of the trek bag, the steep slope and the fear of mis-stepping kept us all very focused on the trek. While we took four hours to ascend (reached the summit at 11am), it took us only 2.5 hours to reach the next campsite (Shea Goru). When we reached Shea Goru, it had rained non-stop for last 24 hours (whats new!). The ground where our tents were setup was all wet and muddy. In fact, many of the trekkers were so tired that they took a dose of painkillers and spent the afternoon sleeping in the tent. The trek today lasted for around 6.5 hours for most with very few stops in between. Also, we came to know later that the few who reached the summit early were made to wait for others to join and hence had a very bad effect on their bodies due to rains and the sudden onset of wind from the Spiti side. This had made a lot of people uncomfortable. Evening in Shea Goru was pleasant and we ended up clicking a lot of pictures. The wind along with the cold had made a lot of us feeling tired and we quickly went to sleep after the daily chores (oximeter readings and dinner). The next day was again a descent day but it was a gradual one. It was also the last day of the trek. After completing today's day without much difficulty, many of us were elated and spent a late evening enjoying songs on the bluetooth speaker. I was also feeling a sense of achievement after completing the day. I was also thankful that none of us had suffered anything major and everyone was able to make it through. I can only imagine how it must feel after completing something of the order of K2 or Everest. However, a lot still remained with Chhatru and Chandrataal coming up the next day.  Pitstop 1 while climbing the Hampta Pass  Are those the heavens ? Indrasan is the official address !  Reached Shea Goru campsite  Shea Goru campsite setup. Notice the mud with constant downpour  Nice pleasant evening at Shea Goru Day 5 (Shea Goru to Chhatru and drive to Chandrataal) This was our last day of the trek in terms of walking all the way. Since we now had to return, we were to completely descend to a lower altitude. The tough part however was the start of this descend where we had to cross the huge river (also called Hampta, but forgot to ask) to get to the other side where our descend began. With close to freezing temperatures, getting through the cold water was a huge task. We pumped up each other's sprits high enough and encouraged one another in order to get done with this crossing. Holding each others hands forming a human chain, we helped each other get to the other side. The rest of the walk was pretty easy compared to what we had done in the earlier days. We were finally descending, making it a fun walk giving us enough time to stop and admire the beauty of the Spiti Valley. The lush green mountains were left far behind. We finally saw the road on which we would ride in a few hours time to get to the campsite. We were to get to a bridge where our vehicles will be ready to take us to the Chattru campsite which was about 8 kms from this bridge. Once into the cars, we got some respite from the chilly wind. We were expecting a better weather here thinking that we would be at a lower altitude, but we had to wait for that till we got back to Manali. We reached the campsite and once we got our of the cars, the winds made us feel even worse than the cold at Shea Goru. We could hardly stand out in the open and immediately took shelter in the common tent.  Morning at Shea Goru campsite  Natural slides on peaks  A closeup of the Hampta pass from the campsite  Final day trek starts  Trekkers move towards Spiti valley  Guys! we found grass and water on moon  Pitstop before final descent towards Chenab  Trekkers in a row on the descend  A precarious river crossing, but didn't need to get into water thankfully  Trek done! Finally! We were the early finishers After a hot daal khichadi, we got back into the Tata Sumos which were to take us to Chandratal Lake. The journey to Chandratal was a roller coaster ride. There were no roads at all in a lot of patches, we had the river water flowing over the road with deep pot holes and huge rocks on the way. The four of us were at the back seat and we could hardly kep ourselves glued to the seats. I enjoyed this total off road kind of ride. The scenic view of the huge mountains of the Spiti valley with the River Chenab flowing between the valleys added to the joy of this ride. Up at the Chandratal Lake, unfortunately, it was raining and foggy and didn't get to enjoy the beauty of this lake. I hear that the site is simply awesome in clear weather with the sun shining and adding to the green colour of the lake. We stopped at a food joint on the way back which served us steaming hot tea, omlette and maggi. Having fed ourselves, we started back to the campsite. The Sun God had finally listened to our prayers and decided to end our agony. The site and warmth of the sun made us feel better and we were able to take a walk around the camp. The shining sun had made our evening pleasant and lifted our spirits. It was the perfect end to the final day of the trek. As it got dark, the numerous stars in the sky started showing up . I had never seen so many start in the sky ever before. With the clear sky, my wish to try my hand at a shot of the milky way was finally granted.  Chandrataal - A glimpse  Chandrataal - The details  Pitstop on the way back from Chandrataal  Suryadarshan after 3 days !  Spiti valley filled with sunlight  Where's the road vanished ?  Spiti valley  Chhatru campsite  Classic Spiti  More Spiti. Can't get enough  Some shots for the wallpaper  And some more  An attempt at capturing the milkyway ! Last edited by Maddy3008 : 16th July 2018 at 12:10. |
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15th July 2018, 17:54
| #6 |
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
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| re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Day 6 : Chattru to Manali With a heavy heart we bid goodbye to these beautiful mountains and started our journey back to Manali. Before we got to the Leh Manali highway, there was a lot of road repair work that was going on. It had rained heavily the previous day and the roads were all muddy which made it hard to drive. We lost about 1.5 hrs due to the repair work. Finally the roads were clear and we were at the Rohtang Pass. With a quick stop at Rohtang and a few pictures, we started off to Manali. We reached Keylinga Inn at about 1PM, bid good-byes to the friends we made on the trek and got going to our stay for the night. After about a week, we finally had hot running water to take a shower. The transition from the tents to this comfortable hotel room made me realize what a difficult life it is for the staff at each of those campsite. These lovely people lead such a hard life to make our stay as comfortable as it can be made and give us these beautiful memories that will remain with us for life.  Road from Spiti to Manali. Notice how the sky resembles a sandy beach  Got nice roads near to Rohtang Pass. A brave cyclist passes by  Rohtang Pass  Row of peaks at Rohtang Pass Day 7 : Manali to Pune With another long day on the road ahead of us, we decided to start at 5am from our hotel. We decided that we would take only the necessary breaks and keep them as short as possible. We stopped for breakfast at about 8:30 am. With quick aloo parathas and chai, we hit the road again. The driver warned us that we will not stop until lunch now which will be done once we cross Chandigarh. With a good speed, we managed to stop for lunch around 2PM at a small road side dhaba. We were served hot daal, roti, rice and paneer butter masala. After about an hour, we were back on the road and stopped only for tea at Shiva Dhaba again! This was the last stop before we reached the airport at around 8:30pm. We had enough time in hand as our flight back home was at 11:30. After checking in the luggage we headed straight to the food lounge. With lots of time in hand, we tried every possible food counter. The flight was finally announced and we were on our way back home. My brother-in-law picked us up and we reached home at around 1:45 am to find our kids wide awake and eagerly waiting for us to get home. The kiddos had made some decorations for us, and also had a cake waiting for us which read - "You Did It ! Proud of you". It was the most touching gesture to get from kids. There cannot be a more perfect way to end a trip !  Kids surprised us Last edited by Maddy3008 : 16th July 2018 at 12:13. |
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17th July 2018, 08:33
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| Team-BHP Support   | |
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17th July 2018, 09:00
| #8 |
| Senior - BHPian  Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Zurich
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17th July 2018, 10:18
| #9 |
| BHPian Join Date: Mar 2018 Location: Bengaluru
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17th July 2018, 12:35
| #10 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Gurgaon
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| Re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Quote:
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17th July 2018, 14:54
| #11 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
Posts: 118
Thanked: 490 Times
| Re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Quote:
Actually, we didn't want to jeopardize our trek due to lack of sleep during Delhi to Manali. We could have saved a few hours and hotel expenses while returning. While returning, I would say it was a good decision to stay back as we could rest a while before the long drive next day. The total walking distance for this trek as per Indiahikes is 26 kms, and highest elevation achieved is approx 14000 feet. The costs from Manali were included in the trek fees charged by Indiahikes itself (9600 per person trek fees plus 1400 cab fees for Chandrataal). Rest of the expenses incurred were Pune-Delhi flight, Cab, Hotel and food on the way. We also shopped for a few items from Decathlon As far as Indiahikes goes, I will strongly recommend this organization for first timers and for the first few treks. Except a major hassle of sleeping 3 in a tent, things were pretty smooth. Later, it is up to the individual's passion, luggage carrying capacity and availability of local knowledge and help. There are a lot of firsts that happen on a trek, and it is better to have a professional organization helping us - just helps to derisk things. Quote:
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Yes, the kids never fail to surprise us and it was critical that they were able to stay with their grandparents on their own. We were constantly in search of network so we could get a checkpoint done during the trek, but after losing all networks on 30-Jan, we were able to get back online only on 5-July. Trust me, it was difficult to keep the kids off the phone once we were available They have vowed to come with us from the next trek. | |||
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17th July 2018, 20:14
| #12 | |
| BHPian  Join Date: Oct 2017 Location: Pune
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| Re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Your narration carried the excitement of a Himalayan trek. Quote:
A debate happened recently whether two or three are allowed in tent. Finally it was decided at the time of booking of a trek, you have the option to choose whether you want a two man to three man tent at extra costs. | |
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17th July 2018, 22:11
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18th July 2018, 21:38
| #14 | |
| BHPian Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Gurgaon
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| Re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Quote:
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19th July 2018, 08:59
| #15 | |||
| BHPian Join Date: Nov 2017 Location: Pune
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| Re: A Himalayan Odyssey: Trek to Hampta Pass Quote:
Thanks rst89 ! I googled after you mentioned and I could see a poll held by them. However, we were given no such option - either online or offline. I am not sure if they continued with that policy. Quote:
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