[snaronikar]

The 3rd part pics and narration is nice. We will wait for this weekend for your next set of pics and explanation.

[kpzen]

12th July

It became a routine for all of us to wake up at 5:30am. The previous day's workout had made two guys sit out for today's event. One was down with fever after taking bath in ice cold water the previous day. Other guy slipped during the point-->point game and injured his finger.

Today's event is village visit and river crossing. Each of the four teams will have to goto a different village nearby. (8kms didn't sound so near for all of us)

Ground rules by each instructor to his team:
Rule #1 We have to carry a fully loaded ruck sack even though we won't be using any of those things as we would be back in base camp for lunch so that we could get used to carrying the ruck sack before the real trek starts.
Rule #2 Carry your mobiles. U might get some signal somewhere.
Rule #3 Walk as fast as possible with minimum break to cover total 16kms and reach back to base camp for lunch.

Previous night it had rained heavily and the result was land slides all over the place. Making life even tougher for all of us..

Enjoy the pics.










Innocence Personified

[kpzen]

By lunch time all teams reached base camp safely. It was an exhaustive trip to the village. Couple of teams walked all the way while the other two teams took the jeep while coming back.
All had lunch and we had a break of two hours before the rock climbing session.
Some took rest and some took bath and got tanned.

3:30pm
All teams get ready with their gears and start marching towards the river crossing point. Suddenly the instructors realize that to reach to that point we will have cross another stream. This stream was easily crossable sometime back but now the water level has increased. The level of water keeps changing with time and climate. The only solution to reach the other side is human chain.. It was risky as some ppl tried different alternate routes to cross the stream without getting wet.

Human Chain

Attachment 51818

After reaching the river crossing point.

Dum lagaake Haisha


Instructor on the other side of river


While others wait anxiously


Attachment 51822



The lightweights like me were sent in first to avoid sagging of rope. The Heavyweights had a nice wash.

[mav2000]

Great photoblog, keep going. Looking forward to the next part. Looks like you guys had a lot of fun.

[phamilyman]

Lovely stuff man.

More pics man. MORE!

How much would this kinda package cost normally?

[snaronikar]

That's cool kp. Keep them coming. Enjoying and visualizing your experience.

[kpzen]

As soon as the river crossing event was successfully done by all the members it started raining. Many of us had to scamper back to the base camp as we had left our clothes and shoes outside for drying. Some succeeded, some lost their way and got drenched.
Two of our friends who had missed all the events today were taken to Uttarkashi hospital in the morning for treatment of fever and injured finger. The injured finger was declared as fracture and the guy with fever was taken for a ride as he underwent lot of tests etc and later was given a packet full of medicines.
While returning they had to walk 8kms in the rain to the base camp as they didn't get any lift and they had to reach back to the base camp before sunset... One had his arm covered with POP and the other guy was having fever.. Life indeed was tough out there..

Chilling out and gearing up of the real thing !!




The 14kms trek to Bebra with a fully loaded ruck sack on our backs is coming up next

[Nutty Nair]

@kpzen - Eagerly waiting for the "real" trek. Trekking during the rainy season is difficult but nature is at its best during the rainy season. Hope you had a great time!

[kpzen]

Hiking 14kms to reach BEBRA @ 8250ft.

5:30am - All ready to kick start the real adventure after a heavy breakfast. The heavy breakfast gave me a feeling like hum bakriyon ko halaal karne waale hain...We pack up everything (maggi, biscuits,utensils to cook and tent which has to pitched wherever required) in the ruck sack given to us and deposit our bags in the base camp. All three tents are vacated and dismantled.

All excited !!


The route was trecherous. Very steep and slippery at places and the heavy ruck sack on our backs was only making things more difficult...My rucksack was weighing 18kgs with the tent...Ultimate test of mental strength and stamina.. I finished one packet of GlucoseD in 4kms...











Cool drink point after 5kms of hiking. Everyone was so zonked that they gulped down anything and everything from chocolates to beverages...

[kpzen]

We left base camp at 6am and reached Bebra at around 3:30pm.. Close to 10hrs of hiking....
More pics on the way to BEBRA.






Halting point for lunch.

[NoMind]

Kpzen,
Great postings ! i see that you guys were totally exhausted with the trek and the loads. It helps to have a backpack that fits you properly. I see that the hip belts are more aligned at the midsection.
Hip belts of properly designed backpacks are meant for transferring loads onto the largest muscles in your body aka your glutes and quadriceps (buttock and thigh muscles). They need to fit on the hips for this to happen.
Also golden rule for any prolonged outdoor activities is to never wear cotton as it absorbs more than twice its weight in water and abrades the skin(your first line of defense against germs).It does not insulate when wet and has no wicking properties(transport of moisture away from the skin).

Best to go with 100 % nylon or polyester shirtstrack suit pants and synthetic/wool socks.

All in all looks like every one had a fun time !

[kpzen]

Originally Posted by NoMind

Kpzen,
Great postings ! i see that you guys were totally exhausted with the trek and the loads. It helps to have a backpack that fits you properly. I see that the hip belts are more aligned at the midsection.
Hip belts of properly designed backpacks are meant for transferring loads onto the largest muscles in your body aka your glutes and quadriceps (buttock and thigh muscles). They need to fit on the hips for this to happen.

Thanks for sharing those tips. I never knew all this. Everyone used to keep adjusting the belts according to comfort and load.. We all had the same backpacks provided by the TSAF. All we were told was, how to pack the stuff in the backpack. Lighter things like sleeping bag down and the heavier things on top so that the backpack doesn't sag and put extra load on shoulders..

Originally Posted by NoMind

Also golden rule for any prolonged outdoor activities is to never wear cotton as it absorbs more than twice its weight in water and abrades the skin(your first line of defense against germs).It does not insulate when wet and has no wicking properties(transport of moisture away from the skin).

Best to go with 100 % nylon or polyester shirtstrack suit pants and synthetic/wool socks.

All in all looks like every one had a fun time !

I survived 7 days without taking bath thanks to the anti-fungal powder.

[snaronikar]

7 days w/o bath with all those sweating. BTW did you change your clothes on these 7 days.

[lancer_rit]

Great experience and nice travelogue. Please post the rest as well.
Cheers