Author: rahul

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 5: Heading for the next higher campsite – Patar Nachauni (altitude: 12700 ft).

This was the day where we would experience first-hand the harshness of the mountains! The rains that started the previous night showed no signs of stopping and while the rains were only sort of an inconvenience the previous night, today, they turned out to be really painful as we had to trek in the rain to our highest campsite. My water-proof gloves proved useless against the rain and I began to experience some sort of numbness in my fingers. I was extremely concerned by the numbness as I was feeling that prolonged numbness could lead to dead fingers (However, I later learnt that the temperatures have to be much lower and exposure much longer for something like this to happen). Unsurprisingly, there wasn’t much goofing around today and everybody just kept walking until they reached the campsite.

The incessant rains had by now began to take a toll on us. Our shoes, clothes, gloves, everything was drenched. The terrain was extremely rocky, which meant that if we were less likely to skid, but if we did, we’d hurt ourselves pretty bad. The toilets here also were dry compared to those at the other campsites, which was sort of an inconvenience. Almost all of us started to miss home at this point in time!

For the most of the day, we stayed in our tents and towards evening, gathered in the dinner tent. Here we started conversing with the Indiahikes staff. Of particular interest was a trek lead, who was stationed at this campsite for few weeks to take care of it. He had a lot of interesting stories to share, especially related to paranormal activities experienced by other trek leads. He also told us that he considered the facilities provided by IndiaHikes to be luxurious and to actually experience difficulties of trekking first-hand, one should attempt a solo trek. Among everything we discussed, the most interesting was the story of an endurance runner, Kilian Jornet. Climbing without fixed ropes or oxygen, he reached the Mount Everest summit via a new route in 26 hours. Now that’s quite a feat!

The next day, was the day when we would actually be trekking to Roopkund. However, the rains at our campsite indicated that there would be snow falling at Roopkund and hence the decision to actually trek to Roopkund would only be taken the next day.

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 7: An attempt to reach Roopkund and down to Bedni Bugyal.

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 6: Reaching the highest campsite – Bhagwabhasa (altitude: 14100 ft).

Two of the staff members left before dawn to go and get first-hand information about the weather at Roopkund. They came back with a report that it was snowing and an attempt could be made to reach Roopkund. However, considering the severity of the weather, some of us were either asked or ourselves decided to stay back. About 16 of the group members decided to go ahead and attempt to reach Roopkund. I was among those who decided to stay back, as I felt my body was strained and wanted to preserve energy for the return journey.

While the group left for their ascent to Roopkund, I hanged out in a nearby Dhaba with some of the other trekkers who stayed back. We chit-chatted about our next options were. After a couple of hours, the group who went up came back. Unfortunately, they couldn’t make the final destination and just fell short 800m of their final destination. The weather beyond this point was pretty bad and it wasn’t worth the risk.

After some discussion, it was finally decided that a descent would now be made to Bedni Budyal, where we would stay for the night and descend to our base camp the next day. We began the descent to Bedni Budyal. The rains had gotten worse and the winds stronger. But the fact that we are now on our journey back home, to a safer and warmer place, kept our motivation levels high.

After trekking for a few hours, we finally reached Bedni Bugyal. And we were in for a total surprise here. All our sleeping tents, including the dining and toilet tents, were blown away by the wind.

Luckily, there were also some solid structures which were stronger than the tents and provided us shelter. We split into two groups and made ourselves cosy in two of such shelters.

We were so tired towards the end of the day and the unceasing rains made us reluctant to step out of this shelter even for dinner. This is where Indiahikes staff truly shined. They took the extra pain of getting all the food from the kitchen to our shelters and serving us food, while we were refusing to even come out of the sleeping bags, in which we warmly wrapped ourselves. Today, for the first time, they didn’t feel like Indiahikes staff, but like family!

We all went to bed, hoping that the rains would stop for the final descent the next day!

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 8: Return to basecamp Lohajung.

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 4: Short visit to Ali Bugyal (altitude: 12200 ft).

Today’s trek to the next higher campsite started by going past the lake that we had visited the last day.

As we trekked through the mountains, we realized that the landscapes encountered today were drastically different from what we had seen during the earlier days.

As soon as we reached our campsite around afternoon, it began to rain. It continued to rain for a while.

However, the rain had not yet dampened our spirits. While some of them preferred to stay in tents, a couple of us decided to put on our raincoats and go closer to others’ tents so that all of us could play a game of antakshari, a spoken parlour game.

After a couple of hours, the rain stopped for a short while and the sun came out. And now is when I saw the most beautiful site of the trek so far. A dual rainbow, one of them so close that I could almost feel like I could touch it. This was one of those moments where you feel words cannot describe your emotions.

The campsite, Patar Nachauni was harsher than we expected. It was a muddy terrain and the rains just made the situation worse as it became extremely slippery. Because of the altitude, the winds were chillier and the water was much much colder. It was hard washing our cutlery in this weather.

Towards evening, it was continuing to drizzle and we went to bed, hoping that we would have a clear sky the next day for our trek to the highest campsite. But little did we realize that not only was that from happening, we actually had something totally different in store for us!

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 6: Reaching the highest campsite – Bhagwabhasa (altitude: 14100 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 3: Trekking to the most beautiful campsite – Bedni Bugyal (altitude: 11500 ft).

Got up in the morning with the following view from my tent. Now, how often do we get to see something like this?

Although this was a break day, implying that we wouldn’t be heading for the next campsite, there was still a short trek planned to the top of Bedni, known as Ali Bugyal. Part of the reason for this was also to allow for acclimatization. Here is a picturesque view from the top of Ali Bugyal.

On our way back from Bedni Top to the campsite, we dropped by at a lake nearby, where one of our guides Devender narrated a story related to the lake.

We returned pretty early to our campsite and it was a relaxed day. This campsite actually had the facility to hold two trekking groups, and we had another group today who had just arrived from Ghairoli Patal. Consisting mostly of footballers, this group was much fit than ours. We came up with a new game wherein you have a person standing in the centre of the cril and you got to hit him with the frisbee. And it took quite some effort to get some of the other group’ trekkers out.

And who says a cricket stadium is needed for playing cricket?

Later in the evening, I was having a discussion with Amarnath, Siddharth and Rahul. Coincidentally, all four of us were travelling solo and somehow the conversation steered in this direction. Siddharth, a software engineer from Hyderabad, seemed to be quite in favour of travelling solo as one tends to mingle considerably more with others. He was discussing his experiences of his travel in U.K. when he had been there for work. I, on the other hand, felt that travelling solo vs. a group, both of them had their pros-and-cons. For me, it was sort of a funny experience. I did leave solo from Hyderabad, but all through the trek, I had the company of the trekking batch, although I had known none of them before.

As was the daily routine, we had soup followed by dinner. I decided to watch a movie before calling it a day and going to sleep!

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 5: Heading for the next higher campsite – Patar Nachauni (altitude: 12700 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 2: Get, Set, Go! Heading to our first campsite – Ghairoli Patal (altitude: 10000 ft).

Unlike my life back home, where I get up with the ring of the alarm clock, I got up by a wake-up call from one of the batch members, Kapil. Going ahead, I realized that I could sleep peacefully as I could always rely on Kapil giving a wake-up call. Kapil, along with Ameya and Vishal was a group working for Nomura in Mumbai. Encouraged by Ameya, they decided to take up this trek. Kapil also deserves a special mention for being the most-energetic member of the batch. All through the trek, even when the ascent was difficult, he used to sing to keep everyone motivated.

Just like the previous day, we got up, freshened up, had our Oximeter readings taken, had our breakfast and started trekking. One thing that did differ today was the number of people who decided to offload their backpacks. From 2 the previous day, it went up to 11 today.

The trek to Bedni Bugyal was relatively easy compared to our ascent the previous trek. The route did vary considerably compared to that of the previous day, as in, instead of forests, we came across a whole lot of meadows.

On our way to the campsite, we stopped at a small Dhaba for having some quick snacks. To find food at an altitude of 11000 ft, in the middle of nowhere, is extremely welcoming. And when I looked at the folks cook food with smoke from the wood burning the eyes, it reminded me the difficulties that the villagers have to go through to make their ends meet!

Perhaps, the second best photograph of the trek was taken here, which was of a flock of sheep grazing in the open meadows, with a shepherd watching over them. The baa of the sheep mingled with the sound of the bells around their neck, even when recollected today, continues to have a very soothing effect.

We continued our trek and finally reached Bedni Bugyal campsite. On reaching there, I was completely speechless and I will let this campsite picture speak for itself.

Covered with green meadows on all the four sides with mountain peaks such as Trishul and Chowkamba visible in the distance, it literally felt like I was in a different world.

Just like the previous day, we did a few stretching exercises followed by lunch. Then all of us relaxed for the rest of the day. Some of them took a stroll and went quite a distance away from the campsite but this was later strongly condemned by the trek lead and the guides as there was the risk of getting lost and Indiahikes was responsible for ensuring the safety of the trek members. I spent a few hours reading the book “Sapiens” lying in the grass before unknowingly falling asleep.

After a quick nap, I got up to realize that it was time for snacks. I had my snacks in the company of two doctors Abeer and Gaurav. Currently working in a Delhi hospital, they were discussing some of the difficulties of the profession. Coming from a family of doctors myself (although I’m not one), I could relate to some of the things that they were saying. There also seemed to be marked differences between how doctors in a private hospital are perceived compared to doctors running their own private clinics. Because of the commercialized nature of private hospitals, doctors in these hospitals seem to be approached by patients with a lot of scepticism compared to doctors running their own clinic, who on the contrary get a lot of respect from their patients.

As we were discussing all this, it was time for sunset, and the sun-rays falling on the Trishul peak made it look as if was covered with gold.

Shortly after snacks, soup and dinner followed. I watched an offline downloaded movie and went to bed relaxed knowing that the next day was a break day.

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 4: Short visit to Ali Bugyal (altitude: 12200 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Day 1: Arriving at Kathgodam, meeting the group and heading to Lohajung, the base camp (altitude: 7700 ft).

Every night, when we go to bed, we are told about when to get ready for the next day. We are given three timings. For instance, for the first day, it was 6.00, 7.00 and 8.00. What this means is that tea would be served at 6.00, breakfast at 7.00 and the trek would commence at 8.00. So, waking up to a beautiful morning in the Himalayas, all of us had breakfast and were ready to leave the base camp by 8.00. We were given some light snacks to carry along with us. Also, we were given the option of offloading our backpacks. And as far as I remember, only two of us (including me) decided to offload our backpacks on the first day.

The actual trek was to start from a village Wan, which was a 45 mins drive from Lohajung. Apart from the 23 trekkers and the trek lead, we also had two guides to assist us – Dhansingh and Devender. While Devender was from Wan, Dhansingh was from a different village. I ended up interacting with Dhansingh more and got to know that this was the 204th time that he was doing the Roopkund trek. He was initially working as a private guide and then joined Indiahikes a few years ago.

Once we reached Wan, we finally commenced the trek to our first campsite – Ghairoli Patal. The trek started with an initial steep ascent, towards the end of which was a temple.

It continued into a forest and on the way, we got to see a variety of flora and often got to see the Neel Ganga river.

We also took frequent breaks at small shops which were en-route to our campsite.

For almost the entire trek, I was trekking with Smitha. She was having difficulty during ascent and hence often we two ended up trekking separately, either starting early or lagging behind. Smitha, a CA by profession, and unmarried by choice was trekking for the first time in life. I got to know a lot about her personality through the trek and realized how she never hesitated from doing what was right or what her heart told, even when the society strongly discouraged it. She fondly spoke of her late father, who loved the Himalayas and how this trek was sort of a dedication to him. Accompanying both of us, often was the guide Dhansingh. While we often missed the stories narrated by the other guide, Devender who was with the front trekkers, we had the advantage of some special fruit treats by Dhansingh and experiencing nature at a more relaxed pace.

After a good 8 km trek for about 5 hours, we finally reached our campsite – Ghairoli Patal. We quickly did a few stretching exercises, after which we received instructions about staying in the campsite. We were to stay in tents. Each tent was to be occupied by 3 persons. The trek leader and the guides slept in a separate tent. And there was a separate tent for the 3 ladies in the batch. We were not supposed to keep our trekking shoes or poles inside the tent. The tent had two layers, the outer layer to protect from rain and the inner layer to protect from wind. We were supposed to keep it closed at all times. Toilet tents were about 100 metres away from the sleeping tents. Lunch was to be served immediately, snacks were to be served at 4.00, soup at 6.00 and dinner at 8.00. We were to supposed to wash our own utensils, which became quite excruciating at higher altitudes.

My tent mates turned out to be two IISC PhD students – Hari and Harish. They were pretty cool and the three of us adjusted pretty well. Both of them had done the Hampta pass trek last year. While Hari was still pursuing his PhD, Harish had completed his PhD a while back, worked at IBM and was now due to join IIT-Delhi as an assistant professor. As nerdy as his qualifications might sound, Harish had a pretty good sense of humour. I remember asking him if I’d wake up a bit more smarter as were sleeping in the same tent, to which he replied that the probability of me waking up a bit more crazier was higher as it was his crazier side rather than his academic side that was active currently.

Along with Hari and Harish, there were three more IISC students, who had come with them – Chaitu, Arun and Nishant. Arun had already graduated from IISC but Chaitu and Nishant were still studying. The youngest among the ladies in the batch, Chaitu seemed like always wanting more action. And I’ll remember Nishant for his account of leech trouble that he and his friend faced during one of their treks. They had ended up with leeches inside the mouth and the ear. While I wasn’t petrified by it, it certainly made me cautious and I always made it a point to check my shoes every day morning before putting them on for any hidden insects.

After lunch, some of us decided to have a quick nap while other whiled away the time by gossiping. I decided to read my book “Sapiens”, which I got my hands on just a couple of books. I felt reading about our evolutionary history while being close to nature would be quite situational.

We all gathered together post snacks at 4.00 to introduce ourselves, for which we didn’t have time during the previous day at our base camp. The trek leader also suggested that we give ourselves nicknames so that it would be easier for others to remember the names. I decided to name myself “Rowdy Rahul” for apparently no good reason. I guess that was the first adjective that came to my mind starting with ‘R’ and I just decided to stick to it. Part of that exercise was also to repeat the nicknames that other had given to themselves. And it was fun watching how the nicknames were often goofed up by others while repeating. For instance, one of the trekkers named Ameya, nicknamed himself “Awesome Ameya” with a lot of pride, only to be confused it with “Awful Ameya” by another trekker.

Post a fulfilling dinner at 7.00, some of us went back to sleep in our tents. I, along with some others, spent some time gazing at the clear skies. I tried to capture a few pictures of the milky way, but my basic point and shoot wasn’t good enough for capturing it. This was captured by other trekkers, who had DSLR. And here is one of the photographs that a fellow trekker, Rahul, had shared in the group.

Rahul, an avid biker, had decided to drive down from Delhi to Lohajung (a whopping 500 km). He was travelling next to Valley of Flowers for another trek. He had a 2-week leave, and he intended to make the most of it. Rahul is alos interested in photography and the milky way photography that you have seen above is his courtesy.

I went back to my bed once I felt I had my fill of the night sky and as I fell asleep, I wondered how the next day would turn out to be!

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 3: Trekking to the most beautiful campsite – Bedni Bugyal (altitude: 11500 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Departing from Hyderabad.

The train arrived at Kathgodam in the morning at 6.00 AM. A small town located in the Nainital district of Uttarakhand, this was the starting pickup point by Indiahikes. It was here that I realized that the batch size was 23. Although all strangers at that moment and me being unable to even recollect their names properly, by the end of the trek, all of them became quite familiar. After a few quick introductions, we started to proceed to our base camp – Lohajung in a tempo traveller and two sumos. This was to be an 11-hour journey in the foothills of the Himalayas.

We stopped for breakfast at a small restaurant on our way. Over breakfast, I got to know that there was a group of 3 persons: Saksham, Ayush and Abhishek who were working in Singapore and had decided to do the trek as part of their holiday. But what really excited me was the fact that two of them, Sakham and Ayush were actually alumni of the same school from which I had graduated, IIIT-H. IIIT-H, being a young university, it is always a pleasant surprise to come across other alumni in random places. I also got to know of another group from Kolkatta, West Bengal – Diptajit, Abhradip and Raja. Light-hearted and jovial, they were always welcoming. Perhaps, it is just a coincidence, but I’ve recently had three Bengalis in my team at work and I feel that spending time with Diptajit, Abhradip and Raja has helped me understand their culture and people better.

The drive to Lohajung was a beautiful one, often coming across a mix of steep mountains, rivers and meadows. We also had a flat tyre at one point and had to get out of the vehicle. I got to see a few kids playing. Using my extremely persuasive skills, I also managed to get a few quick shots of them. I believe the local culture is best captured through the people there.

We eventually reached Lohajung in the evening around 7.00 PM and were taken to the Indiahikes building, where we got to meet some of the other Indiahikes staff. This is where I was introduced for the first time to one of the most important devices to carry on a trek from a health perspective – Oximeter. The oximeter is a small device that is hooked on to your finger and can be used to measure the oxygen and pulse rate.

So, why are these metrics so important? The main purpose of the oxygen levels is to identify early signs of Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS). While I won’t get into the details of what it is, I guess it suffices to say, that this is a serious condition and would definitely mean you need medical attention and cannot continue with the trek. Using the oximeter, the Indiahikes team could take a call if they need to use some medication (typically Diamox) as a preventive measure if the oxygen level starts falling. We were given a health card, which was used to track our oximeter readings multiple times in a day. From what I understand, you are fine as long as your reading is above 90%.

After the readings of the oximeter were taken, we proceeded to have supper. Post supper, we had a welcome meeting with our trek leader, Shivam, in which he introduced himself and spoke about some of the dos and don’t during the trek. Shivam had an interesting story to share about how he ended up being a trek leader. He was working for a corporate and after about a year, he began to analyze how his future would be if he continued working over there. Apparently, he realized that he could grow up the ladder if he continued working, but somehow that didn’t excite him much. Having done a few treks prior, he felt that being a trek leader was the right choice in terms of getting exposure to a variety of disciplines, be it human interactions, leadership skills or basic medical knowledge, which would be valuable if he decided to pursue an MBA. Further, he has always been very active in sports and was fairly confident that he could endure the physical hardship involved in being a trek lead. Hence, he decided to quit his job and work as a trek leader for a while with Indiahikes. Just in his early twenties, the amount of energy that Shivam had and his choice of pursuing such a unique path had impressed us all!

As part of this meeting, we also got to know of the Green Trails initiate of Indiahikes. The purpose of this initiative is to encourage the trekkers to collect garbage (mainly non-organic waste such as plastic bottles, wrappers, cans, etc.) as we are trekking and then deposit it at the campsite, from where it is taken back to the base camp and then disposed of properly. For achieving this, all the trekkers were given an eco bag which we were supposed to use for collecting the waste. You can read up more about the Green Trails initiative at https://indiahikes.com/green-trails/

As soon as the meeting was over, all of us went to bed immediately, tired from all the day’s journey and excited about the adventure that was to begin the next day!

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 2: Get, Set, Go! Heading to our first campsite – Ghairoli Patal (altitude: 10000 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!. The previous article in the series is Getting Ready.

My journey for the trek started with my departure from Hyderabad airport on Sep 16 afternoon. Ensuring that I make the most of my free lounge access :), I had a quick lunch at the airport Plaza Premium Lounge before boarding the flight destined to Delhi.

My awe for nature started about 5 mins of boarding the flight. This is because I got to see some pretty scenic views of the clouds from within the plane. I’ve mostly taken evening flights and this view of the clouds in the morning was a bit unexpected.

Upon reaching Delhi airport, I took a bus followed by the metro and an auto to go to the Delhi Cant railway station. I was to catch a train to Kathgodam, the place from where Indiahikes had arranged for pick up. The wise thing would have been to take a cab directly from the airport but I somehow thought that the Delhi Metro would have direct connectivity to the station and decided to try it out. I was lucky in that I had a good 4 hours of time between my flight arrival and the train departure, because of which, although I got delayed experimenting with the Delhi metro, I still had enough time to make it to the railway station.

It was at this railway station that I met my first trek mate – Arjun. A karate expert, Arjun has a black belt in the sport and he also teaches it in Bangalore. He recently graduated and was looking for opportunities in the Middle East. And this trek sure turned out to be a memorable one for him as it was sometime during the trek that he got to know that his application to one of the companies in the Middle East was accepted.

The Ranikhet express train arrival was delayed by 30 mins and we boarded it as soon as it arrived. After a quick supper at the next station, Old Delhi, the train continued to our destination, Kathgodam.

Go on to the next article in the series: Day 1: Arriving at Kathgodam, meeting the group and heading to Lohajung, the base camp (altitude: 7700 ft).

This post is part of Roopkund Trek – An unforgettable adventure!.

Why Roopkund?

I guess the first question that you’d probably have in your mind is “Why did I choose Roopkund trek?”. I guess the answer here is pretty straight-forward. The Roopkund trek is considered one of the most beautiful treks in the Himalayas. I have a penchant for green valleys over white mountains, and the wide meadows in the post-monsoon season that are part of this trek whetted my appetite. I did some more exploration about the trek and made up my mind to choose the Roopkund trek.

Getting fit

The Roopkund trek is considered to be a trek of moderate difficulty. However, no trek in the Himalayas can be considered easy and requires a person to be fit. This doesn’t mean you have to be like him to do a trek!

But you need to be exercising regularly and in general be fit prior to the trek. One requirement which is often mentioned for Himalayan treks is to be able to jog about 4-5 kms in 30 mins. If you are able to cover this distance without too much exertion, then you should be pretty good for the trek. Also, you need to be do stretching exercises daily so that your body is flexible. You can find more information on how to prepare for the trek at: http://roopkund.com/#preparation

Hiking with Indiahikes

Due to some constraints, my wife wasn’t able to join me this time for the trek and therefore I had to travel alone. As a matter of fact, it was my first solo holiday. I had pretty mixed feelings about going solo on a holiday. On one hand, I felt that the personal time I’d get for myself might be refreshing. On the other hand, I felt that I’d miss the company of a close-knit group. So, which one of these would actually more? The only way I’d knew it was to try it.

Going on a solo holiday, however, didn’t mean I was trekking all by myself. I had signed up with an organization known as Indiahikes for the trek. Indiahikes was an organization founded by Arjun Majumdar a few years back, primarily for documenting treks. As they mention on their website, they “explore, write and document treks”. Having heard good things about this organization, I decided to go ahead with them.

Buying the right gear

It is important that when you are doing a high altitude trek, you have the right gear. Unlike a regular holiday, where you can just step out of your hotel or call up the hotel reception for any emergency, the options are considerably limited when you are doing a trek. Swati has a pretty decent video covering on what all you need for the trek at http://roopkund.com/#itinerary. The only piece of advice that I have which is different from that video is not to rely on a poncho. When it rains in the Himalayas, it rains incessantly, and having a regular raincoat with a backpack rain cover would be much more effective than a poncho.

Decathlon, which has opened a lot of outlets in India, is a good one-stop solution for all your trek needs. There are certain accessories also available at the base camp of Indiahikes, but I’d suggest you buy them before itself to avoid any last minute out of stock surprises.

Break in new shoes

One important piece of advice that I have about shoes is to buy them early. This is for two reasons:

1. You can try them in your home for a short while and if they are not the right size, you would have ample time to get them exchanged. It should be noted that shoes that are comfortable in your ascent could end up hurting during the descent. So, ensure that there is a gap between the front of your toes and the pointed end of the shoes.

2. The next thing to keep in mind is that it takes time to break in new shoes. Even if your shoes are the right size, it would take some usage for breaking in the shoes. It wouldn’t be a nice experience to trek with blisters, and hence it is wise to use your shoes for at least a couple of weeks before the trek.

Go on to the next article in the series: Departing from Hyderabad.