I am
writing from my office desk, desperately waiting for the next 2 days to pass by
quickly. In 2 days starts my 11 days trek to Hampta Pass. By this time next
week I would have completed half of my trek.
Am I
excited? Off course! Am I impatient? Miserably!
6
months ago in the month of Nov-Dec when my sister asked me if I would be
interested to climb the Himalayas (or atleast part of it) I jumped across the
opportunity and said “yes yes yes”. Although my mom wasn’t pleased on sending
me away on this treacherous (to my mother even 2 days trek to dudhsagar was
treacherous) trek far away from her for a whopping 11 days, she did cave in at
the end; thanks to my sister; but now that I think, I guess, she would have
eventually agreed coz part of her knows that she would have wanted to go
herself and probably would have done it too had it been 30 years ago (she still
wants to go but I am not very confident).
After
a month of debate with myself (a part of me was skeptical too) I finally
decided to take this first baby step towards Himalayan trek and went ahead and
registered for it (I am going with KMA). Soon after the registration, we also
booked our flight tickets before the price jumped; Bangalore to Delhi with one
overnight stay at Delhi, mostly to enjoy the street foods and for a teeny-tiny
tour of the city or atleast I hope so; if it doesn’t get very hot.
It’s
been 5 months since my first baby step; I have been waiting patiently flipping
my calendar from Jan to Feb to March to April and finally to May and now that
it’s finally May, I am waiting for the first 15 days of May to pass by in a
jiffy and the clock to hit 16th May; that’s when I fly to Delhi and
my onward journey to Manali begins.
Shopping
is done, my bags are packed, tickets are booked, itinerary is decided and the
complete plan is set out to roll in. It's a 12 days trip from Bangalore to
Bangalore with one night stay at Delhi. Remaining 11 days focuses on Manali and
the trek. Since this is my first Himalayan trek I choose something that's
fairly easy, covering over 75 km in a span of 7-8 days. The maximum height we
acquire while in this trek is 13500 ft. This trek is meant for first time trekkers
in Himalayan regions. The trek winds through lush green valleys, log
bridges, cute little mountain settlements, alpine meadows, dazzling landscape,
enchanting mountain streams, forested hillsides, grassy knolls and snowcapped
mountains. Leaving Manali, the trek winds through evergreen cool forests of
cedar, silver fur, walnut, oak and pine forests. Setan, Karimindiyari, Chikka,
Juara, Jhobri Bihaii are the campsites enroute. The entire Kullu valley can be
viewed on this trail. Once atop the Hampta pass another spectacular panorama of
peaks of the Lahaul valley appears. There
would also be fun activities like rappelling, zip lining and river crossing,
and since it snowed heavily this year we are expecting our last 2 days of trek
in snow **excited** . Also if time and weather permits we intend to roam around
Manali for some site seeing and may be a quick tour to Rothang Pass for some
skiing, Zorbing, Para Gliding and rope bridge; also if possible white water
rafting at Beas River; Jeezzz! Fingers crossed ;)
We are
around 43 of us going to Hampta pass with 2 instructors, a standby instructor &
a couple of cooks and guides and participants like me. Last Sunday KMA arranged
a meetup with my fellow trekkers which gave me an opportunity to meet most of
my fellow trekkers who would be my family for the next 11 odd days. These
include children’s, teenagers, and then folks like me from the age range of 25
to 50.
It
seems that the more I travel, the less I prepare. 3 years back when I decided
to go to Pune for a 2 weeks long vacation all I could think about for months in
advance was plan, plan, planning. I even committed to the decision to save
money and leave everything behind 6-7 months in advance. Today, I find myself
doing everything, right from planning to packing, only a week or, a day or a 2
in advance. But when it comes to trek, and when the trek happens to be in the
Himalayan region, one cannot just go in unprepared. It needs months of physical
activities to get fit, booking tickets and transports well in advance before
the prices jump, getting all the necessary trek gears and last but not the least
saving up a bit so that you end up enjoying those 12 days of your trip.
Gearing
up for the trek:
1.
Gym: I hit the gym the very next
day I registered for this trek primarily to increase my stamina and lung
capacity. Astonishingly gym’ing has helped me in a better immune system and I
fall sick very less often **touchwood** and it also helped me burn out few
extra pounds that I gained in past few years. My target was to achieve a 4km
run in 30 min, although I did achieve 2.50 km run in 20 min which is the
closest I could get to.
2.
Shopping for the trek: Since I don’t quite often trek I am short on
all trekking gears, so I had to buy almost everything. Right from the trekking
shoes to jackets to fleece to balaclava. Most of my shopping was done in
Decathlon. Below is the list of items I am carrying.
- Trekking shoes: I got a Women Forclaz 500. Cost me 3k. Seemed like a worthy investment if you plan on trekking in future.
- Floaters: I already own a floaters which I would be using. This is to wear near camp.
- Socks:
- 3 pair of normal sports socks. Cost me 300 (100/- each).
- 1 pair of woolen sock. Cost me 800/- L But I didn’t mind buying it as a onetime investment, and I need my legs to be warm while I sleep at night.
- Sweater/ Warm wear:
- 1 turtle neck (Forclaz 100) pullover.
- Mountaineering Jacket: Cost me 1k, actual cost was 4k. I got it for a discount.
- 1 Fleece (Forclaz 20).
- One pair of thermal wear.
- One normal winter wear jacket which I already have.
- Track pants: 3 set.
- T-shirts: 3 pair of t-shirts.
- Balaclava: Adidas ski cap, head bandana.
- Hand Gloves: GT Forclaz Mitaine.
- Sun Cap: Quechua
- Sun goggles: Ray Ban
- Sun Screen: Biotique
- Poncho/Raincoat: Quechua Rain Cut
- Towel: An easy drying one.
- Bottle (2*1 liter bottle)
- Torch: Although I did want to buy “On Light 800”, I settled for a normal torch from Reliance Fresh. Cost me 100 bucks. Also I am carrying extra batteries.
- Personal Medicines: Avomin, bandages, soframycin, Eno, Crocins, Disperin, Volini, Tiger Balm, good night mats, odomos.
- Dry fruits/Energy Bars: Cashews, Badams, Raisins, Snickers, Energy Bars, Tang, Glucose.
- Toiletries: Tissue rolls, Face Tissues, Wet Tissues, Soap, Body Lotion, Lip Guard.
- Small Utility Kit: Safety Pins, Rubber bands, Needle Tread.
- Note book and a pen
- A few carry Bags.
- Camera: Canon 1200D.
Sometimes
you find yourself thrown into a situation by no one other than yourself, only
to love and hate it at the same time. You might find yourself on a plane to get
to the one place you’ve always wanted to go, only to wish you could call the
whole thing off to escape the sudden onset of rough turbulence at 35,000 feet
in the air. Climbing a mountain for 7-8 days to get to a height of 13500ft sounds
like a great idea until you realize you aren’t really in shape for it and that
you may suffer from altitude sickness and will be forced to ride on a
disgruntled donkey or mule along the edge of a cliff for hours on end. Travel
has a way of pulling out the very best and worst of you, the most adventurous
and the most fearful parts. But, you do it because you get something more out
of it. You learn to depend on yourself in ways that you never thought you were
capable. You have a new appreciation for where you are from, or maybe you find
that you belong somewhere else. You meet people that inspire you to embrace
life and adventure that you would have otherwise never met. Travel is one of
the most enriching things you can do for yourself, and hopefully the people
around you.
So
all that said, here I am, waiting for an early flight, pushing all the anxiety
I have to the bottom of my thoughts, and thinking about the positives. The
photos I will take, the physical challenges I will overcome, and the new foods
I will try. I’m thankful for my equally spontaneous trek mates and the chance
to go see a new place and culture. Assuming I make it out alive (just kidding),
I’ll be back with an update on how it all went. - Stay tuned!
Bon
Voyage!
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