Sarpass – As it happened (Part 2)

The below description is not a day by day account but covers the most memorable events during the trek.

Kasol Base Camp (6500ft) – Beautiful, Colorful & Small

After a flight, train, bus & taxi ride, we reached Kasol at 10.30 PM on a cold night. The camp was off to sleep. The only sound that dominated then was the sound of river Parvati flowing alongside the camp. We reported at the Reception & after producing our admit cards, were allowed into a tent. The camp easily had about 25 odd tents each having a capacity of about 15. On one side were the female tents and on the other side were the male tents comparatively more in number. There was one area in the middle that served as the dining area behind which was the kitchen tent. Considering that we had an early start the next day, we rushed to finish dinner. Dinner comprised of rotis, sabzi, rice, dhal, halwa & papad. This in addition to Kheer was pretty much our standard Dinner fare all through the trek.

After some discussion on how & where we should keep our bags & some confusion on the tent number allocated to us, the first night in the base camp was uneventful.

The Morning Exercise

The two days that we were stationed in Base Camp, we had a morning exercise. This was at 6:30 in the morning. After morning tea & counting, the group had to walk up to a ground about half a kilometer away from the camp. The exercise incharge was a localite by name Devraj, who also doubled up as the Sr. Rock Climbing instructor. Devraj looked a localite, spoke fluent Hindi & I remember the first day of morning exercise he saying to the group encircling him, “If anybody speaks during the exercise, I’ll make you run 20 rounds of this ground”. But as the exercise progressed & we got to see him more he didn’t seem much of a task master really. So I wondered why the tough talk. The exercise was amazing. He made us do some really basic stuff, which were more of warm up & loosening exercises. The sad part however was that even these basic exercises we were not very comfortable doing. But I enjoyed the activity.

Acclimatization Trek – Day 2

It took our group a while to come to terms with the YHAI speed. YHAI is a stickler for timings. In the process of Breakfast, putting on contact lenses & all that, our group got delayed big time for the Acclimatization trek. The rest of the group had started off long back & we were still trying to figure out what we should finish & where we should go. Finally after collecting the YHAI rucksack & dumping two blankets in it, we started off hoping to catch up with the rest of the group soon. The Acclimatization trek was a hike up a near by hill. We had to pass by a local school. The school building was in front of a snow clad mountain. Little girls dressed in salwar kameezes & guys in shorts sat in the corridor doing what their teacher was asking them to do. After a heavy breakfast it took a while to get up the hill. But as we climbed up, we realized how beautiful the route was. I have a fascination for the jungle terrain. Its my favorite among all terrains. Its probably because I love trees & walking under huge tall pine trees was an awesome experience. What we experienced that day was how the trek for the rest of the days going to be. Hiking & hiking all the way. It was challenging & tiring. However when we thought we still have a long way to go, we saw the group seated a few meters front of us overlooking a drop at the bottom of which was parvati flowing away with the snow clad mountains in the background.

When I took off my bag my T Shirt was all wet with sweat. The cool breeze under the trees helped regain some energy & sitting down was heaven. Most of us from the group felt the trek was too short & we were eager for more. We quickly got the guide to take us for an extended trek & announced it to the rest of the group. A lot others decided to join us. The trek that we did till that point had a clear walkable path. However the stretch that we pursued thereafter had no clear path. So that was a different experience. There were many plants with big thorns along that route. Slowly but surely we realized that this stretch would require some concentration & couldn’t be taken lightly. Especially the time when the group began to get down the hill it was all the more challenging. A couple of lose big stones were pushed off from the back & all of them had to alert the guys in the front about it. Some time later we were walking back to our previous halt position & rejoined the guys who had decided to rest there. A lime squash was mixed with all the water that each of us had in a plastic bucket. A bottle was cut to become a pouring mug & the juice was then distributed in the same water bottles to all. There was no need for ice or cold water. The water there is naturally so cold, one feels like drinking refrigerated water. After which we descended.

Orientation – Day 2

The next agenda for us on the first day was an orientation session scheduled at 3 PM. The orientation was important as our entire group was up North trekking for the first time & felt it necessary to get inputs from people who have been there done that. During the course of the orientation what we learnt were very basic things. One of the things that was communicated & which I too thought to be very correct was this statement – “Don’t be a porter, Be a trekker” meaning to say that most of us are so interested in finishing the trek that we hardly stop & pause to look at the sights around us. The next important message given was maintain distance between the person in front of you & behind you. The distance should ideally be such that the person in front you & behind you should be able to hear you if you call out. This also I thought was an important piece of advise. The other things communicated were not to break away from the YHAI route which was clearly marked with arrows all through the trekking path.

An experience of a life time
Day 5 - The trek between Guna Paani (8000ft) to Fual Paani (9500 ft)

The YHAI in all their communiqué describes this stretch to be of 5 kms in distance & 6 hours in duration. The previous day’s trek (Day 4 trekking between Unch Dhar to Guna Pani)) was very easy & we completed it by 2 PM or so. I remember a lot of people in our group suggesting to each other that the group should take it easy & not rush the completion of the days trek. At that time it made sense. One of the things that most of us did was to check with either the guides or the camp leaders how the next day’s route would be. And I remember very well that we were told that we will be able to complete the Guna Paani to Fual Paani stretch in 3 hours. In all fairness more or less that is what would have happened. But then one big lesson we all learnt was that there is one other important factor called the rain that had to be factored in. The day started off normally. Although we had to pass through a lot of slushy terrain initially as well, it didn’t matter much because we were more or less on flat ground. The fun started as we approached the lunch point. Just as we were about to reach the lunch point, it started to rain heavily. The lunch point was under a huge rock. Most of them had squeezed themselves under the rock which provided the cover from the rain. In this condition we finished lunch.

I have done one other trek in the rain. It was the Tadiyandemol trek in Coorg. On our way down from the peak it poured crazy & no raincoat or umbrella helped. This was very similar. Now, there are quite a few of them who love the rain. I think getting wet in the rain is one thing & trekking in the rain is another. The ground we would walk on was so slushy that every foot forward would slip. I wonder if there was any one from the group who did not slip & fall even once during this part of the trek. That was the only challenge but it made movement absolutely slow. Now add to the slippery ground the hiking part. This very same route on a dry day would have been a cakewalk. But that day it was like actually walking on a cake. You hike up & slide down, you hike up & slide down. Most of the time we were making movement on all fours. And here all cleanliness & hygiene had to be thrown out of the window. Irrespective of what color pant you wore it all looked brown end of the trek. I remember three instances which I encountered during this stretch. The first one was hiking up. Like I said the only way one could move up was to crawl. Hold a branch or a root or a rock & pull yourself up. This was the only way I was making progress. I was leading a group of 5 odd people. There wasn’t anyone immediately in front of me. After having gone fairly comfortably some distance I came to a point where there was absolutely nothing in front of me to grip & push myself up. I remember I was stuck there for may be a good 5 minutes. It was only when I put all my weight on one leg & pushed myself up with the help of the loose soil itself that I was able to move up. The second instance was of taking the wrong route. Somewhere on the route there was this huge rock which was like cutting in on the way. We had to maneuver ourselves around it. I observed very carefully how the guy in front of me did it and went for it immediately after he finished. It was a bit difficult, but I managed to cross over. And only after I crossed over did people realize that was not the path to take. Luckily I & the other person in front of me were able to rejoin the group after continuing on the same path further up. The third instance was the most mentionable of the lot. This time around again I was in the front. I just kept pursuing a path in front of me. I didn’t look left or right just kept going until I reached a point way above from the rest of the group only to realize that that wasn’t the way. I was really caught there. I didn’t know if I should go back down & rejoin the rest of them or pursue the same path up & try to rejoin them further up somewhere. But there was no clear path beyond the point I was standing and going back down didn’t look very easy. And nobody around there seemed to realize I had gone the wrong way. I was completely isolated at that spot. Then I noticed a fallen pine tree further up. This pine tree seemed to have been cut off its branches not fully up to the trunk but about two feet away from its trunk. It had fallen down on a proper slope. I pursued that path up with the support of the branches. It was difficult but I finally managed to go all the way up till the end of the fallen trunk. There another 2 meters of negotiation got me back on the route everyone else was following.

‘Sher ke Bacche’ reach Tila Lotni
Day 6 – From Zirmi (11000ft) to Tila Lotni (12500ft)

Being called ‘Sher ke Bacche’ is a very high feeling. I don’t know how the others felt about it, but it did lift the morale, confidence & gave a can do attitude. Of course this is probably what the guide said to all the trekkers. This was the day when we experienced our first snow on the trek. The initial snow patches were greeted with so much joy that when we reached the most stunning stretch of the day, we were wondering why we even thought of celebrating the initial patches. Simply put, this trek only got better as time progressed. We had in front of us a 2-3 km stretch & every inch of it was covered in snow. It was a breathtaking sight. And walking on it were trekkers one behind the other in a line carefully negotiating the path. It to me was like having got transplanted in to a National Geographic video. The only disappointment being that day we had a longer distance of trek to complete and hence couldn’t pause for a long time to savor the sights we got to witness.

‘Upar ja kar Pooja karna’ – Day 8 - The trek from Tila Lotni (12500 ft) to Biskeri Thatch (11000ft) via Sarpass (13800ft)


The D Day had arrived. We would have to get on top of Sarpass at a good 13800 ft. We had an early start that day not the normal 8:30 AM start. This was largely to make good use of good weather conditions. The task immediately was to hike up. The initial part was on a plain mountain. And this hike took a good bit of time as it came so early in the day & it was straight up. Once we got to the top the snow stretches began. That apparently was the peak of Sarpass. Sarpass peak we soon realized is very flat. It is not like a typical peak which tapers towards the top. This was flat & we didn’t even know we had reached the top. Only when the guides clarified that we were indeed on the peak did the celebrations begin. We had made our plans to celebrate on the peak by showing off our designed for the occasion T Shirts. But we had to do it in a rush as the guides first advised us against removing our jackets & then pushed us to get moving with the rest of the group. We got our jackets off just for the four or five pictures & put them back on & caught up with the rest of the group. It was only at Lunch Time that we learnt a pooja was done up there when we got the Prasad from a fellow group mate. And what a lunch point it was. It was right in the middle of nowhere. All around one could see snow. Nearby there was a little stream & there put on the snow was a plastic sheet. The group settled there & got busy eating lunch which was a little different from the routine. We got a tetrapak of mango juice, some chikkies and some other fried stuff. Of course we had Omlettes & maggi being prepared by the villagers near by even there.

“Waha tak chod do na yaar”- The latter half of Day 8

Post lunch for a long time we had long stretches of snow tracks to walk on. The only challenge that came on this stretch was a sharp right turn sort of bend which immediately after taking right went down. This spot slowed the group up. But after having negotiated this, we were in for the next challenge of the day. It didn’t come immediately & from where we saw it looked like it was going to be a nice hike up. And sitting on that peak were the porters who had carried some of our group mates luggage. It was an awesome sight. But of course as we approached it the challenge became clearer. Luckily standing mid way on that hike was a guide who was pulling us up when we got to him. And guess what happened there. Immediately after being pulled up the line stopped moving. It was an odd spot. It was not flat land. It was uneven terrain. Most of us were crawling up that stretch and some of us had our rucksacks on the back. No bit of yelling & pleading to the guys ahead to move helped. In odd positions like that your feet take a lot of strain. It finally cleared & we were on top. The relief was short lived. The weather had been deteriorating for a while. There were a lot of dark clouds up above. As we reached the top it started to snow. And a few meters ahead of us was the start point of our slide. Yes the famous Sarpass Slide. Basically we were standing on a 3 feet flat land & one side was a rocky uneven slope & on the other side was a snowy slide. And to add to all this it started to rain and the ground beneath our feet became slippery and the line was moving really slowly. Man, this moment is fresh in my mind.

To make matters worse all those porters sitting there announced that they had reached their last point. That put everybody who had given them their rucksacks to carry in a spot of bother. They had to pay off the porters & carry the rucksack for the rest of the day all by themselves.

Zoooom - The Slide - The finale of Day 8

I never thought I would ever do something like this in my life. Its one of those things that you read about, see from far and get really excited about but the true experience is in doing it. The first slide was about 200 meters. The guide gave me the instructions. He said the speed breakers are the elbows and said Go. I remember only one thing, when I started to slide I slid so fast that more than being exciting it was scary. It was like zoom. It also wasn’t very comfortable. We had our rucksacks on our back, our trekking stick & we were also very keen to not wet our clothes as much as possible. I also remember the burning feeling on the lower back when I was sliding. The T shirt was pulled up & the back was rubbing against the snow.

After having finally come to a halt and learning that I had torn my raincoat I turned around to see the three others behind me coming down. Two of them tumbled on the slide. One lost his sunglasses & rain sheet & the other lost his water bottle. The third managed it pretty much like mine. The look on everybody’s face was of pain & discomfort. Then it quickly changed. There were 3 more slides we had to do. Among them only another one was a major one. This turned out to be a lot more fun partly because we were now clear about what to expect & two also because it wasn’t a straight down slide. It was one with a bend. The bend made it all the more fun. It was like those slides in water parks. For the third slide we were all the more comfortable & started to enjoy it.

Bhandak Thatch – A beautiful campsite

This campsite was the most awaited of the trek for this is the campsite that has been described as Switzerland in India. And it did not disappoint. It was a green hill & there was greenery as far as you could see. The slopes were green with these little tiny yellow & white flowers growing on them here & there. And of course it was all surrounded by snow capped mountains. The sights around was very beautiful indeed. That being the last camp of the trek, made most of us very emotional.

This campsite also turned out to be very nice for other reasons. One for the game that the camp leader impromptu made us get involved in, two for the antakshari that followed the game & three for the closing get together in a tent for the camp fire. The antakshari was unbelievable what with kannada, marathi, hindi, tamil & telegu songs being sung. I found it fascinating that so many of them could sing old songs & that too completely.