Saurkundi Pass Trek continued...

To begin with, Saurkundi was not the trek I had in mind. I had seen pictures of Ladakh somewhere and ever since I wanted to go there. It was only after trekking with Adventura that I thought it was actually possible. But then in December of 2008 I found out that October to December was the best time to go Ladakh. Also on one of the Adventura treks, I heard about Sar Pass [actually Kedar mentioned it at least 20 times]. From all that I heard, Sar Pass was a must do trek. When I later asked Vishalda if we could go to Sar Pass he told me that they were already planning a trip to Saurkundi Pass, a trek very similar to Sar Pass, and were about to announce it. I said I was in. Little did I know what I was getting into...

Train to Delhi:

About 2 months later, we boarded a train to Delhi. I was travelling by a train after about 15 years! Yeah. Last time I was 8 years old when I had travelled by a train. As expected, the train ride was fun [very very hot though]. We had a few army men for company and they had taught me ‘rummy’ by the time the train reached Delhi. Ramesh and Siddharth were in a different compartment and rarely did they come out of their compartment. Later I discovered that there was a particularly pretty girl there and both these guys were busy talking to her. I still don’t understand how I did not notice her after going there so many times! L

Dilli:

We reached Delhi at about 10:30 am. From there everybody headed to Gujarathi Samaj where we were supposed to stay till the evening. Meanwhile I took an auto to Kashmiri Gate to meet Sudhiranna. From there we took the metro to Kannhaiah Nagar, to Sudhiranna’s house. By evening Sudhiranna dropped me to Gujarathi Samaj.

Bus to Babeli:

Got a bus to Kullu right from Gujarathi Samaj. After an overnight journey we reached Babeli, our base camp, 7 kms from Kullu. There were about 15-20 tents pitched with a shamiyana at one end and rest rooms at the other. There was Beas river flowing across the road. All in all, it was a nice place with pleasant weather. We had 3 days of acclimatization. On the first day we had the whole day to ourselves. There was nothing planned; this was a rest day. We settled into our tents and by evening we headed to kullu for some last minute shopping. Everything I had brought from Bangalore ranging from hunter shoes to thermals was available in Kullu for about half the price. So much for coming well prepared.

Kullu is nice place and surprisingly it was exactly how i thought it would be. We branched out to finish with our shopping and since I already had almost everything i needed, i strolled around for a while. I went to the Gurudwara then to a small tea shop[it was already getting cold]. The shop was pretty small with walls completely covered with yellowing newspapers. And there was some old hindi song playing in the back ground. The valley, the cold weather, the hot tea and the music; it was just perfect! It is amazing how music can add so much to the mood.

Along with us there were a bunch of college kids from ‘LNUP’ who had this trek as a part of their curriculum. And more of them arrived that evening. At night there was camp fire, YHAI style [Youth Hostel Association of India], i.e. a few bulbs instead of fire, in the interest of protecting the environment of course. At camp fire there were supposed to be entertainment programs performed. And as an incentive the camp officials would give us hot Bournvita at the end. The incentive is quite a big one considering that the temperature reaches below 10° celsius at night and we have to sleep in tents. We were not worried about coming up with performances since the LNUP guys were more than happy to perform. On the first day, among other things there was a ‘Mauritius Dance’ by LNUP student. There was this guy who provided music with a cup and spoon and a girl who would dance to it. It was awesome.

Day 2:

Day 2 started with early morning exercise. Then we had to do the acclimatization walk. We started from base camp and climbed a nearby mountain to reach a temple and from there on moved to the peak. At the temple we got a look at the stone slabs that are used as roofing. It was just an easy climb with a few photo ops on the way. And that was all for the day. By evening we were free again. And again we were out strolling around. There were some good hotels around the base camp. Not the luxurious ones, but those small ones that are usually found in small towns. Evening programs included a play on Ramayan. Jatayu and Laxman used to smoke beedi, Ram was happy that Ravan had kidnapped sita and Ravan was begging Ram to take her back. Hats off to the guy who came up with the idea. There was also a dance performance.

Day 3:

Day 3 sounded very interesting with Rock climbing and rappling scheduled. But we had a fair idea of what it was going to be like since Kedar had already told us. The rock for rapelling was on the slopes of a mountain behind our base camp. A short walk and we were there. As expected it was a rock of about 20 feet. After the initial instructions it was a long wait for our turn since only one person could go at a time. Finally when my turn came i was done in under 30 secs!

After lunch we went to a similar rock somewhere nearby and had to again wait for our turn to do the 30 secs of climbing! So, the whole day we were actively involved for about 1 minute! As usual we went out to eat. By now we knew what was good in each hotel. One for masala papad, one for tupka and one for pakoda. We packed our bags for the trek, locked up our extra luggage and were good to go.

Day 4: Destination Segli

After a bus ride to the starting point the trek finally began. We were all geared up and rearing to go. But before long we all had to stop for a break. And then again. It was more resting than walking. We were making our way through a villages and pine forest. Unlike western ghats, there was almost no under growth here and walking on the soft ground of fallen pine leaves was very pleasant. By noon we reached a place where there was a small yellow tent where you could get a juice of some local flower, tea, eggs or Maggie. The guide asked us to rest there for 2 hrs since we were quite close to the next camp and the camp leader would not allow us in until 3:30. This hardly qualified as a trek since we were resting most of the time. Vishalda was restless. He said we could cover the whole trek easily in less than half the time. There was no reason why we could not. But we had to stick to the schedule. So we went along. Reached Segli camp at about 4 pm. The camp there was set up in an apple orchard. There was very little space around since the tenst were set up on a very steep slope. There were 2 steps made into the mountain each wide enough to hold a tent and a narrow walk way. When i opened the flap of the tent towards the valley it was sheer slope from the very edge of the tent! Quite a view it had with a valley and mountains on either side. There were a couple of houses close by. I went in to charge my batteries in one of them. This house also had the old hindi songs playing. It is then that i realised that they were all listening to radio! That is why there were these songs playing in the tea shop in Kullu and all the village homes that we passed by. Having lived in Bangalore radio to me was FM which played the latest songs. Back home in karkala where we had no FM, i used to listen to music on my comp or on a CD player. I had completely forgotten about ‘All India Radio’!

The yellow tent with maggie and eggs was there at the camp site. After some tea I went around exploring the place for a while. Now that we had climbed higher, the view around was getting better. The snow capped mountains were around us and the fading light brought some amazing colours to the scene. I was wondering what would it be like at the top. That night the camp fire was in the dark with our battery operated torches as the only source of light.

Saurkund Trek, '09

Hello people!

Quick updates:

• Got a laptop
• My first project is officially over
• Cleared certification (infy internal)

Its been more than three and a half months since I have returned from Saurkund Trek. And it is now that I have got the time and resources (read laptop and internet connection) to put something up on it. I'll start with a set of pictures of the trek. A more detailed blog post will follow :P
So here goes:

Some girl in the train:

Some army men in our compartment:

On the way from Bangalore to Delhi:

On the bus from Delhi to Babeli: (7 kms from kullu)

Base Camp Babeli: First look (Photo by Siddharth)

River Beas across the road from the base camp:

In the town of Kullu:

Just before the camp fire at base camp:

The SK-3 Gang on acclimatization walk:

The Adventura Gang minus Sid, Rakesh and me on the acclimatization walk:

A temple somewhere on the acclimatization walk:

Rapelling session (yeah, thats me):

And rock climbing:

A cone:

:)

I don't want money!

I recently had a discussion with a friend of mine. He said ‘money is his passion’. He just wants to make money. I don’t quite agree. I don’t think money in itself can be an end. It can only be a means to an end. What you really want maybe to go some place or have something. Lets say you want a big house with peaceful surroundings. And to buy that house you need money. Agreed. Money can get you a lot of things. No doubt. But the point is what are you focusing on? Money, or what you want to do with it?

 

The argument is that, I need a lot of things. All those need money. So instead of focusing on all those individually, I focus on money. So once I have enough money, I can get whatever I want. Pretty straight forward argument. Logical right?

 

Well there is catch. For one, quite often the means of making money will be contradictory to what we want to do with it. For example, to earn money, you might have to stay in a city where you will not be able to find peaceful surroundings. Or you may have to go to a different country which takes you away from family and friends which defeats the very purpose of having a big house. Also, our needs keep increasing with time(I think this is a good thing) and we are constantly trying to catch up by earning more money.

 

So isn’t it better to focus more on what we really want rather than focusing on earning money as a blanket solution?

Its official!

Finally, its official! Well almost. Dates fixed, tickets booked. I am going to the Himalayas on a trek. "Saurkundi Pass" to be  precise. It was back in '93 when I was in J&K. Well, its been a long long time. Time to go back. To see a different part of the Himalayas. Now, the only one who stands between is my dear PM [we lovingly call him 'uncle'. Hope he doesn't know :P]. Yes, leave is not yet approved. Keeping my fingers crossed. :)

Wandering around...

Went trekking to Chikmagalur with adventura in Jan. Wow! What an experience. This was my third event with Adventura. Earlier ones being a trek to 'Sharavathy Valley' and a parasailing event at Hoskote lake near Bangalore.

The Sharavathy Valley trek was pretty much what I expected it to be. We trekked through the rain forests of the western ghats for the most part. This being the first of my real outdoor treks ( by real, i mean sleeping in sleeping bags and under the open sky at night and going to the jungle in the morning ) it was very memorable. We started off at around 10 am and trekked till about 8:45 pm. Once the sun was down, it was pitch dark. So we had to trek with our head lamps on. Enjoyed this part very much. Also made many new friends. All in all, Awesome.

Event 2, parasailing was also quite an experience. But will write about it some other time. In between I had also volunteered for a Club Adventura event in office. So  by now i knew most of the Adventura people well.

When I signed up for Trek to Chikmagalur, I expected it to be similar to first one.

But I was in for a surprise. For one only 2people were there from the first trek. But  that was not much of a problem, since in did not know anyone when I was on the first trek. The journey to chickmagalur was event less as we did not have Mr Sagar Mahapatra with us (did I not mention him? He is a super entertainer and a very good photographer.) When we reached Baba budangiri in the morning it was frigid. When I spoke to locals there they told me that it was even colder about a week back and that people normally move down from the mountain because of it. Also the mountain was very barren. Except for some short grass and low bushes, there was no other vegetation. This was very surprising to me. I had always seen western ghats mostly covered with evergreen forests. We started our trek early after having some breakfast at Baba budangiri. We were going to trek to Mullayanagiri, the highest point in Karnataka. The landscape around was beautiful. The bareness and cold reminded me of mountains of 'Leh-Ladak'. (This is when  the idea of going to Leh-Ladak came to my mind.) The trek in the morning was quite pleasant. 

But then things started heating up. As there was no forest cover, walking in the sun was really tiring. Also, on the way to Mullayanagiri we had to cross the famous Baba budangiri-ridge. The ridge is so narrow that you can actaully put both your legs on either side of the ridge and its a sheer drop to the bottom of the mountain on either side. I must admit, crossing it was quite scary for me. Once the ridge was done we  wanted to reach the peak to watch the sunset. None of us was sure if we could do it. So we went for it. Ultimately we ended up reaching the peak at around 4 pm! Perfect time for some bhelpuri and gupshup before the sunset. 

The sunset was every bit as beautiful as we expected it to be. There was also a small forest fire in a distance which looked beautifull at sunset. After dinner we had a small camp fire. Six of us decided to sleep in the open for the night while the rest slept in the temple priests quarters. The priests had warned us that it would very cold and that they had trouble sleeping inside, especially around 4 in the morning. At 3 am the wind picked up. I could not go back to sleep. Nor did I want to get out of my sleeping bag to go in. At 3:30 am I could not bear it anymore and I went in to catch some z's. Woke up to one of the most beautifull sunrises I have ever seen. The clouds were below us and the sun was just rising. Here are a couple of the pictures of the sunrise:

Watching the sunrise I forgot something important. And when I remembered, it was broad daylight. Forget trees, there was not even a small bush in sight. Plus it was a 70 degree slope on each side. Don't ask me how but I managed. [Note to memory: when on a trek, wake up early so that you can go to the loo before daybreak]

After all this and a round of photos, we headed down. Again looking at the steep slope there were times when I was wondering what I was doing here. Was very happy reach the road down. from there on we decided to go to Abbey falls but could not find a jeep to get to it. Instead we went to Kalhatti falls. Small one. Actually these small falls are fun. They are easier to reach and you can stand directly under the falls! Nice way to round up the trip. The ride back to bangalore was fun. But somehow we were not as together a group as were in the first trek. But hey, it was a nice trek. There was Dinesh with us. A very good photographer. You can see his pics here. 

Fire!

I have always wanted to do this. I wanted to light a fire ‘cavemen’ style. Without a lighter or a matchbox. I had tried it a couple of times before. But I did not a have a proper method. Last week I got what I had been waiting for. I was watching ‘Man vs Wild’ on Discovery and Bear Grylls showed a set up used to make fire that looks something like this:

“That’s it!” I thought. I could not wait to get home to try it out. I was going home for the xmas long weekend. Back home I have got all the tools and raw materials required to do such things :p. Reached home at around 6:30 am and by 7:30 I was all ready. All I had to do was hold the top piece of wood down and move the bow back and forth as fast as I can. This would turn the stick and the friction should get me enough embers to start a fire.

 

In less than 2 mins I had the stick smoking! Wow! But before I could get any further the stick slipped out of the bow. Damn. Lets try again. Again I get smoke but as I carry on the stick slips off the base. But this time the stick is charred. Impressive. From then on I don’t remember how many times I tried but each time the stick would slip, sooner or later. At one point I even got a glowing red dot on the base but it was too small.

 

After about half an hour, I was totally exhausted. So I thought, let me first try to make fire out of embers. So that when I do manage to get some embers, I don’t loose the chance. I lit a small piece of wood put it out and tried to get a fire going with a handfull of wood shavings.Again no luck. I just could not get it to light up.

 

I knew it was not going to be easy, but somehow I thought I would be able to do it this time. Anyways, I was down on motivation after about an hour and half of trying. I saw no point carrying on. Guess I am not yet ready to be stranded on a deserted island. But if I do get stranded, I hope its not 'Wilson' for company.

 

I decided to get some tips from someone who has done it before I try again. But I’ll do it.

 

 PS: If anyone of you has done it, please let me know how you did it.

A word of advice

Imagine. You are in a library reading something really interesting. There is divider on the table that blocks your view. You decide to put your feet up on the chair on the opposite side (Believe me, its very comfortable). You continue reading and unknowingly put your feet down. After sometime you feel like putting them back up again. Never ever do so without looking over the other side of the divider. Boy that was close! God knows what that girl sitting on the other side would have done…