Vintage Monday

~ Try Trekking ~

By Mandip & Anita Soin, '87

The early dawn filters through your tent. The sun is heralding a new day. You unzip your tent and breathe in the clear, crisp mountain fragrance. A sip of hot tea and your body springs into life! Ahead, the glistening mountain peaks hold a strange, intense fascination as they seem to reach out to the deep blue sky. Indeed, a trek in the hills is akin to a drink of sparkling champagne~

The Himalaya, the "abode of the snows" is the chain of the highest and youngest mountains on earth. The region of deep religious and cultural traditions and the home of an amazing diversity. Fortunately, the interiors of the mountains are inaccessible by road and so they must be visited in the slowest and most intimate manner - by walking! Each step provides new and intriguing points. And for the romantic, each step is a step in the footsteps of Hillary, Tenzing and other Himalayan explorers.

Walking in the Himalyan regions does not require any technical ability. You just need to be physically fit. Of course, tolerance to situations,powers of endurance and a capacity to appreciate the grandeur and beauty that continues at every turn are important. The glitter of the mornign sun on the snow peaks still enveloped in mist; the swift streams and lazy rivers; emerald lakes and pine forests; the infinite peace on a grassy meadow covered carelessly with multi-coloured flowers and silence of a starry night. Trails ascent steeply and paths contour around local villages passing through cultivated fields through forests which give way to fragrant stands of Juniper and Conifers. It is the very splendour that captivates one and invites the spiritual joy that sages have found alluring.

Trekkers with special interests such as flora and fauna, photography, geology or anthropology have immense possibilities of stretching their walking hours into an even more rich experience . And for the adventurer, it is a fulfilment of inner strength, mental and physical.

Once on the walking trails, one should be well clad, properly equipped with the basics - rucksacks, tents, sleeping bag, food and kitchen equipment and a first-aid kit. Because of the monsoons, high winds and violent blizzards, the seasons for walking the hills are May through October.

Whilst most people start off trekking either in school or later in life, one can also go through the experience of undertaking an adventure or basic course in one of the institutes either at Darjeeling, Uttarkashi, Manali or Kashmir. Equipment being a vital aspect, this is available with a few firms like Ibex Equipment or West Coast. Being members of climbing clubs or trekking associations also helps as they can loan equipment to their members.

Trekking can be taken up at any point provided one chooses the right trail.

One such trail for beginners is the trek to the Beaskund area in Himachal Pradesh and this strikes out from Manali which is now connected via Vayudoot, or reachable by a 15-hour bus journey via Chandigarh.

The trail takes the road form Manali to Pulchan by bus and then an easy trek of 4 hours to a beautiful camping meadow called Dhundi. The next day is a good walk to Beaskund at a height of about 10,000'. This is the bowl from where the Manali, Shitidhar and Friendship peals can be viewed and indeed ascended if one is an experienced climber.

A middle-aged person can also go on a trek for the first time and combine the religious aspect by taking off to the Garhwal in the UP hills. A drive of 10 hours gets one to Uttarkashi via Rishikesh and then another day's bus ride through the Rishi Gorge to Gangotri. A quick dip in these holy waters and one takes the trails to go on to Gaumukh the source of the Ganges which one can reach in 2 days easy trekking stopping to camp at Bhujbasa which is 16Km from Gangotri and then a short haul of 4Km to Gaumukh. For the more hardy, there is a possibility of trekking on to Tapovan at 4,400m on the green pasture which is shepherded by peaks like Shivling, Meru and the Bhagirathi peaks.

For the more experience it is that fascinating land in the state of Jammu and Kashmir called Kadakh and Zanskar where a journey is a must. One of the classic routes is the Lamayuru-Padam trek, a route of 10 days starting at the famous Lamayuru Monastery and going through the heart of Zanskar over passes like Wanla 3,245m and Hanupatta 4,265m and finally Sirsir la at 4,900m. There are various gompas one passes and through this arid land of colourful mountains (due to different minerals present in the soil) goes the trek to reach the far flung destination of Padum from where it is a 2 day bus ride back to kargil and back one day to Srinagar.

It is treks like these which do a city dweller especially a world of good where a greater interaction takes place between man and nature and he learns again to appreciate real flowers and not the paper ones in his office in the city.