Himalayan Trek - Part I

I resolved that this year somehow I will go on a Himalayan Trek. An offer from a friend came along to go to Tapovan Valley but I couldn't make it due to my travel schedule and ill-health. Thankfully another offer came along to join a trek to the Rupin-Supin Valley in Uttarakhand and I immediately signed up.

The trekking group met at the Alumni Club to discuss what all we should carry for the trek and how to prepare for the trek. We then went on a shopping spree to buy trekking shoes, sweaters, jackets, balaclava, gloves, thermals, hydration pack etc. We also started hitting the gym or resorting to climbing up the stairs at home and office to get our cardio conditioning.

The group went in their own ways (flight/train) to Dehradun (3306 feet) which was nice and cool. We spent a night there and then set off in a van to Sankari (6154 feet), a small village nestled in the Garhwal Himalayas.

Another night of acclimatization followed as we could already feel the chill down the spine albeit gently. The next day we were joined by a crew of seven locals who’d help us through the trek and we set off to our start point of Himri Top (5662 feet).

From about 10 am we started climbing the slopes. The scenery opened out nicely as we climbed up. We passed some small stepped fields and slowly made our way up. We had a nice packed lunch near a stream. The next stretch was pretty tough as it was steep and our stomachs were full. We pulled ourselves to reach the village of Bhitri (7768 feet).

I couldn’t help but think of the settings in the movie Aayirathil Oruvan (Stg: Karthi, Rheema, Andrea). The village was alive with men, women and kids who seem to be fascinated by us as much as we were fascinated by them.

We then made our way past the village to our first camp point – Saryutal (7881 feet). The setting was magical overlooking a magnificent valley. Our helping crew had reached ahead and set-up the tents there. And they had made tea and served it with some snacks. We had three tents for the ten of us and a big tent for the crew. Then there was the toilet tent which we had to get used to for the next 7 days.

As the sun went down so did the temperature. The moon came up to lit the sky along with millions of stars. I was reminded of the days in the terrace of my home in the 70s gazing up the sky littered with stars. We could also make out satellites bobbing their way and shooting stars/meteors blazing their paths. Dinner was served at 7:30 pm and we were in our tents by 8:30 pm. We then had to get used to our tents and the sleeping gear. The sleeping bags and the inner body bag were tough to get into. But we were all asleep pretty quickly as we were pretty tired from the climb.

(To be continued)