Miss Explorer: And the mountains echoed....

A sleepy eyed me woke up to a voice. ‘Wake up, see the golden peaks..’ With the stye in eye, trying not to rub my eyes, I woke up, wore my gloves, a demand of the chillly 5 degree climate at solang and stepped outside my tent. My vision was treated to see the mighty Himalayas painted golden by the early morning sun. It felt like the sun wanted to say ‘Happy Morning’

I am not a typical morning person, but for a view such as this, I dare give sleep a priority!

I was in Solang Valley, Manali at Himachal Pradesh in the month of April this year with a Mumbai based group ‘Nisarg Brahaman’. There were people from all walks of life.. there were students, bankers, working professionals, retired folks all adding to a wonderful concoction of varied experience. Indeed a variety of spice that made my trip all the more fun!

I was dancing with enthusiasm one month before the trip began. It was my first self sponsored trip and all the more my first date with the mighty Himalayas..I was so anxious that as the day of departure to Himachal neared, my colleague whom I nagged everyday about the number of days, now started reminding me, ‘Gargi 1 day to go’ ..

I so wanted to dance as the count for days for the trip began subtracting; but then I had to remind my conscious that I was in office.

You know they say, expectation spoils the fun! Perhaps that is why as I began my journey boarding the Delhi Dorronto from Mumbai Central Station, my cold had got severe, nose turned red and face swollen up. Some rest at unexpectedly lavish executive lounge at New Delhi station gave me some relief, but the A.C in the Volvo from Delhi to Himachal had invited the forgone.

Well, we did carry some luck with us. Folks from the team who reached two days early conveyed to us that it has been raining at the base and the weather was not clear. The cloudy skies had blocked the view.

We were welcomed by the refreshing rains as the bus crossed Mandi, Kullu and few regions of Himachal; but what woke me up is the first sight of snow white mountains. All my drowsiness had suddenly disappeared.

By the time we reached Manali, we were told that the rain stopped 30 minutes back and the weather was clear; we danced in excitement. And trust me, the day we headed back home, the rains had made their way back blocking the otherwise obvious view. Well, I’ll pocket those credits for luck!

The initial plan was to have the 1^st camp at Dhundi, the 2^nd camp at Bhakar Thach and then proceed to Beas Kund but nature wanted us to function in a different way!

Beas Kund is a glacial lake, and named after Sage Vyas. The folklore says that he visited this lake all the way from Rohatang to bathe. It is considered to be the source of River Beas. Till tourism flourished, women were not allowed to visit this lake! Now, that is one liberation from tourism!

During April, Bhakar Thach (meaning the Shepherds meadow) is a complete scintillating green patch, and as our guide told me sometimes you may even have to go further than beas kund to see snow patches. I already had my share of romance by the greens in Sahyadris,and it was my deepest desire to now see snow.. the white beauty! And woah.. the gini fulfilled my wish

So the trek went somewhat like this:

Day 1 : Acclimatization trek to the freezing jogini waterfall. After the longed journey, this sight was completely rejuvenating. It was followed by the mall road visit where we savoured on momo’s and thupa and some shopping ( being a woman, isn’t that a must do for any place we visit? )

Day 2 :We were all in a get set go mode to start our trek...

There was snowfall atop two days back because of which we had to shift our second camp. Now we had only one camp, between dhundi and solang!
We started walking through the quaint villages. It was like I was observing a careful crafted painting. The mountains at the backdrop, the running water through the nallas, kids running towards school, women in their daily chores... Completely opposite to the paparazzi of Metropolitans’ that I daily witness.

The funniest thing was the river crossing on mule (also called khachar in hindi, a mix breed of horse and donkey). No we weren’t lazy to step in the water..the Himalayan rivers are so freezing that you cannot possibly step in without having a numb feet.

The pictures define it better...

On reaching the road, it was time for paragliding. Travelling from cable cars to the top, and then gliding by the parachute is a one of a kind experience. A to do in Solang Valley!
As soon as the flight began my pilot started singing a melody in kulvi (local language at Himachal). With the melody pleasing my ear, my eyes were treated to the scenic valley. The wide stretch of mountains, the waterfalls amidst them, the tall pine trees! Magical..

Post the paragliding, we started the never ending walk towards the camp..

As we reached our base camp, we threw our backpacks and rested our behinds for a while before we could hop on the food like people from the third world countries.. Our stomach were badly dancing with hunger..

And this was exactly the view... Only hunger forced me to get up or I would be gazing this for the rest of the day.

After some rest, we put up tents, which did turn out to be a tedious task.. Our tent was mounted up and back almost thrice! Yes, hands down.. while everybody else already settled in , our expert analysis was still on..

P C : Mario Mascarenhas

You may call it a typical YJHd scene, but trust me its better than that...An early scrumptious dinner gave some warmth to the now super chilled climate. We retired soon to be up early for the big day

Day 3 : The snowline began and we started walking through..

As I mention the earlier the snow at Bhakar thach had not melted yet..which usually does during summers. Hence we had to manage our steps all on white land..

They say be careful what you wish for! The snow decreased our speed and hence we could only reach the bhakar thach by then. The hanuman peak, seven sisters peak, friendship peak all could be viewed from this place... 360 degree view of beauty.

At Bhakar Thach

Even after being guided as to how you need to keep your foot when ascending and descending in snow, I slipped several times. And while we were on our way back, I wonder in what exact gloomy thoughts I was immersed, I tripped and fell..and yes, that was certainly embarrassing, The way I fell made me laugh on my own stupidity..and with that I knew I had thoroughly enjoyed.

All the patches we climbed while ascending atop, on our descend we slided all through them. Yes by the end, our entire back was chilly wet. We were fun loving kids.. again

All that cold and stye had suddenly disappeared as soon as I stepped out. Ill health was half mental I believe. That evening sipping hot tea, I was watching the sun slowly saying good bye as it set the color of cloud from yellow to a shade of blue, the sound of the gustling river water and the chirping birds...If nature had a spa to heal, this was it!