As soon as December'19 started, my mind started questioning me everyday.. Where am I going next? Which mountain I would want to climb in the bone chilling weather of December? As a product of the corporate world, I always feel the need to wind off and wander in this big world to find peace of mind. It was almost 2 months since my last trek and I wanted to end the year in the lap of nature. I just wanted to have some semblance of peace and to get away from crowd, cell phones and internet
After doing a lot of search, I zeroed down to Patalsu Peak trek in Manali. I talked to 10 different trek organizers but none of them were offering this trek due to deep snow on the terrain. Then I stumbled upon Mr. Naresh Thakur from Broza adventures based out of Manali. Right from the beginning I felt at ease as he seemed like a humble guy who knew his game. He listened to all my needs and queries quite patiently and asked for a day to figure out what can be done. Next day he came with a plan which really addressed all my queries. It’s hard to find a trek around New Year which doesn’t have any crowd. But Broza Adventures made it possible for me.
Day 2: My guide Akash was quite punctual and reached my hotel at 9am to pick me up for my year end adventure to Patalsu peak. We started our trek from the skiing area in Solang towards the treeline. Target for the day was to reach till Patalsu peak basecamp. Usually the basecamp is Shagadugh but, this year Manali experienced more than expected snowfall, so basecamp was shifted approx. 1km above Solang village at a quaint campground. Solang is the last village as you follow the Beas up the valley towards Manali’s towering 16,500ft skyline. Being a localite, Akash had a decent knowledge about the area. He told me some very interesting facts about the pace which I didn’t know before. It was extremely soothing to get away from crowd with every step on the snow terrain. As we were ascending higher, the view of Solang valley was getting more and more amazing, wrapped in the white blanket of snow in every nook and corner. I have been through my fair share of Himalayan villages but something I have always been enthralled by is how unique each one seems from the last, despite sharing so many commonalities. Solang village seemed to crawl its way up the side of the mountain, with stone paths zigzagging their way through homes, communal waterpumps and crop plots. The thing that caught my eye the most was that before leaving the civilization, there was a temple. It was a rich brown color and stood on a stone platform overlooking the dropoff to the valley below but it had eyes, snake eyes. I quickly realized that there were snakes etched and carved into wood everywhere I looked and one snake seemed to be right looking at me. Akash told me that this was the deity of Solang village folks named as Solangi Naag. The interesting fact was this village was named after this snake God. After trekking for approx. 3.5 hours, we reached the base camp. I was welcomed by Broza Adevntures basecamp team- Lalit bhai and Ajju bhai. The basecamp was a pleasant sight in itself. The whole campsite was covered in a thick sheet of snow almost 1-2 feet deep. From one side, whole Solang valley was visible and from the other, views of Friendship peak and then the snow trail going up to Patalsu peak. The best part was that my camp was just at the front of an unnamed mountain which was loaded with snow. Although this campsite was remote, but the arrangements were amazing. After resting for an hour, I had an amazing lunch prepared by Lalit bhai amidst the snowcapped mountains. I still had 3-4 hours of daylight left, so I decided to hike around the campsite to get into the rhythm for the next day (summit day). Patalsu’s lower slopes are typical of Manali wilderness – golden oak and pine forests, virtually endless meadows, bright blue skies and snowcapped peaks hiding beyond the horizon.
I returned back to campsite a little before dark and was welcomed with tea, pakoras and snacks which was shortly followed by dinner. Post dinner I just roamed around the campsite admiring the beauty, silence and tranquility of the place. The sky was full of stars and it was really hard to find an empty patch of sky. It just seemed like an artist’s canvas. These are the kind of sights which you don’t see until you get away from the maddening cities. I wanted to stay out a little longer but it was extremely cold and the temperature at night dropped to -18 degrees. So, I hopped in my camp and slipped in sleeping bag to retire for the night.
Day 1: As per the planned dates, I reached Manali. It was extremely cold this time with temperatures dropping till -10 in main town. The trek starts from Solang, so I decided to spend the day in Solang itself to acclimatize. As I had nothing to do in the second half of the day, I decided to hike till Anjani Mahadev temple. This kept me occupied for the day and made me more comfortable and ready for Patalsu peak trek. Note that it’s important to acclimatize if you want to trek in sub zero temperatures.
Day 3: Today was the day of summit, so I woke up at around 5:30 am. After finishing the morning routine and breakfast, I double checked all the things I needed to carry. Akash already informed me beforehand to be prepared for snow around 4-4.5 feet deep. We decided on three things before leaving the campsite :
• 3PM turnaround time (as we had to reach campsite before dark)
• If our drinking water depletes, we will descend. (body dehydrates faster when trekking in snow)
• If snow started seeping in our boots, we will descend due to risk of frostbite.
We started the trek at 7am following the treeline above the campsite. Snow was hard as the warmth of sun was yet to reach the ground. Akash taught me few snow trekking techniques which came in quite handy. We took our first break after trekking for 2 hours at a small campsite few kilometers below Shagadugh. After having energy bar and water sips, we took some pictures of stunning landscape of sun, snow and forest. This section of trek was a moderate ascent and passed through a dense forest of pine and golden oak trees. After resting for 10-15 min here, we resumed our trek.
The dense forest lead us to an open large meadow which is Shagadugh. We reached here at around 11am. By this time snow started to get soft and with every step, the feet were going deep down. We started feeling the depth of snow. We had a brunch of packed eatables here and spent a good 20-25min. The meadow had a 180 degree view of the surrounding mountains which were now more closer and the views were magnificent. There was almost 3 feet deep powdered snow all around the meadow. Till Shagadugh we were following the trail which was made by trekkers who might have hiked early in December. But the trail stopped here. Beyond this point, everywhere was a white desert of snow with no trace of footmarks and no trail. It seemed like no one hiked above Shagadugh in this winter season. There was a feeling of anxiety, excitement and adventure that we will be the first this season to trek beyond Shagadugh. So, slowly and steadily we resumed our trek. Akash started doing recce to make the trail for me. I was literally following his footsteps because the depth of snow was gradually increasing. Whenever my feet was deviating from his footprints, they were going down in more than waist deep snow. It was both slippery as well as risky, but we were confident to reach the summit. As per the 3pm turnaround time, now we had only 3 hours in hand. In every 10-15 min I had to take a sip of water as my throat was getting dry quite frequently now. But the views around were so astonishing that my body was pushing itself automatically to climb higher and higher and my mind was completely immersed in what my eyes were capturing. The route after Shagadugh was quite naked, so one could see everything around that nature has to offer.
This was the hardest part of the day. Under the hot sun with peak in plain view for the entire climb. As the air thinned, our pace slowed to a crawl. The sight reassured that packing my gaiters was a good idea. I couldn’t stop turning around after every few minutes to peek once more at the view behind us with more jagged snowcapped beauties visible each time. As we reached almost 12,500ft just near the ridge which was going all the was up to the shoulder of the mountain, we had to stop. We realized that all the three conditions that we considered before starting the trek already happened. It was about 2.30PM, melted snow made its way inside my so called waterproof boots. We crosschecked our resources and we realized that we just had about 300ml water remaining (for both of us combined). We stood at this point in this vast field of snow to discuss and recollect our thoughts given the resources and the time we had. With a heavy heart, we decided to go till the bottom of the ridge and make that our summit point. We almost reached our 3.30pm turnaround time, our resources were about to be depleted and melted snow already made its way to my feet making them wet. Although we didn’t reach the summit but there was a pride to be the first trekker this season to climb till 12,500ft on this trek. As we looked down, the only trail we could see was the one that we made. While I was soaking myself in the spellbinding views, Akash told me the names of all the peaks which were visible – Friendship peak, Hanuman Tibba, Seven Sisters, Deo Tibba, Dauladhar Range, Shitidhar peak, Indrasan peak and there were a couple mote whose name I forgot. Some of these snowcapped peaks were so close that you feel the urge to just jump and touch them. The valley was so vast and splendid with the river of clouds above it. After spending some time here, we started descending back. In the snow this much deep, it was equally challenging to descend as it was quite slippery but at some stretches, it was quite fun too as we got a chance to slide down in the snow. It’s quite amazing to have these moments when the thoughts of taking pictures doesn’t even cross your mind and you just want to immerse yourselves in the moment. As we reached our basecamp at around 6.30, there was a cute guy waiting to welcome. There was this husky looking tailwagger who might have climbed up here from Solang village. All my tiredness was gone in a jiffy. He started jumping and playing around me in the snow and man he was really enjoying it. I just threw my bag in my camp and played with him all around the campsite. When it was almost dark, my tailwagging friend accompanied me to my camp. That night I had a small celebration of the summit with Lalit bhai, Ajju bhai, Akash and Climber Suresh who were now like brothers. Naresh also came from Solang village and joined us post dinner. We all talked till midnight sharing all our stories, experiences and what not before retiring to sleep.
Day 4: Next morning, after bidding my final goodbye to the mother nature and to my brothers of Broza Adventures, I descended to Solang Nallah and then Manali with a truckload of memories.
The whole experience was made more memorable by Naresh and whole team who treated me like family instead of an outsider. I was so glad to have chosen Patalsu peak trek to bid goodbye to 2019. And I was glad that I travelled alone which gave me the opportunity to meet, interact and befriend new people. This whole experience made me deeply realize that “ travel doesn’t become an adventure, until you leave yourself behind”.
