From childhood it was my dream to see and explore the mighty Himalayas. And when I got a job at Bangalore and started finding time to explore India with my friend in bike, I still had that spark inside me for Himalayas. I some how managed my unconditional love for mountains by doing small small treks to western Ghats and the near by trekking spots around Bangalore. One fine day I decided to give life to my Himalayan dream when I saw an add accidentally on net about “India hikes” a very popular trekking community. I was not sure weather to give it a try or not. The landscape, weather & so many other factors which I have no clue how to handle and also the budget was also quite expensive. I always take decisions passionately here also I did the same. I choose a moderate to hard level trek in Uttarakhand called Brahmtal summit. For first timer it is a quite hard trek still I choose that because it was the only trek that was available that time which takes us close inside the Himalayan ranges and yes I was thrilled to experience the snow capped landscape this trek gonna offer. It was in the month of Feb which is winter season in Himalayas so not many treks were open also at that time.
I am a fitness freak but still I had to improve my endurance level as I was more into strength training. I Started training for improving my cardio vascular ability, flexibility, lower body strength, endurance etc before a month itself, I don't wanted my body to put any kind of limitations for exploring the beauty of Himalayas. Next thing was gear. I did quite a lot of research in internet and i found out the best in the market. I took a cab to Whitfield “DECATHLON”. Internet as well as some of my friends suggested this place. When I step into this place itself I realised that this is the perfect hub to buy all the stuff for any kind of trekking in any terrain. I found all type of gears for not only trekking for all kind of adventure activities. Yes quality stuff won't be available in cheap price when I took all the stuff for my trekking it was costing quite high. I took pro level trekking shoes, various layers of dress for upper and lower body, trekking pole, torch, sunglasses etc etc. I think twice whether to buy or not, what my mind told me was these stuffs you are not gonna do on your old age, so go for it when your body and mind are young and love the adrenalin rush.
And finally that day arrived, I went to delhi via flight and from there to Kathgodam in Uttarakhand via train. I had a full day as i reached Delhi early morning. I had quick tour to Qutub minar, India gate, Rajpath and Chandini chowk.Thanks to Delhi metro to make my trip cheaper and faster.
There trekking company vehicles were waiting for us, it was a 200 km journey through the hilly areas of Uttarakhand to the base camp which took us almost a day to reach. We had breakfast in a roadside restaurant. Food as well as the view from the table both were amazing. Really refreshed my mind and soul after a tiring journey, I can feel the chill in climate when we started. Again we had small small halts due to road work, lunch, tea time etc. Finally when we reach base camp it was almost dark and all of the trek mates become friends in that time. The base camp itself is situated at an altitude 7700 feet. It is a small village called Lohajung.
This village is the common base camp for Brahmtal as well as the famous Roopkund trek. We had a medical check up and a small briefing about high altitude trekking that evening by the officials from trekking community. Told us about the precautions we have to take during high altitude trekking like how to handle the trekking gears, how to find if we are getting high altitude sickness etc. There will be a team leader and three guides to manage the trekking group during the entire summit. They have given oximeters, walkie talkies, emergency medicines etc. Everybody went to sleep after a tiring long journey and all of them were excited about the coming days of trekking.
The next day morning as per the schedule, all were ready by 7. All had breakfast and packed lunch from base camp, filled 2 litres of water in bottles, tightened our backpacks straps and started the trek by 8. Our trekking company have provided crampons to use in our trekking shoes in case of heavy snow fall. As we climbed up we can see the tip of the snow capped mountains at the horizon, what a view it was. After a couple of hours we reached our first resting point. I was already tired and the climate was bit cold outside and inside the multiple layers i was sweating. The mountains in that terrain made me remember about the western Ghats in south. As I was climbing up either I was at the tail of trekking group or in the middle portion, I can feel that my body is struggling. I got a strange fear inside whether I can make it or not. Just behind trek leader there was a Scottish couple, I was feeling jealous about their fitness level as they don't even use trekking poles to climb up. And they were going up with so ease, later I got know from them they are much experienced in high altitude and cold conditions. Suddenly it started raining, it was like mix of water and ice. I wear my windproof raincoats and covered my back pack with the rain cover it have. The first time in my life I was experiencing snowfall even it was very light and more over like a rain. I was looking in and around myn as well as others rain coats like a small kid for the ice crystals. This light snowfall and rain was there only for a small interval later the climate become clear. We entered a small forest with rhododendron trees. I was constantly getting impressed by the landscape this trek was providing me. We had our lunch there inside that forest and refilled our water bottles from the nearby water source.
As we climbed up the chillness in the surroundings was also going up. And suddenly every body started screaming at first I couldn't figure out what it is. Then when I looked in front I saw in between trees a stream of frozen ice. As we move in front this ice patches are becoming bigger and bigger and my excitement too. Snow started falling, yes a proper snow fall what a moment it was. The entire area was covered in snow as we move forward. Trek mates started making snowballs and throwing at each other. And finally we reached our first camping site in the middle of small snow covered hills and rhododendron trees. It is called bekaltal which is situated at an altitude of 9876 feet. After reaching bekaltal snowfall started again and the brown colour of the land slowly turned into snow white. For three people they have allotted one tent. We had some snacks and tea in our dinner camp and then finally get inside our tent. In that time heavy snowfall started. And each and everyone was excited to play in snow. Even though team leader and guides were screaming at us to get back to tent most of them were outside busy clicking pics and enjoying the climate. Very soon the entire landscape was covered with thick snow. There was too much snow above our tents, so we had to remove it at times to avoid further damage. After enough posing for cameras and playing in the snow we all went back to our tent to take some rest after the hard trekking for hours. At night all had delicious dinner & some local sweet dishes, cooks did an awesome job here. Food was really yummy and they selected dishes according to what our body needs in this condition. Non veg dishes, smoking, alcohol nothing is allowed in this entire trekking period and more over there is no mobile signals also, felt like I am into some detoxification center. But I was enjoying each and every second of this trek, I got to know that later when the trek finished. The hangover of this trek is gonna last long for a long time, believe me it will. After dinner all went inside the tent and made their sleeping bag ready. For 2 hours I couldn't sleep, but later at midnight somewhere I went into deep sleep. My tent mates Kishan and Kiran, two amazing personalities i met in this trek like so many others. Kiran was a talented photographer and Kishan a software engineer both give me some amazing moments in this trek. And Kiran he captured some beautiful memories of this trek from the start till the end, it was our luck to have him in our trekking gang. At night there was heavy snow fall outside even thunder also but we had a nice cozy sleep inside the sleeping bags.
By 6 at morning I woke up got ready and came out of my tent. When I looked into the horizon, what a view it was. One of the most beautiful sunrise in my life I was witnessing that day. Due to last night heavy snow fall all the trees bushes everything was looking white and it looks like the top of the hills and trees all are on fire. Yes it exactly looks like that. The orange and yellowish rays of sun is more brighter than ever in this snow white landscape. I captured the beauty as much as I can in my mobile.
From where we don't know there was a black mountain dog coming along with us from last day, he was so friendly and cute, Everyone was playing with him. Our team leader checked oximeter reading as usual, every day before starting trek, after finishing trek and before dinner it is mandatory to check the oximeter reading so that they can make sure the oxygen level in blood is under control and nobody is prone to high altitude sickness. Then everybody finished their breakfast and packed their lunch. Today I was bit stressed, as first day trekking itself was so tiring. I was not confident whether I can go further up as now the altitude is much higher. I asked team leader whether I can unload my backpack in the middle of the trek if I can't make it to the top because my backpack itself weighs 11kg, My bag was the heaviest of all. He said if the mules are available he will arrange it and he give me more confidence so that i can give it a try. Finally I decided to go with the back pack. I don't know why from that day I was feeling much better and i was always in the front while trekking for the whole day, I guess my body get acclimatised much faster to high altitude than others. I was going along with the Scottish couple in front.
First we visited the bekaltal lake which is just 500 meters away from our base camp. I captured all the wonderful moments of trekking as much as I can in my mobile. Each step forward I felt like I am going more closer to heaven. The views are heavenly, the mountains and the sky it looks like we are climbing the steps towards heaven. We take small small intervals for resting, our next destination was jhanditop. Jhanda means flag and there was flag and some remains of status where there in the top of the hill. From the we can get a small view of the Nandadevi range, if the climate is not cloudy. But when we reach there it was cloudy so we couldn't see it. Actually it was good to keep the suspense, because we are gonna get a much closer and clear view of entire Nandadevi range at the summit top at the end. We all had our lunch and started trekking again.
Everybody don't have enough water remaining as there was no water bodies on the route to refill. Soon our team leader showed as our second base camp which we can see after two hills. And by around 3:30 we reached there. We did our regular stretching, had some tea and snacks then went back to our tents to take little rest. But guides and team leader always warn everyone not to sleep after the trekking straight away it may make us prone to high altitude sickness. Later we roamed around a lot to explore the place, from here we can see the summit point on the top, which we are supposed to reach tomorrow. After dinner that night was much calm and clear there was no snow fall. We can see the stars and kiran was excited to capture stars, milky way and all in that clear night. He took a lot of pictures of us as well as tents, dogs etc. Temperature has dropped to -3℃ and it was freezing cold. I was using all the three layers of sleeping bag still it was cold. And dog was constantly barking looking at the woods. Later at morning guides were telling that this area is prone to wolf packs and mountain red foxes. May be some were wandering around at night.
At early morning I woke up got ready, had breakfast, checked oximeter reading, packed lunch and just dumped our heavy backpacks there and took a small 20 litres bag just to carry the water tiffin box and crampons. Summit climb is much harder and it is at the highest altitude level of the entire trek so it is always better to unload unwanted stuff and climb only with the necessary things. As usual I was feeling very much comfortable with the high altitude environment and I was going in the front. At a point me and some other trek mates were much in front of the remaining trek team, we were waiting for them to join so we got enough time to capture the magical view of mighty Himalayas and the surrounding hills. We spotted a couple of mountain Red foxes on the way up.I took videos, stills and 360°pics, was soo crazy to see the mighty Himalayan ranges so close. My tent mates Kishan was getting severe cramp in between he was suffering to climb up. And most of the other trek mates were really slow behind. But as higher i was reaching the more adrenalin rush i was getting. I was the first one to reach the summit top i went even little more higher in confusion but still it was good I got some better pics also from there. From the summit top I can see the entire Nandadevi range. Mt. Trishul , Mt. Kamet, Mt. Nandaghunti and partially Mt. Nandadevi was visible from there. The Brahmatal summit was at an altitude of almost 13000 feet, the maximum height i have ever reached in my life..!!
When our trek leader was explaining about Nandadevi as the highest peak which is fully inside India I was feeling goosebumps. And Ali bugyal also visible from this area where many major skiing tournaments take place in winter season. It was total bliss to watch the entire Nandadevi range from here, we spend almost an hour there. As it is the summit top there was heavy wind there and sun was above our head, ice started melting as there was no snow fall yesterday also. It was difficult to get down as the slopes were more slippery but guides and team leader helped us to go down. In an hour we reached brahmtal base camp we had some snacks and tea. Then we went to the brahmtal lake which is just 300 meters away from the camp. Where our trek leader explained the story about brahmtal how it got the name and all. We spend some time there and came back to camp site it was almost evening and sun was about to set. Kiran and me was trying to get some nice pics of the sunset, we had a small party in our dinner tent with all the crew including trek leader, guides, cooks etc. We had dinner and slept off early as we were very tired.
I woke up early around 4am as it was too cold, some other trekking group have made a campfire there, we just joined them. Actually as it is forest, government haven't allowed putting campfire in this area. After breakfast every body got ready to get down to the base camp. We went back through a short cut without touching bekaltal. And most of them including me unloaded the backpack, thanks to the mules. I don't wanted to hurt my knees actually. When I was coming down from summit itself i got the stress in my knee.So I don't wanted to take a risk of 11kg backpack with me while I climb down. And by afternoon we reached our base camp. All were craving for a normal toilet and bath room. And hot water was limited, so everyone have to wait. And actually I wanted to bath some how, so I just took the chance I had a cold shower. I finished it within 5 minutes so that I shouldn't get fever or cold. I dried up myself and came out the remaining guys were looking at me like as if I did a murder or something lol. But one good thing was i was not feeling much cold after a cold shower. Ip felt better had some snacks and tea and enjoyed the sunset from base camp. Night we had arranged a party with the help of trek leaders and guides, we had chicken after almost 5 days. Everyone enjoyed it well. Every body were little sad because all become very close friends in that time and also an amazing trek was going to end. Next day early morning we started back to Kathgodam railway station. We reached there by evening and via train we reached delhi. From there all went back to their own life promising each other will be in touch for future. When I was flying back to Bangalore my mind was still stuck in that beautiful Meadows and Nandadevi range of Himalayas. I was happy and I decided that I am gonna come back again to meet you might Himalayas. Till that time allvidha….
