In 2016 when I was first asked for a trip to Mountains, but it was not like a trip-trip it was something more adventurous and something which sounds more cool.. yes it was trekking. When 1st my Friend asked me for the trek I got that Bollywood image of the trek in my Mind, camping, bonfire, music, and not like something adventurous type thing. I was of course ready for the trek and moved on with my booking. After he sent me the booking link and I went through what all we have to do for the trek I was shocked and my Bollywood image of trek was changed to something more dangerous. He explained to me that to go on a trek 1st thing we need was physical fitness. I was like, of course, man I am fit I go to the gym 5 times a week, but when I saw the category that what physical fitness for trek means I was really confused. Jogging 5km in 30 minutes, jogging for gym lover means loss of muscle and which I have never even thought of, but I was excited about the trek and as it was mandatory to submit a Fitness proof I started with jogging. On the 1st day, I was not even able to Jog 3 km time limit was something that was not even in my mind, but after months of practice, I was finally fit for the trek.
After achieving the fitness goal something important which came to my mind was that I had been operated on for leg fracture(rod implant and removal) and knee fracture(knee cap implant and removal) for more than 4-5 times before 5 years, won't that be a problem as I was thinking to climb a mountain? As per the trekking group's protocol, they needed the doctor's certificate of fitness, so I went to the doctor who operated on me to ask about all my queries. When I asked him that will I be able to go on a trek with so many operations in my past, will there be any complications because of my leg? He asked me one question that was what made me think of all this question? I answered him that everyone I knew whether my family members or relative or any other person who knew about my operation everyone always said me that Life with this injury will never be like the life of other normal people. Hearing this statement he signed the fitness document and said to me that go for the trek and prove to everyone that I was fitter than those who were saying those statements and he also asked me what was the height of the trek? I said to him 12000ft he said just go for it and next time you will climb higher height than this. After meeting him my confidence level was shooting High. Now I was not only physically fit for the trek but also mentally fit.
My 1st trek was at Chandrashila. Today in 2021 Chandrashila is very famous but back then I had never heard of chandrashila or deorital lake it took me weeks to even remember the name. We started our journey from Mumbai to Delhi on a flight and reached Delhi in the afternoon and after having some good time at Hauz khaus we went to Delhi station to catch out train for Haridwar, which was our pick-up location for the trek. From Haridwar, we had a road journey of some 8-9 hours for our base camp which was Sari. The road journey was very scenic with some good local Dhaba halt in between. We took a halt at Rudraprayag. Rudraprayag is famous for the confluence of Alaknanda and the Mandakini river. At around 7 we reached our base camp village, Sari. Suddenly from 30 degrees to 10 degrees, that feeling of cool breeze going around was such a pleasure.
We had our dinner and a little debriefing about the trek and group introduction. After that we went for a short walk nearby it was very calm and silent outside with few small street lights. For the first time in my life, I had gone to a place so inaudible, it wouldn't be something of a big thing for everyone, yeah but for someone who's coming from the city which never sleeps such silence is so adorable. After some time we went to our rooms and we were so excited for the next day we were up till late night discussing but next few days.
Wakeup call 6-7-8... 6 o'clock wakeup & tea 7 o'clock breakfast and 8 o'clock to start the trek.After some stretch, we started for Deorital where it is believed that many gods used to take bath here. It was a little steep ascent after some 20 minutes of starting the trek, and around after one hour of ascent, there is a flat trail. It took us around 2 hours to reach Deorital. It was a little difficult being first day on the trek, our body was never used to such climbing activity it was something new so we had to take few breaks. After reaching Deorital we had our lunch and later we were exploring the nearby location. There was a watchtower from where we had a view of magnificent Mt. CHAUKHAMBA. We went to another side of the lake from the forest side and spend a good time there. Till now it was an easily manageable trek for me and it was not that difficult what I thought of. After sunset we had our dinner early, later everyone went in their tents as it was freezing outside. At that time I just laid outside my tent and was listening to some songs and watching the sky which was full of stars, at that time I saw around 3-4 shooting stars in half an hour time. I had never seen a shooting star before. Later I went to sleep as it was too late.
Again we had calls of 6-7-8, 6 o'clock wakeup, 7 o'clock breakfast, and 8 o'clock leave for Rohini Bugyal. We were lucky enough that during that time it was allowed to camp in bugyal, later UK government banned camping in Bugyal. After about a steep ascent of 1 hour, we took a break in the jungle area. It was an easily manageable ascent today and I didn't have any issue or pain in my legs while climbing not a single time I felt like I had knee surgery in past. Few locals were coming back they warned us that there was a bear ahead so we should stop here for some time and move ahead after some time. So we took a break and had some food there and after some time we again started for Rohini Bugyal, on the way we saw some snow patches. We again followed the same routine, explored nearby places, and after dinner saw some more shooting stars and then went to sleep.
6-7-8. Same routine. We were getting used to this routine. Today we had to move to Chopta campsite which was also our summit campsite. It took us around 2-3 hours with a little ascent on the trail and an easy day. After some time we got off from the trails and there was a proper road from where we walked for some 30 minutes and later we descend some patches for our campsite area. Again the same routine explored nearby, dinner but tonight we went to sleep early as the next day we had to go for summit climb early morning which was at 5 o'clock. Fear in my mind as next day was an only steep ascent and had to reach there before sunrise so we also had to maintain a good pace
2-3-4. 2 o'clock wakeup, 3 o'clock breakfast, and 4 o'clock we moved for a summit. With our head torches on, daypack filled with bottles and dry fruits and one apple. As it was completely dark we were moving in a straight line and there was a guide ahead who was making a trail and a sweeper at the end. Climate was something around 0 to -1 degrees. We started climbing, following the person who was walking ahead. After some 2.30 hours of ascent climb, we reached Tungnath Temple. Tungnath temple is one of the highest Shiva temples in the world. It is believed that Pandavas have constructed this temple. We took a halt here for a long time and after that, we started for Chandrashila which was around an hour from here. After few minutes I felt very exhausted and again took a break for water, at that time I felt like I would miss sunrise and because of me even my friend will miss the sunrise, I said him that suddenly I am feeling exhausted and my pace is reduced so you go ahead I will come at my pace or else even you will miss the sunrise, but he was with me and said me to took a break and start again in good pace. At that time I decided that anyhow I need to reach Chandrashila before sunrise my mindset was 100% sure. I started walking again and we played the Eye of the Tiger song and without any further break, we reached the summit before 25 mins of sunrise. We just saw the most beautiful sunrise ever and with that sunrise, my fear of trekking was no more a fear for me but a passion which I would love to do again and again. The horizon view from 12000ft was surreal. At that time I realized that the entire trek was about 80% mindset and 20% body effort.
Changes I felt after the trek was I knew it is always mindset which plays an important role for any task, I started to keep nature clean as we were collecting trash from the trails which were not ours and bought it down till city and disposed of it properly. From rolling our sleeping bag and keeping it properly to washing tiffin's we were trained to do things on our own. And the most important thing was I will never think that I won't be able to do things like other people just because I had an operated leg, I was able to climb Chandrashila (12,100ft) properly without any issue and after that next year I trekked to Roopkund (16000 ft, Junargalli) and after that, I did more trek in coming years like Buran Ghatti (15000 ft) Har ki Dun (11,800 ft) and many Sahyadri treks. When you are trekking just look at the mountain nearby and compare the size of the mountain with the size of your problem and you will get a bigger picture in your mind. At that time I decided that I will be going for a Solo trek next time and I went for Roopkund which was my life-changing experience. You become more independent, start to take initiative in starting a conversation with someone, you start enjoying the small moment, you have to do all your small work no friends to help you and even have to stay punctual. Mountains also teach you to be punctual timing is everything in Mountains if you are late you can get stuck in bad climate or any other problem so always start early and be on time. After my trek, I also realized that fitness is very important not occasionally but a regular thing.
That time I had decided to trek at least once a year and to never think about my leg injury in the future.
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