Monday, August 1, 2005

हम चलें चंद्रताल !!!

Friends,Romans,Countrymen,
In 1854, on the snow clad hill-slopes of the himalayas lived a wise hermit to loved to trek. He died in 1856. this log is dedicated to that poor old man who did not have the opportunity to make such a log.

Thus unfolds the lengendary kathaa of our danger-laden trek to Chandrataal:

It all began with our train journey to delhi...(june 26th)...reaching the railway stn @ 4 am was torture for most of the guys...but it wasnt so for the nocturnal creature that i am...26 hrs to Delhi were full-to fun, dangaa, tp, non-sense, food....yeah, we had too much food...

On 27th's evening, we had to catch the bus for manali...couldnt do much dangaa there in the bus for fear that the driver may suddenly decide to abandon us in some secluded spot and run off (with the bus of course)...28th was a bright sunny day in Manali...we (non-tekdi guys) went to jogini falls for acclamatization...was a great place...firang babes in their barely-there clothes (leaving nothing to the imagination) added spice to our excursion...We visited hadimba temple in the evening...nice place!!! my 6th visit to hadimba, in all...
----------------------------------------------

We left for the actual trek route from manali early in the morning on the 29th...0400 hrs...it was so damn cold we had people shivering from hair to u know what...We had to cross Rohtang pass as early as possible,but it was almost 7 when we finally left our hotel in manali...my Qualis was very capacious with only 6 guys sitting in it..The road to Rohtang kept telling us to mind its curves..as if we'd had an option..Rohtang was very crowded as expected...had our breakfast at a small place called Grampho, 16 kms from rohtang (last place on Manali-Leh highway on our way to ch'taal)...reached a small kasbaa called chhatru by noon...our first day trek was from *chhatru to dadar-fu*( sounds Chinese? )...moderate distance of 7-8 kms...
Walkin to dadar-fu was hardly tiring...dadar-fu was a great sight...there was a nice waterfall nearby...climbing climbing kiya...fun kiya...
----------------------------------------------
The next day, 30th june, 2 tekdi guys started feeling HAS (high altitude sickness)...
So we had to send "The Sickos" back to manali..the rest of us were to reach *Chhota-Dara*( no relative of any wrestler/gangster). 8 kms from dadar-fu...God damn HAS started troubling a few more guys by then...Chhota Dara was a windy site...some of us tried rock climbing there(TRIED!!)
i couldnt, coz my feet were blistered... :-(
-------------------------------------------------

1st july :

Now it was pushkar's turn to go back to Manali...He was the most experienced Himalayan trekker amongst us...but HAS troubled him like hell...n the distance to be covered that day was 17 kms...also 1 girl, Persis, couldnt walk after sometime...so we sent her to *Baatal*, our destination camp for that day, via some passing jeep...walking there was getting harder n harder after every step...me n Amey Kunte had quite an amount of energy left...so we sprinted to baatal in 3 n half hrs without stopping in last 14 kms( clap clap ).

Persis was sitting there but wasnt feeling perfectly allright...In the evening, she n one more guy, Rao, had to be sent back to Manali..For the first time in all my trekking experience,were 5 people sent back to the start.

Baatal was very very windy...it took us more than 40 mins to pitch our tent...generally it requires 15 mins max.( doesn't speak too well of us now does it? ).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


3rd n 4th july :

The actual plan was to go to a monestry called Tokpo Yongma on 3rd n return to Chandrataal on 4th july evening...but looking at everyone's condition, the local guide said we shouldnt go there...so we stayed at Chandrataal...did some small climbs, played in snow, played cards, had fun in songs' mehfils. We prepared dinner ourselves n rested the local cooks...all in all had too much fun..
-----------------------------------------------

5th july :

The day started on a terribly wrong note...it was snowing heavily from 0430 hrs...n there wasnt any sign of respite from the snowfalll...According to the original plan,we had to climb 7 kms n reach Kumzum Pass n go back to Manali from there via jeeps which were supposed to pick us up there..

but it was very very risky to climb up in the snow...so we decided to go back to Baatal, 14kms down...we lost our way in the snow...snowfall just didn't stop...winds were chilling...our sacks had protection but for heavy snowfall like that, it wasnt enough to keep the stuff inside dry...we were walkiing all day with wet socks, wet shoes, wet pants (ewwwww)...

We had to cover those 14kms in the shortest possible time...we had to pull the weaker guys all the time...finally we reached Baatal at 2 pm...jeepwallahs had come 2-3 kms from baatal to pick us up...what a relief !!!...after our lunch n clothes changing, we left for manali at 5 pm..

but where was the road ???
The entire road was covered with thick snow..Our Sumos were going through that snow trying to find the road...it s all depended on the drivers' skills...their memory, basically... where's the glacier, where's the crevice, n mainly where's the road....

It was still snowing...

We had to come out from our sumo n lagao dhakka *n* no of times...it was damn cold outside the vehicle...n in that we had to put our feet in 2 feet thick snow n lagao dhakka...

horrible !
Reached Chhatru back at 8 pm...it took us 3 hrs to clock 30 odd kms n that too with those expert drivers...

n the fun begins now...
After Chhatru, we had to clear the landslides !!!! yeah, you read it correctly...LANDSLIDES...
As we saw a landslide, we'd come out of the sumos, push the rocks in the valley... all this in snowfall, spine-chilling cold n in the night using torches or headlights...after clearing this, you get a new landslide on the next turn...

हे भगवान कर कल्याण !!! (hey bhagwan, kar kalyan ! )

We cleared almost 15 landslides from Chhatru...but finally we got stuck to a rock which was double the size of our sumo gaddi...it was impossible to move by an inch too...

so a decision was made to go back to chhatru n stay there in a small dhaba...it was 0000hrs 6th july, when we reached chhatru again...we were shivering continuously...sitting near a shekoti(burning horse shit!) n sipping tea, somehow we managed to pass that night...
------------------------------------------------
6th july:


We slept turn by turn in that small dhaba in Chhatru...as the weather got cleared a bit, we instantly left for Manali...our drivers had decided to pass that big rock anyhow...

They did drink like hell to sustain the fatigue n to have energy in that weather... आमच्या XX कपाळात ! (aamchya XX kapaalat) ...they passed sumos through that narrowest gap, i dont know how...its just undescribable...we were watching the sumo's 2 tyres alomst completely in the valley n the other driver was shouting *aane de aane de*...we didnt have balls to stay in sumo while they showing this stunt...we were standing atleast 200 metres away...
After clearing this landslide. we came across many landslides...the rocks were not as big though...at one place Kunte went ahead to clear a few rocks n a rock, sized almost equal to a small truck, went rolling bekkar fastly in the vally, just 5 feet behind him...we were all stunned...kunte couldnt even speak up for next 15 minutes...
Again we had to go back to find shelter somewhere as it was past 7.30 pm...it was very risky to park the vehicles on the road n sleep inside...We found a small house belonging to a tibetan...he allowed us to stay in...gave us food too...We, 18 guys had to distribute in his house n gotha...snowfall had again started...no-one could sleep...It was the highest degree of cold i have ever experienced...wettish jackets,pull-overs,sweaters could hardly protect us from that cold...
---------------------------------------------------
7th july:

We were supposed to be in delhi on 7th to catch the train to pune...but we weren't even in Manali...there wasnt any communication possible...no mobile networks...

Now, we had to decide whether to stay there or to move ahead...some of us were in terrible health...but, we decided to move ahead...Sumos were not feasible as there were too many landslides ahead...so we started walking...after doing 7 kms, we reached a place called *Grampho* which was a place on manali-leh highway...so we had a chance to get some transport from there to manali...
But luck was on our side this time (ABOUT TIME!!)...

2 empty jeeps coming back from leh agreed to drop us at manali...but they werent so sure about the road ahead...but somehow we left for Manali...
Till rohtang, it was again full white-wash...again we cleared some landslides...after crossing rohtang, there was a big fresh landslide stretching about 300 metres...impossible to clear up by hands...but mobiles were working now...we walked through that landslide n waited for the jeeps to come from manali side...our jeeps arrived after sometime n we finally reached Manali at 6 pm...
----------------------------------------------------
8th july:

Manali-Delhi bus passes via Kullu...but Kullu was also closed due to floods for some days...again the luck was on our side...on 8th , our bus could pass through kullu n we were on our way to delhi...by this time, our train reservations from Delhi to Pune had gone waste...
We could only get confirmed tickets of a royal train called Firozpur-Mumbai janata exp, which is supposed to take 6 hrs more than the avg time on that route...
----------------------------------------------------
9th n 10th july :

reached Delhi in the morning...4 of us decided to fly back to Pune...
Our royal train was in the afternoon...it came 1 n half hrs late...but we reached dadar before time on 10th's evening...we did lots of dhamaal in train...we were all again charged-up...
30 hrs train journey felt like nothing...
after dinner, took 2145 hrs' asiad from dadar for pune...n reached pune at 0130 hrs, 11th july...
husssssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..........................................

1 comment:

  1. Legendary. Amazing story for the next few generations

    ReplyDelete