Trekking

[ai]

Just wondering if anyone has interest or experience in High Altitude (4000 mts) Trekking, and can share experiences and/or pictures.

[Lever Action]

This year in july i did chandra tal in spiti ,himachal pradesh at a height of 4270 meters and just 5 days back returned from dodi tal in uttarkashi, uttaranchal at a height of 3000 meters

Regards
Lever Action

[TenX]

I love trekking AI :0
Have been twice to the North; once to Kulu and once to Rohtang pass.
Apart from that, I have scaled most peaks in Karnataka, my last one being the Mulayanagiri Betta (Karnataka's highest point) about a couple of months back.
Frequent trips to Kalavarahalli Betta, close to the Nandi Hills range, near Bangalore. Most awesome place... walking on clouds.. Will post some pics soon...

[Goldfinger]

Have roamed the mountains and also served in one of the mountaineering institutes. Thanked God each day for the wonderful wonderful experience. Sometimes wondered if I really deserved it. Now old and having known the fitness level required to actually enjoy the solitude of thin air, would venture only on motor bikes. The Garhwal Himalaya as mentioned by Lever Action are within the tree line and ideal for quick excursions since the approach march or lead time to the tracks is short and some civilisation is never too far. High altitude treks - above 9000 feet in the western Himalaya, because of the higher tree line, place very special demands on physical conditioning and planning. Chandra Tal is do-able though with a little preparation
Would love to be a member of a biking expe next season.

Best wishes

Goldfinger

[TenX]

Here are a few snaps from one of my more recent treks up the Kalavarihalli Betta....

I saw this huge boulder, enroute, falling off, and thought I should give it a hand...


Just passing thru the clouds


Atop the 'betta', next to a very old Lord Ganesha temple... dont have much details of this...


Another snap near the temple


The wind here is awesome.. feels like moving in an Airplane with your head out of the window...


On the way back.. with the 'yonder' at the back...

[archer]

i have trekked extensively in and around mumbai.
i also have summited one peak in nepal. i reahed a height of 5350m. this was in 2002. it was in the everest region, near a lake called gokyo. we climbed a peak called gokyo ri.

i have climbed a bit in the indian himalayas namely the dhauladhars. we went to this lake called kareri lake at abt 9000ft. next stop is a lake called lam dal which is ahead of kareri. here are some of my pics.

http://picasaweb.google.com/paraggad/My ... dijQuAqxFc#

picture 1 is nameche bazar
pic 2 is gokyo lake from gokyo ri
pic 3 is kareri lake
pic 4 is kareri village. the tent we slept in
pic 5 is somewhere near kareri.

[TenX]

Very nice ...

[Pran]

Nice pics Anand.

I've trekked Kalvara twice. Its too crowded these days for my taste.

Btw, did you see the swords in the temple at the base of the hill?

Pran

[TenX]

Nope.. I did'nt. Will check them out sometime soon.. Probably in the coming weeks

[ai]

Nice pics Archer- stunning in fact!

I've done Sach Pass, Pindari Glacier, Har-ki-doon/Swargrohini base, Hamta Pass (could not complete due to incessant rains) and Beas Kund- which was the best in terms of the scenic beauty. Highly recommended to anyone who is into trekking but has not done this one.

[shooter]

nice pics mate. Didnt realise we had so many trekkers amongst us. Im fond too but never done any high altitude/ himalayan treks.
Went to solan as a kid but nothing serious.

[lazybones]

Two HMI courses and loads of hikes and climbs in Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan and the Eastern Himalayas (I went to school in those parts). The furthest north I've been in the western hills is Chandigarh
Great pics Anand.

ashok

[joydeepm]

Hi Ai,

I have done Langtang Valley , Gosai kund , Muktinath / thorong la ( kali gandaki basin ) and ABC in Nepal , Rupkund-Homekund , Kuari pass , Nanda devi sanctuary ( lata kharak route ), Gaumukh -Tapovan , valley of flowers ,padum to Tso Moriri , Pindari glacier( twice ) - Trails pass , Satopanth amd Milam treks in India and a couple of days hike around Matterhorn in Europe . Climbed Ronti Saddle in India, Gokyo in nepal and want to do Stok Kangri next year if the knee holds up.

A bike accident in 1993 and a severely damaged knee later - technical climbing is out for me .I can only do what they call "trekiing peaks".

Did my course from N.I.M in mid eighties .

Immensely interested in hiking though - the latest was Tapovan , with my wife and kid .Shall upload some pics soon .
Glad to have like minded people here .

[ragunnaath]

I've always wanted to trek high altitude, but have never been able to make it everytime. My bro in-law and sis in-law do treking quite a bit and have done Sar Pass in the Himalayas and some serious treking in the south.

Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI) conducts great treking expeditions throught the year at various locations in India. If you are looking at serious action and a great experience, you should defenitely look at YHAI programmes. They are also extremely economical and are done professionally.

Anyone interested check out http://www.yhaindia.org/program_bookings

-Ragu

[xl_target]

In 1977 at the tender age of 15 +, after completing my ICSE, I travelled from Kolkata (we still called it Calcutta then) to Uttarkashi to attend a course at the Nehru institute of Mountaineering. It was an absolutely unforgettable experience and one that I still fondly remember to this day. Travelling third class alone, at that age, across the country was also a new experience for me.

We studied the fundamentals of Rock climbing, Rapelling, Trekking, High Altitude acclimatization, Primitive camping above the snow line, etc. The crowning event was summiting a peak (don't remember which one anymore). The best experience; being one of the first arrivals after an exhilarating night trek. The worst experience; crossing a mountain stream (in January), after which my private parts tried to retreat into my body cavity in search of warmth. We often slept outside after digging a 8 inch to 12 inch deep trench in the snow (to keep the wind off) and then laid out a ground sheet with our sleeping bags on top of that. We had to sleep with our boots in the sleeping bag or they would have frozen solid. We also had to carry all our stuff including the post and pans for cooking. Breakfast was usually bread, jam and a stick of (frozen) butter followed by hot tea. You had to eat the whole stick as you needed the calories and fat. That was quite unpleasant, to say the least.

The courses are very heavily subsidized by the government to promote a love and understanding of the mountains so they are very cheap and all cold weather/climbing equipment was provided by the Institute. The staff was very experienced and there was even an army doctor along for the trip. One of the instructors had climbed with Tenzing Norgay. The wealth of outdoor and survival knowledge i gained from this trip has stood me in good stead throughout my life.

Anyone who has a desire to do any high altitude trekking and or rock climbing should seriously consider one of these courses. I believe that similar courses are also offered at the Himalayan Institute of Mountaineering in Darjeeling (Tenzing Norgay was an instructor here). If you do, you will gain invaluable cold weather/high altitude survival skills, confidence in yourself as well as have an incredible adventure in some of the most achingly beautiful scenery in one of the most untravelled regions of the world. Much as we like to talk smack about the government, this is one benefit offered to all Indians that everyone should take an advantage of. Your cost will mainly be your travel expenses to Uttarkashi. The course fees, paid in advance, are usually very small compared to what you will receive.

An interesting link: http://deeptijhangiani.blogspot.com/200 ... ering.html
What she says about physical fitness is absolutely true. I ran track and cross country and played soccer and field hockey in high school. I though I was fit. Believe me, i wasn't ready for the physical demands of the course. Of course after completing the course, one feels like Superman after having gone up to around 19,000 ft.




As an aside: after I made that trip in January 78 to high altitudes in the Himalayas, I was pretty confident that I knew what cold was and how to handle it. In reality, I didn't have a clue. My first winter in Minnesota in 1981/1982 was a rude awakening! We saw temps approaching the minus 80 degrees F point (with the windchills) that winter. I will say this though, we couldn't go to college classes because it was too cold but we had no problem taking a sled to the liquor store to buy booze. LOL.

An Anecdote: While climbing through the foothills, our instructors bought a mess of fish to supplement our diet. I was told:"You're the only Bengali here and since you Bongs know all about fish, it's your job to clean and scale the fish". Okay, gutting out was no issue but I didn't have a clue about descaling or filleting at the time. So after the fish and I spent some quality time in close proximity with a pocket knife, I took the resulting mess of skin and flesh up to the guy who was going to cook and received a real chewing out.

Some advice: If you do go on one of these courses, take a roll of toilet paper with you. Up above the snow line, you have to find a hidden spot, drop your pants, dig a hole with your ice axe and do your business in there. The snow is too danged cold to use when you wipe your behind. One unfortunate member of my group used a leaf from a plant that pokes up through the snow at high altitude. It is aptly named "Bichu Buty" and causes a violent inflammatory reaction with human skin (similar to poison ivy but much worse). All we heard was wild cries and girlish screams coming up the side of the mountain. Our instructors went running down the mountainside as they though the unfortunate individual was being attacked by a wild animal or something similar only to come back with tears of laughter in their eyes.