11 July
⁃ Making everyone hurry in the morning to get to the airport
⁃ But my phone had no charge, iphone cable doesn't work with power bank
⁃ TIL - 2 rupee lounge
⁃ Is Turbulence just driving in clouds => like going over potholes
⁃ Walk out of Delhi Airport - damn hot
⁃ Terrible terrible coffee
⁃ Bus ride - 500 kms - loud Dhaba with randos signing in Haryanvi
12 July
⁃ Raining and hair pin bendy roads all the way to Manali
⁃ Get ready fast, submit all docs
⁃ Goto start point of trek in sumo, at top
⁃ Crows seems to be there at the top of the mountains for some reason unlike pigeons in Manali.
⁃ Come back down due to some reason. Should have realized the crows were a bad omen.
⁃ Intro with everyone
⁃ Great manchurian and lemon ginger honey tea in Keylongs Inn
⁃ Uncertainty regarding trek due to the Incident
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13 July
⁃ Am I on vacation - great room, great view, wake up leisurely?
⁃ Weather is great, how was the weather man so wrong ?
⁃ Feels like the clouds roll down the hills into the valley and go along with the Beas river down
⁃ Back to start point
⁃ Start trek only 30 mins
⁃ Met 2 Ih groups heading down on the way
⁃ Reached Campsite
⁃ Lunch, oximeter reading(didn’t work for me - almost never worked for me), invisible volleyball
⁃ Ih stuff
⁃ Unique Poop experience
⁃ Sleeping in sleeping bag
14 July
⁃ Woke up to a great day, slightly cloudy
⁃ Starts raining cats and dogs when brushing
⁃ Are we going ahead or not?(Trek Leader - random probabilities and crazy scenarios )
⁃ Sky clears up and we get to go ahead after Ih conf)
⁃ Crossed the river on bridge
⁃ Walked(mostly sludge, crap and boulders)
⁃ Chika pass water crossing with human chain(hey we could have used the bridge slightly upstream but didn’t )
⁃ Multiple small stream crossings through out
⁃ Tricky uphill section with going over narrow path with boulders on one side and a river flowing in full force down on the other
⁃ Another major river crossing with river traversing(rope across river)
⁃ Short walk through grasslands with crazy amount of flowers) and reach base camp (Jwara camp)
⁃ Apparently it was only 4.5 km, but lots of uphill(elevation climb ?)
⁃ Lunch
⁃ Some games later
⁃ Snacks - soya manchurian?
⁃ Went for short walk from camp site with Shravani and shiva
⁃ Philosophical discussion
⁃ Great Dinner and terrible spo2 reading
⁃ End of another day in the life of not working Saahitya
⁃ Ending thoughts
* Seems like the first day where things happened without a hiccup.
* Next trek is not going to be a monsoon trek
* Professional helpful ih staff
* Should plan to do this once a year
* Should start running again(fitness level down)
* Insignificance compared to the mountains and nature.
* Times flies when you are trekking
* Trekking shouldn’t be a masochist activity, must be slight cardio
* Should I be in the front or the back of the queue of people trekking(advantages vs disadvantages ?)
15 July
⁃ Again day starts with raining
⁃ Had to start at 8, but we start at 830
⁃ Do warmup
⁃ Walk sometime
⁃ Someone had to return
⁃ Beautiful grassland crossing streams
⁃ Reached Balu ka ghera
⁃ Nothing much on the trek
⁃ Some games lunch then some more stuff
⁃ Serious talk from Local guides regarding tmrw
⁃ Dinner
⁃ Great day but not much to say as I can’t recollect too much + have to sleep for big day tmrw
16 July
⁃ Perfect weather
⁃ woke up but food got delayed as cooks alarm didn’t ring as battery drained due to cold
⁃ Started at 630 instead of 6 with packed lunch
⁃ crossed many streams and many ice sheets between rocks
⁃ Same routine of walking across crap, sludge, boulders
⁃ Walked for like a km on a narrow ridge with a fast flowing stream on one side and glacier on another.
⁃ Then had to walk on steep snow for like 100 m
⁃ Hampta pass - what is a pass, why is this called a pass?
⁃ Seems like we went over some snow and end of hampta pass
⁃ Descent was very scary as it was On a side of a mountain for 1000s of feet. Was able to spot something like a turquoise color pond from above in the valley
⁃ Reached steep ice slope with boulders at bottom
⁃ Local guides helped me get across fit by sliding
⁃ Funny scene of a guy taking 4 people sliding with him after slipping and falling
⁃ Had packed Lunch
⁃ Walked across stony grassland with river flowing one one side till camp
- How do these trekking orgs filter out suicidal people - this trek seems like a great place for someone to jump while descending or get washed down by the river
17 July
⁃ day starts off lazy as we have crossed the pass
⁃ We cross the river bare feet, incredible cold, couldn’t feel our feet when we come across the other side. Had to run around in grass for 10-15 mins and then hike for like half an hour to feel something.
⁃ Straight forward walk descending in grassland.
⁃ Slightly more steep short descent
⁃ Cross river over plank
⁃ Cross 50 feet of snow on side of mountain with fast flowing Chandra river on the side
⁃ Walk on desert like scenery to come to vans. End of trek.
⁃ Go to last campsite, eat lunch rajma chawal, pay for vans
⁃ Vans take us to Manali, on Rohtang pass road
⁃ Go though Atal tunnel, scenery changes from dry deserty landscape to foggy pine filled green valley
⁃ See lot of tourists on the way to Manali, Laughing at the stupid poses for pictures
- Todo I learned about Delhi-walle meme in Manali
⁃ Reach Keylongs inn, walk to other hotel to get the cloakroom stuff
⁃ Get on bus back to Delhi
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