Kugti Pass Trek — June/July 2017
29 June 2017–7.30 pm — Pranay and I, along with 7 other people are having 2 varieties of pasta and a piping hot crisp pizza.
Daily meal schedule:
6.30 am — Bed Tea/Coffee
7.00 am — Warm washing water
7.30 am — Breakfast (Cornflakes, Oats, Bread, Eggs) with Tea/Coffee/Hot Chocolate
11.00 am — Hot Soup/Tea
1.00 pm — Lunch (Fruit juice, lunch, fruits, dry fruits, chocolate)
4.30 pm — Tea/Coffee with snacks (pakoras or biscuits or pop corn or something similar)
7.00 pm — Hot Soup, followed by warm lemonade or orangeade, followed by dinner (at least 5 to 6 items) with dessert and ending with tea/coffee
What is so unusual about it? — This is not the schedule of a holiday at a resort. We were having the pizza at an altitude of 3400 m in the middle of nowhere at a campsite called Jail Khad. And believe me when I say that the pizza was as good or even better than what you get at any pizzeria. This was our meal schedule from 25 June to 7 July when we went for a trek to Kugti Pass in Himachal Pradesh with Zingaro Travels, Manali. It wont be totally untrue to say that we were walking when we were not eating!
So let me tell you about the adventure of a life time Pranay and I had when we went for this trek along with 6 Britishers and 1 Indian.
Principal Cast:
Donald Peck — my ex boss at Actis
Lucy Peck — author of Delhi, a Thousand Years of Building and Agra: The Architectural Heritage
Sir Nicholas Warren — a sitting High Court judge in London
Carolyn Walton — a barrister
Mark Measures — an organic farming consultant
Jony Russell — a traveller
Vibhav Nuwal — doing some interesting work in the field of renewable energy (www.reconnectenergy.com)
Pranay Shah — about to go to University of Michigan for an undergraduate degree in engineering and
Snehal Shah.
Principal Crew:
Staff from Zingaro Travels, Manali (Zingaro Treks) (run by Prem Singh Bodh and Tenzin Bodh) which included
Prem — the Trek Leader (different from Prem Singh Bodh)
Sunder Bodh — guide
Yeshi/Ishe Nawang — guide
Tashi — Head Cook
Norbu/Tola — Helper
Sonam — Helper
Supported by 25 porters.
So we were a total of 40 people (9 trekkers, 6 staff, 25 porters) who embarked on a trek to Manimahesh Pass and Kugti Pass. Donald, who has been trekking in the Himalayas for more than 20 years told me about this trek sometime in January 2017. I asked Pranay if he wanted to join and he was also game for it. We have been going to CrossFit 7 Seas for quite a few months now and so were reasonably confident that we had the requisite fitness to complete this trek. Kugti Pass is at an altitude of 5040 m and I had done Junargalli Pass last year which is at 4940 m. So it did not seem to be a big deal to me (and how wrong was I!)
Day 1–24 June 2017/Sat — Mumbai to Dharamshala
All of us were supposed to meet at Dharamshala by late noon. Pranay and I were flying SpiceJet (Mumbai –Delhi-Dharamshala) and with a delay in the flight from Mumbai itself, we had to rush to catch the connecting flight. All of us, except Jony (who was on a later flight) met at Hotel Gopal near Dharamshala and went for a drive to see the Rock Cut Temple at Masrur (about an hour’s drive from the hotel) — a very beautiful site, especially for people who appreciate architecture.
Day 2–25 June 2017/Sun — Dharamshala to Holi
We left Dharamshala after having an early breakfast, and reached Chamba where we went to the miniature painting museum followed by lunch, and then drove to Holi village, on the bank of River Ravi, where JSW is constructing a hydel power plant. It was nice and sunny when we reached the campsite and the tents were ready for us.
Day 3–26 June 2017/Mon — Holi (1800 m) to Kalah (2600 m)
This was the first day of the trek in terms of walking. We started at about 8 am and reached Kalah by about 12.15 pm. On the way, we were pleasantly surprised when we got hot soup to drink to replenish our sapped energy at about 10 am! Kalah was a small village, with a bunch of excited kids. This was the last sunny day for a few days to come. Towards the evening, it started to rain and we were cosily packed in our tents.
Day 4–27 June 2017/Tue — Kalah (2600 m) to Jail Khad (3400 m)
We started walking in the rain, and it was a bit difficult in the beginning. This involved a steep climb (which continued throughout the rest of the trek, with varying degrees of difficulty in terms of the terrain) and we reached the campsite at about 1 pm. It continued to be rainy weather, though sometimes, the sky deceptively seemed to open up.
Day 5–28 June 2017/Wed — Jail Khad (3400 m)
The original plan was to go to Sukha Dalli and camp there for a next day ascend to Manimahesh Pass. However, the weather continued to be bad and there was continuous rain. So we decided to stay put at the camp and decided to take a fresh view the next day.
Day 6–29 June 2017/Thu — Jail Khad (3400 m) — Holi (1800 m)
With the weather continuing to be wet, we decided to change the plan and not proceed further to Manimahesh, but rather descend to Holi. It was about an 8 hour of descent which took its toll on the calves and the quad muscles for next two days! We reached Holi at about 4 pm. In the meantime, Prem at Zingaro had worked out arrangements to take us the next day from Holi to Kugti Camp (he is an expert at logistics management — this was not part of the itinerary and the places are not very well connected with road heads, which made his job that much more difficult).
Day 7–30 June 2017/Fri — Holi (1800 m) — Bharmour — Hadsar — Kugti (2300 m)
We had a leisurely start this day as there was no walking involved. However, it was an ordeal for me to even get into or out of the vehicle due to stiff legs! We took a break in Bharmour to see the temple complex which is more than 1200 years old. Some of us shopped for sundry items, and we reached Kugti at about 3 pm. It was a nice campsite next to a river. We were now ahead of our schedule by a day and we decided that we would keep that as a reserve in case the weather again played games with us.
Day 8–1 July 2017/Sat — Kugti (2300 m) — Duggi (3200 m)
This was going to be a tough day (of the next few days to come — especially for me as it was going to be a fresh start again of an ardous climb). We passed through the beautiful Kugti Village, which is a certified organic village. We spent some time in the village interacting with the locals and then moved ahead to Duggi Camp. The weather had again turned sunny, which was a major relief after having to drop the crossing of Manimahesh Pass on account of rainy weather. Duggi was a very nice campsite on a reasonably flat piece of land, and people took advantage of the sun to wash/dry clothes.
Day 9–2 July 2017/Sun — Duggi (3200 m) — Alyas (4100 m)
Alyas was the base camp for the crossing of the pass and it was again a very beautiful site. I started feeling an element of breathlessness along the way, and Sunder bailed me out by carrying my day pack. We met three youngsters from Delhi who attempted to cross the pass that day but had to abandon the exercise 100 m from the top as they faced a rock fall and one of them had injured his hand. We offered first aid to them and were wondering how could have they attempted such a difficult pass with very limited resources.
Day 10–3 July 2017/Mon — Alyas (4100 m) — Rest/acclimatization day
This was a rest day and some of us like me stay put in the camp whereas others went for a small hike in the vicinity.
Day 11–4 July 2017/Tue — Alyas (4100 m) — Kugti Pass (5050 m) — Mandir Camp (3700 m)
This WAS the day. We started walking at 2.45 am and I had no clue how the path was going to be. I realized that there was a lot of walking on snow, and for a large part of the day, I had Sunder or Ishe holding my hand to guide me along the route. Pranay, who generally used to lead the group, was lagging this day as he was feeling a bit dizzy. I was a bit concerned and prayed that it was not altitude sickness. Again Sunder came to the rescue and carried Pranay’s bag (along with his own bag, which amongst other things, would have soup thermoses and lunch for us in his bag!). It was almost a 5-hour trek to the top of the pass with the last bit of the route really treacherous. The Zingaro team used to literally carve a path for us in the snow. It was an exhilarating feeling when we reached the top and then realized that the job was half done when we saw the valley on the other side, which we had to descend. It was again a very dangerous descent for the first part, followed by another long descent walking down in the snow, and I slipped about 4–5 times, dragging Ishe down with me, and in one instance also Mark and Sunder! We took about 2.5 hours to get down, had lunch and then had to trek another 3 hours to reach the Mandir Camp. We reached the camp at about 2 pm and then heaved a sigh of relief as the tough work was done! We were really lucky with the weather on this day as it was not windy, no rains, and the sun did not come out till noon, which would otherwise have made the descent more difficult.
Day 12–5 July 2017/Wed — Mandir Camp (3700 m) — Rest
This was the extra day we had in our kitty and we decided to rest. We again had pizza in the evening along with a cheese cake!
Day 13–6 July 2017/Thu — Mandir Camp (3700 m) — Jobrang (2900 m)
This was the last day of the trek and we reached Jobrang by about 12 noon. Unfortunately, Lucy fell on the way to the camp and broke her right wrist. We had Prem Bodh and his wife to welcome us, and the nearby villagers were also excited to see us and got fresh milk and buttermilk for us in the evening. This was also the day when Pranay’s IB results were expected and around late noon, Surabhi called us to inform that he had scored a 43 on 45 in the final IB results! So Pranay had 2 achievements in 2 days — scaling a height of 5000m in his first trek and excellent results for his IB program. We were treated to a cake by Tashi (he seems to be a magician — a cake which can beat any bakery, made in a cooking tent!!!) in the evening.
Day 14 and 15–7/8 July — Jobrang to Manali / Manali to Chandigarh and home
Donald and Lucy were going to Miyarnalla to visit an adopted village. The rest of us headed to Manali via Rohtang Pass (absolutely crowded with people). We reached Manali at about 2.30 pm and had a hot bath after almost 12 days! We were checked into the Hotel Mayflower — a very beautiful property with palatial room sizes and excellent service. We went for a stroll in the market, and in the evening, Sunder came to meet us and gifted us a t-shirt and warm socks (which seems to be a Zingaro tradition). Carolyn was going to spend a couple of more days in Manali, and Jony was going to do a biking trip to Leh. Nick, Mark, Vibhav, Pranay and I left for Chandigarh on 8 July, had a gluttonous lunch at Barbeque Nation in Chandigarh, and Pranay and I took the flight to Mumbai, whereas Nick, Mark and Vibhav took the Shatabdi to Delhi.
SO here I am back in Mumbai. IN all, an excellent trek — which I am sure I couldn’t have done without the Zingaro team, which was always there to help me negotiate any difficult (or even easy, which I found difficult) terrain. The group was also very interesting, and we learnt a couple of new games like Nebuchadnezzar and another interesting one (“This is a Bing” introduced to us by Sir Warren!). Interestingly, when I went to Roopkund last October, I was amongst the top 20 percentile in terms of age, and in this case I was amongst the bottom 30 percentile (all the Britishers were an average age of about 64, and Vibhav, Pranay and I brought it down to 54!). But guess what? — in both the treks, I was consistent in terms of being at the end of the group! Some things never change, it seems!!!
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