Sarpass Trek- Do's and Dont's

Sarpass being my first trek on the himalayan ranges, I must admit that I was very much underprepared for this one even though I had trekked to good extent in southern parts of India.
Penning down few Do's and Dont's :-)

-> Take sufficient battery backups for your camera. I had taken one extra battery and two batteries were sufficient for the entire trek.

-> Preserve the batteries for higher altitudes where one gets the most beautiful and amazing views

-> Keep the batteries warm, batteries drain out rapidly in extreme cold, hence when not in use and while sleeping keep the batteries in your pockets. The body temp is good enough to keep them warm and they will last longer.

-> It's good that one carries his/her own rucksacks, the quality of bags supplied by YHAI are not very good. After second day of trek, my rucksack was torn and I had to stitch it myself there. (Note: Seeing the state of the bag I was very apprehensive whether I will be able to complete the trek, but thankfully a few stitches made it good)

-> Hunter shoes are a must, regular sports shoes are strict NO NO... 300 rs Hunter shoes avaialble in Commercial street will do a terrrific job.

-> Religiously carry all items which YHAI has mentioned.

-> It's important to take care of your feet, as they say in YHAI, take care of your feet like your face. Anti fungal powder, cotton are needed.

-> During the trek, in most of the tea & lunch points you will get Omlette and maggie noodles. So during most of the days I didn't pack my lunch and managed with omlette and maggies.

-> As they say, each gram will become 1 Kg @ high altitudes, so keep your luggage to bare minimum possible. Apart from what you wear, one extra pair of clothing is good enough.

-> Unless you are a serious photographer, do not carry tripods etc up all the way.

-> Keep mints, dry fruits, ORS and candies. These will be of great help

-> Keep thermals! Good warm clothing is necessary when you have snow around. I believe that the unfortunate incident would not have happened if people wore thermals.

Our tent @ Tila lotni

Evening view of the Sarpass

Morning view: Sar pass

Posting the next set of photos here, well I did try my luck to shoot the moon lit mountains, but yet to process those images. I shall post them soon.

Sarpass Trek- 2009

Finally Mission Accomplished!!!!

I was a little apprehensive about the trek when Chandu rang me to inform me that he would not be making to this trek, and even his friend won't be able to make it this time. So throughout my journey to Kasol - the base camp site (around 40 Kms from Kullu) I was thinking about whether I will have a good company during the trek! But YHAI didn't disappoint me, It was indeed a great company, and for that matter I never felt that I came here to trek all alone during the entire trek! On the contrary now I believe that you should venture alone in to these youth hostel treks and make good freinds out there!

The trek indeed was one of the kind of experiences that you will ever have!!! The high points of the trek were

-> The bone chilling water bath in the Parvathi river and hot water bath at hotsprings
-> Tasting delicious and fresh MOMOS at a canteen in Kasol
-> The journey on the bus top till Manikarn and enjoying the view of the valley from the top of the bus
-> Waking up to see the snow capped peaks infront of you
-> Brushing your teeth at an altitude of ~14000 feet with chilling water
-> Liberty of having energy drinks at such an altitude which keeps your spirits soaring !!!!
-> Having experienced the snow at our camp site at Zirmi
-> Having weatherd a mighty snow storm for almost an hour before reaching our camp at Tila Lotni
-> Having seen the moonlit snow peaks on a beatiful night
-> Gazing stars and moon on a clear night sky with the company of snow peaks around you
-> The every tasty Maggie, Omlette and Tea at Tea and lunch points all along the trek route
-> Crossing the challenging cliff before the slide after we started from Tila Lotni
-> And the mighty snow slide after we crossed the Sarpass, this one scores amongst all !!!!
-> Finally the "Shahi Snan" at Manikaran

Well.. the list is end less... I can keep going on and on and on..... but unfortunately the only low point of the trek was unfortunate demise of fellow trekkers in the SP-1 Batch :(

Click here to view the snaps of new friends during this trek

Take a look at Sarpass view which is my fav shot!!(More to come later)