Himalayan Trek: Om Parvat and Adi Kailash

Watch out/ be mentally prepared:

The sound of the river

Shoe Bites

Rubbing of Thighs

It can get very cold up there!

There are two different paramilitary force there – SSB (Suraksha Seema Bal) and ITBP (Indo Tibet Border Police)

Surprises:

“Om Namah Shivaya”

Warm Welcome from Paramilitary Forces & Villagers

Magic Medicinal Plant and the Villagers

Team: Gova (Had done a similar trek before), Ravi (Had done a similar trek before), Sandy, Shraban(our humor master for the trek), Shyam, Shaubhik (our professional photographer)

Introduction: We, a team of six decided to go on a trek. We choose Om Parvat and Adi Kailash in Uttrakhand. In total, the trip would be for 17-18 days with 12-14 days of trek in the Himalayas. We booked our flight tickets to New Delhi and back, and train tickets from Delhi to Kathgodam. We would leave Bangalore on 29^th of May and return on 16^th June. We have booked our train tickets from Kathgodam to Delhi on 14^th and 15^th June 20, 2010 night; we would keep one of these days as buffer just in case we lost a day in trek because of rain or land slide. We purchased/packed all the gears required – coolers, rain coat, winter jacket, trekking shoes, chapels, 2 pairs of thermals, 6 pairs of socks, torch, basic medicine including the altitude sickness one., Normal cap, Monkey cap, Woolen Gloves and Socks(All very important).

Route:

1. 29^th May - Bangalore – Delhi (Flight)

2. 29^th May - Delhi – Kathgodam (Train)

3. 30^th May - Kathgodam – Almora – Pithoragarh – Dharchula (Cab)

4. 31^st May – Medical Test @ Govt Hospital, Dharchula and Trek Permission from Magistrate Office, Dharchula

5. 1^st June - Treking Starts - Dharchula – Mangthi/ Gala (Cab) – around 45 mins

6. 1^st June - Mangthi/ Gala (Cab)- Lakhanpur- Malpa (Trek) – 14 kms

7. 2^nd June - Malpa – Budhi (Trek) – 20 kms

8. 3^rd June - Budhi – Gunji (Trek) – 20 kms

9. 4^th June - Gunji – Kalaphani (Trek) – 10 Kms

10. 5^th June - Khalapani – Navidang. OM PARVAT (Trek) – 10 Kms

11. 5^th June - Navidang – Gunji (Trek) – 20 kms

12. 6^th June – REST DAY

13. 7^th June - Gunji – Kuthi (Trek) – 19 Kms

14. 8^th June - FORCED REST – HEAVY SNOWING at Jolingkong

15. 9^th June - Kuthi – Jolingkong. ADIKAILASH (Trek) – 14 Kms

16. 9^th June - Jolingkong – Parvathital – Jolingkong (Trek) – 8 Kms

17. 10^th June - Jolingkong – Gunji (Trek) – 33 kms

18. 11^th June - Gunji – Budhi (Trek) – 20 kms

19. 12^th June - Budhi – Gala (Trek) – 24 Kms

20. 12^th June - Gala – Dharchula (Cab) – 45 kms

21. 13^th June - Dharchula – Nainital (Cab)

22. 14^th June - Nainital – Kathgodam (Cab)

23. 15^th June - Kathgodam – Delhi (Train) – Overnight Journey

24. 16^th June - Delhi – Bangalore (Flight)

Day1: 29^th June

We started from Bangalore, took pre-booked easycabs to BIA (Bangalore Internal Airport). Flight was on time and we reached IGI Airport on time. Saswat (Our dear friend who accommodated us in New Delhi ) had given us enough directions to reach his house at Sushant Lok, Gurgoan. We reached there and relaxed for some time before we went to nearby Dhaba to have some amazing paranthas and very tasty sabjis. We came back to Saswat’s house to relax for some time before we took cabs to reach Old Delhi railway station. Our train was at around 10 PM. We were happy to find a nice restaurant just outside the station. Sandy got some bananas and mineral water for journey. Shraban was our humour master, kept us laughing throughout the trip.

Day 2: 30^th June

We got down at Kathgodam at around 7 AM. We had to negotiate with many cabbies before we could decide on one. There were two options, one to book a direct cab to Dharchula or do split journey from Kathgodam – Almora – Pithoragarh – Dharchula . We somehow thought the split journey would work out cheaper, only to realize later that it was almost the same. Also the split journey could be more tiring and you also have the task of finding transportation in each place. We stopped at many places for breakfast, lunch, and snacks and reached Dharchula in the evening. We directly went to KVMN (Kumaon Vikas Mandal Nigam), the state government aligned organization which promotes tourism – trekking in this region. [You can also choose to take a Adikailash and Om Parvat Package from them. More information here]. Since we were a private batch, when ever needed we would use their facility for overnight stay and food. We checked in to Kali river facing rooms and hit the bed after a good dinner @ KVMN.

I should tell you this. Many porters were already approaching us in helping us carry our extra luggauge through the trek. We spoke to many and decided that we would take call tomorrow.

Day 3: 31st June - Medical Test @ Govt Hospital, Dharchula and Trek Permission from Magistrate Office, Dharchula

Considering that it was summer the weather was quite hot. This is the day when we would do our medical test and get our permissions for the trek in the region which borders Tibet (China) and Nepal. After our breakfast we reached the Sub- Magistrate office where we were told to take a pair of application forms, fill them, attach photos, address proof and medical certificate [only from nearby Government Hospital] and submit the application forms for approval. [This step will be taken care of by KVMN if you are going through them for the holy pilgrimage]. Since we were a private group we had to do all these by ourselves. As usual lead by Gova and Ravi, we picked up copies of application form. We moved to the nearby Govt Hospital to obtain medical certificate. I was quite nervous but like in many of our govt. hospitals the ‘something’ worked and managed to get the certificate sooner than we thought. We filled the forms, attached the required documents and submitted them for approvals. Meanwhile, another porter gentleman approached us in the magistrate office. Sandy and Shraban were talking to him while we got the permissions. The porters name was Dalip Singh. It took some 30 mins to 1 hour for us to get approvals. It was afternoon and quite late to start our trekking. We decided to rest and get a glimpse of Nepal, which was just across the Kali river bridge. While walking back to KMVN again met a few porters, atlast we met Dalip singh again, something told us that this was the right person. We wanted someone who could play a porter and guide for us. Dalip Singh happily accepted. We went back to our rooms repacked our 65 liter bags. We decided to leave a lot of our baggage back in Dharchula. Now we were left with two extra bags and would need one more porter to carry this. Dalip Singh who had come to check the bags offered to carry both the bags and we would pay him accordingly. We double checked with him before agreeing. The Kali river bridge which was less than a minute walk from KVMN was protected by both Indian and Nepali soldiers armed with AK47s. Kali River defines the border between the two countries for a very long distance. We just walked around, had some chai and moved back to our rooms. All the boys had a quick ‘session’ ;). We had dinner and hit the bed.

Day 4: 1^st June - Mangthi/ Gala (Cab)- Lakhanpur- Malpa (Trek) – 14 kms

We had booked a cab to take us to Mangthi. We would start our trekking from Mangthi. We started as planned. As we moved ahead we hit a landslide [Expect it, the landslide is either a natural one or one because of road expansion work]. Anxious moments now set in, we had to cross this landslide and take another jeep that was waiting. We managed to cross the landside with some help from the workers there. The jeep driver offered us to drop till Gala with some extra payment. [The road from Mangthi to Gala was still under construction]. We had some snacks @ <> and got dropped at Gala. Now that the plan had slightly changed, we decided to trek for 18-20 kms and reach Malpa and stay there. It was quite a hot day, we trekked for 3 kms before we reached a steep descend of 4444 steps. Many of our legs were shivering after we finished this stretch. After a couple of kilometers we would reach a village (Lakhanpur) where we could have some chai and relax. Believe villages here could mean one or two houses. We reached Lakhanpur had a hot sip of tea and relaxed. Some of us had enough energy to go down to the river and take bath. Of course I am kidding, we reached the river to find the water to be too cold. That reminded me that we would not be taking bath for next 12 days. After around 10 Kms from here, we would reach Malpa. We continued our trek. This stretch will introduce us to ferocious Kali River. Throughout the stretch, you will trekking just next to the Kali river. The sound it makes can initially scare you initially, but you will get used to it as you move on. It was evening by the time we reached Malpa. We could already feel a chill in air. The accommodation was not great (KVMN – under construction) but we managed to pass the night.

Day 5:

We had told the care taker to get the food ready early. After a good breakfast we started our trek towards Budhi. We continued to trek alongside River Kali. We stopped at the village <<>> for a quick tea. We met the DC of the district there, he was returning from Om Parvat. We saw the images of the magnificent mountain in his camera. We continued our journey to Budhi, I personally think the final stretch was quite daunting. We reached KVMN in Budhi, we enquired for accommodation and found it very expensive. We settled down in the PWD guest house adjacent to KVMN rest houses. The caretaker there was very humble and nice. We could feel that I was getting cold at Budhi. We could see the Snow Mountains from here. Annapoora in Nepal was one of them. ITBP has a transit camp here and you can make phone calls at stipulated times. You will find SSB and ITBP throughout this trek. We were also told that most of the villagers along with their families are on high mountains looking for some kind of Plant/Herb which has very high demand in China. We could actually see a lot of tents , very high on the mountains, using Shaubhik’s Nikon SLR. This is the place where we met Rateesh, one of the police men. He was very friendly with us, infact anyone we could see from ITBP or SSB were very friendly with us.

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