Anxious, worried is the metaphor that summed up my feeling when I had signed up for the 'family trek' to kedarkantha through Indiahikes. To that extent, me and my wife had couple of conversations to check with the IH folks if the trek can be undertaken for my 8 year boy - Deep and 12 year old daughter - Diya. The actual objective for us was to get closer to the nature than from the sight seeing spots miles away from the adventure. I was not sure if I was being adventurous to think of doing a trek with the family, which possibly is not a not the 'Normal';Being adventurous, as always, I possibly was thinking of setting up the new 'Normal' and IH was the perfect channel for this.
The objective of this short blog is not too much on the travel/trip aspects, which one will find many but more to encourage and solace the anxious souls who want to either
undertake the trek with the family or to allow small kids for the trekking adventures.
The actual trek started in the minds couple of weeks before with the required shopping not just for a single person but for the whole family. Fortunately, there were warm friends who lent couple of trekking bags to reduce to shopping burden. It started out buying the 'Forclaz 500' water proof shoes meant for high altitude trekking.Incidentally, this was a learning for me to get the distinction right about dry land trekking and high altitudetrekking ( snow ). While my family was lucky to get the pair of all new high land trekking shoes , I myself did not get one wanted to make up with the existing dryland shoes( which incidentally I could ). To some extent, we went overboard for shopping, but neverthless 'all is well that ends well' and these items will possibly continue to be used for subsequent stories. However, couple of suggestions wrt shopping is to buy the best quality gear thats required but be minimalistic. We might want to think of buying for life rather than for a single trek so that we rightfully get the comfort of spending lavishly. For instance, for high altitude trekking one would do well with a ankle length-water resistant show,good downjacket, a fleece pullover/jacket, windcheater, raincoat, sun caps, balaklawa, couple of cotton T shirts, socks and trekking pants. We should not end up buying carrying multiple
jackets-wollen, leather just because we have them because they tend to become more of a burden than of any use. This is probably the mistake all first time trekkers do !
Fast forward, we are in the first camp at Netwar, incidentally, the first time IH is also having this house as a campsite. It was like destination so near yet so far experience from Dehradun to Netwar.
The clutch of the vehicle broke down in between and the few small time garages enroute could not offer any solace but only grimace on our face. with courage in our hearts, we forged ahead to reach base of netwar village. However, our supposed happiness was shortlived since the IH guides were not to been seen and the driver was in a dilemma of how to proceed ahead( which incidentally, he could notsince the vehicle now was completely broke ). It's a great experience to spend couple of hours in a world without phones, without network, sitting in a broken down vehicle and watching light fade and your hands slowly but surely getting into your pockets to cover for the cold ! This was the new way to 'Welcome to High Altitude Trekking' where you are still in the base's base.
Flickering lights, dumb backpacks, shivering body and a wavering mind is what comes to mind for the night at Netwar guest house. Not sure about the next few days but excited enough to begin a new day tomorrow. The evening introductions followed by the wisely instructions from the trek leader followed by a mandatory health check for the oxymeter readings and the BP summed up the evening. Sometimes, its a nice feeling - enthusiastic, anxious and reassurance to be getting a 'free medical check' everyday during the trek days. I was slightly curious how my younger kid would do in the next few days and it was rebuttal from the trek leader to respond back saying I was better off taking care of myself than being worried about my kid. Harsh it seemed then, but what followed in the next few days were testament to his confident response.
Jalota
The next day morning started with the briefing by the trek leader followed by slow march into the green meadows, which were going to followed be denser and taller trees, leading to the forest trek. The removal of extra layers of clothes was the usual scene with all the trekkers who had been extra cautious. They either ended up being in the backpack or in the waists, but eventually the extra weight to carry apart from the unnecessary sweat generated. The usual trek protocol has a trek driver, trek sweeper and the trek leader who shuffles between the entire group depending on the need.
After the initial thrust, the team reached a place < > where we relaxed along with a game of cricket with the locals. The extra layers had already come off from the bodies into the bags. The remaining trek also included bites of Thepla from the gujju trekker friends who had carried many packets for the whole group. Awesome thought and generosity, something that helped all of us during the next few days. We finally reached the campsite slightly late and interestingly this was the first visit by Indiahikes from this route and the whole group did a trek of around 6-7 Kms. It did seem to be a long, tiring trek for everyone and the site of the tents on the mountain itself was a relief. Lime juice,followed by lunch was wholesome.
After the lunch, the trek leader introduced a new game - Mafia to the team , something that was an instant hit. Deep became a big fan of this fame and something which he kept nudging the team during the next couple of days at each campsite. Later, as evening set in and cold weather started piercing us, the team gathered few logs of wood and did a campfire with a game of 'Dumb Charades'..Cold weather, Setting Sun looks to be a perfect setting for a hot tea and some tingy snacks..and this is what we got in the evening , something which probably is an ideal setting to enjoy without time pressure of the daily ruckus otherwise that everyone has in their lives. One by One, everyone descended into their tents getting accustomed to the yoga skills of bending, balancing, kneeling and sliding and then trying to get cosy inside the tent with the help of sleeping bags. For someone new to it, usage of sleeping bags - unfolding, using and folding again does require training, patience and learning. One would also do well by going to the loo just before you slide into the sleeping bag else its a very difficult experience at night - new surroundings, terribly tired but not the easy sleep one is accustomed to at home and in addition one has to also bear the continuously reducing temperature and darkness. Apparently, most of the people dont get the deep sleep though one is extremely tired, which something I also experienced. In my case, I also had the additional responsibility to keep checking if Deep had slid down too deep into the sleeping bag and I had to keep him adequately warm but at the same time , keep checking is he has adequate space to breathe easily. Another interesting experience is the slide-while-you-sleep in the tent because usually the tents will not have a flat surface and one will keep sliding down or sideways.
Pukhrola
The next morning, I was woken by the cold mist and the anxious mind grappling with the tasks and the day ahead. The usual trekking protocol followed was a '6-7-8 protocol' where one would get lemon tea at 6 AM, followed by breakfast at 7 AM and then ready to leave at 8 AM. Needless to state, in order to manage 6-7-8 one would have to juggle with lot of things - first of all waking up in the cold in the near zero, sub zero temperatures to manage finishing the morning rituals to manage packing the sleeping bags, the liners and the rest of your trekking bags and all this in probably in darkness and barely able to manage all this with the gloves on. One would also consider himself lucky if the trek bags are the older model, which can turn out to be 'Sack where you find the holy grail' and every small small item appears to be buried deep. In our case, these morning experiences and tasks were further accentuated because both of us also had an additional task of managing one kid. In this case, I was managing
my 8 year old - Deep and Vaijayanti was providing cover for Diya - 12 year old daughter ! For a family trek, I would encourage the parents to either prepare themselves or prepare the kid for these 'pinch hitting' activities in the morning.
We were better prepared towards the cloths today given the experience of the previous day and most of us were in single layer of clothing, which is most suited during the first part of the day. The trek was supposed to be a 4 km trek and most of us found that we possibly were better prepared than the previous day. There was growing excitement to have the first sight of snow. We started seeing the small streams which were a hint that we would be soon get the sight of snow.
No wonder, at one of the resting points, while couple of us meandered, we could see a huge landscape of snowy mountains. It was a lovely sight that everyone was looking forward since the beginning of the trek. After a few minutes, we started seeing snow in the path itself. At this point, the group involved themselves in playing in the snow while others were busy taking pictures. The smaller streaks started growing into large white patches and no sooner the whote patches started growing to large mounds of snow. It started becoming a necessity to wear the UV sun googles. We were now beginning to walk entirely on snow and were eager to get to the basecamp. The sight of the tent high above made us elated and we quickly made our ground to reach there. The sight there was breathtaking and we were short of ideas on what to focus - the overbearing cold weather or the large snowy mountains ahead of us or getting comfortable into the tents. Its a great feeling to be so near the mountains and to be able to see the peak one is going to summit. It seemed like - so near yet so far but we knew that we are going to have a great 'next day', the day that was going to be begin at 3 AM !
However, we had a great evening yet to spend here at the base camp amidst the whistling wind, sizzling cold and marvelous mountains that lie just ahead of us, which we could see within our tents itself. The hot lunch inside the dinner tent gave some respite but it was
always a harrowing thought of the need of washing our plates with the ice cold water in the icy surroundings. After the lunch, our trek leader advised us on the next day schedule and also taught the method of wearing the microspikes that were going to be used the next day. This was a learning experience for almost everyone. We spent some time after this getting acclimatized with the surroundings and taking a small walk. We saw skull of an animal during the walk and also found small streams of water near the base camp. The streams of water is one of the reasons why campsites get located where they are. The 'IndiaHikes' is a great community because they take care of 'Roti and Makaan' in these hostile unbearing, uncertain conditions.
Summit Day
The D-day started with the shrill alarm going off in the phone at 3 AM. While it did seem like a dream during the deep sleep, the chill around provided a view of the reality lying ahead. I was also wondering of the snow around our tents and what possibilities could emerge if the snow melts and could start getting into the tents. It was informed that the temperature could go down to -6 degrees at night and that one should be adequately covered at night. The night was indeed cold, windy and we were also unsure of how it would feel if it snows at night. With all the uncertainties in the mind and tiredness in the legs, all of us went to sleep early after a quick dinner at the 'dinner tent'. Dinner Tent is the only comfortable place given that its slightly warm because of the hot food, hot water and the larger space compared to all the tents. However, dinner is slightly clumsy since one would need to meander around with torch lights balancing their plates and body. 'IndiaHikes' offers good food, rightly planned for the trek and often its a fortune to get warm food to get in these surroundings.
As anticipated, I did not have a deep sleep and woke up with the alarm ring at 3 AM. The immediate priority was to wake up 'Deep' who obviously was in deep sleep and get him ready for the trek. Fortunately, he woke up and the disturbance also woke up the tent partner - Jitendra. Today other than getting ready, we also had the additional work of getting the Gators and the microspikes. My family was slightly delayed because of the additional burden of getting our kids ready. We were the last to start from the base camp, in almost dark surroundings with the headtorches on, which was feeding us the required light into the Kedarkantha mountain that was smiling at us, as if it knew what was going to unfold in the next few hours. We started off slowly and one of the trek co-guide , accompanying us at the end. As it was usual in the last few days, Deep was soon ahead of all of us and could not see him. After almost 20 minutes into the trek, we saw two shining lights in the middle of the mountain while rest of the group was visible ahead as twinkling stars on the kedarkantha. We paced up and to our astonishment we saw 'Deep' sitting there and another fellow trekker who was just giving him company till we arrive. We soon realized that something was wrong since 'Deep' was never like what he was appearing at the moment. I also realized that he was feeling weak, slightly trembling and more than that, he was muttering that he wants to go back home ! Frantic we were - 2 parents, 2 kids , 2 fellow trekkers and the co guide. However, I was puzzled as to what had traspired in the in the first 10 minutes of the trek since he was absolutely fine before that. Deep was adamant that he did not want to climb and was intent on going back home. Different thoughts were crossing our minds and our co-guide also was not sure of the issue. He made a loud and shril shout to the main guide - Arvind who was well ahead asking for advice, while all of us were trying to figure out the issue. No sooner, we saw Arvind 'pacing' down from the lead group and very quickly started having a conversation with Deep. We felt better with Arvind around us though the cold breeze, the snow around as well the dark surroundings were still something to deal with. After a brief conversation with Deep, he quickly turned to me and asked a pointed question if Deep was wearing a thermal and I nodded confidently. He was still not sure and checked Deep's attire and turned back with a stern and straight face to confirm that Deep was not wearing thermal, which was a mandatory advice that he had given the previous evening.
I had no answers since I was still not sure how the thermal was missing since I was very sure that I had checked the same the previous night before the sleep..I was feeling even more guilty since I knew that he had slept the whole night without the thermals in the sub zero temperature in the base camp. Apologies apart, it was time for some immediate action. It probably was a case of hypothermia setting in and quite instinctively, Arvind commanded for three of us - me , Deep and the coguide to descend to the basecamp and ascend up again with the thermals. Soon, we were hurriedly climbing down the same mountain that we had climbed up few minutes back. We soon reached the base camp and hurried to the kitchen tent where we could see some fire, to warm up Deep. We also gave him a banana to eat , which he grudgingly ate and still muttering that he will not climb up. With some cajoling and convincing, we finally made our initial steps again on Kedarkantha for the second time. As we started climbing up, the warmth inside further improved Deeps condition and in a short while, we were again at the same place where we had started the descent. Arvind, Vaiju and Diya were still waiting anxiously for us to return though probably it was a bad idea to be waiting at the same place during the trek since it is counter productive in the cold to be stationary. Slowly but surely, we started moving up though by now we could not see others. Arvind and Deep were again ahead and in no time, they were not to be seen. While the ascent started becoming difficult, on the other hand the surroundings started becoming visible and it was serene, white, snowy
mountains all around us.
The beauty of the Kedarkanth summit is probably is its 360 view of the majestic himalayan beauties - Draupadi ka Danda, Swargrohini and few others. We were now amidst the snow and had hardly any stone path to climb. I was also noticing that our pace had significantly dropped and I was also noticing that 'Diya' and 'Vaiju' were starting to get worried, tired and probably fear was setting in. Our fellow trekkers - Abhay and Vrunda were trying to provide the required encouragement to the two of them to keep climbing. Shortly after some time, I was noticing that the initial grumbling had turned into fear and both of them now did not want to climb any further. The slippery snow and the deep ascent was also a cause of concern. The fear now was transcending into a crisis situation.
The co guide also became nervous because we were stranded now probably 3/4th of kedarkantha peak with two of the trekkers being adamant of not going further. Amidst all this, I was also getting nervous for the first time during this trip. I had a small conversation to discuss the options before us - Climb up, Climb down or Go sideways, all of which were probably looking impossible. Our schedule and plan was to descend down from a different route and not the route we had ascended and hence if were to descend from this point, it was essentially going from a different unknown route and probably unforseen problems. Second option was to descend down to the base camp and then further hike down to the next camp site, which was going to be a very long distance and that too appeared to be not a viable option.
The third and the only viable option before us was to rejoin the group as fast as we could and for that to happen, we had to climb up further ! To make matters worse, our co guide realized that he was not carring the walkie talkie and hence our primary mode of communication with the rest of the group was broken. He was desperately trying to seek the leaders advice and shrill voice appeared to be the only source of communication, which he did try - not once, but many times..While our whole group lay stranded, very quite in the even more quite surroundings but for the whooshy and swooshy sound of the kedarkantha breeze , that was propably telling us to nudge further. After few eerie silence, we could hear back a far cry from somewhere up. Soon, we could see the familiar figure with the cap climbing down briskly to help us. Arvind it was who was there with us again for the second time , this morning to get ourselves out of the crisis. Trek leaders life is probably an adventure every day ! He soon gave the required confidence and he advised the team to put on the microspikes. The microspikes did help a lot and they gave a lot of comfort in the extremely slippery surroundings. The group again was moving up and in around twenty minutes, we could sense that we were nearing the summit. We were all ecstatic to be at the summit finally though we
were the last ones to arrive there. The first thing that I wanted to check was about Deep since it was almost an hour since we had seen him after the issue in the morning and he had vanished along with Arvind. Deep was already there waiting for us and I heard from others that he had started becoming nervous.
Deep and Diya summited the kedarkantha at 12500 Feet and this indeed was a great moment. I hope and feel that this was a great experience for the 12 and 8 year old to have done this trek, which can provide the required strength to them in their journey of unknowns further down the life. It was true not just for them but for all of us who emerged stronger from this experience.
After playing around on the summit and the picture formalities, it was time to start the descent. I was told that the descent was going to be fun because of the snow slides and as it unfolded, the folks were soon sliding down and it was indeed fun to learn the aspects of sliding down in snow, which was fun. The first stop during the descent was almost an hour away , a Dhaba that offered hot maggi and tea, which provided the respite for all of us who were on the trail from 4 AM onwards. This also was a back-to-the-civilization moment. We still had another 1 hour of trek to do reach our lunch site, which was not a camp site. Personally, I was having a light fever during the whole of descent and was feeling tired. Vaiju was also feeling the pain in the knee during the descent , which is a common thing during the descent. Hardships galore, finally we reached the lunch site. After the lunch, almost everyone took a small nap in the open sunny surroundings, giving some rest to the tired legs. One of our friend - Jitendra infact admitted that he had a dream too during the small nap - the dream of sliding
down kedarkantha !
Har Gaon
It was again back to further descent after the lunch to our campsite - Har Gaon. It was an extremely tiring day by the time we reached 'Har Gaon'. Har Gaon is a great place for a campsite, surrouded by the mountains, amidst the lush green , tall trees. Its quite a nice feeling to reach the campsite with the first view of the tents after a grueling trek on any day. It was tea-coffee-snack time again after which most of the folks descended into their tents for some rest.
