Hamta Pass Trek: Start of Preparations-Start of the Trek

This is our trip report of "Hamta PassTrek" completed within 6 days (Manali-Manali).

Trek Starts on 22nd september'09 from Jagatsukh,Manali:

22/09/09---> Manali (1900m) to Jagatsukh (1800 m) (By vehicle)--> 20 mins
Jagatsukh (1800 m) to Bogi (2100 m)-->3:30 hours (10:30 am to 2 pm)
23/09/09---> Bogi (2100m)--Tilgan(2600m)--srotu(3000m)-->5 hours (10:30 am to 3:30 pm)
24/09/09---> Srotu(3000m) to Jabdi(3100m)-->7 hours (8:45 am to 3:45 pm)
25/09/09---> Jabdi(3100m) to BaluGir(Down)(3800m)-->7:10 hours (8:25 am to 3:35 pm)
26/09/09---> BaluGir(Down)(3800m)--Hamta Pass (4275 m)--BaluGir(Down)(3800 m)-->9:15 hours(8:30->1:45->5:45).
27/09/09---> BaluGir(Down)(3800m) to Jabdi(3100 m)-->5 hours (9:45 am to 2:45 pm)
Jabdi(3100 m) to Manali (1900 m) (By Vehicle)-->3 hours (Waiting for the vehicle for 2 hours).

Note: Do not consider these timings as standard since we are bit slow on the trekking side and also from day-3 one of our member had fallen ill increasing the time taken to reach the destination.
A good and fit trekker can do it much faster, ah yes our timings can be a worst case reference.



Pre-Trek Hassle:

I was longing from a long time for a good "High Altitude Himalayan Trek" to test the question that is spinning in my mind (How my body reacts to exposure of high altitude??), as i was searching the web for a suitable high altitude trek i found plethora of options but finally decided on "Bara Bhangal" trek near manali which consists of 2 high passes and a village in between "bara bhangal" (locals call it Bir Bhangal).
After lots of "googling" i have accumulated plenty of information about the trek and also spoke to a travel person in manali and the charge also was suitable for our us.

So after deciding the trek and having all the info in hands i have put this proposal in front of my friends.After a long e-mail chats, phone talks only vamsi was interested and was ready for this trek, remaning all were either busy with work/studies (or) some personal problems.Normally we have a gang of 5 (friends from class 5), we always go together but this time only vamsi and myself was left still we decided to go ahead with this trip.

We started the pre-trip planning and arrangements for this trek.I booked train tickets to delhi (to and fro) and bus tickets from delhi-manali. We left the manali-delhi option open, so that depending on how the trek goes it will be convenient to book the ticket then and there itself.

I made a list of medicines to be taken with us and prepared a basic first aid kit and also some high altitude medicines like diamox,dexamethasone ,stemeti etc.(of course these were not used in our trek).
I have contacted sandeep from 'himalayan-magpie' blog regarding the info on "Bara Bhangal", he responded saying "Its a good trek but a tough one, if any thing happens on this trek its difficult to get help and also return to manali will take lot of time in case of injury/sickness. So he suggested to go for another trek which is at same height and tough but with good help and shorter path to manali in case of mid way exit".His suggestion was logical but some how my mind decided on bara bhangal to i decided to stick with it whatever happens.

After all the plans are laid, there was a sudden shock from vamsi that he should return to home at any cost by 29th September due to some personal functions at home, our initial plan was to return home by 2/3 october, so again after a lots of discussions we finalized we will opt for a shorter duration trek.(As bara bhangal requires 10 days for trekking [no cushion] and 14-15 days [with cushions])

Finally we decided for the "hamta pass trek" as suggested by sandeep.

Journey to Manali:

Finally we boarded the "Nizamuddin Express" (the worst train to delhi since we had no choice, as AP and Sampark Kranthi were fully booked) it took us 30 hours to reach the capital.Immediately after arriving to nizamuddin at around 4:00 am, we took a room nearby and slept off.We had a nice sleep for few hours we overslept and wake up at 10:00, after getting ready at around 11:15 we had break fast and started to palika bazaar for shopping.

After some horrible shopping experience and with the same feeling that "Have we overspent???, was it much cheaper", we started to AP Bhavan for lunch.

I would like to share a experience here at palika bazaar: "After finishing the shopping, vamsi was looking for a formal pant for his office the cost the shopkeeper mentioned was 850 we thought its too much to pay 850 at this place (but shopkeeper explained about the quality and all that stuff and said it is non-negotiable) and started walking towards the exit then immediately the shopkeeper told 500, we wlaked a few paces further the price came down to 300, then further it cam down to 150 " i was literally shocked and terrfied whether all the items i bought previously were like this sort? but cannot help now.We learnt a lesson or two at this place.

Later, we went to AP Bhavan to get the tokens for lunch. It was a choking experience amidst hundreds of people fighting for a good lunch and dont forget it was a sunday.We were waiting for 2 of our friends to have lunch, after a waiting of an hour (with a full circle trip to india gate,parliment,rashtrapathi bhavan by auto in between) and after lots of fights for a seat we settled in a corner for a good lunch .Lunch was not so great but considering the response, we were really amazed and discussed a few entrepreneurial business ideas of "starting Hyderabadi Biryani restaurant" in delhi etc...etc....Then we left for our hotel room and had a nice chat with my friends ......vamsi had a nice nap and i was immersed in the discussion with my friends we both left track of time, suddenly at 5 we realized that (our bus was at 5:30 janpath).

Quickly we got ready, packed our luggage and took an auto to our boarding point for our bus to manali (BPCL,Janpath as given by raj travels).By the time we reached janpath it was 5:30 and there were 10-12 BPCL (Bharath petrol bunks) in janpath, we were very tensed about missing the bus and at last, after lots of effort we reached the boarding point and bus was there.....uffff.........a big sigh of relief, it started after 15 mins.....finally on the way to manali for the first time.

Bus from Delhi-Manali: Raj National Express (url: http://www.raj.travel/BE_Home/Default.aspx).

Trek Preparations at Manali:

We arrived late to manali at 10:30 am, we directly went to trekking agency and booked the trek. We had a chat about the conditions near manali, was relieved to know that there was huge snow deposit around kalihani pass (1st pass in barabhagal) after hearing the dissatisfaction of not going for bara bhangal trek reduced.The trekking agency have showed us nice and cheap hotel room for us to stay for the day nearby. Room was good and it was 350/- day only problem was the heater was not functioning, we did not dare to take bath in the cold water.So after fresh up and we found Andhra Bhojanalyam and decided to have lunch there.The "Tawa Roti" and Mix Veg curry was awesome and we ate like we never ate in ages, but the meals was horrible but somehow we finished it.

Post lunch we met the trekking agency, he suggested to have a walk up to hadimba temple.Slowly we started for the temple, we were having tough time as just after lunch we started the walk.The uphill steps to hadimba temple were tough on the stomach. Hadimba is an old and beautiful temple with good art work.After relaxing for about half an hour at hadimba, we were feeling good and decided to walk on further.As we were walking, we found a sanctuary and started slowly ascending a hill inside the sanctuary, it was fun.After going up a good distance we decided to return as it was getting dark and we had walk a lot for our hotel.

The return walk was pure fun and then after reaching mall road we have done some shopping of missed items foe the trek like some day-pack bag,caps, Water-proof pants, etc...we booked return flight tickets from Delhi-Hyderabad and also tried to book tickets from manali-Delhi but buses were full, so decided to book through our agency itself.

All of a sudden we reminded that there was no camera with us.Actualy before the trek my friend vinay promised that he will lend his camera for me but due to some issues he couldn't give the camera to me.
I decided to buy the camera as there was no camera at home also, i chose sony cyber-shot camera with 12.1MP and bought it.

After all that shopping and hiking we were really tired, we slept off early and had a nice tight sleep in the night.

Is God a big Psycho???

Long Long ago there was a king ruling a kingdom which covers the entire earth, all the people living in this planet are under his rule, there was no one who can stand against him. He started with a small army and slowly expanded the army as he was winning the battles, now there is no one left to fight.

With each battle he won, his pride was increasing. Gradually as with every war he won, he lost the battle with his senses and he was turning into a night mare.

He started passing orders that everyone should pray/respect/worship to him and only to him, if any one is not following this law there will be a horrible punishment waiting for them.

He became a dictator interfering in each and every individuals life and dictating them how they should lead it, any revolts will be suppressed by his enormous army. But whoever praises him and worships him they are been rewarded thoroughly.

So as a result many people compromised and started becoming his followers for the fear of death and in dream of possessing treasures and luxury. Some people did not even stop there, they went to extent that they are persuading other people to join in this process and become slaves of the so called “The Mighty One”, if refused they started killing them and king was much happier now.

Now how do you describe this king’s behavior and how he should be treated?

The most probable answer will be that the king is a big psycho and he should be punished severely for his acts?

Now let’s compare this Mighty One with the GOD??? What’s your reaction???

Do you think god is a big psycho???

If yes, then there is no need to fight for him and kill each other.

If no, then he will never say to fight with fellow humans and kill each other.

In either way the conclusion is no need to kill fellow human beings for a simple reason that their “Mighty One” is different. Whoever he is (or) whatever he is, lead a good life and enjoy the time on this planet thoroughly :-)

An Article by

T K

An MoonLight Trekking Trip to Skandagiri Urf Kalavaarahalli Betta

It’s been quite a long time we had gone for a trip after our ‘goa’ trip with engg classmates in December. All my office friends were bored of the office routine and are requesting for nice trip this weekend as we have an ‘Good Friday’ holiday along with the weekend. So I sent out my usual mail to everyone proposing a 3-step trip for the 3-day weekend.

Trip-I: Moonlight trek to Skandagiri (12 people agreed)
Trip-II: Trekking trip to Thadiyandmol (5 people agreed)
Trip-III: Bungee Jumping. (4 people agreed)



How to reach there: From bangalore its around 70 kms on the Bangalore-Hyderabad Highway we have to take left turn near chikballapur.

Participants: Myself, shyam, naren, ranjeet, vamsi, satti, yogi, narappa, bhanu, narayana, naveen, aswij (naveen’s friend), rajashekhar, shashank & nagendra (last minute addition).

All except for nagendra are employees of tata elxsi.
Date: 9th April 2009 at 10:30 pm
After all the mail hustle, we set out for the trip. We booked a tempo traveler accommodating 13 people. As per the plan all have to meet at my flat at 9:30 but as usual, we started to our destination at around 10:30 with a total of 15 people (Had to Adjust in the Tempo Traveler).

Reaching kalawara Footsteps:

Everyone forgot to get the songs CD’s inspie of having discussed before, so we sent shyam to our room to get some movies. We started off playing ‘American Pie’ slowly after a few laughs everyone got bored and we changed to ‘Dostana’.

Our driver did not know the route to ‘Skandagiri’ (he did not even heard it) after many enquiries and efforts, finally his boss explained route upto ‘Nandhi Hills’ (even he does not know about skandagiri).

After enquiring a couple of people on the way, we reached ‘Nandhi Hills’, from there we went staright in search of ‘skandagiri’. After realizing that we were going in the wrong route we took a u-turn and then came back to nandhi hills again.

At that time luckily we found a guy (On his way for a taking a leak) and he explained us the correct route to ‘Kalawara’. Then on his advice we travelled in the same route through which we came finally after 2 more enquires we found ‘Kalwara’.

Initial Wave of Shocking News....:

After reaching there we were shocked to hear that the ‘Night trek’ is banned there. But we were resilient to go back and started the trek hoping that we wont find anybody asking questions. There Lot of guides explaining about the risks involved without taking a guide (That’s what is their job), we said no to all of them and started for the trek.
After a few steps we observed a guide following us, we started climbing at one point he came to us and telling that ‘U will be troubled if u don’t take a guide and your previous batch had troubled the same way!!!’ I was strongly opposite to taking a guide, in my sense it will take away all the fun in trekking and getting lost.

If at all you want a guide here is the number: Nagesh-9972733810

Finally on the pressure from other frineds we decided that we will ask the route from the guide but we will find it on our own. Everyone agreed, he took us to the starting point and from there he explained the route which is merely a simple rule ‘always take left’ that’s all, for that we gave him 100 rs/- and said good bye.

Trek Starts in the misty night...

From that point onwards we started our trek, it was approx. 1 am. We moved at a quick pace resting shortly in between. Slowly the slope increased as well as mist during the climb.

Gradually everyone was feeling the strain even though the trail was not that tough especially, naveen, satti and yogi. With yogi’s punching dialogues and jokes we enjoyed as we stopped for a break.

I was enjoying listening to music on one side and talking to friends and enjoying nature on the other.

It was cool night, with a cool breeze combined with a dense fog coming and going, restricting our total valley view. It was an amazing experience in the full moon day with cool breeze and mist with winds at a good speed.

As we are gaining the altitude and night is traversing, we could observe increase in the fog and also wind speed increasing.

Reaching the Summit: A beautiful Sunrise was the gift for all the effort....

Finally after a few steep climbs we reached the top (summit) at 4 am and everyone was happy to see the top. We could see some tent shops offering Omlette, Maggi and Tea.Immediately we jumped and ordered lots of snacks.

Suddenly Shyam called me and took me to a place on the edge, it was amazing; on the opposite side we can see the nandhi hills covered by mist. We sat on the edge full surroundings covered by mist, I was thoroughly enjoying the site it was simply too good.

All was well until the mist settled, then came the stunning blow, i could clearly see that sport where I was sitting it was huge fall down to hill. After this scene I thought I better move to inside!! :-)
After that we had little snacks again and started searching for ‘Dry Sticks’ for a bonfire. At last we found many sticks most of them wet because of fog.
We searched a suitable place for bonfire and had quite a trouble firing it as the sticks are wet, with the help of petrol finally we made it buring, but it did not last long.

After lurking around the top slowly we could see the hints of sunrise and moon set.

It was the most beautiful sunrise I have ever seen, surrounded fully by fog and sun is rising piercing the fogs. That moment has registered in my mind forever. We have taken quite a lot snaps with the sunrise and nandhi hills as the backdrops.

I went downhill and had some snaps there also. I was thoroughly enjoying the scenic beauty offered by skandagari along with my favourite songs.

After a delay and forcing from other friends (as nagendra has to go to office in the morning) we started the descent.

Deviating from the group...........Adventure Awaiting

After descending for 10 minutes ranjith and myself decided to take a different route for climbing down. (We never though that this decision will have an impact on us and the trip).

We took a route that is straight to the base from top instead of taking the normal less steepy route.

For about a half-an-hour we had no problems. Slowly we were descending the steep portion. At some places we thought we came to a dead end, but luckily somehow found the route.

After an hour we came across a dead end where in front of us there was no clear route but only dense bushes with thorns all around and there is no way of turning back and climbing the entire steep hill. (That too without any water left).

We decided to move on; we started crawling under the trees and bushes with thorny trees above. It was tough on me to crawl compared to ranjith but still we were moving at a good pace ignoring the thorns which are piercing the body.

On the way we were faced with a 10-12 feet wall to descend and there was one small tree acting as a rope to get down, I tested the tree, it was quite strong so I said ranjith to move ahead, he descended easily on his chest.

Next I started descending with the help of the tree and I was doubtful in my mind about that strength to hold me. When I turned so as to descend on my chest I took a great fall to the ground on my back, after a few dizzy moments we were right on the job crawling and finding the way outside.Oops.....what a fall........the thumping sound of my fall alarmed ranjit.

After crawling for an hour or so we were out with scratches from thorns everywhere on the body. Had refreshing coconut water after getting down. After an initial frustration of our friends for waiting an extra hour for us we started back to bangalore.


Overall it was a fantastic experience for all of us especially for the first comers joining our trek group Bhanu, Narappa, Ranjith, and Narayana etc.

Shashank’s funny comments wherever he sees light he says that is our way and naveens laziness etc are some other highlights of the trip.


Unforgettable experience in the end…. thanks Skandagiri!!!!

Bungee Jump Disaster......

After returning from the skandagiri our plan was to go for a bungee jump and then in the night start for a trek to coorg, but everyone was so tired that we slept off the entire Friday so, the remaining 2 trips were canceled.

On Saturday through my friend shashikant, i learned that the bungee jump we planned had become a disaster, as one of the Marine Engineer from chennai fell to ground and died due to negligence of the organizers.

We very sorry for him, it was horrible and scary to imagine that fall. This trip is dedicated to him.

Dying in an adventure is natural and it is a part and parcel of adventures and as a adventurers we understand it quite well but death due to human negligence is un-digestable and no mercy should be shown on the people resresponsible.