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.