Pindari Glacier Trek

Many years ago when I was studying Sanskrit as a school girl; I was touched by the metaphors in Kumarasambhava.  Kumarsambhava is just a mythological story of Shiva and Parvati’s first born child Kartikeya. This epic poem of Sanskrit Shakespeare- Kalidasa begins with a description of the Himalayas.

God of the distant north, the Snowy Range
  O’er other mountains towers imperially;

Earth's measuring-rod, being great and free from change,

  Sinks to the eastern and the western sea.

I am not sure if Kalidasa had really traveled from Ujjain(M.P.) to Himalayas in the 5^th century A.D. However, it has been my childhood dream to visit various ranges of Himalayas. In the last few years, I have been trying to fulfill it by visiting several places in the mountains. This year I had the honor of organizing Pindari Glacier Trek for a batch of 23 teenagers and two fellow teachers.

Sparkling water of Glaciers

I had seen many rivers however, had no clue about a glacier. Fresh water to me was available in Bisleri bottles. While preparing for the trek, i found out that a glacier is large body of ice which starts flowing downwards at a slow pace. And that they are the largest reservoirs of fresh water. The freshness of glacier water cannot be matched by manmade purifiers. I can now vouch for it because throughout the trek we all kept filling up our bottles from local streams and no one even once complained of stomach problems.

The beginning

Our preparations lasted mainly for the last two months- phones and emails to anxious parents, finding time for meeting the students in their ultra-busy schedules, trips to Decathlon and managing their shopping etc. Finally, we started on 16^th April morning from school. We reached Delhi by flight that afternoon and stayed at Hotel Gautam Delux till the dinner. A number of students had packed loads of luggage as they were going to go home after the trek. All that had to be kept in the hotel and only bare necessities had to be packed in smaller bags. This was one of the toughest tasks as the children did not want to part with any of their belongings. Little did they know about the space crunch in the sleeper class train that they were to board that night? We reached old Delhi railway station about an hour early and waited for the train. I have had several good and bad experiences of train journeys in India but for some my students this was much different than their overseas flight journeys and holidays in air-conditioned resorts of Goa or Hawai! It was difficult keeping them awake and smiling till 10:40 pm. At last, we boarded the train and arranged their berths securely. Some berths were full of dust and few girls refused to even lie down. Soon their tired bodies just gave away and the whole compartment went into dream world.

I kept waking up at every hour to check on each one of them and the baggage. Finally, at around 5:30 am(17^th April) we reached Kathgodam. A tiny mini bus was waiting outside the station. We freshened up at the Kumao Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) guesthouse and immediately left for Bageshwar. The distance between Kathgodam and Bageshwar is just 150 km. The winding roads soon churned our stomachs and the bus turned into a vomit comet (training spaceship J ). After a tough ride of 6-7 hours we reached the Bageshwar rest house for lunch. Luckily four jeeps were arranged during the return journey and it turned out to be much better while coming back.

After lunch and another round of packing stuff into even smaller rucksacks provided by KMVN we left for Loharkhet by jeeps. This was another 45 km roller coaster ride which went through rough roads and smaller villages. This time we were lucky to get jeeps. That evening we concluded our journey by motorized vehicles. From that evening onwards, there would be no TV/mobile connections and no vehicles. We were all set to begin our march to Pindari Glacier with KMVN guide Mr. Bhuvan Pal and his assistants. It was a rainy night and everyone fell off to sleep within seconds.

The trek begins…..

Next morning (18^th April) after breakfast, Mr. Bhuvan gave us a brief idea about our 70 to 80 km trek. We had a minute of silent prayer. One of most important lesson that Mr. Pal said was that if you want to complete the trek successfully Pao Garam, Pet Naram aur Dimag Thanda (i.e. keep your feet warm, stomachs light and the most importantly keep your head cool!). For the agony aunt in me, this was the biggest message of my life and I really tried to keep it in my mind. As I was gasping for a breath, I saw a seventh grader girl barely dragging herself in very first hour of the trek and another hefty ninth grader boy stopped several times due to diarrhea. My worries were haunting me and I felt I may have to stay at the next halt with at least 4-5 of them till the rest reach the Zero Point and return. Our target for that day was 10 km climb and another 9 km climb + descent after lunch. The trails are clearly laid out and these are paths full of rocks and stones. Both sides are lined up with trees of all kinds. Some of wild varieties of flowers were in full blossom and leaves had all possible shades of green and yellow.

The views of the valleys were breathtaking and we got a first peak of Nandadevi range of snow capped mountains from Dhakudi. From Dhakudi to Khati was a relatively easy trek as it started with a downhill path. Here the challenge was that some of the enthusiastic boys and girls just started running down before we could gather the lazy and sick ones. My mind was full of worries….i kept shouting and blowing my whistle but they had gone much beyond. The other two teachers ran to catch them however, the children were too fast! When we reached Khati, we had an assembly and a strict warning was issued. The elder boys were warned that they have to remain within one km range. Next day, this message was taken well and everyone remained in groups and Ms. Leena did a fantastic job of uniting the strong ones with the weaker ones.

Food Glorious Food

The trek would have been impossible without our local support. The luggage was carried by mules and the cooks were amazing. They would carry the provisions and reach just minutes before us. They used to prepare hot soups, tea and savories within minutes. The food was cooked on wood fire and although our kids did not get their daily dose of pizzas and burgers, they all ate well almost till the last day. The daal-roti and rice they prepared made a superb meal after all the walking.

Maggie noodles came to their rescue at several small Maggie shops. It is at one of those Noodlewalls hut I heard the whole story of an ascetic- Pindari Baba who lives beyond the Zero Point. Pindari Baba meditates most of the evening and lives alone. He is a graduate and speaks English very well. Some people said that he has all the modern gadgets of communication. Along with spicy noodles, these talks kept me amused about that whole place.

Khati to Dwali (19^th April)

Khati to Dwali was another 10 km walk full of ups and downs. We walked along Sunderdunga and Pindar River streams. The music of sparkling waters was constantly with us. This time students cooperated and helped each other. Even then, some were on the verge of crying or sitting down. Earlier plan to was to climb up to Phurkia after lunch. That was going to be a tough climb of another 5 km. Luckily, the weather turned bad and our guide gave us a choice of staying back in Dwali. I promptly explained that to students and to my surprise they too felt relieved. They started wandering around and visited the Maggie shop, took out playing cards. It was rather cold and mercury must have dipped to zero. There was a hailstorm followed by a snowstorm for few minutes.

In mountaineering, one should respect the nature. We may be mighty fit in our cities but in the mountains weather can change over minutes. Also, one cannot underestimate the effect of altitude on our bodies.  One has to take the challenge with patience. If one cannot reach the summit that trip, it does not matter. What matters most is your healthy return to the base camp!

All these places do not have electricity supply. For the first time in Dwali, KMVN team connected a generator and managed to do electric fittings in our rooms. That night, we had lights in our room till 9 pm. The sky cleared up after dinner I managed to explain constellations to the students. I was overjoyed to see the Milky Way which is unseen in Bangalore!  

Final Ascent(20^th April)

Though it was only 5 km to Phurkia, it was supposed to be the final endurance test. The road was quite steep and we hit upon small glaciers at every few hundred meters. I have experienced walking in snow. However, here we had to cross steep slopes fully covered with hard ice. We followed the paths shown by the local guides and helped each other to cross. My eyes were constantly over all the children. This was the toughest part of the trek. It was sunny and chilly at the same time. We reached Phurkia at around 10:30 am. The famous Zero Point was just 7 km ahead but it was definitely not in our reach. On our mentor’s instruction we decided to take a few kids a little bit ahead to a spot that had even more snow. I would say this itself was our Zero Point though it must have at some fraction between 0 and 1!

About ten of them were mentally and physically ready to accept the challenge. I decided to accompany them despite my painful ankles as I had taken their responsibility. Later on, at one of the glacier crossings I felt I could not go ahead. I saw my son marching ahead with some of the youngsters and I gathered enough courage to move on. My spirits were motivated and pushed myself ahead with the help of Kumao helpers. Their smiling faces and sturdy hands gave me support and confidence.

The slopes beyond Phurkia  were completely white. I had seen enough snow in the Rocky Mountain and in Buffalo(NY), and even in Ladakh .....but this snow and views of the Pindari Glacier were breathtaking!

My camera just could not capture it and my vocabulary is too limited to describe it. My whole body was extremely cold and sore but I was in the seventh heaven. My name- "Gauri" means Parvati-the daughter of Himalayas! Though i am a non-believer- at that moment i felt that the mountain itself -my Father made sure that i made it. Now, I can appreciate how Pindari Baba is living at the top there for the past 25 years…..it must be worth it! I am convinced that Kalidasa must have been somewhere here. The mobile phone was useless but i looked at a white cloud messenger (Meghdoot) and passed a message to my dear husband and also to my own father!!