My Golden Rules for Roopkund Trek - Deep Breathing & Baby Steps!!

Always ahead of the trek group. The fittest and fastest among all. A few kilometres or a steep ascent doesn't make you break into a sweat. From time to time you turn around to look at the group lagging behind and shake your head in disdain.

No this wasn't me. Not even a close description of me.

This was the guy who was right in front of my trek group and this is me assuming what he must have thought. Because from where I usually was, I couldn't even catch a glimpse of him. I am one of those slugs who is always right behind. More by reality than by choice. I am what people call, every trek leader’s nightmare!

It was less than a month to my birthday. Lately I had been sick of the same city life, same routines, and the same old rituals. I didn't want to celebrate my new year dancing after getting sloshed and not knowing when I got older. This birthday I was supposed to be on a drive which would start at Kathmandu and take me to Lhasa. That was the dream. To bring in the birthday doing something exceptional. You know, one of those once in a lifetime things. Unfortunately, because of the earthquakes in Nepal, all plans had been canned.

In short, that was one of the reasons how I ended up here. Roopkund trek in May. As per the articles I read and the feedback I got from people, this was an easy to moderate trek. I mean I could manage moderate. But we shall come back to this later.

Here I was, day 1 between Loharjung and Didna village. During the brief it sounded very simple. We go downhill and uphill. Done. Well I did manage downhill but literally had to crawl uphill. By now, we all knew who the “nightmare” of our group was.

I was with a bunch of 15 men. 12 trekkers from various state capitals of India, 2 guides and 1 trek leader. A small group actually. Because of the earthquake in Nepal, many had cancelled their trek.

The next day also was supposed to be easy day, just an uphill climb and straight ahead to the meadows of Ali Bugyal. By the time I managed to reach on top of the hill, I realized no uphill climb is easy. It wasn't so steep but I huffed and puffed my lung out and prayed for a break every 5 minutes.

But the guide wasn't kidding. Once up on the top, it is just a slow walk onto the vast meadows of Ali Bugyal. A bit of trivia here, Ali Bugyal and its twin meadow Bedni Bugyal make up for Asia’s largest meadow. Vast it was. If I was any rounder, I could have easily rolled on till our camp site at Ali Bu. But this is the point where for once you actually can look up and have your first view of the Himalayan mountain range and peaks like Trishul and Nanda Ghunti.

Open meadows of Ali Bugyal

Once at camp site, it was the same routine. Quick lunch by 1PM, medical (check on oxygen and pulse) at 3PM, acclimatisation walk at 4PM, tea & snacks at 5PM, soup at 6PM, dinner by 7PM and bed by 8PM. And in between we played UNO. And at the cost of many eye rolls from my trek mates, I would say that I was and am the undisputed UNO champion.

Camp site at Ali Bugyal

I am a city girl, again not by choice, and you cannot expect me to sleep at 8PM. For a while I roll, twist and turn trying to adjust sleeping in the tent strategically placed on the slope of the hill but have no idea when tiredness takes over.

Day 3 of our trek, we walk towards Patar Nachni. The route takes you above Bedni Bugyal towards Ghora Lotani and for quite a while we are quietly followed by Blackie Rambo II. The furry, squishy pahadi dog.

The border between Ali Bugyal & Bedni Bugyal

...and tht is the trail to Ghora Lotani and beyond that hill is where our next destination was..

the fleaball....BLACKIE RAMBO II

Two days back, while chatting up with the two friends from Chennai, I asked them, what made them come for this trek, pat came the answer, “We wanted to see snow. We have never seen snow in our life!” Well boys, today was the day we would encounter snow patches. And believe me for some random reason I was more excited about these two experience snow for the first time.

But I have to say it was rather disappointing. They saw snow, smiled and looked rather normal. Or maybe that was how they expressed their ecstasy. I wouldn't know.

Bedni kund at Bedni Bugyal

Chennai boys and their first tryst with snow above Bedni

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Before I could even finish dissecting the emote of the two Chennai boys, we were at Ghora Lotani. In literal translation this is the place from where all the horses (ghodas) return (lautani) because it is generally full of snow. Ok, let us not glorify them by calling them horses, they are mules but boy they work so hard, I would gladly call them Hercules too.

Break at Ghora Lotani

From here it was all the way downhill to Patar Nachni. In all honesty, I think I liked this camp site way better than the one at Ali Bugyal. It was on the meadows bursting with flora in all colours and had an uninterrupted view of the snow clad mountain. Even the tiny make shift toilet tent had an awesome view and was surrounded by little pink and yellow flowers. Prettiness added to make the lonely business a pleasant experience.

Camp site at Patar Nachni

Now that we are on the toilet topic, when camping you do your business in shifty, could-collapse-anytime type of zip down tents with a small mud pit in the middle. Now it would be your good luck if the pit is deep enough and you don’t get to see the remnants of others disposal. Oh and did I mention, it is dry rolls all the way. After a while I was so shameless, I even borrowed toilet paper roll from the guys in my group who were absolute strangers 3 days back. *trek bonding*

Patar Nachni is an important base camp because all the teams that go ahead have to come back here. And if for any reason, anyone fails to reach the oxygen level of 75 + or wants to not go ahead can also stay here.

Unfortunately we had two trek members who could not join us further on this trek and returned the next day itself. Maybe the fact that our dining tent nearly blew away and the cold due to the snow storm the previous evening became unbearable was enough to change some minds.

After the snow storm at Patar Nachni

This was also the only point where I was in complete doubt about my ability to go further. I did share my concern with my trek leader but somehow he seemed more confident about me which I rather wasn't.

We went ahead nonetheless. 13 of us now. As we slowly clambered on to Kalu Vinayak at 14,000 feet, we chanted just 4 words, “Deep breathing, Baby steps”.

Trail to Kalu Vinayak en route Bhagwabasa

On the way, we stopped a lot. To catch our breath mostly. And every time we stopped, our older local guide Virendarji with his mouth slightly open would quickly scan his eyes and fingers through the nearest patch of grass around. He, like many other local people you would see on the way were searching for the ‘keerajari’. A plant that grows on an insect and is only found in this region when the snow is just about melting. Each of these small plant-insect costs INR 500 upwards. Apparently it is in major demand by the Chinese. Some say it gives you immense sexual vitality while others say it is used as a steroid for strength and goes undetected.

At the ridge sits an old Ganesha idol at Kalu Vinayak temple, blessing all trekkers out on their quest to reach their summit. This was also the place where we got to experience how to use crampons. From here it was just snow till the eyes could see.

Selfie...wait groupfie with the boys at Kalu Vinayak temple

CRAMPONS ON MY FEET!!! SEE??? such saviour they are!

From here to our next camp site, Bhagwabasa it was snow just fields in sight. Undoubtedly, this was the most surreal camp site I had ever been to. Located on the edge of the mountain, it provided a panoramic view of the Himalayan range.

...another groupfie by our super awesome trek leader- Arjun!!!

nearly there at our base camp at Bhagwabasa!

During the acclimatisation walk at Bhagwabasa, we are supposed to climb the little snow hill behind the camp. And as tempting it might be to slide down, this was by far the worst idea ever. I, along with my 3 layer of quick drying clothes were completely soaked.

In the wet clothes, we had a crash course on walking up, down and sideways on the steep snow slopes. *Not cool at all. Literally.*

*sigh* I wish I could be here again...ahem...minus the freezing cold...minus the altitude. (PC- Sandeep Ratan)

The evening was quickly enveloped in the snow storm and later by the quick conquering darkness. Tomorrow was the day we would make the summit climb. Just the thought gave me Goosebumps, or maybe it was the cold, I didn’t care. It was my birthday the next day too. It was going to be an epic fail or just simply EPIC!

That night was the worst night ever. Not only was sleeping on snow weird, I felt suffocated, pukey, restless, cold all at the same time. I only remember waking up from time to time, switching on my headlamp to take a quick look at the time. I don’t even know if I slept at all. Anyway we had to wake up by 3:00AM. We had to make a move by 4:00AM while the snow was still hard. By 2:30AM I was wide awake and had already made two trips to the rickety bathroom tent on ice. It was freezing cold, and the snow was gleaming under the night sky. It was clearest sky I had ever seen in ages. Unfortunately it was too cold to be standing and staring at the sky. Soon everyone was up having tea and Maggie.

One last medical check. Unfortunately we leave another man behind. Our UNO owner wasn't too well and could not make it ahead with us.

Now it was 12 men and me. Together we move ahead of the other trek group at Bhagwabasa. I guess they were busy with their Bournvitas because that was all they kept screaming through the night and morning.

It was an experience to start climbing towards the summit during complete darkness. The snow was hard which made walking with crampons easier. We tugged ahead slowly and steadily. The cold wind was turning my thoughts into icicles. After a while I could not feel my nose or cheeks.

The distance between the Roopkund summit and camp didn’t look much but after a walking on the snow for a while and experiencing its steepness, it did feel tiresome. Every step seemed like a task. As we walked on it just got steeper and all I could hear was my own breathing.

Snow trail to Roopkund- (PC- Sandeep Ratan)

The pukey feeling won’t go and I was dizzy. Slowly I could see everyone from my team move up ahead until I was the last one, right at the back. It was becoming a struggle. I was 3/ 4 of the way when I realized I could not go any further. It was then our trek leader Arjun came back and literally pushed me mentally and physically to go on. I think here is what differentiates a good trek leader from others. This guy took my oxygen level to check if I was fine. 85. That minute he started telling me about how awesome the view was from the top and how all the guys were waiting for me, how I have got to eat dhalia at 15, 700 feet and how we have to make it up and how we cannot quit now. I think this was the point where I realized that the body only does what the mind wants it to. If the mind gives up so does the body. Somehow my body had given up but my mind just wouldn't. Staggering throughout, with the last few steps I did make it to the top just to be received with a warm welcome from all the guys. It was an insane feeling of achievement. It was here at 15, 700 feet that I not only ate dhalia but also celebrated my birthday. I was on top of the world.

....and finally the whole team at Roopkund!! On your right you can see the kund too. A let down in terms of look, it makes up in it's interesting history.

In the midst of all that celebrations, I nearly forgot about the famous kund. As much hype there is around the ‘Skeleton Lake’, from the top it looked like a puddle and the snow had buried the hundred or so 9th century skeletons which is otherwise strewn around.

But as the law of gravity goes, what goes up must come down. And though I thought coming down would be a cake walk, it wasn't. Ascending from Roopkund to Bhagwabasa to Patar Nachni in one day and then again from Patar Nachni to Bedni Bugyal to Wan village in one day was not an easy task.

Colours of Bedni Bugyal

I limped my way back home. Literally. By the time I finished the trek both my knees were terribly out of shape and my feet swollen. Let me not even talk about the tan that has changed my colour forever. Overall, no way was this trek an easy or moderate one. Definitely somewhere between moderate and difficult and if you are not really that fit, Super Difficult!

All throughout the return journey, as I reach the melting plains of home, I wondered if Virenderji finally did find his keerajari, if the groups after us reached the summit too, if the Chennai boys would come again to see snow and how long before I would be back in the mountains. Some answers I wouldn't know but I certainly hope for the best.

As of now, I have started yoga and running, taking in deep breaths and taking my baby steps towards getting ready for my next summit!

Extra Information:

This trek was organised by Trek The Himalayas. You can find details on this trek and many other awesome treks on their website http://www.trekthehimalayas.com/ or FB page. It was my first time with them and I highly recommend them because as a solo girl trekker in a group of men, everyone from the trek leader to the local guide to the other members of the TTH were brilliant!