Sar Pass Diary

This one is going to be long & in parts. Probably not a suitable read for people who are looking for short & sweet write-ups.

Destination: Sar Pass, Himalayas
Credits of initiating the trek: To me
Planning the travel: Mostly G. He must have cursed us all for being so lethargic about it.
Gang: Me, G, J, C & R. Huge thanks to this gang for accompanying me. If not for them, I wouldn’t have been able to go either, given that my over-protective parents would have flatly refused to let me go alone.

Duration of Trek: 31st May 2008 to 10th June 2008

After 2 months of numerous mails and phone calls, we landed at Delhi on 30th morning. We hogged at C's place (thanks to his parents), took the 5.30 pm bus to Manali and reached the base camp in Kasol at 9 am, the next day.

The base camp is right on the bank of river Parvati, at an altitude of 6500ft, which meant we almost froze to death that night (None of us are used to that kind of temperatures). It is a picturesque place, with the river on one side and an amazing view of snow capped mountains on the other. Beautiful, for the lack of a better word, is what struck me the first time I saw the place.

Kasol is a small town that you can actually walk across in about half an hour. I was amazed by the mix of cultures we found there. It is predominantly an Israeli settlement area. You would find as many Israelis as the local Himachal people. There are Israeli/Italian restaurants, coffee shops, cyber cafes but no banks or ATMs. Guess that’s a good indicator of the blend of modernity and under-development in this region!

First day was spent roaming around in Manikaran & Kasol, shopping and visiting the famous Gurudwara there. We had lunch at the Gurudwara and whiled away the rest of the evening at the base camp.

Manikaran is famous for hot springs. The photo below shows an extremely cold river Parvati gushing behind the Gurudwara while there are hot springs along the edge. I still don’t understand the phenomena behind it. As in, how can there be hot springs right next to water that is freezing cold? If anyone who is reading this, is aware of the reason, please elaborate.



The next 2 days, we did acclimatization treks, some sample rappelling and played around in the river. We also managed to get our clothes laundered (this was a tough task as it had begun to rain in the evenings) and found a decent hotel room to have a good hot water bath before starting the actual trek. The daily routine during the trek was bed tea at 5.30, exercise at 6 am, breakfast at 7.15 am and so on. By this time, we were tuned to waking up at 5.30 without alarms!! (Mom, please note this point! :D).

More pics below.


The actual trek was from the 4th day to the 10th day. More on it later.