Pin-Bhabha Pass : Natures very own art exhibition

What would you do if you want to explore the true beauty of a region without being heavy on the pocket? , trek , yes that’s the most economical way of visiting untouched natural region and as you are away from artificial luxuries you don’t get to spend much as well.

Over the last few years, September has become our long travel month, it’s the month when tourist crowd is less as most of them are looking forward to Diwali vacations, weather is perfect as monsoon is retreating and flowers are blooming, so you get to see best of both seasons. Also it’s the perfect month to stay away from pune while the city is trying its best to increase noise and air pollution via ganesh festival.

We had registered for Tarsar-marsar trek with indiahikes but due to continuously worsening situations in Kashmir, indiahikes had to cancel all their Kashmir treks, we were provided with alternate options of Hampta pass, Kuari pass and Pin-bhabha pass , out of these Pin-bhabha caught our attentions and felt more challenging of the other two.

We had done pin-parvati pass last year so we were bit skeptical that the terrain and the views would be same, we were about to find out what mountains had in store for us.

Day 1: Shimla to Kafnu

Flight to Delhi and long bus journey of 10 hrs brought us to the hill capital of Shimla a day before, journey to kafnu was to begin the next day.

On the old Shimla bus stand we met our first trek mate, Vinay from Jaipur, Vinay is a photographer, he was sponsored by indiahikes and was the official trek photographer.

Then we had two sailor boys from Mumbai, group of friends from Bangalore and Mumbai. We had Arjun and Sandhya with us who make the core of indiahikes, after a small introduction round we setoff for kafnu.

Kafnu is about 200kms from Shimla but mountain roads make it a long journey. The route is extremely scenic and passes through the second deadliest road in the world, one we had great time riding our bikes through few years back.

Finally after Rampur the road turns left near karcham water project, after few hours more we reached a typical hill village of Kafnu.

Arjun briefed us about do and don’ts on the trek, way to avoid AMS, we were advised to drink lot of water as it helps in acclimatization and half a tablet of Dimox. As we had experienced high altitude before we decided to avoid dimox as it can have side effects like acidity, we had few extra liters of water instead.

Day 2: Kafnu (7878 ft) to Mulling (10637 ft) -11.3kms

For any long duration trek first two days are always difficult, this is the time when your body is getting used to the surroundings, weather and the heavy sack on your back. Many times people pick up their bags for the first time, think it’s too heavy and decide to offload it to porters then and then only. For me there is a fun and sense of achievement in carrying your own load. After first two days you almost stop feeling weight on your back, your sack becomes your body part.

For the rest of days except the summit day we were supposed to follow the time formula 6-7-8, wakeup at 6, breakfast at 7 and leave by 8. Arjun has warned us to consume atleast 2 ltrs of water before the breakfast.

Terrain on day 1 isn’t steep but we were going to gain about 3000ft height which is a considerable gain at any altitude hence a tough day.

We started our walk along the kafnu lake, artificial lake constructed for the dam, we left the village behind in half an hour, we were also given the eco bags.

Eco bags is one of the initiatives indiahikes has taken as part of their Green Trail initiative to keep mountains clean and avoid pollution , trekkers are supposed to pick up plastic litter and collect them in the eco bags , once the trek gets over the entire garbage is carried to the cities and safely deposited in the garbage dumps, the other night Arjun has explained us the initiative and what we need to do to keep mountains clean, He also distributed us the organic tooth powders and sunscreen which indiahikes has created. Indiahikes also user bio-decomposers to quickly decompose the food left overs in a compost pit.

As a part of this initiative indiahikes has also stopped the practice of bonfire, our trek lead Mukesh explained the logic behind this “When batch after batch uses the local wood for bonfires, local villagers find it hard to gather wood hence they cut more and more trees by avoiding the bonfire we are leaving wood for the villagers to consume and save some trees in a way”

It’s a very Nobel initiative by indiahikes considering the rising popularity of trekking in india and reluctance of government as well as private tour operators to control pollution, last year indiahikes were able to retrieve about 2000kgs of garbage from deorital trek alone, even larger quantities were cleaned from roopkund. Arjun told us interesting stories of how cities refused to accept the garbage and the difficulties they faced convincing the authorities to dump the garbage.

We were on our way again , trail now leads the hydro project sites , one of the largest in india and world , it takes almost an hour to leave these construction sites behind when the trail finally leads towards the pine forest and starts to gain height gradually.

After almost 4 hours of passing through lush green pine forests, green meadows and ever beautiful landscape we could now see some colorful flags signaling the top at some distance.

It takes a steep ascend to reach the top and almost like a magic you can see vast expanses of meadows before your eyes, it’s almost like as if you have reached Kashmir , “This is what you would have seen on Tarsar-Marsar day 1 , don’t worry you haven’t missed much” Arjun had the same thought.

Campsite for day 1 is about 3kms from here and is a pleasant walk through meadows, a brilliant photowalk. I could see vinay using his camera like a gun as if shooting every single corner of the landscape, Tokina 11-16 came in handy but landscape was just too colorful for any camera to capture completely.

Arjun taught me how to use the trekking pole “This can save almost 40% of your efforts if not more” said Arjun.

Mulling campsite is like a Kashmir campsite, meadow, river and surrounding mountains, we had plenty of time to explore its beauty.

Mulling meadwos, arjun picking up the trash

Day 3: Mulling (10647ft) to Karah (11,600ft)-6.5 kms

Today would be the easiest day of the trek, Arjun has told us a day before, just a scenic walk he said. But we were now gaining the altitude that meant more effort would be required.

It was a slightly gradual hike through pines and meadows what makes it special is a phenomenon “Subterranean river” 2 hrs into the walk and you will reach a valley point where you would hear the river but can’t see it as its flowing below the wet land.

After a steep ascend we were able to see the probably location for the Karah campsite, surrounding views were simply stunning, glacier clad mountains all around.

After about an hour we reached the beautiful Karah campsite , there were few shepherd tents already there , at karah there are two government run sheep breeding farms one breeds the Australian variety and other Russian , we were told not to venture near the shepherd camp as the shepherd’s dogs are known to be very furious.

We had the entire noon to explore the karah campsite which was changing colors as the sun moved behind the mountains.

Wide angle lens was put to a good use here even at night when Vinay helped us with night time photography while the sky was lit with million stars and milky way was clearly visible.

Oxymeter reading were daily routines , Arjun would take average reading of the group and would put the low rankers on Dimox ,Pawan’s reading wasn’t convincing , “He would be closely monitored and sent back to lower altitude if it doesn’t improve , AMS can creep in real quickly at these heights” Arjun explained.

cant see the river but i can hear it - kamal

Karah Campsite

game of shadows

the jungle book rock , Karah campsite

Wide angle view of the campsite from the jungle book rock

edits by Ninand Bartakke

Day 4: Karah (11600ft) to Phustirang (13400ft) – 4.5kms

Pawan’s reading did not improve in the morning, he had to be sent back, Prince and Kriti , his two friends accompanied him back , Mickey , fourth member of the group decided to continue , infact others forced her not to turn back and complete the trek. Mickey was the senior most of the lot but extremely tenacious. Rahul, our cook and youngest of the lot was send to escort them to mulling.

Today would be a tough day again, distance wise it was just 4.5kms but we were gaining altitude rapidly and now were in technically high altitudes.

We crossed the stream, frozen water was painful but seemed fresh after sometime, the trail now climbs rapidly on the nearby mountain, Arjun had explained us to follow micro steps, I had tried taking small steps in previous treks as well but doesn’t suit my walking style but this time was determined to use the technique. It’s a simple technique, instead of walking with long stride and brisk space which tires you often, take small steps at a steady space, “Slow is fast on high altitudes”

The views were getting better after every feet we climbed , we had now left Bhabha valley behind , after about 3-4 hrs of hard climb we reached the campsite , the views were completely different from the first two days , this trek was giving us surprises everyday.

Kamal, one of our porters who was quickest of the lot was with us today showed me a mountain top, “Pass is right behind it” he said, ascend looked small but I knew how deceptive the distances are in the mountains.

At about 4PM in the evening we saw Rahul making his way back to the camp, within no time he had was able to accompany pawan and group to mulling and make his way back to camp, 3 camps in less than one day and he wasn’t even sweating. Few guys are just born trekkers.

Phustirang is an amazing campsite, one of end you can see icy peaks at distance and clouds dancing over them and the other side you have unending river plains and colorful mountains giving you hint of spiti.

For me phustirang remains the best campsite of the entire trek.

Day 5: Phustirang (13400Ft) to Mangrungse (13600ft) – 11kms

Today would be the toughest of all days, the summit day, 3000ft ascend to reach pin-bhabha pass at 16000ft and 3000ft descend to the spiti valley.

As there are no places to stay in between, the summit day is a tough ask, it’s tougher than any of our previous treks including pin-parvati due to sheer height gained on ascend

Ascend at high altitudes is not easy it tests your mettle but something even more difficult is getting ready much earlier before the sunrise in freezing cold. At 13kft the wind chill tremendously adds to the cold, we had to get up by 3:30 am and leave by 5, even after 5 layers of clothes wind was still able to find a way through.

It was still dark when we started, we were not ropped up but we were walking closely as a chain, ascend was slow and steady. In an hour we had managed to climb 50% of the first ascend, atleast that’s what we thought. When the sun came out we realized how deceptive the top was and we were long way away, still the progress wasn’t slow.

Another half an hour later we had finally reached the top of first ascend, pass still wasn’t visible”. “Just 2 more ascends to go” Mukesh Ji, our trek leads words were motivating and we continued the ascend.

It was a sunrise but sunrays were yet to bless us with their warmth , winds of high altitude and no sun had made our ascend difficult , at some distance we could see the rays touching ground that gave us some energy.

Took us another hour to reach the top of second ascend and now we were in the sunlight and warmth, layers reduced and smiles returned. Pass was now visible from here, sense of achievement gave us enough energy to tackle the last ascend.

We were now charging towards the final ascend, took one more hour though.

We could see the prayer flags on the pass now , one by one everybody slowly reached the top of the pass and celebrated in their own way , few cheered , few simply smiled and few were left spellbound by the surrounding beauty , few though waited for their friends and crossed the pass together , what mountains do to us all is amazing.

We were at the pass at 11AM, much earlier than the estimated time but the task was only half done, we still had long descend to go, first glimpse of huge spiti desert was in sight.

We had to move now, couldn’t afford to spend long time at 16000ft , risk was high. Porters were already on their way down and we followed, endless stretches of moraine and rocks were ahead of us.

Difficulty of trekking in spiti is that even though valley has large rivers not all of them are potable due to large quantities of sand and mica they carry and it’s difficult to camp in the moraine, campsite are few and scarce we had to descend to 13000ft.

After about 3 hrs of what seemed unending descend we reached the river bed which we had to cross, shoes off once again and we crossed multiple streams, water was biting cold but it was a great fun.

Just 3 more kms to go now, after few minutes the campsite was in sight, a quick descend and we had accomplished the task.

Naina ji was waiting for us with lemon water in his hands and smile on the face.

top of second ascend

pin-bhabha pass

the team

Day 6 : Mangrungse(13600ft) to Mudh(12283ft)-17kms

First rays of sun had brought lovely golden glaze on the barren spiti mountain top, today was no less tough than the summit day. We had to cover almost 17kms to reach spiti.

Most of us had started making plans of what they would do first on reaching kaza , hot water bath was on everyone’s priority list , we felt bit sad as from today onwards we would be out of mountains and moving closer to our technology driven lives. The harshness of mountains had brought us closer, there would be no more ocean stories from our sailor friends Andrew and Clint, stories by Arjun and Sandhya on their previous experiences, Mickey to tease on her unending supply of snacks and most importantly we would no longer be seeing our crew members mukesh , Rahul and naina ji who had feed us with lot of love and affection all these days.

We geared up for the final walk nonetheless and it was going to be tiring for sure, spiti is not exactly you would call walkers heaven.

We started with a small ascend and then flat walk for about 4kms where we first saw the glimpse of mudh village, “Doesn’t look far , does it ?” someone but by now we all know that wasn’t true. At our back we had pin-parvati trail on the other side of the river.

After another 3kms walk by colorful mountain side we reached the place where last year we had finished our pin-parvati trek, “Pagal Naala”, memories of that day are still vivid. On pin-parvati side vehicle can come upto this point, pin-bhabha however do not have that luxuary we had more than 10kms still to go.

It had rained here few days back hence some green grass was still visible, we rested at regular intervals and for bit longer today, as if everyone wants to soak up as much mountain experience as possible.

Took us 4 tiring hours through moraine, ups and downs before we reached the suspension bridge and mudh was just a few meters away now. Walking on suspension bridge with river flowing below is a great experience and small hike now to mudh village.

Trek had been great so far, it kept giving us different views every day, everyday beats the other on pin-bhabha trek , fortunately the weather was perfect and that has made this a memorable experience.