The regimental journal references a trek in 1936 that would appear to be a test of logistics
for the actual Kamet expedition.

The following soldiers took part in this trek L./Cpls Williams and Axford, Ptes Wilde, Hillier
and Bates and L./Cpl Ridley.

Ridley maintained a diary of this trek as he did for the actual Kamet expedition. On reading this
account one can reasonably conclude that this trek was a test of logistics for an actual attempt
on Kamet. The group started out taking a more difficult route. Despite several set backs
L/cpl. Ridley and one of the porters continued to reach an altitude of 20,000 feet, and an
actual mention of the 1931 Kamet conquest is made.

The following is scanned images for the journal kept by L/Cpl Ridley
It is the openimg paragraph. After the picture of Badrinath the full text can be found.






Badrinath
While this picture is recent it does reflect the general area.



IN SACRED HIMACHAL

A TREK TO THE BADRINATH RANGE.

ON 25th July last our party of six, consisting of L./Cpls. Williams and Axford, Ptes. Wilde, Hillier and Bates, and the writer, started off from Ranikhet on the first stage of our journey to the Badrinath Range of the Himalayas. As is well known, the usual route followed is the "Pilgrim Route," which passes along the Alaknanda Valley, through Karnaprayag and Nandaprayag, and so by Joshimath to Badrinath. We decided, however, to cut more directly across country and follow a fairly high level route by way of Ramni and the Kauri Pass.



Leaving Ranikhet by bus, we journeyed to Baijnath, some forty miles further north, where the motor road ends. Baijnath is not a particularly attractive place and we lost no time in unloading our kit and getting the porters off on the march to Gwaldam, ten miles away. We were soon passing through country as fresh and delightful as English park land, and enjoyed every moment of a really fine march. At supper that night we had our last taste of bread, and for the next seven weeks we substituted chupattis. Our policy as regards food was to conserve as much as possible the tinned and concentrated foodstuffs for use in the high uninhabited valleys we intended visiting above Badrinath. To this end, we were to live as much as possible on the country we passed through. Events proved this quite a successful plan, for we did not suffer much difficulty in obtaining such staple foods as fresh vegetables, milk and atta (flour), and once we purchased a goat. From Gwaldam we crossed the intervening foothills by way of Tharali, Dungari, Ghat, Ramni and Pana. These marches were not long ones, averaging, perhaps, some eight to nine miles a day. They cannot, however, be thought of in terms of distance alone, for over such a route as we were following, consideration must be made for the steep ascents, for landslides which in many places completely obliterated the track caused tedious detours, and the numbers of unbridged torrents that had to be forded. The journey, however, was far from being one long, hard grind; rather was it one full of beauty and charm. The rate of the coolies with their loads of sixty pounds was, of course, a slow one, and we could afford to send them on, two or three hours ahead of us, and still enjoy a casual pace ourselves.



The seventh day found us approaching the Kauri Pass (12,400 ft.), and we pitched camp late in the afternoon, high on the southern slopes of the pass, at the camping ground of Dakwani. We left Dakwani early next morning, and after a wearisome climb of 1,500 ft. we reached the pass. With a feeling of thankfulness we took off our loads and took stock of our surroundings. On a clear day we would have had a wonderful view from the pass, but that day heavy monsoon mists surrounded us, hiding everything. Occasionally the mists parted and we had a few glimpses of the mighty snow-covered peaks which practically encircled us. As we descended from the pass towards a thick forest, heavy rain began to fall, and the path was turned into a quagmire through which we ploughed our way to Tungasi, lying some 5,000 ft. below the pass.



The march along the Dhauli Valley next day was a pleasant one. We arrived in Joshimath early. The town lies above the junction of the Alaknanda and Dhauli rivers, and from our camp beside the dak bungalow we could see t he narrow ribbon of road we were to follow to Badrinath. At Joshimath we were on the "Pilgrim Route” and the place was a big improvement on what we had grown used to during the past few days. It contains many shops, a police station and a hospital. We set off early next day for Pandukeswar, which lay about eight miles further up the Alaknanda Valley, and was to be our last halt before Badrinath. On the way we passed many pilgrims toiling up the path. Some, who, because of old age or infirmity, were not able to make the journey on foot, were carried on the backs of porters in a kind of sedan chair. Most of those on foot carried a long staff, and over their shoulders in an old cloth were slung the few possessions they required for the journey.



Among the pilgrims we saw many Yogis, men who believe that only by pain and toil can the material things of life be renounced. Numbered among them are those of noble family who have forsaken even their name to live this hard and exacting life, fasting sometimes for weeks on end, their only shelter being a rude cave on the mountain side. Terrifying, at least in appearance, were the Sanyasis and Gosanis (devotees of Siva) with their red wigs of coiled and matted hair, and dressed in a leopard or deer skin. Shortly after leaving Pandukeswar we met Pandit Vaishnava, the vice-chairman of the Garhwal Board, with whom we partook of refreshments at Hanumann Chatti, a pilgrim halting-place. From here the path begins to ascend to Badrinath. The rugged narrow valley with its precipitous overhanging cliffs is indeed a fitting corridor for the sacred river which flows through it.



AT INDIA'S PREMIER SHRINE.



India's holy shrine is situated in a wide open space of the valley on the western banks of the Alaknanda. Soon after our arrival the Rawal Sahib (The High Priest of the Temple) sent inquiries as to our comfort, and a gift of milk and wood. Both these commodities are difficult to obtain at Badrinath, and the kindness was greatly appreciated by us. During our stay here we were the recipients of generous hospitality from the local residents, being loaded with gifts of fruit and vegetables. On the day before we left we partook of an excellent lunch provided by the Rawal; it was our first real Indian meal, and we enjoyed it thoroughly. After the lunch we went out sight-seeing. The Temple being the main place of interest, we made our way here first. It is neither a large nor, from the spectacular point of view, a very imposing building. It is, none the less, held in deep veneration by thousands of devout Hindus who have made their pilgrimage there. Below the Temple, a flight of grey stone steps, worn by the tread of countless thousands of feet, lead down to the Alaknanda, and in the lower steps are imbedded iron rings to which the pilgrims cling whilst immersing their bodies in the icy glacier waters of their sacred river. Our tour of sight-seeing finished, we returned to the dak bungalow and began our preparations for the move to the higher valleys. Of the coolies, we kept only two: Pan Sing and his brother, Kussang Sing. From here onwards we carried heavy loads ourselves, being forced at times to carry the kit in relays. On the morning of 7th August we rose early and descended to the river. On the opposite side we found waiting for us the local pipers, and accompanied by a large crowd of spectators we marched to the local library to the tune of "Highland Laddie” Here we were given an excellent breakfast, and after many speeches and salaams we left on our way for the higher regions.



The march along the Saraswati Valley was a very hard one, the path at times disappearing amidst a wilderness of boulders, and we were forced to pick our way as best we could. We were now above the tree line, and the only cultivation about was clumps of juniper bushes and occasional grassy patches. It was a tired party who, late in the evening, reached the Bhotia halting-place known as Ghastoli, which lies at the junction of the Saraswati and Arwa rivers. Here we found in camp a Tibetan lama and his party. We had scarcely time to take off our loads before the Tibetans brought us tea. Now, a Tibetan's idea of tea is not the same as ours; for milk they use atta in the form of a paste; where we use sugar they use a form of ghee. The resultant concoction was scarcely to our taste, but the law of hospitality forbade refusal, a nd we were forced to make a show of drinking it. We were awakened early next morning by a queer monotonous chant, which came from the direction of the Tibetan camp. It was not, as we first suspected, a funeral dirge, but simply their usual morning prayers. We learnt through Pan Sing that the lama was remaining at Ghastoli a fortnight, and was prepared to keep an eye on the kit we were leaving behind us, and which we intended for use on our journey to the Mana Pass. We left this kit in a small cave near the Tibetan camp.



THE ARWA VALLEY.



At the entrance to the Arwa Valley the ground is very flat, and for the first mile progress was quite easy. It was not to continue so, for we came to a glacier torrent of considerable force, and it was evident that it was going to be no easy job to cross it. We hunted up and down our side of the bank for a likely place to cross, and finally began our attempt at a rocky slab which divided the stream into two. Things did not go well at all. Two of us, Hillier and Wilde, had a nasty tumble into the water and were lucky to escape with a severe shaking and bruises. We also lost one of our precious loads of foodstuffs. Half a mile beyond the torrent we pitched camp; for a hard day's work we had gained only a mile and a half of ground. For the next two days heavy rain fell and we were forced to remain at this point. The third day brought a great and very welcome change in the weather, and we prepared to move our camp higher up the valley. It was here that Hillier and Wilde were forced, through having contracted feverous colds, to return to Badrinath. Whilst Axford and myself took the coolies and some of the kit higher up, Bates and Williams departed with the returning pair to give assistance over the difficult torrent.



The next day we took the remaining kit and set up our new camp. At this point we suffered a further set-back, Axford being overcome with a sudden attack of fever which left him very weak. We knew the journey before us to be an arduous one, and as it was considered wiser for him to return to the comparative comfort of Ghastoli he left assisted by Kussang Sing. We learnt later that the Tibetans were very sympathetic and helpful to them. From our second camp we followed the same procedure, taking half the loads and returning the same day, then taking the remaining kit up on the morrow. Our third camp was pitched just below a point where the main valley forks into two. From the camping place there rose before us a vast wall of ice and snow, a portion of the long line of peaks and ridges which form the watershed of the Range.



From here we entered the southern branch of the main valley fork. Our progress along here was slow, for we were forced to climb up and down the steep moraines which descended from the valley sides. After a tedious journey we reached the snout of a glacier from which issued the Arwa. We climbed over the dirt-riddled ice and travelled in a westerly direction. We crossed masses of boulders of red ironstone. Great care had to be taken in disturbing the unstable stones as little as possible, for if such a thing as an avalanche had once started we would not have had much of a chance.



We could now see that this part of the valley was again sub-divided, one glacier bending round to the east and appearing to go back towards the Saraswati, the other turned in a westerly direction. Following the latter for a short distance we came to a glacier stream, near which we pitched camp at a height of seventeen thousand feet. The next few days were spent in visiting the glaciers around the camp. One glacier in which we were very interested was the one to which we referred as the "Eastern Glacier"; we were of the opinion that a pass might be found at its head which would lead back to the Saraswati and thus offer us the chance of a different route back to Ghastoli. Unfortunately we were not able to ascertain this, for after proceeding along it for two or three miles the lane became very narrow and the overhanging masses of snow and ice made the danger of an avalanche great, and further exploration impracticable. Our next move was to ascend the glacier on which we had pitched camp to its extreme western end. The weather was really wonderful, for though it was the rainy season this part of the Himalaya misses the main force of the monsoon. The excellent weather conditions and the absence of climbing difficulties of a technical nature enabled us to reach a col in the ridge opposite the camp at 20,000 ft. From our position we could see to the south-west the gracious summit of a mountain which we decided must be the "Avalanche Peak” named and climbed by the Kamet Expedition in 1931. Our limited stores were now very low and we decided to begin our return journey to Ghastoli. Our journey down the valley was uneventful, and even the glacier torrent which caused so much trouble on our entering the valley we now found considerably diminished in force, and we crossed without much difficulty. On I9th August we rejoined Axford at the Tibetan Camp.



From here we made our journey to the Mana Pass. After the Arwa we found the going fairly easy. We reached the pass on the afternoon of the 2ist. A three-day journey back down the valley saw us once more at Badrinath, and reunited with Hillier and Wilde. From Badrinath we followed a different route back to Ranikhet, returning by way of Joshimath and Nandaprayag. Our trek covered some four hundred miles and we passed through some of the most g lorious scenery of the Himalayas. It is a really splendid way of spending a leave, and we hope to make a similar trek during the next Hill Season.



L./CPL. R. RIDLEY.



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