Been-there-done-that-ers:
Anand Hirvey, Kamal Grover, Devinder Singh, Arjun Kariyal
Porters - Govind and Puskhar from Loharkhet

(all with 10 kilo backpacks each)

1. Our Route
2. What to pack

1. Our Route:

4th May 7pm
Delhi to Almora (2x2 bus)
The bus helper guzzled down a quarter before departure and was out drunk and the driver slapped him around really bad. Slap, slap slap..."Saale tune pauva piya tha na?" ...slap, slap, slap. Devinder got irritated at the slug speed at which we were going. (Bus tickets-Rs. 280 each)

5th May
Almora to Bageshwar (Omni)
Reached at 6 in the morning. Looking for a way to get to Bageshwar. We book an Omni van(Rs. 450). Drops us till Bags. Here we learn that Milam Glacier(as originally planned) is closed due to an avalanche hogging the route. So Sunderdhunga it is...

Bageshwar to Song (Mahindra)
load up into a Mahindra from Bags(Rs. 350). AS we reach Song, two guys get into the Mahindra from here. A little later, the driver tells us his fan belt is broken so we got to walk it up to Loharkhet.

Song (trek starts) to Loharkhet - 1.5 km
The two guys are professional porters ;). Govind and Pushkar introduce themselves. We hire 'em. (both-Rs.2400) We put up in a room in Loharkhet. The li'l trek has already tired us out and we wolf down the Maggi. We fried fish under the sky on firewood and stones; I kneaded the fish and maida with the masala, Kamal being the head chef... awesome start! (Lodge rent and food- Rs.500)

6th May
Loharkhet to Dhakuri - 11 km
Anand is sick but decides to walk. We start at 9 am. We see the grave of Peter Kost near a tea stall just before the downhill starts. Reach Dhakuri at 6 pm, a base camp. Drained out, set up tents, pull out our sleeping bags, eat, sleep. My first night in a tent. Cozy.

7th May
Dhakuri to Jatoli - 16 km
Hit the forest for the morning job. After Chai and breakfast, we start walking downhill at 9 am. Halfway, Our feet now have blisters from the downhill walk. All plastered in band aid, we continue. Reached Jatoli village at 7 pm. The pet dogs here have metal collars so the wild animals don't grab them by the throat. Exhausted, we set up tents, eat, sleep.

I woke up in the middle of the night and stepped out of the tent. Every star in the sky was visible. One of the many perks of the pain we went through...

8th May
Jatoli to Kautaliya - 12 km
All uphill now. We can't see what's going to hit us. After 6 km through the forest, we reach Sira river and the walking on snow starts. Walking on a sloping ice is tricky! We meet Digamber, our porter for a day. Warning: Everyone has bad teeth here and they all ask for Brufen. Dunno how a painkiller that gives max 4 hours of relief helps, but that's how people around here get by!

We reach Kautaliya, which is not a village, not a base camp, just a stone cottage; 3 km below the ice peaks- Maktoli top and Baloni top, as christened by the locals. Here, we live for the next 3 days with no electricity, no media whatsoever, no loo. All food in the mountains is cooked with firewood. The water from a stream nearby is freshly melted off the glaciers and it hurts! All dogs (sheep dogs) are black haired and are called Kaalu. They look like big poms. We are surrounded by peaks and snow heaps and a river runs down in the valley below. We can see the vapour rising from the peaks to form clouds.

9th May
Baloni Top 3 km
Our porters, Govind and Pushkar, take us up to Baloni top. We scramble up the ice and keep walking till we see icicles and rock hard snow balls falling. Devinder dares to walk further and take snaps with his Minolta SLR. The porters refused to go further. That day, Dev and I fight for the first time for his risking it!
I didn't have my gloves so I wore my socks over my hands. Do carry water proof gloves of sorts if you have them. I got a real kick out of eating icicles.

10th May
Maktoli Top 4 km (steep vertical climb)
Devinder and I walk up Maktoli top with Balwinder(dude had an ice hack to make the path) and Pushkar. Steeper and higher, we start wondering why we were here in the first place! We scramble our way up 4 km of mud, snow, shrubs and trees. Finally we reach the top (only 3100 metres above sea level, but a very harsh climb) and get our answer. See pics of the peaks viewed from here. We spend 30 minutes here, listening to the thunder of distant avalanches, and simply awed by the view. The porters wouldn't go further. We head back. The snow has started melting now (rises over the peaks by 7 30 am, which is the reason one should hurry in the morning) and has mixed with the soil to form slush. We slide our way down! (3 nights and food- Rs. 1100 including Digamber and Balwant's fee)

11th May
Kautaliya to Khati village - 20 km
We pack up and head for home... The stamina kicks in. We walked 20 km past Jatoli straight to Khati village (between Jatoli and Dhakuri). We hire a room in an ancient guest house dating from the Brits era, fireplace and loo intact... aargh, the luxury of a loo...
The simple dinner (rajma, dal, rice, rotis, onions) comes to us as something exotic which we quitely clear off our plates.
(Khati- Rs. 337)

12th May
Khati to Dhakuri - 8 km
We walk till Dhakuri and set up our tents again. This time we collect wood and make a bonfire... awesome. We wolfed down 14 eggs and 15 chapatis (before dinner).

13th May
Dhakuri to Loharkhet - 11 km
After chai and breakfast, (bill came to Rs. 201) We walk in the rain now for an hour and a half to Loharkhet. From here, we rest a while and walk down to Song. Trek ends.


From here we get a jeep down till Bageshwar. We rent rooms in Annapoorna Hotel. The luxury of a loo.... priceless! (room Rs 175 / night). Dinner at Bageshwar-Rs. 410

14th May
We leave in a Sumo till Almora.
From here, we take another Sumo upto Haldwani. A roadways bus gets us back in Delhi ...

15th May
We reach home at 11pm and here I am, at 2:30 am, typing this out while this fantastic journey is still in my head...