[StallionAmit]

Here is a trailer (that's me at 11862 feet):




Hi all, this travelogue is regarding my trek and summit of 11862 ft (Siyari top) in the lower Himalayas in the Uttarkashi (Uttarakhand State). The trek was organized by TSAF (Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, founded by legendary mountaineer Ms Bachendri Pal, first Indian woman to climb Mt Everest on May 23, 1984, you may search the TSAF website for more details). The trek was funded by my organization and employer, Tata Steel (as it was for an outbound leadership program for experienced professionals’).

The trek and the program were for 10 days from 16th to 25th Nov’15, which included acclimatization, outdoor activities and trek for the summit. The whole program was awesome and it was an experience of a lifetime, please pardon if my writing is not able to justify it.

Travelling Day (-3): I took an evening train from Kolkata to New Delhi, nothing much to write as it was just a normal train journey.

Travelling Day (-2): Reached New Delhi, from where I had to catch a late night train for Haridwar, on the train I met some trekking enthusiasts which were also going to attend from treks (these days many other adventure sports organizers have come up and it seems like good times are beginning for us Indians, as I believe we have all the natural places where us Indians can also take up adventure sports which till now is a kind of rarity, it will be better if we have other options other then regular eating outs and tourist places in the name of adventure and enjoyment)

Haridwar railway station:


Travelling Day (-1): Took a shared cab with some colleagues from Tata Steel (base Camp is around 215 Kms from Haridwar station), the ride was bumpy and nauseating as it has a long stretch of zig-zag and snaky winding roads, fortunately I did not vomit, we reported the base camp at around 5 PM.
The trek to the base camp was in itself a trailer of the trek to come. The camp was located near the river Assi-Ganga.
(The base camp is situated at Kuflon in Uttarkashi. “Kuflon”, hidden above pristine waters of the Assi Ganga river, with abundant flora and fauna, is the perfect getaway into wilderness. Surrounded by lush greenery on all sides, amidst the snow clad hills Kuflon is nature’s paradise. Source: TSAF website)

Pictures of the base camp:




In total there were 38 guys who reported ranging from 49+year-old to 25 year- old range. We all were accommodated in tents with each tent being shared by 4 to 5 guys.
We all collected a big backpack (around 40-45 Ltr space), it had a sleeping bag, a metal tiffin box kind of thing (to eat and prepare food during the trek) and a Kiwi bag to store the rubbish.

(I wished I would have either driven or rode to the base camp as it would have been amazing).
I also want to describe how was the life in the base camp, the camp is around 15 kms from the Uttarkashi town and this 15kms is very rough terrain which only a 4x4 could easily cover, so going to the town and getting stuff is not an easy task. The food was prepared and provided in the camp but we had to wash our own dishes, needless to say the food-tasted great, it was mostly vegetarian with eggs given during the breakfast. Also there was no warm water, so we had to manage with the water fresh out from the mountains and it was freezing cold, we also had to clean the toilets and the camp area ourselves.

The campsite:


Camp Day 1:

The reporting for morning tea was at 6am and for morning exercise was 7am, needless to day it was damn cold in the morning, but it was a lot of fun.
There were morning stretching and jogging on the mountain road near the river.
Post exercise we had a good breakfast of ‘poori and aloo subji’ with boiled eggs and tea.
During the day we had several activities/games for breaking the ice and also team building among the participants.
We also had a session with Mr. R S Pal (Everester) camp in-charge on leadership. Also the instructors taught us on how to do rucksack/backpack packing during the mountain treks.
There were sessions on how to ‘take care of the feet’ (since they carry the most load and are an important part which work the most on these treks).
In the very cold night we were also shown a movie on the ‘1984 Mount Everest Expedition’ of Bachendri Pal.
The day ended with a dinner of daal, roti, rice, ghobi-aloo and custard.

Pictures from day 1 (early morning excercises):






Instructions during the camp:



Camp Day 2:

Day 2 was full of outdoor activities and we did ‘rappeling’ and ‘ flying fox’.
Rappeling is a form of steep but controlled descent from a rock or a mountain which is steep/vertical/dangerous with the help of a rope. Well, this was one of the first experience for me and needless to say I was very afraid to even look down but with the help of safety harnesses I did it with not much difficulty.

Flying fox makes you feel like a ‘Tarzan’, in this activity a long rope was tied between two objects (mainly between two big trees and or between two big rocks) and uses gravity for the participant to slide/ come down on the slanted rope.
Again it was an awesome activity and before going on with the fall, everyone was afraid but when we just came down the rock, we left our fears behind and just enjoyed the fall.

Some pictures from day 2
Rappeling and flying fox preparation (getting instructions on safety):



Me rappeling (getting down from the hill, i was shit scared, despite the safety harness)




Had awesome khichdi:


with the legend Ms. Bachendri Pal:


Camp Day 3:

On day 3 we had a jungle stay planned, where the main idea was to get familiarized with the camping in a jungle and preparing own food, this included a trek of around 4 kms uphill (5200 ft).
The following were the day activities:
1 Shelter/ tent making
2 Games on finding hidden landmarks with the help of compass
3 Pitching tent on hilltop
4 Self food preparation

Pictures of getting instructions on how to make a tent:





Finding hidden landmarks using compass and some team building games:




Continued...

[StallionAmit]

continuation..
Some more pictures from the Jungle camp:














Camp Day 4:

On Day 4 we returned to the base camp and proceeded for river crossing.
Well the pictures will describe better, the water was freezing chill and one slip made everyone shiver. This also proved an opportunity for all of us to took a bath who didn’t took it in the last 4 days.












Camp Day 5:

Day 5 we traveled to a village and interacted with students in the village school to share our experiences and hear them.
Most of the villages near the river bed were destroyed during the 2013 North India flood, these children school was also destroyed and they recently build a small school in this hill, the facilities were scarce but these guys were doing the best they can to make a life.

[StallionAmit]

continuation..
Day 6:

On day 6 we started the trek for our summit (Siyari Top 11862 feet), on this day we were grateful that Ms Bachendri Pal also joined us in the trek so we had 2 Everesters with us in the trek. To summarise the day, we did a trek for around 6 Kms to Kohari camp site in Siladuni(7800 feet). We had a packed lunch with us, ‘Poori and Chana’, we started at 8: 45 am and reached the site at 2 pm.














Day 7:

The day 7 included mostly of trek to the second camp site which was at 9500 feet (Lower Chaithathar), in this trek we had to go through some really steep climbs with lots of weight on the backs, we were carrying the tents, water, food supplies and cloths, the last I checked I was carrying around 19Kgs of weight, which was feeling like 50 kg at the height.
We started from the camp 1 (kohari) at 9 am and reached lower chaithathar at around 12:30 am, there we pitched the tents, had a stretching excercie and a talk by Ms. Bachendri Pal where she talked about the experience on her Everest Summit, also we had a session on the Himalayas where the instructor gave us a lot of gyan on the history and formation of the Himalayan range.
We also had a trust building game and then in the early evening we prepared out dinner and chilled in the chilling weather.

some pictures from the tent site:




During the entire trek we all did took a lot of care of the environment and we were proud that we didn’t litter or threw any waste and picked all the waste with us used in the trek.

Day 8:
This was the day when we did the summit of the 11862 feet, i.e the Siyari top. We all started at 7 am from the camp site and reached the top at around 1 pm. Most of us had very bad headache during this day as the air was thin and the trek was long and sometimes a little treacherous but for reaching to the top was worth all the trouble.
The view from the top was awesome and we could see the glaciers in the higher Himalayan range.
The pictures will do the justice to the top.
We returned to the second camp site at late in the evening at around 5:30 pm, I had a very bad headache and with each step the head was throbbing in pain, but my teammates helped me get down safe and I am thankful for them.

Here are some awesome pictures from the trek:











to continue..

[StallionAmit]

At the Siyari Top (11862 Feet), the summit:














Day 9 and Day 10:

Day 9 and Day 10 comprised of the trek down to the base camp, on day 10 morning at around 9 am, we reached back the base camp, returned the camping items assigned and started for the journey back home and to the work places.

Pictures from descent:






I want to summarize my thoughts for the trip:

1) The human body is much more capable, its our weak and pathetic minds that holds us back to achieve all the things in life whether is mental or physical.

2) We don’t have to use those much resources, which the world pushes us to use in the daily lives; we could live with much less.

3) The daily life without media (phone, computer) is bliss.

4) And the last, the nature is beautiful, it is awesome, I really felt the beauty which I used to feel when I was a child and used to visit my village during my summer holidays and looked at the star studded skies in the night.
Cheers!!

[kpzen]

Amit

Great experience.
Did you guys go till Darwa top and Dodital ?

Here's what i experienced 7 yrs back.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...h-13575ft.html

[StallionAmit]

Originally Posted by kpzen

Amit

Great experience.
Did you guys go till Darwa top and Dodital ?

Here's what i experienced 7 yrs back.
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...h-13575ft.html

Thanks KP, no we didn't go to Dodital, this is a different route.

[alphadog]

Kudos to you for having done the trek and thank you for a nice write up of the same.
Sometimes it is the travails like these which bring us in touch with our true self.
It is difficult to imagine going without phones, emails etc even for a day. Must have been great to get away from all the madness.
Cheerio.

[nilanjanray]

Lovely trekalogue, thanks for sharing. Rated 5 stars.

Reminds me of old days. Looking at the ages of the participants, maybe I can give trekking a shot again :-)

[jd10ent]

Awesome pics and lovely travelogue. Its only when we push our bodies beyond their boundaries do we understand our limits. City life has made most people soft and technology dependent on unnecessary clutter. Such breaks are a welcome change in pace to our daily lives and should be undertaken frequently. The trek and pics takes me back to my school days in Mt. Abu and the twice weekly treks that we would go for in the surrounding mountains of our school. Miss those days.