Buran Ghat - A Path Unfinished

"When snow falls, nature listens"....

When we , the trekker friends discussed on having a Himalayan Trek all that was in mind was Snow.! The level of excitement was too high. With a well known guide, we , group of 13 friends got a Customized trek package for "Buran pass". It was the first that we came across the name of this trek and it sounded thrilling too.

Started by confirmation of 5, we ended with one beautiful and amazing team of 14 who were all set to experience some of the best moments of life. 

First and foremost, since the climate in Himachal is unpredictable we had to prepare ourselves with the right attire. Like a saying “There is no bad weather but bad clothing”, it was very important for us to have thermals, fleece, jackets, scarf and everything that’s needed. We had a pretty good shopping done on this regard. Flight tickets were simultaneously booked to Chandigarh from Bangalore.

While shopping, you might need not buy everything since few items like, hiking sticks, trek shoes (supporting to snow), jackets/trek pants can be also rented with minimal amount. But, if you are sure about doing more of these then it’s also good idea to buy.

Check rental gears here : http://www.xdogtrekking.com/

Finally, the day came when we left to Chandigarh. It was a flight of around 3hrs. We reached Chandigarh at around 2.45pm. It was all pleasant weather until we kept out feet outside the airport only to experience the heat waves! It was freaking 44° C.!

Directly stepping inside the TT that was pre booked for next stop Shimla..we faced the heat waves until the end of Punjab. As soon as we entered Himachal, we could sense the cold breeze running across.

It was the time when we saw a Pine tree...group of pine trees...and All of the pine forest. I loved the tree, the fruit of it's and everything.

Himachal is rightly said as " Dev Bhumi " and it's all about the Hills and the beauty of it. 

Journey to Shimla was quite long one but was thoroughly been enjoyed by music, dance, talks and most importantly nature.

We reached pre booked stay at Shimla by 10pm. Found a hotel nearby, had our dinner and since we had another long day ahead , slept-off and ended the day. Day light is longer in Himachal and also sun rise is early.. by 5am we could see the bright light outside and we were all set to have another journey ahead by 8. 

We were leaving to "Janglikh", our first base camp which is again a journey of ~8hr from Shimla.

Now, this route is nothing but one hell of a journey. Literally we felt "if life throws you a curve, lean into it"...! Curved roads, Pine forest, Green hills...we stopped for breakfast. 

We tried "Siddu Ghee", a native food of Shimla which was loved by all of us.

Location: SiyaRam Siddu

070185 84846

https://maps.app.goo.gl/oWGSJuzDPcMgFjyn8

 It was yum! Continued our journey later, which every turn we were gaining altitude, we could see leaving behind the City, the noise and entering to a zone of serenity. We took a pit stop beside the River Pabbar....which is the result of melting glaciers and one of the purest form of water. Even though the sun was shining bright the river was freezing cold. As we kept our legs inside, it started to shiver and then became Numb.!

We were entering the village of Janglikh, the path to this cannot be explained in words. We had first glimpse of Snow, snow covered mountains, the cliff with river flowing below, the green color of flowing river, the deadly road edges, pine forest, Hills, cool breeze and what not. It was one perfect journey. A slight fear was also within seeing the edges but the excitement overrode all of it. There was a point , where it felt like , this is how it should be, this is where life should be. It was the sheer spectacle of what certainly was paradise. It's true that, in earth there is no heaven but the pieces of it...and this was one..❤️

My excitement rose to 100 when I had first glimpse of Snow..it was the first time in life experience for me.! I could not wait for the following days...

We reached Janglikh at around 4pm. Janglikh is a small beautiful village with about 500 people,  in HP,chirgaon, which has a deity called "Jag dev".

The village and the atmosphere have nothing but positive vibes around. We got freshen up and had a small village round where we met kids, played with them and talked to the locals. In the times where kids play with mobile and computer, it's a bliss to watch them still play hand in hand, with an innocent smile and curious eyes. 

Later we had a briefing session by our trek guide, where he explained the plan for next 5 days...it's an irony that he had mentioned "we will ATTEMPT to pass buran..." And no where mentioned "WE WILL PASS..." 

We also had got few gifts to the local kids, got this distributed to them to see a cute smile on their face.

The locals of Janglikh are way too friendly to interact with. Finishing our dinner we closed the day with a dream of starting a walk to remember the next day.

Trek Day 1: 

We packed our bags that was going over the Mule and kept it ready by 7.30am. Had our breakfast and with a small bag that consists of water bottle, eatables, jacket and small accessories we started our trek... The first destination was Dayara Thatch. Thatch is termed for open grassland. 

This was journey of around 3-4km.

Started with walk amidst pine forest, we passed big boulders..which seems to have be staying there over thousands of years. Even though cold wind blows the heat of sun makes you sweat. Sufficient breaks were taken since the pace of our team was quite good and we had enough time before we reach the campsite. It was a walk with ease where we got time to admire the beauty around, watch the butterflies play, spend fair break times. For lunch , we took a stop at a small shop built out of stones. We also had packed lunch got by our trek guides.

Had a small brook flowing by which was of course freezing cold which we used to wash our hands, plates with. Enjoying the view , we had our lunch and started the walk again.

 As soon as the pine forest trial ends the nature opens us to a mesmerizing view of Dayara Thatch. A vast Greenland surrounded by snow filled mountains is nothing less but picture perfect. Slight headache was also seen to few including me may be due to altitude or due to walk.

In the evening, we had a short around the camp. This was the first time I got to experience the moving toilets 😬(iykwim). 

Slept by 9.30 after listening to the next day itinerary.

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Next morning was fresh, calm and relaxing.  Woke up to see huge mountains ahead kissed by the sun which made it glow and tatch (ground) of greenery below. And I happened to see our great group of trekkers were now with cricket bat and ball playing all over the green playground that the nature had given them. 

What else can be the best way to start the day! The guides had got some really cool way of motivating and engaging the visitors till the breakfast was prepared. We played cricket for long with so much joy and enthusiasm. 

The next destination was Litham , a little more higher altitude than dayara tatch. 

We started the journey for the day at around 9am after breakfast and had an estimation to reach the destination by 2-3pm. Everything was going well and the paths were stunning. We had to walk along the edges of mountains, we could feel the altitude that we were gaining and also we had a view of Iris flowers that were along the route. In some valley, a cow which was dead due to some reason(may be falling from mountains) was been served as food for vultures and the eagles flying around. We were having pretty relaxing walk since we thought weather is so perfect and we have all the time to reach Litham. It was around 12-12.30 and there was a dramatic yet drastic change seen. It started to drizzle a little. Guides were little concerned and asked us to walk a bit faster. Just when we were thinking of what’s happening we could feel something hitting us from the sky. Well not an alien attack but we were being attacked by hails from the sky. It was almost equivalent to the size of small stones and we had to rush to protect ourselves from this. Weather was getting colder as we moved towards the camp site. Finally getting drenched in rain, hail storm we managed to reach the camp. A big tent was pitched which was in actual for the lunch or dinner. This became our home. Everyone got into this big space as other tents were not yet ready. Guides were really working hard amidst of rain. We had zipped the tent due to the cold wind. And after an hour or so .. when we unzipped the tent just to check if the rain has stopped.. I saw the first ever snowfall of my life. Beautiful white drops from the sky had made the vast green grassland biome turn into a large white snow clad. The excitement was unstoppable. Everyone of us were surprised, happy and a little uncertain. I somehow wanted to feel the snow falling and hence jumped out of the tent just to stand and feel the soft hail. It was surreal.! Along with me some of my team also joined to dance and to keep this moment as a lifetime memory in the form of photos. Snowfall rouses your inner child to dream and play once more..

“Khushboo si hai jaise hawa mein tairti, 


Khushboo jo be-aawaaz hai;
 

Jiska pata tumko bhi hai,
Jiski khabar mujhko bhi hai;


Duniya se bhi chupta nahin,
Yeh jaane kaisa raaz hai.” 

We went back to the tent only to wait for 4 more hours after which we found that it was a quite heavy snow fall that had accumulated at least for 3mm on the ground. 

After which, we cleaned our tents, got ourselves changed into fresh warm wears. The team of guides were so kind to serve hot soup and unbelievable delicious food every time on the top of mountain! 

Snowfall, this, was a check point for the trek. As we reach higher altitude snow fall would have got heavier and it’s also said about the chances of avalanche at our final destination of “Buran pass”. We thought of waiting one more day to check if the weather gets any better. 

The temperature was around 5-1 degrees(which for me is freezing point!!). We had covered ourselves with 4 layers of clothes with a thick sleeping bag. Sleep was peaceful. The best part was also sky watching at night since the sky was so clear and we could see the milky way in its best form! 

I slept peacefully thinking what the next day might bring. 

Next morning we decided to climb Chandranahan with is at 13,000+ ft. Snow fall had stopped but ground was still white as the night was cold. Had our breakfast and starting walking over white patches to understand how fascinating! it is to walk over snow!!! Not more than few steps later I understood it’s all feel good images that we see of snow and mountains but in real it is way more challenging than we can think of! 

Nevertheless, each one of us were with same excitement and eager to reach the top to the lake. We walked and walked..slowly rays of light was seen from middle of the clouds, Sun was coming out. It seemed good to see Sun after cinematic weather changes..but little we did know was its impact on the hike. 

We had to climb through hill which was grassy which Ofcourse was white now and which was little moist. As we tramped further, the land was getting slippery..the heat of the sun was making snow melt because of which soil and grass was getting slippery! (For me atleast it was too tiring to walk on the snow which pressure being given on legs because leg should not get sunked in.) A simple tip would be to use “kick steps” where you create the platform for your legs over ice. 

The walk seemed like never ending. I was able to see Chandranahan falls which was dropping from somewhere which seemed afar. 

At some point, I also had some kind of altitude sickness where I had to throw up. Generally, if guides see this kind of symptoms they won’t allow us to continue the hike as the altitude will be further increasing. However, I managed to convince (plead😬) them for further climb. After all the fun and endeavours …there I was at 13980ft. above… in the middle of snow covered giant mountains, vast land of snow and so many happy faces. 

 

The happiness was immense. I did something which I always had second thoughts about. 

Later, like the tradition, we bowed to a small temple at the top , thanked god and clicked few or a lot of pictures. The lake was still ahead of a km walk and we started moving further. Chandranahan lake was finally there. Water was freezing cold and it was like a mirror reflecting the sky above. 

There are seven lakes altogether but we could complete one as others were at some good distance. It was already afternoon and there were signs of climate change again. 

Descending would have been difficult if we continued to stay there. The guides suggested us for the descend. Downhill was another crazy walk well it was more of slide! By this time, all the snow had melted and what was remaining was green grass with slippery soil. With some small skids and crashes we managed to reach our campsite back by when it started to drizzle. And the cycle repeated not so much with snow but with rainfall. We also watched “GGVV” movie inside tent together 😇

Another evening passed. Guides came in and explained the climate conditions..the predictions said it was snowing heavily on the pass that we had to go. They advised us to stop the hike and return to the base site. All they said was …”pahaadon yahin rehte hai…aapka jaan hai tho kabhi bhi aa sakthe hai!”…for a while we had to think of this ..we didn’t know if we could return here sometimes in near future at the same time we weren’t willing to risk the lives. And that gave a signal of end of the trek…A little disappointed us yet satisfied for all those days that we spent there.

Next morning, some fun activities were scheduled for us by the guides…like river crossing, rock climbing, snow sliding (which was absolute fun🤩 ). 

We started to walk to back to Janglikh..this walk seemed easier, comforting and familiar. 

It was a little difficult , thinking of that I was moving away from mountains..which was still, giant yet soothing and that which was making me feel I am in such a beautiful world! 

We reached stone hut where our team cooked maggi lots of maggi and egg omlets. Everyone were at peace. Reached back Janglikh until evening and had our muscles stretched and relaxed for some time. When on the way we got “Ganti” (ask it the next time when you go to himachal or janglikh) which we had along with dinner..with Kirik party seen and unlimited songs sung. It was one crazy and indelible night…

Next day we were back to Chandigarh and then to Bangalore. 

It was unfinished yet complete. For me, it was my first ever witnessing of snow, first ever visit of North India, first ever Himalayan trek..which for sure gave all the right reason to do more of these. There were no regrets. 

Each deadly curves that I saw while on the way to Janglikh, the innocent kids there, the no phone zone for over 5 days, the time with nature and mountains, the feel of snow, the beautiful laughter together with team, the fun and the support, the talks about so many things in the world, the songs we sung heartily , the realization of how beautiful and how gigantic Himalayas are and at the same time acceptance of , we or our plans are null in front of nature…. This is what is to be happy.💓

So..of all the paths you take in your life make sure a few of them are rock and snow 🏔️…