Into the Misty Mountains- A Trek To Pindari Glacier

‘Just a little bit more, you could do it!’, the voice of one of my buddies was ringing in my ears. I couldn’t tell if it was Ari or Dixie, but was then too dazed anyway to really recall now. I was running a fever and had an unbearable toothache as the consequence of a botched dental job done recently. We were at a height of around twelve thousand feet and my whole focus was on reaching the end point of our last few days of toil, the source of the Pindar river in the Kumaon Himalayas.

Before you start wondering whether I finally managed to reach there, let us go around a week back in time. It was a sweltering Friday evening in the month of June and the four of us- Ari, Dixie, RP and myself, old pals from Engineering College days, were at the Old Delhi Railway Station to catch the overnight train to Kathgodam. We had been planning our first trek together for months and it was about to become a reality now. The air was heavy with anticipation, apart from the Delhi humidity. After an uneventful and air conditioned train journey, we reached Kathgodam early in the morning, to find our local transportation waiting to take us to our next destination, around two hundred kilometres away. It was all coming together well, we thought! What then followed was a long but beautiful journey up the Kumaon mountains past the hill stations of Bhimtal, Almora and Binsar and onto Bageshwar, the base camp of our trek. We had played safe by booking the expedition through Kumaon Mandal Vikash Nigam (KMVN) and were ushered into their guest house at Bageshwar. Once settled in, it was time for the briefing by Kundan, our KMVN guide. One look at my trolley bag and he was like, ‘are you kidding me?’. I learnt, to my utter surprise, an emotion not really appreciated by our trekking hardened guide, that trolley bags are not exactly the most convenient kits to carry on the back of either a human being or a mule while trekking up or down a hilly slope. It was immediately sentenced to solitary confinement in the guest house itself till its grumbling owner returned a few days later. We were provided with backpacks for the trip and advised to carry as little clothes as possible. It seemed no weekend parties had been planned for us in the hills! After a sumptuous dinner, we went to bed, excited about the next day when the real trek would start.

Next morning, after an early breakfast, we were driven to Song village, where our actual trek was supposed to commence. Once at Song, we started a four to five kilometres long, slow and steady ascend towards the first stop of our trek, Loharghat. We checked into the small but cosy KMVN transit house, manned by two hard working and well-mannered fellows who were eager to take care of all our comfort. The air was getting cold and the mobile network already quite intermittent. By the evening, the only sounds we could hear were the that of the crickets and our own voices. We chatted away till late night, reminiscing about our college days and all the sweet and sour memories it brought along. For a brief moment, we were young boys once again!

We woke up to a bright and sunny morning next day and started for Khati, our next stop around twelve kilometres away and the last inhabited village on the way to the Pindari Glacier. We were already above six thousand feet and walking on a trail alternating between lush green meadows and dark forest canopies, with birds chirping all around us. The majestic peaks of Upper Kumaon region were already visible to us under the clear skies. On the way, we crossed Dhakuri Pass at a height of around nine thousand feet and stopped for a rather enjoyable lunch at a beautiful rest house just below it. However, it is only when we resumed our journey after our meal did the realities of trekking in the Himalayas finally begin to hit home. We seemed to be walking for hours and were still nowhere near Khati. To make matters worse, Kundan, when enquired about the distance to our night’s stop, would crisply reply ‘around half a kilometre more’, after every two kilometres! And when we finally reached the village, he poker facedly informed us that the camp was actually another half a kilometre up a steep incline! This half a kilometre thing really seemed to be getting out of hand for us!

A new development awaited us at the Khati rest camp. We came to know that a large group of trekkers from Ari’s organisation was joining us that night. You should have seen the look on Ari’s face when he came face to face with the same office folks he was trying to get away from for a few days. Amongst the group was a middle aged Assamese guy sharing my surname who bonded with us in no time. Dinner that night was a crowded affair but nobody seemed to mind a little bit of company under those circumstances.

The trek next day to Dwali, around twelve kilometres away and at a height of eight and half thousand feet, was really challenging, made even more so by the devastation brought about by landslides the previous year. The normal trekking trail had been washed away at most places and we were frequently forced to climb down to the Pindar riverbed and resume our progress along its banks. I was a bit concerned; RP, the avid mountaineer, was worried about us amateurs and Ari was reticent. But Dixie seemed to be in high spirits, undaunted by these adverse turn of events. Eventually, we too caught on to his positive vibes and began enjoying our walk along the wide river bank surrounded by the tall mountains, sound of the flowing water soothing our nerves. We took this opportunity to work on our photography skills too, clicking anything and everything that came into our frames. And with the abundant flora and fauna (mostly of the avian kind) all around, there was no dearth of objects also. By the time we had reached Dwali, we were ready to give any nature photographer a run for his money, at least in our minds.

That night during dinner, Kundan informed us that the trail beyond Dwali seemed to be in worse shape than presumed and we would need to stick together with the group from Ari’s organisation for safety. And to think that we had signed up for this trek after finding it to be rated ‘easy to moderate’ by most trekking blogs! But we were already halfway into the trek and there was no turning back from that point. So we decided to push ahead anyway. As we resumed our trek early next morning towards Phurkia around five kilometres away, it was apparent why the guides had been worried. The trail was practically non-existent at many places and going down to the riverbed was now out of question. We had no option but to move along the remnant of the original trail, navigating some heart stopping crossings along the way. At some places, we literally had to hold on to tree trunks and branches to avoid sliding down the slopes and onto the gushing Pindar. We also  came across many snow crossings where it was difficult to keep your foothold on the slippery snow. To make  matters worse, none of us, with the exception of RP, was wearing proper trekking gear and was woefully under-prepared for such eventualities. It was a really harrowing experience and we were shaken to the bones. Ari, Dixie and myself couldn’t help heaving a collective sigh of relief after finally reaching Phurkia, at a height of more than ten and half thousand feet and a far cry from the smoldering plains we had left behind a few days ago. The three of us were quite satisfied with our day's achievements and looked at RP for some validation. But to our dismay, he still seemed to be less than impressed with our trekking skills. Maybe we would have to scale the Everest to impress him! RP’s utter lack of validation notwithstanding, we went happily to bed, engaging in some harmless banter and planning our final push towards Pindari Glacier the next day. 
It was then that disaster struck.

I had recently got a dental job done to get relief from a long standing cavity problem. It seemed the job had not been done properly and it flared up that night at Phurkia. I was in intense pain all night and had to gulp down pain killers to put myself to sleep. I woke up in the morning with a slight fever. There was an intense debate within our group, which by now also included four canine members we had acquired recently at Khati, as to whether I should continue towards the glacier or stay back. Finally, it was anonymously agreed upon , that having come so far, I should give it a final push. The next 4-5 kilometres that day were going to be a test of my resilience and tenacity and I was up for it, at least I thought so. A few pills and a hearty breakfast later, I was good to go. It also helped that the trek that day was mostly through wide green Bugiyals or high mountain meadows and everyone could keep sight of the other even from a distance. I tried to take it as slow as possible, constantly reminding myself that it was not about reaching there early, but reaching there eventually. After 3 hours of painful trekking, I was finally at the base of the Pindari Glacier where the rest of the guys were waiting for me to make the final ascent together. A while later, the four of us were standing at the Zero Point of Pindari Glacier, at a height of more than twelve thousand feet, a sea of whiteness all around us. Finally, after months of planning and preparation, we had managed to reach the highest point of our first trek together. It was a feeling of accomplishment that I would never ever forget in my life. And that I had achieved this feat amongst friends made it even more special.

The next few days were spent in retracing our steps towards our base camp at Bageshwar. And surprisingly, the same points that had seemed quite insurmountable a few days back seemed to have become far easier as we were climbing down. We really started to chill out by the time we had reached Khati, even making it a point to taste the local beer, called Jhang, offered by the villagers. It was a really potent stuff and seemed to have taken away all the weariness of the of the last few days. By the time we were approaching Bageshwar, we were already planning for our next year’s trek.

Thus culminated my first trek after a gap of more than a decade and it was undoubtedly an exhilarating and refreshing affair. If only for a few days, it gave us the opportunity to get away from the rigours of our present lives and take it slow and steady amidst nature. It let us relive the camaraderie of our college days, when we were young and uninhabited. It allowed Ari and Dixie to revel in their common love for classical music and yours truly to try out my vocal chords without the worry of disturbing the tranquility of anyone, apart from the hapless birds of course. Our long days of trek taught us to appreciate and respect the mountains in a new light. The trek also gave me the chance to reignite my love for bird-photography, something I have tried to continue since. All in all, it was a fabulous experience, one worth emulating again and again, albeit with proper trekking gear and minus the trolley bag!