Another dream comes true...
I dreamed that one day i would wake up and open the window and see the whole world covered in snow. And lo, it just came true...
Yes, i am talking about auli.
Auli is around 500-550 kms from New delhi. The way is from delhi to rishikesh via NH58, and from there to rudraprayag and to joshimath and from there to Auli. The way from delhi to rishikesh is around 200 kms and is plains - and the way ahead of rishikesh is all mountains.
We were 5 people in an innova and the driver was good at driving in hills. so we took around 12-14 hours for the drive. We started around 10 in the night on friday after diner. Actually we wanted to start early around 6, but we got the information that at 8 pm, the road ahead of rishikesh is closed and it is opened at around 5 am. Since the way from here to rishikesh is around 5-6 hours, we decided to start late and reach the road block at rishikesh at around 4 am. We had a halt at devprayag, half way from delhi to joshimath. But it was not required. Well, joshimath is a good place - small town with beautiful rivers flowing. It is the point of origin of The Ganga. Two rivers alaknanda and bhagirathi meet there and The Ganga is born. A very small town in the valley.
From devprayag around 2 hrs ahead is shrinagar a beautiful valley between all the hills. And before shrinagar is a very nice hotel to stay in - riverside. It is around 1 km from devprayag. We spent some time over there and moved ahead. By 7 in the evening, we reached joshimath the road from rudraprayag to joshimath is very bad - terrible seems a better word.
We spent the night in joshimath. And next morning we went to auli via cable car. The first cable car goes as early as 9:30 am. And if you miss it, you will have to wait untill there are atleast 15 person to travel in the cable car. Well, we missed the cable car and had to wait. You could hire gum boots from the same place at 50Rs/day.
The ride in the cable car was terrible. It was very crowded. I had the notion that since the requirement is minimum 15 people, it would be big, but it is a tiny place and if you have luggage - be prepared for some shoving and scolding. The cable car charges 400/- per person for to and fro. You can also take the road and it would be a better option if it is not snowing.
If you are travelling in cable-car, you would need to get down at tower no 8. And from there, you can either trek down or catch the chair car to gmvnl guest house. There are only 2 places to stay in auli, the gmvnl and the clifftop hotel. Clifftop is costly and the service is not that great. gmvnl is very good. Cheap and affordable. A ride in chair car is 200/- per person to and fro.
Clifftop hotel is very near to the tower no 8 of cable car. GMVNL has ski courses which is a 7 day course. And people from over the world come over here to learn to ski. Food was great. Avoid non-veg. They take too much time to cook non-veg and it is not that great - just ok. We used to be terribly hungry - maybe due to the cold and we used to eat a lot.
The cottages at gmvnl are either huts of deluxe cottages. Huts are very small and do not have central heating. Whereas the deluxe cottages are too good with central heating and all.
The good thing that happened is that it was snowing heavily when we reached Auli. For the first time in my life we saw snow.
All we did over there was play in the snow. It became terribly cold in the night. Even after central heating it was 7-8 degrees inside the room. Outside the temperature must have been -5 degrees or so.
Next morning was bright and clear. We enjoyed the sun and the snow and the clear skies. The people over there would try to make you ski - telling you that it is easy and you would learn in an hour. But dont fall for that. They would charge 200-300 rs/day for the ski and equipment. And you would say - thats great for 300 i can ski for the whole day.
But it is not possible to learn to ski in just 2-3 hours. You would need atleast 2 day practice to start skiing. And the ski equipment is very heavy. You would get tired in 1 hour max.
Return was ok. We felt we should have stayed for a day more. The driver drove at 60-70 kmph on the mountains and we were back in delhi at 2:30 in the morning.
Check out the pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/jayant7k/AuliJan08
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snow. Show all posts
Monday, January 14, 2008
Saturday, March 03, 2007
ilaka triund dharamshala trip
That is a trip we went for during 26 jan 2007. I am terribly sorry for the delay in writing this post. I got a bit lazy. But now since i have nothing else to do, i might as well write the post. This is one of best trips i had ever had.
So, it starts on the very fine evening of 24th. We hire a qualis which is supposed to arrive at 7 pm. All our bags are packed and ready. And as per IST(Indian Stretchable Timings) we get a travera which arrives at 9:30 pm. And to top it up, the travera does not have a place to put our bags (no overhead luggage carrier). Though our luggage was minimal, we all 6 people being guys (gals generally tend to carry more luggage). So we push bags under the seats, keep some on the back seat and finally get packed in the travera. And we start our journey.
Within half an hour the sardarji, our driver reaches the bypass, and starts sleeping. Well not actually sleeping comfortably, but taking small naps during driving. And then we come to realize that the sardarji has not slept in 36 hours. Too bad. Well, so we offered him rest and one of us takes the wheels. We drove for about 5 hours. And then the sardarji takes the wheels again.
Cool, so around 4 in the morning we reach this place - a petrol pump from where we are supposed to start climbing uphill. And the sardarji just drives to the side of the road, pulls a sheet over him and without any word, just goes to sleep. And we all are looking at him with our eyes wide open. Well, we sleep for about 2 hours, and then continue our drive. We pass dharamshala and reach mclaudganj around 10 in the morning.
Here we took 2 rooms and got fresh and had breakfast, and then we start our climb uphill around 1 pm. The trek was good, and we took lots of snaps on the way. We saw a forest fire on the way. And by 5:30-6 pm we are almost on the top of the hill. We start seeing snow on our way. Snow which is still melting. Someway in middle we stopped and sat down and we could hear all the snow around the hill melting with a distinct sound. There was no other sound - except for the snow melting. Too good.
And around 6:30 we reach the top of the hill. It is a nice pleatu. With a population of us 6 people, 4 helpers, 6 horses, 1 caretaker of a guest house (There is a guest house on top of the hill and a caretaker to take care of it), and a dog. That was the population of triund when we reached there. On both sides we have deep valleys. One valley leading to the city. And other valley leading to hills covered with snow. You can have a look at the video below to get an idea of the beauty of the place. I dont have words to describe it.
So we had our diner that day and slept in sleeping bags in a tent on top of the hill. At first, i was a bit afraid that the tent might not be able to protect us from the cold. But the sleeping bags and tent were sufficient to protect us from the cold. Next morning we saw the sunrise from behind the snow covered mountains.
And around 11 started our trek to ilaka (snow line) where we were supposed to see pure snow. The path was very dangerous. We came across small paths covered with snow and slippery and had to trek through that. We were so terrified we were going to go back. But then the guide helped us out. The trek was such that one wrong foot/ one slip and we would have been at the bottom of the valley.
We reached the snow line and had a gala of a time. We played in snow and made snow man. The snow used to melt and get through our clothes. Our fingers were numb. The snow used to get though our shoes and make our feet cold.
We had our lunch on the top of the hill and in middle of snow. We relaxed a little after lunch. Enjoyed the sun and the cool breeze and the quietness. And we saw snowfall on our way back from ilaka.
In the evening after we reached, we saw that one of the shops (there are 3 shops in triund - the local people carry stuff uphill for tourists and sell it at huge profit margins) was open and had coffee there. In the night just before diner, we shouted with our hearts out. Our guide played flute and we made a small camp fire (though campfire is not allowed there).
You should hear this, it might be the best sound album created till date...
And we slept that night. Next morning we had breakfast and treked back from a different and more dangerous route. The route was very steep and at some times we were unable to find the path. The wind was wonderful.
After reaching the city, we tried some tibetian food and some shopping. But we were so tired and exhausted that we found nothing interesting. Anyways, in the end we again packed ourselves in the travera and drove back. Hoping that our adventure was over. But we were wrong. Our sardarji driver was again falling asleep on the way back and so he stopped at some place on the highway - we dont know where and took some drugs (afeem, i think) so that he stays awake throughout the night.
Well man that was the best drive i ever had. The guy was a super hero after he took the drugs. He drove through blinding fog at 80 kmph and then at an average of 110. We covered 220 kms in 2 hours.
At 4 in the morning, we reached home and slept....
So, it starts on the very fine evening of 24th. We hire a qualis which is supposed to arrive at 7 pm. All our bags are packed and ready. And as per IST(Indian Stretchable Timings) we get a travera which arrives at 9:30 pm. And to top it up, the travera does not have a place to put our bags (no overhead luggage carrier). Though our luggage was minimal, we all 6 people being guys (gals generally tend to carry more luggage). So we push bags under the seats, keep some on the back seat and finally get packed in the travera. And we start our journey.
Within half an hour the sardarji, our driver reaches the bypass, and starts sleeping. Well not actually sleeping comfortably, but taking small naps during driving. And then we come to realize that the sardarji has not slept in 36 hours. Too bad. Well, so we offered him rest and one of us takes the wheels. We drove for about 5 hours. And then the sardarji takes the wheels again.
Cool, so around 4 in the morning we reach this place - a petrol pump from where we are supposed to start climbing uphill. And the sardarji just drives to the side of the road, pulls a sheet over him and without any word, just goes to sleep. And we all are looking at him with our eyes wide open. Well, we sleep for about 2 hours, and then continue our drive. We pass dharamshala and reach mclaudganj around 10 in the morning.
Here we took 2 rooms and got fresh and had breakfast, and then we start our climb uphill around 1 pm. The trek was good, and we took lots of snaps on the way. We saw a forest fire on the way. And by 5:30-6 pm we are almost on the top of the hill. We start seeing snow on our way. Snow which is still melting. Someway in middle we stopped and sat down and we could hear all the snow around the hill melting with a distinct sound. There was no other sound - except for the snow melting. Too good.
And around 6:30 we reach the top of the hill. It is a nice pleatu. With a population of us 6 people, 4 helpers, 6 horses, 1 caretaker of a guest house (There is a guest house on top of the hill and a caretaker to take care of it), and a dog. That was the population of triund when we reached there. On both sides we have deep valleys. One valley leading to the city. And other valley leading to hills covered with snow. You can have a look at the video below to get an idea of the beauty of the place. I dont have words to describe it.
So we had our diner that day and slept in sleeping bags in a tent on top of the hill. At first, i was a bit afraid that the tent might not be able to protect us from the cold. But the sleeping bags and tent were sufficient to protect us from the cold. Next morning we saw the sunrise from behind the snow covered mountains.
And around 11 started our trek to ilaka (snow line) where we were supposed to see pure snow. The path was very dangerous. We came across small paths covered with snow and slippery and had to trek through that. We were so terrified we were going to go back. But then the guide helped us out. The trek was such that one wrong foot/ one slip and we would have been at the bottom of the valley.
We reached the snow line and had a gala of a time. We played in snow and made snow man. The snow used to melt and get through our clothes. Our fingers were numb. The snow used to get though our shoes and make our feet cold.
We had our lunch on the top of the hill and in middle of snow. We relaxed a little after lunch. Enjoyed the sun and the cool breeze and the quietness. And we saw snowfall on our way back from ilaka.
In the evening after we reached, we saw that one of the shops (there are 3 shops in triund - the local people carry stuff uphill for tourists and sell it at huge profit margins) was open and had coffee there. In the night just before diner, we shouted with our hearts out. Our guide played flute and we made a small camp fire (though campfire is not allowed there).
You should hear this, it might be the best sound album created till date...
And we slept that night. Next morning we had breakfast and treked back from a different and more dangerous route. The route was very steep and at some times we were unable to find the path. The wind was wonderful.
After reaching the city, we tried some tibetian food and some shopping. But we were so tired and exhausted that we found nothing interesting. Anyways, in the end we again packed ourselves in the travera and drove back. Hoping that our adventure was over. But we were wrong. Our sardarji driver was again falling asleep on the way back and so he stopped at some place on the highway - we dont know where and took some drugs (afeem, i think) so that he stays awake throughout the night.
Well man that was the best drive i ever had. The guy was a super hero after he took the drugs. He drove through blinding fog at 80 kmph and then at an average of 110. We covered 220 kms in 2 hours.
At 4 in the morning, we reached home and slept....
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