the lure of Manali..

Do you know what happens when you have a holiday on a Thursday or a Tuesday? Well, you take an off on a Friday or a Monday and go for a trek!!! That’s what I would do, or have been doing for quite some time of my life now… But to do that, few terms and conditions have to be satisfied. Like… The journey to start point has to be as short as possible, preferably overnight. The trek has to be short and sweet, with best possible views! Now you would ask me... “Suggest me such destinations Genius?” Least I remember, Manali, Dharamshala/McLoed Ganj, Chamba etc a few places which could be reached overnight, and there are treks that just start from these places.

But of all, Manali is Tanzeem’s, favorite destinations, why, because its easily accessible from Delhi, it has Chopsticks’s AWESOME food and innumerable trekking options; both short and long. And on top of that, if a trek can’t be worked out then he can rent out a Bullet and go riding to places!! All that makes it one perfect destination.

It was a week before the Dusera holiday on Thursday that me and Vivek decided to get one more trek under our belts. The story actually began 2 months back, before the trek that I did in Ladakh! Remember the Stok-Chilling, in August 2011? Vivek was the one who was going to join me for that adventure. Back then we had decided to take the road trip from Delhi-Manali-Leh-Srinagar-Delhi, but due to some un-avoidable circumstances at work place, he had to back out and I ended up doing a sweet long trek from Stok to Chilling, with Dr. Mondal.

Back then I had a promise to keep up an do a trek with Vivek. All set then, we decided to trek on the Dusera weekend. Manali was short listed, now all that had to be decided was, where to trek. Definetly, I wasn’t very keen on doing the Patalsu peak, or the Beas Kund lake or the Chandratal trek, since I had done them all in past. So what other options we had; the Hampta Pass, Saurkundi, Friendship peak, Shitidhar or the seven sisters peak. The later ones being a little bit technical but short were our best bets! After a good thought, we decided to attempt the Shitidhar peak.

Trek Route: Dhundi-Beas Kund-Camp1-Shitidhar Peak

I called up, Chander, in Manali, and asked him to get ready for the trek. Chander is son of Tikkam Thakur, and I have been using him as a guide for quite long time now. But off late, the family has got a little un-adventurous. But I still trust these guys enough to organize a short trek for me.

As I always do... The Characters of the Story….

Me.. I presume you know enough off...

Vivek: We work in same office, play cricket and eat like mad people. After his marriage, definitely his trek frequencies have gone down, but yes, manages 1 a year… What else.. Agrhhh… I am not good at praising people so let be !!!

Chander: Our hard working guide and super fit guide.. . Did seem to run out of gas at times..

Ramu: assistant guide...again not a very experienced trekker, but heck these local have a lung of horse!

Alright, so on a nice quite Wednesday evening, we to the bus to Manali from Delhi. As usual, we got delayed to reach Manali. Few years back traveling to Manali, one use to reach Manali by 7.00 am, but in recent past, there hasn’t been one occasion when I have reached Manali anytime before 10 in morning. As soon as at Manali, we headed straight to Chopsticks. A Hot Lemon Ginger Honey followed by chicken momo’s and Cheese omelet, we took the bust to Solang nala. Once there, Chander was waiting for us with some additional equipment, which would go inside our bags.

A koflach, an ice axe and cramp on’s. Our bag which already had, our warm clothing’s and jackets and sleeping bags got a little heavier. I presume mour bags then almost weighed anywhere between 12-15 kh’s and that’s go damn heavy, especially when you intend to walk against the gravity. And it kills you even more, taking a toll on your knees, ankles, shins when gravity is in your favor!