Cycling at 60 Degree, Freezing at Zero Degree | Jalori Pass

                                                                               
If my last year's expedition to 'valley of flowers' was a successful failure...then this time around, the Himalayas didn't disappoint me with her tantrums calamities.

Tearing off my shirt in madness to escape Bhubaneswar's sapping humidity, I again decided to escape to the mountains, bath in the nourishing Ganga and sleep with the clearest sky as my blanket.
Also, known as the temple city, Bhubaneswar is small, undisturbed city, an hour drive from the sea.
But I wanted more than just the warm water warming up my toes. So, after a little search in the web, I came across an organization named- Youth Hostels Association of India (YHAI). Unlike many travel websites that claim the best of the experience, YHAI was rather a true revelation. If few of the renowned Travel and Adventure experience websites quoted something in the range of 12k-25k for a mount biking expedition in the Himalayas, then YHAI only costs somewhere in between 4.5k-10k. And that's not the best part. The best part is everything from the boarding, lodging and fooding is taken care off by the staff at YHAI.

What more could you ask for?

Quickly, I enrolled myself for a Mount-Biking expedition at Jalori Pass, Himachal Pradesh.

   

















       

   Just after the conclusion of our very successful "AQUILA 2012"..i left for delhi the very next day.The last 10 days, I have been super busy volunteering and organizing for "amazing race"(i will come to this later on).So without any break i left for my home at Ranchi,packed things and went out to catch the evening garib rath to new delhi.
My tryst with delhi has lot many interesting stories ..i will upadate about it later on..in my next blog.This city has been very un-friendly to me,whenever i went.Well i come to it later on.
I had to report to a place called "AUT"..some 30 kms before kullu in himachal.I hired a bus from chandigarh and set out for the 12-13 hrs of journey.It was dry heat all over haryana.By evening i had reached aut.When i came out of bus..I  encountered my first challenge."Drop in temperatures"...it was chilly and windy.I had made my arrangements.Aut is situated around 3000 ft over sea level.Since it was pitch dark at night 8 o clock,i couldn't get a grasp of what the place was like.I reported at the youth hostel..most of the participants had already signed in ,I was the last one.Since i had come all alone,i thought coming here with a friend would have been a nice idea.Nevertheless I tried to introduce myself to our camp members and asked them about their whereabouts!People all the way from maharastra,karnataka,andhra ,delhi ,chattisgarh had come to participate in the expedition.Before lights out ,there was a kind of introductory session in which every one introduced themselves and expressed their eagerness for the coming 5 days.

DAY 1:THE ACCLIMATIZATION CAMP | ORIENTATION DAY

The wake up call came at 6 o clock in the morning.It was a chilly morning ..and a hot cup of Elaichi tea served the purpose.

At around 6:30 A.M, every one were ready and we just went for morning walk and some exercise.







After having our breakfast,we went out for the acclimatization trek to a nearby village called 'Nau Gaon.' I had left trekking since years but my passion hadn't detered a bit.

When the sun came out behind the barren hills,i got a glimpse of the surrounding."Enchanting" .."captivating" is the word i would like to use to describe what i felt like.Far from cell-phones,assignments ,traffic ,crowd..ah!!what a respite!

  The small huts built with stones,gravels and woods..life is so simple out here!Early in the morning the inhabitants are occupied in their daily chores of agriculture and related activities.We finally reached the village after about an hour and half of trek. We got the first glimpse of  rohtang pass when  we reached the highest point of the village.It laid majestic in the arms of Himalayas.Bright sky in the back made it for an elegant view.On our way back we met with some local farmers.They were cultivating "green peas".They offered us some..and let me tell u folks..i never eat raw peas bt i dint know what on earth was that..green peas that too raw never felt so good!I know am exaggerating just for a couple of peas but thatz that.

We came back to our base camp soon ..after a delicious ,simple and nutritious  lunch we strolled over to look for a decent bathing place.The byas river was just a meter away from our camp.When you see something so alluring..how can u bathe in a make-shift bathroom???We all(boys) went and took a plunge in the ice-cold stream."Saansein phul gayi" once we took a plunge in the cold water.Ah taking a nature's dip after so long year was something i wished for.

After a gap of an hour we issued our respective cycles and went out for an hour ride along the highway.The instructor guided us about the basic operations and elaborated the rules and regulations to be followed during the expeditions.Lots of stress was put on safety and enviroment cleanliness.

That was the curtain raiser for day 1.While lights out..every one was stressed out physically so there was  just snoring all over the room.zzzz..

people playing mafia

DAY 2:ON OUR WAY TO BANJAR (FIRST TRANSIT CAMP)

At around 9 in the morning we set out for our first transit camp situated around 21kms from aut and at height of 4000ft above sea level.After about 300mts from the youth hostel,came a 3kms long tunnel..i think the longest one in nortH india.It was pitch dark at places inside the tunnel..we all rode with full caution.After coming out  of the tunnel,there was a humongous hydel power project built on river byas.Photography was strictly prohibited due to security reasons.

We drove ahead..the real challenge took place when there was persistent uphill route..the difficulty level till our first transit camp was moderate.Within 4-5 hours we were able to reach banjar.Meanwhile i had broke my  cycle chain due to extreme pressure put on it.

There were tents made for the overnight stay.After a satisfying litchi juice we settled down  for some games which can be played without any resources.Here i met some jovial ,easy going guys-shannon,dhruv and aditya all of them from mumbai!!They taught how to play a game called-"mafia".Every one took active participation and in this way i came to know about each and everyone's name.

There were 3 brothers from A.P...i prefer to call them reddy bros..silent,sober and very friendly.Always asking me what do you call this/that in oriya..Then there was this guy-sheshadri who always had some extra terrestrial,extra adventurous idea for everything.

Apart from this omkar ,lalit were the kind of guys whu would just create laugh riot of sorts in their own marathi way.Some sensible guys sourav,jatin,rahul with whom i interacted were some very nice  guys i came across.The show stopper of our cam was Mr.karthik from karnataka..he was always busy in his own world and this guy was full of energy 24*7.Till late evening gossips,games took place.

We also got to take pics with the local kids..all of them were pink like cherries.They were all super excited on being photographed.

DAY 3:SECOND TRANSIT CAMP-JIBHI(6000 ft. above sea level)


Jibhi was 10kms from banjar..but hey folks don't be mislead by the figure-only 10kms!!The altitude gain for this camp was 2000ft..it was not at all an easy way out.Though the roads were good ,steep escalations made it difficult for us.As a result i again broke my chain..ahh no not again.The mechanic replaced it with a sturdier one.With every ascending altitude the view around became more and more  profound and scenic.The rich variety of vegetation were an example to that.They call it the coniferous forest..they stay evergreen througout the year.At places there was inclination of about 45-60 deg and the load of backpack carrying blankets,toiletries,clothing,wind cheater .safety equipment was a added burden.In the way we had our packed lunch.It took longer than the last day to complete the 10kms even.

This was the evidence of how difficult the route was.At around 3 pm i reached jibhi..!!man what can i say about this place..i really dnt have words to describe!!It was just nature ,nature and nature.I was sweating and stinking ,hence i plunged into the nearby stream .This stream like the previous one 1 was more icier and more colder..i some how managed to take a dip in it.I ordered some garma garam allo kay parathey ..and to my content he put some extra butter on it."HEAVEN ON EARTH"...is  all i can say about the parantha.Those on plains who haven't tasted it ..then they have surely missed out something important in life.Jibhi in all was a very romantic place.scantily populated.In the evening we went to a nearby water fall..it was just covered by ferns of all kind.All this things led me think how the nature has evolved during its course of time.And for this evolution we have been witnessing such beautiful wilderness around..

The night at jibhi is one which i will never forget.Temperature was below 10.Crystal clear night and a moonlight sky..thoughts of all forms came crossing my mind.All i can say was..it was life at its purest form!!

DAY 4:THIRD BASE CAMP-SOJHA(around 10000 ft.)

We never knew what was in store for us the next day.Our bums had already been in pain through some rigorous cycling.Tired and emancipated-that's how we were feeling.But still the determination to reach sojha firm.The route till sojha was-dangerous,challenging and 2 levels up in difficulty level as compared to last day.There were a mixture of uphill and downhill along the route for last two days.But from now on it was just uphill.Literally we trekked all along the route as cycling was next to impossible.

Of course it was possible ..but the difficulty was of professional level.1 thing great about the himalayas is that once you go deeper into the wilderness ,you explore more and you get a chance to surprise yourself.The mustard fields,the small generators built across the streams ...all these take you into a different world al together.I have not logged on to my fb account since days,haven't seen tv or read newspaper bt still am satisfied about what i was doing.Some things cant be explained ..so its better to leave them unexplained.

My thigh muscles kept pulling me apart and discouraging me to move any further.But the encouragement of fellow mates kept me moving.The routes were even unmetalled..so it was a risky business.

  To lift up our mood and fill in some blood shannon,dhruv and adi danced their heart out to some songs and kept the atmosphere of the group lively.They were just crazy man!!After 6-7 hours of treacherous trek we finally reached sojha..and breathed a sigh of relief.The outline of slow clad mountains was clearly visible from here.In the evening we went out to a nearby british bungalow which looked more like a haunted house.So we thought it would be good if we come out from that area before sunset.
It had to be destiny that i was  in one of  the highest point when the moon was the biggest in a decade,It couldn't have been better than this.It was like everything is falling into place.I got a glimpse of the moon..under the clear sky it just looked majestic with the mountains all around.


DAY 5:TREK TO JALORI PASS AND BACK TO AUT

After a heavy breakfast we all trekked leaving our cycles behind for a 5kms trek to jalori pass.It was a nature's trail.and we got the first glimpse of snow along this way.Having reached jalori within 2hrs we found out that it was just a small yet scenic place.There were other foreign tourist too who flocked this place.

It was at 10500ft..so i felt a bit dizzY.Neverthless all the team members were happy that they finally posted a victory after an ardous trek.It was like the hard earned money.We had to leave this place early as we had to desend down to banjar the same day.

   If climbing up was a challenging task ,then sloping down was a dangerous one.In spite of new brake-shoes,the breaks didn't apply well over the un-metaled surface.Rather it skidded.To make matter worse..controlling the bicycle was not at all easy.6 of us decided before hand to go directly to Aut without halting at Banjar. After taking the required permission we set out for the final journey.Climbing up till 10500 ft. and again descending back to 3000 ft. in a single day took toll on my body.Heavy dizziness was felt when i reached the base camp.In spite of that i had to hurry as I had to catch a bus for Shimla scheduled at 9 pm.

DAY 6:THE END

I got one day extra in my hand..so with rahul i went out to shimla .I reached shimla around 3 am,To my dismay the town wore a spooky look.I had to wait till morning to get a decent hotel.Shimla is indeed a good place but having visited such divine places 2-3 days back..this place didn't  interest me much.It was a good place for honeymooner and family peoples ,not for serious backpackers like us.Eventually i slipped out of shimla that very evening through the toy train.The toy train connecting shimla to kalka has been recognized by unseco as one of the world  heritage site .The toy train journey was an adventurous one,covering n number of tunnels and displaying the fact that how difficult it was to construct rails at such high altitudes
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Concluding Thoughts 

My fairy tell journey across the dev bhoomi came to an end eventually.I did come to learn a lot of things especially about the diverse and rich culture this great country possess.We may be possessed by internet,tv ,media but still there is a beautiful world out there.Go explore it.LIfe is not just about facebook,,jobs..salary.There is something more beyond that which is better if experienced.I thing i came to know is that this generation of ours is conservative in a way..u know how??
We all are comfortable in our own group of friends ,we do all sorts of leg-pulling ,gossips when we are in our own comfort zone.But what happens to us when we are pushed into a different environment with people around us  whom we have never seen, interacted.How do you approach them??How to carry yourself then??I happened to go to  this place all alone..yet i found it difficult at times to communicate with people spontaneously.But with passage of time every thing went out well.
In science they call it adaptability.
The rest return journey was a bit on the slower side.Most of the time was spent traveling.
And finally i reached home amid 40deg up with the sun scorching all around..i wondered how my body is gonna take this??