Rupin Pass – With Indiahikes

It’s been eight days, we walked through villages and we walked in mountains, along the river, in the valleys, through the jungle, crossing rivers and bridges… on the snow ... on frozen rivers...

Every moment we experienced thrill and excitement ...missed the dear ones… felt so close to the nature...walked on the edge … & yet so close to life… We risked our lives ...survived the challenges... made great friends and memories....

People from very different places, backgrounds and age groups could connect with each other...felt together where everyone was a trekker and there was no need to explain why we are doing this.

As rightly said by Arjun, this trek turned different every day...moment you could get comfortable with the trail... terrain changed and so the challenges...

One day trail was broad and along the village ...other day it was narrow … Some times it was all mountains covered with Pine trees and flowers ... & some we walked on frozen river …some days climbed the snow mountains... and when started feeling stronger about the snow ...came across steep climbs and deep descents.

Where first slide on snow was so much fun... it turned into helluva experience other day as there was no other way to come down the huge mountains and we did slide down holding to our dear lives.

Nights on snow were coldest and stormy ... we could hear avalanche one night and kept wondering inside the tent...whether it would hit us.

I remember ...It took 3-4 minutes for the stone to reach ground when Suraj dropped it after making steps on the snow while crossing one of the snow patches. Everyone on the trail watched quietly holding breath till it hit the ground and crossed that patch without saying a single word.

We learnt some mountaineering skills like duck-walk, kicking, side steps, Plunging & sliding with and without micro-spikes to make the snow climbing and walking down easy. It did help us a great deal though the walk was never easy... ;)

Climbing Rupin pass seemed impossible .Though there was no way back and you could afford to look neither up or down while climbing the pass ...you had to keep going...Pranav - Honey Sing From India hikes ;) was great great help and his songs and mountaineering skills definitely gave us much needed confidence to reach Rupin pass.

Snow was changing with time and weather. Sometimes it was hard ice, slippery and sometime it was so soft that almost an entire leg went inside. Most trekkers suffered from AMS...and to add to the thrill ...we also had snow fall which covered all the mountain peaks when we were up high on the clouds at Rupin pass. Walk down from Rupin pass was extremely tiring and never ending... we had two helluva slides while coming down the pass which were most thrilling and scary and turned everyone upside down.

Skin burned while walking and we could see our faces and hands turning black, red & purple ...When we all thought walk is almost over …we saw Ahilya slipping on the snow and went down with lightning speed …every other person who saw her going down helpless , lost their confidence on snow. It took us a while to settle the heartbeat and porters were great help all the way ahead on every snow patch. Shiju-India Hikes trek lead's plunging down on the trail to stop and hold Ahilya without losing a fraction was very brave.
 

At last we lost snow and could feel the land with our feet …it felt incredible to get inside the tent which was not on snow… and the very thought in the mind was "Bloody Hell ....We did Rupin Trek….!" Climbed 15,250 ft in wind, snow and many of them with loads of backpacks!!!

Thanks a ton to Suraj and his team for making this trek possible for giving us all the support, help and yummy food …& Cheers to fit and fun Army(Mavala) gang …Leader Saurabh…experienced and fun trekkers like Ahilya & Gautamy , Arun who never left his camera and crossed all the trails & climbs with ease , Pavan with music , cool Menons, Spirit of the trek Sonali … bright and bubbly Prashasti… quiet couple Tarun and Richa… best buddies Tarun and Anurag…Super models Rupa and Sunita… Quiet n Strong - my partner Madhu , cool Shantanu….consistent Sanjay ….Super cool David … & last but not the least Sweetheart Shiju who made this trek very memorable and experience of lifetime.

Photo From Arun Nayak: