It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.
~Sir Edmund Hillary

I woke up to the sounds of
Gurgling Rupin river
Ringing bells in
the neck of mules,
Chirping of birds,
Ruffling of leaves,
Ricocheting of winds.

I woke up to the sight of
Early morning mist,
Lush green mountains,
Fresh virgin snow,
Sashaying tree limbs,
Dew-soaked meadows,
Exquisite white rhododendrons.

I woke up to the
Chill of hanging glaciers,
Taste of hot ginger tea,
Aroma of apples & apricots,
Tranquility of retreat,
And renewal of spirit.

I woke up to a magical morning
Of my peaceful unplugged vacation.

Smitten by wanderlust and my goal of covering India’s top treks, I decided to take on the challenge of Rupin pass this year. Having struck off #2 ranked trek (according to IndiaHikes), Roopkund, from my bucket list last year, it was time for #1.

Rupin Pass is a high-altitude mountain pass across the surreal Himalayan mountain range in state of Himachal Pradesh. This trek unravels a wide ambit of panoramas. Throughout, you are greeted with stunning sceneries such as cascades, verdant meadows, rhododendron woodlands, snow-kissed mountains, charming hamlets and swift rivers. And the scenery changes so suddenly sometimes that you need to look back and find your bearings.

Without thinking twice, I chose IndiaHikes (IH) with which I had done my last adventure. I admire them for their professionalism and accountability that they show towards their trekkers. As we were inching closer towards our trek date, we started getting emails from IH regarding recommended fitness regime, things to take, how to backpack and so on. Trek with Swathi is a nice video series by them on YouTube which is a must-watch for all the beginners. The best thing that IH do, in my opinion, is creating a WhatsApp group of trekkers of same batch. This is just so very helpful in breaking the ice. By the time, we reached basecamp, we were familiar with almost everyone and had something to strike a conversation with.

Trek Itinerary

Day	From	Average Time
Day 1 (21/05/17)	Dehradun to Dhaula (5100 ft.)	10-11 hours by cab
Day 2 (22/05/17)	Dhaula (5100 ft.) to Sewa (6300 ft.)	6 hours
Day 3 (23/05/17)	Sewa (6300 ft.) to Jiskun (7700 ft.)	6 hours
Day 4 (24/05/17)	Jiskun (7700 ft.) to Udaknal (10100 ft.)	5 hours
Day 5 (25/05/17)	Udaknal (10100 ft.) to Dhanderas Thatch (11700 ft.)	5 hours
Day 6 (26/05/17)	Acclimatization day	—
Day 7 (27/05/17)	Dhanderas Thatch (11700 ft.) to Upper Waterfall camp (13100 ft.)	2-3 hours
Day 8 (28/05/17)	Upper Waterfall camp (13100 ft.) to Rupin Pass (15380 ft.), further on to Ronti Gad (13100 ft.)	10-11 hours
Day 9 (29/05/17)	Ronti Gad (13100 ft.) to Sangla (8600 ft.) via Sangla Kanda (11427 ft.)	6 hours

Source – https://indiahikes.com/rupin-pass/

Day 0, 20^th May – Reached Dehradun

I took a flight from Hyderabad to Dehradun on 20^th morning. The view of Dehradun valley from flight was amazing; a small city nestled amidst undulating rugged mountains. The moment I collected my luggage at the airport, I dropped a WhatsApp message to trek members asking if anyone has already arrived. Krishna and group (Srinivas, Srinath and Nithya) had come via that flight only. They were from Bangalore. Krishna pinged me back and we took the cab from airport together. One of their group members, Nithya, didn’t come with us as his luggage was left at Bangalore airport only and was supposed to come via next flight. Their hotel was quite near to me, so there wasn’t any problem. In the evening, I went out and explored Tibetan and few other local markets. They were all run-of-the-mill markets; nothing very fancy. I got together with Krishna and all later that evening and had dinner together. There I came to know that Nithya’s luggage didn’t come and would come next morning. So, we requested IH to arrange another vehicle for 5 of us a little later the next day, at around 8.30 AM. And they were kind to do that for us.

Day 1, 21^st May – Dehradun to Dhaula

Fortunately, nothing wrong happened the next day and Nithya’s luggage was delivered by airlines on time. We had our breakfast at our respective hotels to make up for the delay and left Dehradun at around 8.30 AM. Almost 100 km from there was a small village, Purola where we had our lunch. Moving forward from Purola, we drove towards Mori where we entered beautiful pine forests. From Mori, we drove alongside Tons river until Netwar where Tons segregates into Rupin and Supin rivers. We followed Rupin river and moved towards Dhaula. The ride from Netwar to Dhaula was extremely bumpy. However, the view of Dhaula campsite, yellow-orange Hillman tents pitched amidst beautiful pine forest at the bank of Rupin river, made me forget the rickety ride I had gone through.

We had a small introduction session where I got to know our trek leader, Shravan, and my fellow trekkers. We had a big group of 8 from Volvo which included 2 folks from outside India, Natalia and Luigi. Then we had Arpan coming all the way from Singapore. Rishav and Jo (another non-Indian) had come from Thailand. There I met Sushil who also works in Microsoft Hyderabad campus as I do. He had come with his friend Saurav. We didn’t know each other personally but I had seen him a few times in my cafeteria. We were a total of 22 trekkers in our group. Besides these, there were 2 trek guides, Mohan and Surendra. Everyone was given their health cards which was used over next 9 days to keep a record of oxygen level and heart rate. My tent mates were Nithya and Ramesh, a very soft-spoken person from Tamil Nadu who also happened to be a follower of Osho.

Day 2, 22^nd May – Dhaula to Sewa

The morning drill was not new to me, given my experience with IndiaHikes last year. It was 6-7-8; tea at 6 AM, breakfast at 7 AM and leave the campsite at 8. We did exactly that the next morning (22^nd May) and left for Sewa. Mohan led from the front, Surender was sweeper, sweeping everyone from back making sure no one is left behind, and Shravan kept moving back and forth. The trail started gently by crossing a narrow bridge over Rupin, but then showed its true colors; a steep climb for about half an hour. It was tiring and a gentle reminder of what’s in the store. The trail then flattened out followed by a gentle accent till we reached Sewa village at 1 PM. We were greeted with stunning cascades, apple and apricot trees with gurgling Rupin river following us all along the way. We had a home stay at Sewa, not tents. It was a welcome change. Our cottage was primarily made of wood and using rectangular stones slabs instead of cement. The roof of the cottage was made with flat stone slabs to drain away rain water. This was in line with other houses in Sewa. After lunch, some of us assembled together and played Macau. I hadn’t played it before and was too much fun. I ganged up with Shravan and Nithya against Aishwarya, and we made sure that she didn’t win, a mischief that we continued till the end of the trek ☺. In the evening, we played cricket with local people.

Day 3, 23^rd May – Sewa to Jiskun

We encountered a temple at the onset of our trek. The specialty of this temple is its architecture. The temple is built in form of a clock tower and has many medallions and shields hanging on its outer wall. The architecture of this two-storeyed temple borrows a lot from Kinnaur traditions which is not very far away from here (Kinnaur is one of the 12 districts of Himachal Pradesh). The trail started with a descent to Rupin river amidst freshly-planted wheat fields. This was followed by a steep ascent in deep dark forest. We then came across a wooden bridge across a stream that flows into Rupin. This bridge is a no man’s land as it separates Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh. Cross the bridge, and you are into Himachal. After some time, the narrow trail through deep dense forest fans out into a broad road which is the lifeline of Jiskun. Vehicles use this road for the movement of essential supplies. After resting for a while at a small dhaba, we ascended further for another 3 hours. While I was in the last leg of the day’s trek, it started drizzling and had to wear poncho. We reached our next campsite, which again was a home stay, at around 12.45 PM. After having lunch, the coterie once again got together to play Macau, something we continued for the remainder of the trek.

Day 4, 24^th May – Jiskun to Udaknal

Today was a difficult day. We trekked for almost 9 hours before we reached Udaknal. We had our lunch packed at Jiskun before we left. The trail started with an hour’s descent through walnut trees until a wooden bridge across a rivulet. After crossing the bridge, we were greeted by a precarious fold in the mountain. This was followed by a steep ascent through fir forest leading all the way up to Jakha village. Today also, it started raining in the afternoon and we had to carry on a wet trail before reaching Udaknal campsite at around 4 in the evening. We heaved a sigh of relief at the sight of those familiar orange Hillman tents. The scenery kept on changing almost after every turn, right from giddy precipice, to dense fir forest, to gentle wheat fields, to boulder-strewn path hopping over multiple stream. It was beautiful, and challenging.

 

Day 5, 25^th May – Udaknal to Dhanderas Thatch

The bright sunny morning was a huge respite from incessant rain last night. The Udaknal campsite had finally come alive. We finished our morning chores and left the camp, as usual, at 8. After a steep climb through a dense foliage, the trail evened out and we were welcomed by a riot of colors. There were thousands of white and pink rhododendrons in full bloom; flaunting one of the many surprises mother nature has up her sleeve. As we moved further, the forest paved way for mesmerizing Rupin valley with rhododendrons adorning the slopes and Rupin river flowing in its full glory. We walked on boulder-strewn river bed and reached a snow-bridge. This was the first experience of walking on snow in this trek. There were multiple such snow bridges here and there beneath which flowed miniature streams combining to form Rupin. Clambering up from the base of snow bridge was like a crescendo culminating into a mind-boggling climax – a verdant meadow flanked by mountains on all sides. We were right in the heart of Rupin valley. Pristine Rupin thundering down from clouds in three stages of waterfall, brown mountains pockmarked by snow patches, multiple waterfalls flowing down from all sides and ground carpeted with lush green grass. It was romping of colors on the nature’s canvas. And this is where we camped. This was Dhanderas thatch, also called lower waterfall camp.

 

Day 6, 26^th May – Acclimatization day

This was acclimatization day, and we stayed at Dhanderas camp itself. We went on a short acclimatization walk on a snow patch nearby where Shravan (our trek leader) taught us techniques of walking on snow without micro-spikes. To walk up the incline, use your toe to make groove in snow, then rest your foot in the groove and push yourself up. There is another technique which is called edge walk. Instead of toe, use outer side of one of your feet and inner side of the other to make steps in snow. To descend, it should be your heels that should land first and make steps. This, seemingly, nugatory session went a long way in upcoming days when we had to walk on treacherous snow patches. We relaxed for this entire day and played Macau in our dining tent.

Day 7, 27^th May – Dhanderas Thatch to Upper Waterfall

This was the day when we had to scale the three-staged waterfall that was visible from Dhanderas campsite. Not long had we ventured into today’s trek, still absorbed in converse, when we encountered a steep snow patch. The technique of snow walking that we learnt previous day came extremely handy. The second stage of the waterfall is frozen beneath which Rupin flows down and reappears mysteriously in liquid form to form the third stage of the waterfall. It was very crucial to walk in a straight line and silently. Silence, because, firstly it keeps you focused and secondly it was an avalanche-prone zone. Fortunately, a trail was already made, and we didn’t face any difficulty following it. However, it was perilous stretch and full of adrenaline rush. We clambered up the ridge line and all of a sudden, we are the foot of the top most stage of the waterfall. The view of gazillion tons of water coming crashing down all the way from sky was majestic. It was short trek that day; we reached our campsite at 11 AM. This campsite was one of the most beautiful campsite I had ever seen; white snow-capped mountains all around with brown rocks jutting out here and there, icy blue rivulet snaking through the valley, an assortment of green and brown grass blanketing the ground and in between were pitched bright orange colored tents. A chef-d’oeuvre of mother nature.

 

We had an early lunch there and then went on a small walk with Surendre (our trek guide). He notoriously didn’t tell us where was he taking us. As we were walking, the sound of waterfall became louder and it wasn’t difficult for anyone to guess. We were walking towards the topmost point of upper waterfall. It, now, sends a chill down my spine when I think that I saw a waterfall from top, not below. Watching melted snow tumbling down from giddying height and shaping itself into Rupin river down below and flowing through the valley was unparalleled.

There were multiple snow patches here and there. Shravan started throwing snow balls and within no time Natalia, Aishwarya and a few other joined in.

Day 8, 28^th May – Upper Waterfall to Rupin Pass, further on to Ronti Gad

This was the summit day. We left campsite early at 5 AM since the snow is tough and it’s easier to walk. In order to contain the speed of the group and stick everyone together, Shravan decided to lead the pack with Muthu and Aishwarya’s (we had 2 of them in our group ☺) who were relatively slower than other folks. It was an arduous clamber up the ridge for initial 2 hours before we reached a vast snowfield of Rati Pheri. We had to negotiate through some treacherous snow patches where our guides gave us much needed hand-holds. We put on our micro-spikes as Rati Pheri is singularly white. After a laborious ascent for almost 2 hours did we see our goal, Rupin pass. It was a narrow stretch of snow cutting through the ridge line of Dhauladar, cradled deep within the cusp of mountains. It was 8 AM by then. We rested for some time at the foot Rupin pass gully, took a few sips of water and collected our breath before starting the final adventurous climb.

 

Rupin gully is a steep 70-degree climb, one of the steepest of the entire trek. However, what made it the most toilsome was the length of the stretch, extreme cold, 70 litres rucksack clung to my back and above all the risk of slipping. I was walking silently to keep myself focused, stepping gingerly on the steps cut out by IH team at the front. Mohan and Shravan kept motivating the team throughout that gully climb. At some of the places, steps were not cut out properly, or probably was disturbed by person ahead of me. It was at this time, that the technique taught on the acclimatization day at Dhanderas thatch came to the rescue. I used my foot to create steps and move forward. After trudging for almost an hour or so, we finally reached the top. And the view was something to die for. On one side, there was Rupin valley, and on the other was majestic Dhauladar range with its crown jewel Kinnaur Kailash shining the brightest amongst all.

After some traditional “been here”, “I did it” pics by everyone, it was time to walk down, or should I say, “slide down”. Yes indeed. The trail was so steep that it’s impossible to descend on foot. So, we slid. This is something that I missed during my Roopkund trek. We did 3 long and 1 short slides and descended almost 400 ft. within no time. Shravan taught us the to hold the trekking pole with both hands perpendicular to legs and use the elbows and heels to apply brakes while sliding. It was helpful as some of the slides were quite long and by the time someone reached the bottom, he/she would have gained very high speed. There were sounds of “wohoos” and “hurrays” from boisterous mouths. It was an utter delight not just to do your own slide but also watching others slide and then making fun of them. After sliding on snow, walking looked too monotonous. My bums were numb with snow all inside me, but it was all worth it.

After crossing the snowline, we entered once again into meadows and reached Ronti Gad campsite. This was a tough day. We had certificate distribution with our soup at 6 where everyone shared their feeling. It was at this time, that our trek leader quoted Sir Edmund Hillary, “It is not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

Day 9, 29^th May – Ronti Gad to Sangla

This was the most content and refreshing morning, for obvious reasons. After doing the head count for one last time, we left the campsite at 8. It was a constant descend all the way up to Sangla. We reached Sangla at around 1 PM. All of us assembled at a small guest house, gave back our echo bags and sleeping liners, and bid goodbyes. I hopped on a cab with Krishna, Srini, Srinath and Nithya, and headed to Chandigarh.

I had planned to go to Mcleodganj after the trek; even had done the bookings there. But there was some urgent work in Delhi. More importantly, I was sapped out of all energy and didn’t want to continue any further. So, the work in Delhi was a blessing in disguise. I asked my Jijaji to book Shatabdi ticket from Chandigarh and Delhi for 30^th morning. It was a 10-hour long drive to Chandigarh. By the time I reached there, it was 11.30 PM. I was tired, dog-tired. So much so, that I slept on the platform bridge at Chandigarh railway station as there wasn’t any place in the waiting room. I woke up refreshed, took bath in the waiting room after good 9 days and then headed for Delhi.

Goodbye mountains, until next time!