Lambri Pass Winter Trek: Our First in the Himalayas
Let the end guide new beginnings—the village where we finished our trek
As the mountain sun massaged every muscle on my back with its sauna-like warmth, I recalled the journey that led us, a group of six mountain lovers, here. Where is here? It's a little hamlet called Ghiyagi, tucked in the valleys of Banjar district in Himachal Pradesh. While the sun kept working its wonders on my body, my eyes and soul enjoyed the treat I was here for: unadulterated nature and an abundance of peace. Our accommodation before we started the trek was Wayward Inn, a cozy homestay run by Ved (our guide for the trek) and his lovely family. For the limited time we were there, we tried to get the best of the views the homestay afforded—valleys carpeted with towering pine trees. And far away in the horizon, the mighty Himalayan mountains gave us a sneak peek of their snow-capped peaks. There was a river flowing somewhere in the distance down below, and the soothing sound of gushing water was music to my ears. Only an occasional bus/car/bike broke my peaceful reverie while one heck of an adventure awaited us.
Prelude
Both Dilip and I love trips to the mountains. So naturally, the idea of going on our first trek in the Himalayas was extremely enticing. What made it more exciting was the thought of being in the company of our friends, Shilpa and Sandeep, who are also experienced trekkers for whom a Himalayan trek is an annual pilgrimage since 13+ years. I'm always starry-eyed when I read Shilpa's blog where she's documented all of their explorations, expeditions, and experiences in the Himalayas. In one of our little get-togethers, when S&S suggested that we do a trek after the New Delhi Marathon—in which all of us were participating—we jumped at the idea. Two more of our running buddies, Brijesh (also an avid trekker) and Avinesh (a trekker and a mountaineer), joined in on the idea, and the plan was on. Shilpa shared our plan with Ved, a guide and S&S's friend; they speak highly about him from their treks with him. And Ved had a plan for us, one that would give us a big Himalayan high!
The Trip Begins
Fast forward to 25th Feb, the race day. I'm not going to delve into the details of how awesome the race was for all of us! The centerpiece of our trip to the north was our trek. Our excitement was building up, and it was at its peak when we boarded our HRTC bus in the evening and finally started our journey. After an uneventful bus ride coupled with on-and-off sleep, we reached Aut. The bus stop is right after the 3-km-long tunnel. Multiple hot cups of over-sweet tea and salty bread pakoras later, we were on our way to Ved's homestay in Ghiyagi, a 2-hour-drive away from Aut. Now if I start with how good Ved, his family, his team, and his homestay is, you might think I'm boasting. But trust me, I'm not. We were pampered silly with yummy homemade food, fresh orange juice, tea/coffee whenever we wanted, unlimited warmth, and so much more. And the location of the homestay is right beside the main road leading up to Shoja (5 km) and Jalori Pass (10 km), hence easy to find if you're driving.
Wayward Inn, Ghiyagi
Of Treading Trails and Snowy Steps
On the morning of 27th Feb, Ved's team, our support crew, arrived. They assembled all the gear and ration (which included some indulgences that I'll highlight later), packed them neatly in bags, and we were all set to go. But not before the mandatory group photo.
The starting point of our trek was in a little settlement called Dimachari, a 1-hr drive from Ved's homestay. On the way, we stopped at the scenic Jibbi Waterfalls (3 km from the homestay). More than the waterfall itself, it's the little hike leading up to it that stole my heart. There are small, arched bridges for crossing the crystal clear stream at different sections. And the entire place was clean and plastic-free, a status that the locals strive hard to maintain.
Day 1
Driving along the winding roads, we found the first patches of snow a little before Dimachari. We stopped at the Seraj gram panchayat office, unloaded our stuff, and started our trek with our team. The beginning looked unassumingly, deceivingly simple. It was a straight trail in a pine forest and had one stream-crossing, some slush-walking, some patches of old snow, some animal's jaw with teeth intact that had us guessing who it belonged to, and a lot of excited banter. There were also some patches of slippery ice where I got the first glimpse of how supportive a support crew we had—more on that later. In a nutshell, the first 2 km of our trek had me thinking that this one's going to be a walk in the park, err...forest. What did I know!
The quiet that surrounded us throughout our time in the depths of the forest was eerily beautiful. It was a welcome relief from the usual chaos we had left behind, even if it was only for a few days. Most of the trail in the forest was carpeted with a velvety orangish brown layer of dry pine leaves that might have coloured the valleys this lovely shade during autumn. A good distance into our leisurely walk, we got our first obstacle course, a snowy/icy climb, and that was my first stint with such terrain. So quite unsurprisingly, it scared me a bit as it brought back memories of my broken elbow, and made me more cautious of my steps than I probably should have been. This over-cautious trait stayed with me throughout the trek. But I didn’t really have to worry much as at every such patch someone or the other from our support team was there to hold my hand and help me through.
She's a pro on snow
Camp 1: Under the Pine Trees
After walking for a total of 4.8 km from the start point, we reached our camp for Day 1, a little clearing in the middle of the forest. Since this route was among the lesser known trekking routes, the camp site had no name. Ved christened it as “Shilpa thatch” (thatch translates to meadows in the local dialect) for she was the reason behind this trek (don’t I adore her more for that!). We pitched our tents and retired for the day to a humongous campfire set up by one of our support team members. We named him Bahubali after he, a tiny frame of a man, surprised us with his brute power when he lifted a log perhaps three times his weight, and only a little smaller than him in size, and added it to the fire so that we stayed pampered in its warmth for as long as we were outside of our tent. Grapes, tea, Maggi noodles, and a sumptuous dinner of rice, roti, dal, sabzi, and chicken curry (surprise!)—we were quite well-fed at camp.
Yeah, that's the log he carried on his shoulder!
As dusk gave way to night, the (almost full) moon lit up the sky, which was a blessing in disguise. I can only imagine what it would be like if it were pitch black. Thankfully, the soft moonlight even helped us move about without our torches. Before calling it a day and going into our respective tents, we revised the constellations and thanked the stars that the weather was holding up well. A peaceful sleep (without waking up multiple times in the night) would evade us until the end of the trek, but not that we were complaining.
Day 2
While the first day had started dry and brown, we were on snow as soon as we started on the second day. We climbed up a gentle slope with ankle-deep snow at places. I got my first lesson in how to climb up on snow. Kick with the tip of your feet for solid footing, feel the step, and on to the next step. Ved and his entire team are such nimble-footed gentlemen. It always looked like they would hop, skip, and jump and be out of sight while I would have taken all of 3 steps! So we followed Ved’s footsteps in the snow and walked in awe of our surroundings as the pine forest soon gave way to a thick golden oak forest.
Soon after the climb up the snow slope we were in a meadow and then up we went again through the oak forest. Our next stop was for lunch at Raghupur Fort, which had us climbing some steep meadows—quite a way to build an appetite. It was so steep that it was literally breathtaking! But I doubt if Avi felt the same—to see him running (or was he flying!) up that 60-degree incline did make me lose whatever breath I was saving! We got our first glimpse of snow-capped mountains on this route. I get goosebumps every time, EVERY TIME, I see snow-clad Himalayan mountains.
A lake in the meadow near Raghupur Fort
We couldn’t have asked for a more idyllic place to have lunch at than Raghupur Fort. There’s hardly anything left to call it a fort but battered shelters, which were probably built for nomadic shepherds (the Gaddis), decorated with mindless graffiti and senseless declarations of love (*eye-roll*). The descent from the fort took us through an oak forest dotted with rhododendron trees, which we exited at Jalori Pass road head. The sole of my shoe had shown some signs of distress at the end of Day 1 (what else can you expect from an old pair lying unused for almost 4 years). At Jalori Pass, it was 90% out. Ved fixed it up temporarily so that it held up at least for the rest of the day as we had 5 km more to camp. He had arranged for an alternative pair, but he wasn’t convinced that even that pair would be good enough for the “tough” day next day. So he bought a new pair of boots for me—couldn’t thank him enough for the kind gesture.
At Raghupur Fort
Camp 2 was at a small clearing near Serolsar Lake, a pristine water body with not even a leaf floating on it although it was surrounded by trees. Legend has it that there are two birds that clear out the leaves every morning. I won’t question that belief—that’s how clean the lake was. While our campsite was beautiful in the daylight, the full moon of Holi Poornima made it even more serene at night. Moonlight washed over our tents and the entire surroundings, and even made the snow glow.
Jalori Mata's temple at Jalori Pass
Camp 2
Serolsar Lake
Day 3: Of Steep Climbs, Scary Descents, and Facing Fears
I had my new boots on and was ready to start the day with a lot more excitement. But there was also a little butterfly in the pit of my stomach that fluttered every time the thought crossed my mind that Ved had said it’s going to be a tough day. When the person you consider Superman says something’s going to be tough, can you blame me for gut butterflies! It was Holi that day, so we stopped at the Budhi Nagin Temple beside Serolsar Lake to let our team mates pay their offerings to the deity before we started our climb up forest trails and crunched some snow along the way to reach Nochi Top. And there we were—at one of the most difficult sections of our trek.
Budhi Nagin Temple in the background
If you were to go by the numbers, you might think it’s just a 200-300-metre descent. But when it’s a near vertical path that has the trek leader contemplating fixing rope, it means it’s a tough 200-300 metres. However, we didn’t have to use any rope as the snow was soft and all we had to do was, in Ved's words, “just keep your weight towards the mountain and sit down if something happens.” All I could do was smile to that, take a deep breath, hold one of my team members’ hand, and take the first step into knee-deep snow. Often the step was more a leap (of faith). Our support team made it easy for us to negotiate the descent as they opened the route and made a trail of sorts. The rest of us had to carefully follow their footsteps.
Starting the descent from Nochi Top
Contemplating the steep descent
That was only one of the tough parts of the day, there were more to come. And there was a long way to go before we reached camp 3 in Australian thatch, so named because the first people to camp there were Australians. Through the course of the day, we mostly walked on mountain ridges, most of which were covered in snow, which meant traversing many risky snow-covered ridges and more snow plodding. And it didn’t help that the weather was starting to turn on us. It wasn’t gloomy yet, but the skies weren’t clear either. It had started to snow on some mountains that weren’t too far away. We would soon find out that the met department had predicted snowfall in the region. Sometimes, ignorance is bliss, or so they say.
Cloudy with a chance of snowfall
For me, this was a trip of many firsts. Before we were almost reaching our camp for the day, I saw and walked on a large snow field for the first time in my life. And did I love it! The fact that there were no mountain sides to slip off of helped too! That crunch under my boots was music to my ears. And for some reason it made me hungry! Luckily, camp was only a few kilometres away. Soon after we settled in in our camp, basking in the warmth of our campfire, it started to snow. Coffee, popcorn, and Maggi were privileges we got without even asking. As it continued to snow, lightly though, Ved told us that our Lambri attempt the next day would depend on the weather. At that moment, I’m sure all of us said a silent prayer to the mountain Gods to be kind to us.
Camp 3 on snow
Day 4
Turns out they decided to be kind to us after all. The weather was clear in the morning, and we headed out for Lambri Pass. It’s also called Lama Lambri Pass, where “lama” stands for “long” in the local language. On the way up to the pass, we had a panoramic view of the mountains of the Great Himalayan National Park. The trail to the pass was a mix of meadows and snow, and the weather was gloomy. It looked like it could snow any moment now. After a few hours of climbing, we reached the pass and celebrated by clicking pictures, and an impromptu dance, which Shilpa calls a “cross between garbha and bhangara”! The sky seemed to want to celebrate with us and it soon started snowing, which meant we had to descend as quickly as possible.
The climb to Lambri Pass
The descent down the Lambri Pass started out difficult. We had to negotiate boulders for a part of the way. Thankfully, the rest of the boulder field was covered in knee-deep to waist-deep snow. After some discussion and deliberation, Ved and the team decided that the best way to get down the mountain safely and quickly without having to negotiate our way in the snow was to glissade down, or in simple terms, slide down the mountain with our legs and hands as brakes to control our speed. Although it looks and sounds scary, it was quite fun to slide down, except that at the end of all the sliding, our backsides and fingers were numb and we had snow in our shoes. That was the last of our adventures in the trek. At the end of our descent, and therefore, our trek, we reached a picturesque village called Sharchi (see the first pic), where naked apple orchards, green valleys, picture-postcard houses, and smiling, curious faces welcomed us into civilization.
Gratitude
No doubt, some parts of this trek were physically challenging (especially for a novice, such as me), but what it also tested was mental strength. However, what made the challenges relatively easy was the company of friends and a wonderful team, all of whom looked out for me throughout the way. Snow or boulder, steep ascent or scary descent, no matter what obstacles the route had, all it took was faith in the people I was with to overcome those challenges. I can’t thank all of them enough for their patience, for congratulating me at the end of every tough path, and keeping my morale as high as the Himalayas all along.
I’ve always been fascinated by the Himalayas since as long as I can remember, and it has only grown immensely. And here I was, yet again, up close in their embrace on my first-ever Himalayan trek. The more I think about them, the more I realise that the Himalayan hangover has no cure.
Our trip in a nutshell:
Bangalore - Delhi - Aut - Ghiyagi - Dimachari (trek start point) - Somewhere in the middle of a pine forest (camp 1 - now Shilpa thatch) - Raghupur Fort - Jalori pass - Serolsar Lake (camp 2) - Crazy, scary snow descent - Australian thatch (camp 3) - Lama Lambri Pass - dangerous boulder section - crazy, scary snow descent part 2 (became less scarier as we slid down the mountain face) - Sharchi village - Ghiyagi - Aut - Delhi - Bangalore
More of the trek in pictures:
