Hampta Pass: The Big One
So during the second last week of my vacation, me and my parents went on a trek to Hampta Pass in the Himalayas. Hampta Pass is quite a popular trek during the summer and monsoon in India and it is considered among the easier ones in the region (spoiler: IT WAS NOT!).
Our trip started with us leaving early morning on a Friday for the airport to catch out flight from Delhi to Chandigarh. We waited there for about three hours (our flight was delayed) and then got on a much smaller plane to Kullu. Our second flight was barely 30 minutes and landed us in the middle of the Kullu Valley. Followed by a two and a half hour car ride we reached Manali. We were a little disappointed with the amount of time we took because we didn't end up saving a lot of time as we thought, it took us 11 hours to get to Manali by flying and coming here by car would have taken about 14.
A little background before we go to the next day of the trip. So the Kullu valley in the Himalayas is known for being lush green and the towns of Kullu and Manali are like the prime attractions here. Manali is a really popular tourist destination and a base for a lot of hikes in the region. It's famous for Rothang Pass which is it's prime attraction (Fun fact: Manali is also known for having very good quality cannabis). Rohtang pass is motorable and connects the Kullu Valley to the Spiti Valley. Hampta Pass also connects the Kullu Valley to the Spiti Valley but it can only be crossed on foot. The Spiti Valley is totally barren and really cold but is kind off beautiful in its own way.
I find it really interesting how the most beautiful parts of the Himalayas are also really dangerous be it due to height, whether or just the remoteness.
So back to the trip…
Day 1 (Manali- Chika, 10100 ft)
Our first day of the trek! We left our hotel at about 11 AM to get to the starting point of the trek by car. It was about a hour and a half's journey and after getting there we had a four hour trek to go before we reached our first camp. Our group consisted of Me, my parents and our guide Manish (remember, he plays a super important role).
Within the first ten minutes of starting, our shoes were covered in mud because the ground was wet. Initially we tried to avoid the mud but it was just proving impossible because it was literally everywhere, so we pretty much gave up and walked straight through it. There was not much on Day 1 apart from the mud and a little bit of rain, we reached our camp by 4 or so and got some snacks. These camps were like the ones you'd find in the middle of nowhere, small tents with just enough space to keep your stuff and sleep and a couple of toilet tents at the far end of the campsite. Ohh, and we had to sleep in sleeping bags, that was a first for me.
Day 2 (Chika- Balu Ka Ghera, 11,900 ft)
Well this was a longer hike than the previous day to begin with, about 8 or so hours. Highlights from thisvday include crossing a river ( a very cold one), a relatively good weather (yayy) and really beautiful scenes of the Himalayas.
Our camps were similar to the ones on the previous day, only bigger and a bit colder.
Day 3- Crossing the Hampta Pass
Alright, this is the day we have all been waiting for. We were supposed to cross the hampta pass and this was the longest day and the most difficult day, about 12 hours of trekking in a rather rocky terrian and very high altitude.
We started out quite early in the morning, initially we delayed by a bit because the weather looked bad and it seemed like it would rain. However the weather didn't get any better after a while so we decided to leave anyway because we can't afford to lose too much daylight. So we start out and the altitude starts taking a toll on us rather soon. That compounded with a very difficult terrain made things quite difficult. To add to our problems, it started raining shortly after we left and it just jept getting worse and worse. This was indeed a very bad combination because things just became way more difficult than they should have been. The rain was so bad that even our waterproof shoes were getting water in them and that with the cold weather made things terribly difficult.
We were running a bit behind schedule and decided to not stop for lunch (huge mistake). Also, earlier during the trip I had been avoiding medication that helps with acclamation (another huge mistake). So we reached the pass, got our photos and moved on.
The problem begin while coming down. I started to lose my balance on the rocks and felt pretty wobbly, it was sobbad that after a while Manish had to help me down by supporting me. The decent was quite difficult for me but still, I was able to make it (not like I had a choice 😂)
We reached our tents to learn that all out stuff had gotten wet because of the rain, we had taken all the obvious precautions like using water proof covers for the bags and everything but the rain beat that by attacking at every angle possible. So now we were super tired from the day and most of our clothes were wet! We ended up drying the clothes in the kitchen as the gas there kept the tent relatively warm.
Day 5
Okay, so all those huge mistakes mare yesterday had consequences today. In the morning I had some serious problem maintaining my balance, a sign of altitude sickness and not the best place for it to happen. I had some meds but the thing about these is that that take about a day to be fully effective (Opps!)
Fortunately, today was mainly decent and losing altitude helps with altitude sickness.
It took us about 5-6 hours to get to the end point of the trek, the journey down was smooth half way through then I started having trouble maintaining balance and my oxygen saturation fell dangerously low to 50% (certainly not the kind of problems you want to be facing in the middle of a trek!).
Some bottled oxygen did the trick and I could continue coming down with support from Manish. We got to end of the trek and drove off to the last camp site to get lunch. After lunch we drove to chadar tal, a scenic lake at 5000 meters. We got to the parking lot and had to walk a kilometer to get a view of the lake. I could not go because I still had trouble with walking and keeping my balance so Manish stayed behind while my Mom and Dad went to get a quick glimpse of the lake.
After that we came back to the campsite and stayed there for the night
Day 6- Back to Civilization
I was rather eager to leave as soon as possible (lack of Wi-Fi for six days is too much for a 90s kid). We left early in the morning at 6 on our way back to Manali. The roads were pretty bad- I wonder how people drive busses on these- but the journey was scenic. There were a lot of beautiful sites on the way back. One of the most interesting things was the transition from the Spiti valley back to the Kullu valley and seeing how the vegetation and landscape drastically changed.
And so that Ladies & Gentlemen is my first major trek!
Our trip started with us leaving early morning on a Friday for the airport to catch out flight from Delhi to Chandigarh. We waited there for about three hours (our flight was delayed) and then got on a much smaller plane to Kullu. Our second flight was barely 30 minutes and landed us in the middle of the Kullu Valley. Followed by a two and a half hour car ride we reached Manali. We were a little disappointed with the amount of time we took because we didn't end up saving a lot of time as we thought, it took us 11 hours to get to Manali by flying and coming here by car would have taken about 14.
A little background before we go to the next day of the trip. So the Kullu valley in the Himalayas is known for being lush green and the towns of Kullu and Manali are like the prime attractions here. Manali is a really popular tourist destination and a base for a lot of hikes in the region. It's famous for Rothang Pass which is it's prime attraction (Fun fact: Manali is also known for having very good quality cannabis). Rohtang pass is motorable and connects the Kullu Valley to the Spiti Valley. Hampta Pass also connects the Kullu Valley to the Spiti Valley but it can only be crossed on foot. The Spiti Valley is totally barren and really cold but is kind off beautiful in its own way.
I find it really interesting how the most beautiful parts of the Himalayas are also really dangerous be it due to height, whether or just the remoteness.
So back to the trip…
Day 1 (Manali- Chika, 10100 ft)
Our first day of the trek! We left our hotel at about 11 AM to get to the starting point of the trek by car. It was about a hour and a half's journey and after getting there we had a four hour trek to go before we reached our first camp. Our group consisted of Me, my parents and our guide Manish (remember, he plays a super important role).
Within the first ten minutes of starting, our shoes were covered in mud because the ground was wet. Initially we tried to avoid the mud but it was just proving impossible because it was literally everywhere, so we pretty much gave up and walked straight through it. There was not much on Day 1 apart from the mud and a little bit of rain, we reached our camp by 4 or so and got some snacks. These camps were like the ones you'd find in the middle of nowhere, small tents with just enough space to keep your stuff and sleep and a couple of toilet tents at the far end of the campsite. Ohh, and we had to sleep in sleeping bags, that was a first for me.
Day 2 (Chika- Balu Ka Ghera, 11,900 ft)
Well this was a longer hike than the previous day to begin with, about 8 or so hours. Highlights from thisvday include crossing a river ( a very cold one), a relatively good weather (yayy) and really beautiful scenes of the Himalayas.
Our camps were similar to the ones on the previous day, only bigger and a bit colder.
Day 3- Crossing the Hampta Pass
Alright, this is the day we have all been waiting for. We were supposed to cross the hampta pass and this was the longest day and the most difficult day, about 12 hours of trekking in a rather rocky terrian and very high altitude.
We started out quite early in the morning, initially we delayed by a bit because the weather looked bad and it seemed like it would rain. However the weather didn't get any better after a while so we decided to leave anyway because we can't afford to lose too much daylight. So we start out and the altitude starts taking a toll on us rather soon. That compounded with a very difficult terrain made things quite difficult. To add to our problems, it started raining shortly after we left and it just jept getting worse and worse. This was indeed a very bad combination because things just became way more difficult than they should have been. The rain was so bad that even our waterproof shoes were getting water in them and that with the cold weather made things terribly difficult.
We were running a bit behind schedule and decided to not stop for lunch (huge mistake). Also, earlier during the trip I had been avoiding medication that helps with acclamation (another huge mistake). So we reached the pass, got our photos and moved on.
The problem begin while coming down. I started to lose my balance on the rocks and felt pretty wobbly, it was sobbad that after a while Manish had to help me down by supporting me. The decent was quite difficult for me but still, I was able to make it (not like I had a choice 😂)
We reached our tents to learn that all out stuff had gotten wet because of the rain, we had taken all the obvious precautions like using water proof covers for the bags and everything but the rain beat that by attacking at every angle possible. So now we were super tired from the day and most of our clothes were wet! We ended up drying the clothes in the kitchen as the gas there kept the tent relatively warm.
Day 5
Okay, so all those huge mistakes mare yesterday had consequences today. In the morning I had some serious problem maintaining my balance, a sign of altitude sickness and not the best place for it to happen. I had some meds but the thing about these is that that take about a day to be fully effective (Opps!)
Fortunately, today was mainly decent and losing altitude helps with altitude sickness.
It took us about 5-6 hours to get to the end point of the trek, the journey down was smooth half way through then I started having trouble maintaining balance and my oxygen saturation fell dangerously low to 50% (certainly not the kind of problems you want to be facing in the middle of a trek!).
Some bottled oxygen did the trick and I could continue coming down with support from Manish. We got to end of the trek and drove off to the last camp site to get lunch. After lunch we drove to chadar tal, a scenic lake at 5000 meters. We got to the parking lot and had to walk a kilometer to get a view of the lake. I could not go because I still had trouble with walking and keeping my balance so Manish stayed behind while my Mom and Dad went to get a quick glimpse of the lake.
After that we came back to the campsite and stayed there for the night
Day 6- Back to Civilization
I was rather eager to leave as soon as possible (lack of Wi-Fi for six days is too much for a 90s kid). We left early in the morning at 6 on our way back to Manali. The roads were pretty bad- I wonder how people drive busses on these- but the journey was scenic. There were a lot of beautiful sites on the way back. One of the most interesting things was the transition from the Spiti valley back to the Kullu valley and seeing how the vegetation and landscape drastically changed.
And so that Ladies & Gentlemen is my first major trek!