In the mountains, greenery mesmerises any person and the clouds can capture your imagination of being in heaven. But all together it was different experience of trekking amidst the clouds which give a sense of contentment and jittery moments when you don’t see your co-trekker, but still it excites you differently, says Dr. Dhanya Soodana Mohan, a Paediatrician of Mysuru who was on her first-ever trekking expedition to Himalayas.

It was about 17 youths — There were nine members from Mysuru and four from Bengaluru one from Coorg, one from MP and one from Gujarat and one  from Himachal Pradesh — who went on a mission to explore the hazy paradise in Himachal Pradesh amidst the speculation from media and apprehension in the minds of the parents that, was this expedition necessary to go in this season when you have such huge adversaries advised by the media about falling stones, falling bridges and bad weather in Manali.

But Tiger Solanki of Tiger Adventure Foundation says these are normal challenges you have in mountain, you have to face it with grit determination and come out of it. The team left Mysuru on July 21 to Manali via Delhi amidst speculations of rain and shine but it didn’t lost the track of Mission Mt. Hampta Pass in Kullu Manali region and successfully crossed Spiti Valley in Himachal Pradesh on July 27 despite rain in mountains which is usual phenomenon, says Harshavardhan of Mysuru.

The team reported to the Zenith Base camp in Sarsai village and had acclimatised by going to a height of 1000 feet to Roerich Art Gallery in Naggar town.

The team started the trek from Zobru Nala and reached Chikka camp site. Next day, trek to Balu ka Ghera was supposed to be challenging as one has to cross the streams which run down the knee deep to waist level depending upon the height of the person, that too gushing water down the stream from the melting glaciers above the mountains, which can be measured to minus degree Celsius — the experience which can send shiver down the spine, says Kushal Shankar of NIE.

As we had planned to summit on Mt. Hampta Pass on July 26, the torrential rains had deterred our plans and we had to stay back in the Balu ka Ghera for additional day and confined ourselves inside the tents playing some indoor games etc. As the rains stopped it opened a Pandora of hidden treasure in the mountains as we could see the snow fall and when the sky was clear, we could see different mountain ranges like Indra Kila and Indrasen.

On July 27, we left the Summit camp at 6.50 am for the Mt. Hampta Pass amidst the sun shine and heavy clouds surrounding us near the summit gave a jittery feeling of losing the fellow trekker from the sight giving a sense of insecurity but nevertheless the organisers had the radio walkie talkie covering from the one end to the other end and we being amidst them gave sense of secured feeling, it was gruelling six hours trek from Balu ka Ghera to summit, as we summit at 1 pm, says Vibha Prasad of Mysuru.

As we descended we were in Spiti Valley and reached Shea Goru camp site and the camp site near Shea River which mesmerises the trekkers with its beautiful landscape from gravel to the different formation like Lord Ganesha in gravel is clearly visible in front of your camp site and Heart symbol in the glaciers, Gateway to heaven, some imaginary formations are worth watching there, says Yash Mehta. On July 28, we started our descent to Chatru which was just another adventure of criss-crossing Shea River and streams which was more than freezing but by this time we were acclimatised and it was fine going but the road ahead of Chatru gave the sense it was done for the day and we are back to the habitation.

We reached the Base camp amidst rain and the bumpy ride in Tata Sumo gave a insight of ride in hilly region and we could see various water falls from as high as 80 feet to different milky waves flowing down the stream to the other main river Chandra.

The team members were Deeksha Janardhan, Kushal Shankar, Yash Mehta, Palak Mehta, Yesha Rathod, Devendra Tiwari, Shaurya Pratap Singh,  Vishal Kothari, Saloni singhvi, Nellamakada Ria Bopanna, Sanjana Khanter, Paavana Srinivas, Harshavardhana, Vibha Prasad, Rithu Jain, DSD Solanki and Dr. S.M. Dhanya.

—Tiger Solanki