The Perceptions Square

From the beginning of time man has been fascinated by mountains And his curiosity drove him beyond it in search of food shelter and livelihood.

But his quest for adventure Forced him to come back to mountains time and again because it was the mountain which taught him to fight against his own weakness infusing strength in him.

For me mountains not only infuse strength but it enhances your perspective. Trekking or hiking in the mountains is like a meditation when your complete focus is on the trail, the beauty of nature,your breath and you hardly worry about your past or Future.

You are truly present in the moment when the mountains test your resilience and your one mistake here and there can become life threatening.

It was my time for the test when I decided to go for Buran Ghati Pass Trek in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. Previously I have been to 2 Himalayan treks- kedarkantha and kuari pass along with few hikes and attained maximum height of 3800 + meters . This time I decided to go above 4500 meters but something more awaited me.

The trek starts from Janglik ( 2804 m ht), an ancient ( 400-500 years old) and remote village situated in the Shimla district of Himachal Pradesh. The trail from Janglik ascend into a deep forest of Oak and pine trees and opens up to Dayara meadows (3376 m ht)

From Dayara the trail goes further up and the beautiful landscape slowly turns to white of snow from the green of meadows . Further you walk alongside pabbar river and the trail guides you to Litham (3578 m ht) . Here you find yourself among the big mountains , fully covered in snow.

From Litham , you resume your journey alongside pabbar river , flowing beneath several snow bridges , and walk further up in snow ( mostly in the month of May you find snow and this time due to western disturbance there was excessive snow) to reach Dunda ( 4075 m ht) campsite, the last campsite before buran pass .

Then, the judgement day comes . You wake up early at 1 am in the dark , prepare yourself for the hardest day ( we took almost 14 hours to cover 8 km in excessive snow ) and start your climb at 3 am in the dark. The climb is steep and you walk on hip deep snow ridges ( twisting your ankles and sinking deeper in snow many times) , applying your full strength and trusting your instincts and your trek leader.

You climb for more than 1 hour to reach your end goal , the buran pass , situated at an altitude of 4575 m . This pass connects the pabbar valley to sangla valley in kinnaur . The stunning views of Snow covered mountains from here take your breath away . It is nothing less than a blessing to witness the beautiful creation of God from this point. Climbs like these infuse a sense of wisdom you never felt before. You start looking at things with a broader and better understanding.

The descend from here is quite technical , the pass stands like a wall to the other side and you have to come down 30-50 m with the help of a rope ( rope rappelling ). You lose height pretty quickly and mostly come down by sliding on the snow. You reach your last campsite at manerang village and from there to barua to go back to your urban life.

We were a group of 5 people ( me , my wife , one solo traveler and two men of 55 and 62 years of age) led by our trek leader and the staff of the company we hired. The weather was bad from the beginning due to western disturbance and we faced rainfall, hailstorm and snowfall throughout our trek .

There were nights when we thought that our tents will blow away due to angry winds of the storm. The winds did took away few tents. And the relentless snowfall haunted us at nights when we thought we might get buried in deep snow.

We were stuck at Dayara campsite ( first campsite) for more than a day due to bad weather. During this time, we saw trekkers coming back from higher campsites because of excessive snowfall which lowered our spirits. But thankfully we got 2 good days in between to become only the second group to cross pass this season untill then.

We walked in mud , climbed in hip deep snow, doubted ourselves several times and applied our full strength to finish this trek. This was the test i wasn’t prepare to take but when I saw 2 people in our group above 55 years fighting it out , it gave me a lot of confidence to continue.

There are times when you feel like giving up , you lose your breath, your entire body becomes stiff but when you see your fellow people or trekkers feeling the same heat , you are inspired by them to continue.

This is the power of connection. We humans most of the time depend on each other to thrive , we respect each other in difficult times when our survival is on the line and i believe we can learn this only when we are together in the wilderness like Himalayas .