Kugti Pass – the Ascent

Its amazing just how much better you feel after getting some sleep. Jai and Santosh are not up yet as I take a walk up the hill for ablutions and to get some idea what weather we can expect. It looks good. The shepherds are already up and small fires going as they cook a little something or prepare the inevitable sweet tea. I want to get started so go back and pack up.  The track is clearly marked and so I tell the others that I am off and they can catch me up. (which they always do)

As I head up the hill past a small monument and I think open slaughtering area for meat I soon catch up with shepherds on the move. Everyone is heading for Kugti pass. The Gaddis don’t carry a lot perhaps just a blanket , tea, rice and a little flour and some cheroots. No fuel needed as fires as wood and bushes are available at this altitude and later higher up the fuel is carried in for the last stopover before crossing the pass.The flocks are mostly goats but sheep are present too. The sheep certainly don’t look as sure footed as the goats and often get themselves in awkward spots. Many of the females have young ones trying to keep up and often you will see the gaddi carrying the babies in their jacket.

Between today and yesterday we expect to do 3 days trek as prescribed by Garry Weare in two days. By lunch-time we have passed Duggi Got and sit down in beautiful sunshine with a shepherd for a snack. Duggi Got was Garry’s recommended stopover. It is a large meadow and marks the end of the forests. I can see shepherds camped on both sides of a side creek that we cross and lots of wildflowers everywhere.

At our lunch break I spy the first foreigner I have seen trekking this year. He is a sprightly fellow from the U.K who in a another life was a professional diving instructor. Not much opportunity for diving in India in the wet season so he decided to do some trekking. Quite an adventurous guy and it is a pleasure to be speaking the mother tongue. He leaves just before us and later we see that he has missed the turn off and is headed straight up the valley. An easy mistake and one I started to do also until my guide pulled me up. Fortunately he hears us yelling above the roar of the river and we wait while he scrambles up the hill to join us. Not long after all joining up we collect some wood for the night’s fire which we add to our backs as we head up to Alyas.

I am feeling great weariness as we continue to ascend. The others go on ahead as we reach a high plateau. The wind is blowing and it feels like it could be a very cold and possibly wet night. A couple of shepherds are watching their sheep and have horses which I had heard cannot get over the pass. So maybe they are just staying on the plateau.

Finally I catch up with the others after crossing a couple of scree slopes. Our accommodation is not much. Just a sloping rock which really would not provide much shelter again the weather. I am a little worried that we could have a difficult night if it rains. Eventually I decide to put the tent up. Actually this is the only time I used the tent this year in my 4 treks. My reluctance to set it up was because we were making an early start at 3:30am and packing up in the dark can be messy. As it happened it didn’t rain.

Dinner that night is shared with the Gaddies and by time it is dark all the flocks have been grouped around the campsite. I think there may have been three groups but I only really began to understand this situation the next day as we move up the gully and ascended the pass. The food is simple and Santosh did a good job of looking after us. I had a small bottle of whisky which we shared and that too made us more content. Remember you are in Himachel Pradesh where alcohol is not frowned upon unlike Kashmir where the mere mention of alcohol is regarded as a sin.

As I mentioned earlier we make an early start. It seems to be a general consenus that an early start is important. I think sometimes that the weather can remain settled enough to help you get over the pass. The shelter we used last night certainly would not be very pleasant if we were held over for a few days.

It is certainly a difficult climb or maybe my condition was not the best. I struggle to keep going as the slope gets steeper. At first we cross scree slopes and some snow patches and then some remnant glaciers. Not so easy to see at first which in some ways is a blessing as you don’t really appreciate that the steepest sections are coming. Long patches of ice but I manage to maintain a footing. The snow is soft enough to dig your feet in and so the danger of slipping and sliding down the glacier is less. The goats are all around us. If we stop they just trudge on. But there is structure and they seem to be in three separate groups. We are up near the front lot.

The morning lightens up and we can see the surrounding mountain ranges. But there are clouds swirling around which mask the view some of the time. The path is getting steeper. We have 900metres to reach the pass from our miserable abode of last night. We truge on. Eventually we reach the top of the ice pack and the path to the topswings to the left over a steep slope. It can’t be impossible as the goats are moving up and passing me. The altitude has really slowed me down and I have definitely become the old man. My companions are ahead of me but my UK friend earlier on looked like he was struggling too. Not sure now where he is as everyone is making there own way up as best they can. Santosh waits for me at one point and offers me encouragement. The weather still wasn’t the best as we crested Kugti Pass but the spirits soared. We had made it. Crossing the ridge was perhaps the most dangerous part. Obviously this was why the trail wasn’t much good for other animals except goats and if the weather turned bad it could have been real scary. Fortunately the weather held and we found our way down the scree slope to a long steep valley under snow and ice. At first I wasn’t sure exactly where the trail went but on a closer look you can see the dropping and footmarks in the snow leading down thousands of feet. I decided this was a mugs game walking on snow so just on my bum and skiied down. A little cold but a much easier way of knocking off the height. Much of the rest of the day once we got to the bottom of this snow field was trapzing along old morrainal ridges. Everyone made their own way and eventually I lost sitte of my guide and porter. After what seemed like hours I came to the end of the morrain which was practically devoid of vegetation. There before me still a long way down stretched a grass covered valley. The weather had also steadily improved and the sun was now out. The Hut at Kadlu was visible as well as a Hindu temple on the valley floor.

We made it to Kadlu by 2pm. The hut looked good in the distance but had been abused by the goats. I was exhausted and found a spot to lie down in the hut thinking we would stay here the night. In our arrangements the guide and porter were to leave me here and make their way back. But they too I think were buggered and had rethought thier plans. They informed me that they were going on to the main road and would take the bus back. Apparently once they got to Keylong there was a direct bus to Chamba which it can do in a day. Sounded like argony to me sitting on a bus so long but they had money in their hands and I had paid them 2 extra days for their expected journey. And to be honest we were nearly out of food and what we had was pretty rudimentary. They did tell me that they would carry my bag if I wanted to go on.

As much I as was tiered and getting sick I thought it best to go with them. As it turned out the day was a marathon. Downhill all the way to Rupi on this side of the river and then further to get to the small road bridge which crossed the Chandra River. We passed close to Rupi and it looked like a nice town but my guys eckon there wouldn’t be any accommodation and pushed on. As they were in front of me now I had no choice but to hobble along and maybe catch up with them. Finally we met up at a dhaba on the other side of the river which I think Santosh had visited before. Great food and we replenished oursleves there.

This is wher ewe said our goodbyes as they were going down the river to Keylond and I was going back to Udaipur a town I had visited 2 years before. As I trudged up to the road I reflected on how lucky I was to have such nice companions. I never saw my UK mate but heard he made the road before me and also caught a bus to Keylong. I think my companions were exhausted like me as they didn’t actually come to the road as they had stated they were going to do. I expected they flaked out at the dhaba which had some beds.

My bus came eventually and I reached Updaipur before dark. This time I selected another hotel as the one Ann and I stayed in on our previous visit was a bit seedy. This one and I never found out the name was very clean and my hosts Anil Kumash and his family made me feel most welcome. Not many (any?) tourists around but Anil looked after me. (that’s another story)