The Sar Pass Trek 2011: Day 1

May 27th: Bhuntar - Kasol

We were woken up in the morning at around 5 AM for tea. Bhuntar was still an hour's journey away. The light drizzle, hot tea and the soothing sound of the Beas river were very pleasant. I dozed off again as soon as the bus started. The conductor woke us up on reaching Bhuntar. I wanted to sleep some more! At Bhuntar I needed to take another bus to Kasol. My next-seat neighbour decided to take a cab to Kasol and gave me a lift! Mighty nice of him! Caught a glimpse of a snow capped peak at a distance. First time ever! The excitement was building up now. Reached YHAI's Kasol basecamp located on the banks of the Parvati river. Very nice location. Once the reporting formalities were done, I was assigned a tent. Met a group of 5 from Akola. Cool guys. All around 20. Kids. One of them immediately reminded me of Homya. Went to Manikaran with them and clicked a few snaps while they enjoyed a hot spring bath. Ate at the Gurudwara there and came back to Kasol walking. Was fun. There, the sun sets around 7.30 PM and at 8 PM I could still see the snow covered peak. Brilliant. After dinner, we were made to sit at an "eco-friendly camp fire" - an LED bulb-chain (pic. below) switched on. People came up to the "dais" and performed - sang, danced, (they thought they) joked, etc.. Just unbearable. Too lame. And it's compulsory for everyone at the base camp to attend it. It was pretty cold (must have been 10 degrees C or so). Went to sleep by about 9.30 PM.

(Nearest to farthest from the lens) Rohit, Abhishek (behind Rohit), Mitesh, Hrishikesh, Indrakeet

Just outside the basecamp with the Parvati river in the background

Tent mates L-R: Indrajeet, Me, Rishya, Gopal bhai, Rohitya, Diggu bhai, Heda, Guddu, Rakesh bhai

The (lame-ass) camp fire. (Courtesy: Rishal Bhide)