All ‘firsts’ are meant to be memorable. But the time I went on a long and tedious trek to see snow for the first time will always stick with me. We walked, we rock-climbed, we rappelled on the crude terrain of Hampta Pass to reach its peak. After hours of treading through mushy lands and muddy streams, some of us met snow for the first time in our lives. I prefer to call this tryst ‘interesting’ with mixed feelings. It was a mellow morning. My alarm buzzed beside the sleeping bag at 5am. Unzipping the tent, I stepped out and met some of the campers for workout. In the shiver-generating valleys of Himachal, you tend to wake up with stiff joints and muscles. So, we were asked to do warm-up activities before having food. Post exercise, soaked oats, omelets and chai were kept ready for us at the table. After brushing and taking a quick jog around the camp, I joined the group of campers sharing morning blues over breakfast. Minutes later, we gathered at the common area to prepare for our trek to the Hampta Pass. From our camp, I could see the snow-clad mountains, popping up from the horizon at a distance. I had never been in snow, did not know how it felt. We reached at the base of the mountain around 8am, and started our journey uphill. “After noon, the weather gets misty and cold at a high altitude like this. Watch your step and be careful.”, our mountaineering instructor warned. He instructed us to climb in a zigzag pattern on sides which are dangerously steep. “Although this technique increases the distance you are climbing, it helps you stay firm on the ground and reduce the risk of slipping.”, he said. Pre-trek training lessons in mountaineering activities were proven to be essential. A few parts of the mountain were too steep to climb and did not have enough ridges for trekkers to place their feet. In these cases, we had to take out our ropes, hooks and harnesses and rock-climb our way ahead. However, to cross the high elevated cliffs, we had to rappel our way down the slope. Halfway to the mountain peak, my height had increased by two inches, there were thick blobs of mud holding onto the ridges under our trekking shoes. It had been four hours since the trek started, and our energy levels were drained down to four percent. “A few more minutes to go. Come on. Keep going for the snow.”, the instructor encouraged me since he knew this was about to be my first snow experience. Surprisingly, this motivation was working. It kept me going until I felt the snow for the first time and realized how ‘romanticized’ it was. It all went downhill (pun intended) after taking that first glance at snow. As a kid, my idea of snow was built by reading graphic story books and watching movies like Frozen. The snow in it always looked lush white and soft. On the contrary, this snow was flaky, hard, kind of polluted and extremely cold to handle. Apparently, snow ball fights aren’t as ‘piece of cake’ as they look in movies. Seven out of ten people in our team had their first encounters with snow that day, including me. Driven by curiosity and adventure, we scaled the mountain for five hours straight. “If it takes this much effort to see the snow, we’d rather not see it again anytime soon.”, we agreed unanimously as our bones cracked, joints ached and stomachs growled with hunger on our way downhill.
20 Apr 2023
Pranoti Abhyankar
