An attempt at crossing Charang La

Day 0 - Delhi to Rampur

I was thinking on my way to the bus station, why bother writing about Day 0? It's always just me traveling within Delhi to reach ISBT. But then, I also realized how much my expectations vary vs reality.
Well, not always, sometimes I'm on top of the future and my predictions are accurate.. but.. where's the fun in that.

I have very little information about Charang La. I know it's a pass in Kinnaur region of HP. I know it starts at somewhere near Reckong Peo and ends at Chitkul. I know the Max altitude is 5200m+

That's way less information than I'm used to. I guess I should thank my trek partner for that. He's an experienced campaigner and I trust his judgment. 

I spent a lot of time in getting my backpack together today. Finally bought a sleeping bag, the efficacy of which is a question mark at this point. Ditched the stove too, going for dry food, whether it's the right decision remains to be seen.

I'm also feeling unusually calm. I feel like I'm in control of what I'm doing even though I barely know anything about the trek.

Maybe the after effects of turning 30?

I'm in the bus, food in my bag, mawa cake too. Mawa cake. I just smiled a little. 

Day 1 Rampur to Kalpa

I slept a lot. It always defeats me, my ability to sleep in turbulent, bumpy conditions. Born to travel, eh?
Or maybe I just love sleeping.

Woke up when the bus was still in Narkanda. It was nice to see the sun rising in the mountains. I'm sure I'll have more of this in the next few days. I deboarded the bus at Rampur Bushahr. 

Rampur is a small town, along a river, it is 5 hours away from Shimla. I boarded the bus to Reckong Peo as soon as I reached. This bus was the ordinary one but thankfully this journey is just 3 hours.

The bus stopped at a place called Jyuri for lunch, I had a light meal keeping in mind the bus travel.
The weather is hotter than I anticipated which reminds me of Panwali. The ride is bumpy too.

But I'm feeling fine, Reckong Peo is something I had been only reading about until now. When you visit a place, it becomes real in your head. Feels like it does when you level up in a video game.

Prashant is waiting at Kalpa. I should be able to join him for lunch. I could also use a shower and change of clothes. 

No feeling like that of exploring unknown territory.

Halt at Jyuri

Reckong Peo

I met Prashant outside the tourist centre in the main market. Since I was starving, I ate a sumptuous meal at Little chef restaurant.

For Charang la, one needs to get permission from the SDM. We got that arranged along with medical test, which is mandatory to get permission.
Afterwards, we left for Kalpa in a crowded bus.

*******
I reached Kalpa at around 5 pm. It's a peaceful village about 40 minutes from Reckong peo if you take the bus. Very peaceful, clean and picturesque. I would recommend people to just live here for a couple of days, chill and go back. It's that kind of place.

I had a nagging headache for which I popped a Disprin. I checked in at Hotel Chini Bungalow, had a nice hot shower, ate some delicious food in the nearby Dhaba. My head still hurts but I know it'll be alright. I'm just exhausted from the road travel. 

There's a guy playing a ukulele outside my room. I'm at peace. 

Hotel Chini Bungalow, Kalpa

Day 3 Kalpa to Shurting to Kalpa

We set off from Kalpa at 7:45 am since the bus to peo never arrived. To catch the bus, we literally sprinted towards Peo bus stand. It took us around half an hour to reach Peo. We were lucky enough to catch the bus.. or so we thought at that time. 

Peo to Shurting is a thriller drive. There are some bends where you just hold your breath until the bus passes through. After 5 hours of traveling on perhaps the world's most dangerous road, we reached ITBP camp at Shurting. 

Bus halts here for Breakfast; on the way to Shurting

Friendly bus conductor!

ITBP camp, Shurting is where trekkers are supposed to show their permits and proceed to Charang village. We had our permits and all.. or so we thought.

The camp incharge told us that the permit isn't complete and stamping isn't done, which meant, a return to Peo. 

Which also meant a days delay in our plans. 

We argued, reasoned and even requested but to no avail. With a sad face, we boarded the same bus, back to Peo with the plan to get the permit and try again next day. 

Thankfully, the bus took half the time it took from Peo to Shurting and we reached the SDM office in Peo by 4 pm. It turned out, it was a miss at our end, not getting the process completed due to us being in haste. 

After finally getting the permit done, we headed back to Kalpa since it's a better place to stay at. The evening was cold, the mood was grim, I was uncertain if I should go on or go back.

After much deliberation, I decided to March forwards. Something doesn't feel right though. It's just a transient feeling, I told myself. 

Whatever it be, I'll be headed back to Shurting and I'll finish what I started. If I don't, I'll hate myself for a long time.

Day 4 Shurting to campsite near Lalanti pass

Now armed with a valid permit, we left for Peo really early, the very first bus. We were on top of things today. Caught the bus in time from Peo to Shurting.

Traveling on one of the worlds most dangerous road twice in two days, yep, badassery of the highest level. For tourists that is, what is badass for us is simply routine life for the locals of Charang village.

We reached Shurting by 1:30, got ourselves registered with the now valid permit.

From Shurting, you can either take the shortcut to Lalanti camp site or take the conventional route via Charang village and climb Lalanti pass, descend into the valley and cross the river to reach Lalanti camp site. 

We tried the shortcut, the river was very intimidating and after a point we got stuck since the water flow was heavy from where we needed to cross.

Okay, plan B, Charang village.

It's a boring 6 km walk to Charang from Shurting.
We reached Charang in an hour. I wanted to halt at Charang, Prashant wanted to shoot for a campsite before Lalanti pass.

I was skeptical but okayed the plan because it made sense from a progression point of view.

The tranquility of Charan Village

 

Charang is at 3500m, we climbed around 500m in a couple of hours to finally find a place with water source nearby. All the previous places had irrigation channels but the water was muddy.

At 6 pm, we called it a day after pitching the tent. It was marginally colder than Charang. I guess some whey protein and had a few almonds and dozed off.

Tent Pitched !

 

Day 5 Campsite to a place beyond Lalanti and back to Charang

I woke up at 6:30 am, realizing I had slept for almost 12 hours straight. Since I didn't eat anything yesterday, I felt low on energy. I still didn't have an appetite but force fed myself with a few biscuits. 

We packed up the camp and started towards Lalanti pass at 7:30 am.

A moderate gradient leads from the campsite to the pass. We reached the pass in an hour.

It was clear to me that there's something wrong with my energy levels, I considered going back while I still can. After a discussion with Prashant, decided to push forward.

From Lalanti pass, we headed to Lalanti campsite. We expected to meet shepherds there who can help us with food and directions.

The trail descends to a moraine like terrain. We descended all the way from 4160m to 3800m. 

Our plan was to reach Lalanti as soon as we can. 

By now, I was sure I couldn't go on. My personal idea was to take the shortcut and reach back to Shurting, Prashant can go ahead with the shepherds headed towards Chitkul, I thought.

But alas, fate had different plans.

We never reached Lalanti. 

Prashant did a quick recce and concluded there's no visible trail ahead and we have potentially veered off from the main trail.

We decided to go back to Charang, since we were, in all fairness, lost and clueless. I felt less guilty about thinking on bailing since in either case, we would've headed back.

Point of return

Now the climb back to Lalanti was steep, there were sections with exposure to valley and some of the trail was just scree. On top of that, I wasn't feeling a 100% energetic. 

Having no other option and no Shepherd in site to guide us, we followed the GPS trail for a bit and headed back to Lalanti Pass. 

After 3 hours of steep climbing, we reached Lalanti pass and after a couple of hours of steep descent, we finally reached Charang village.

The day was like this, altitude wise :

4000m to 4160m to 3800m to 4100m 

And then the reverse of it, ultimately ending up at 3500m.

We met a few locals who questioned the logic behind going into an unexplored territory without any local help. Perhaps what we know now is not what we anticipated then.

I have never felt the urge to turn back but this time I always felt off. We did the most sensible thing by turning back. A new experience for me, getting lost and giving up. But if I'm being honest with myself, I would've turned back no matter what. It's just that circumstances made it so that Prashant had to make the final call to turn back.

We checked in at the Govt guest house in Charang, had shower, hot food.
Later came to know that we had actually crossed Lalanti camp site and had gone further ahead, in the wrong direction. 

This wasn't an ideal experience but a learning nonetheless.

1. Always listen to the locals
2. Talk to the locals before going anywhere
3. Don't assume anything, it's a matter of life and death
4. Plan way ahead so that the quality of the plan is impeccable

Day 6 Visit to Rangrik Monastery

Since we had time in hand, we decided to give Rangrik Monastery a visit. 

Rangrik Monastery is about 2 kms from Charang, at the same altitude.The trail passes through Charang village and splits at one point, the lower trail going to ITBP campsite at Charang and the other trail leads to the monastery.

The monastery is claimed to be a 1000 years old. Rangrik being the name of the goddess. 

Legend has it that a 1000 years ago, few shepherds noticed some construction going on in the area the monastery is at, when they returned the next day, the Monastery was completely built. 

A few pictures from the Monastery :