Surya Top - Himalayan Trek

Surya Top Trek by India Hikes 

20 Apr - 26 Apr.

One of the new year resolutions, that I made in Jan, was to do an Himalayan trek this year. I joined a running group, all with this aim. I am so pleased to have finally done it now. 

A month before the trek, back in March, I saw that most of the well known treks on India Hikes were already booked. I was contemplating a private trek group, called couple of places but none materialized. IndiaHikes had a requirement to do 5K in 35 mins for a moderate trek and I had not reached the milestone. On a Sunday evening, I called them and told that I have reached 5K in 40/39 mins consistently. Can I sign up? They said yes. In a matter of next 2 hrs, I had booked a trek, flight hotels and planned a Mussorie trip with Kanishka after that. 

Surya Top was pretty. It had a ridge walk, meadow walk and a summit climb - you do not get all three in a trek. It was moderate but on the easier side. Most importantly, it was labelled 'crowd-free'. It is a new-ish trail close to Dayara Bugayal which is very popular. Trekking has become popular and few of the well known trails are now getting crowded. When you to go to Himalayas, you do want to spend time alone.  So, crowd-free is an important consideration. The top altitude is ~13K feet only which is not that high but if I want to get back to Himalayan trekking, this seemed a really good choice. 

I loved Surya Top trail. There are so many good things that I have to say. Foremost, I loved the fact that I have done a Himalayan trek, 5 years after the last one and a decade after the previous one with India Hikes. Second, the summit, even though it is at 13K feet only, it is reasonably steep and takes an effort to get on top. I didn't give up and pushed myself to get there, so that was also a strong sense of accomplishment. The trail itself is beautiful. It has stony-trails, forest walks, ridge tops, steep ascends and descend, valley stops, Rhododendron and Cherry blossom trees - a lot of variations, beautiful sceneries and devoid of any plastics, a very clean trail. Also, after an hr of trekking, for the next five days, we didn't see a single soul, outside of our group. To be in India and not see another person, just be there in the wild is almost impossible these days. The views from the ridge are incredibly beautiful. IndiaHikes has only uplevelled its operational side and it was so good to be doing this again with them. The food, camps, tent etc were managed well. And to top it off, we saw snow - two days of snowfall, a small blizzard, and a Spring trek suddenly became a winter trek. Walking on snow, with white ground all around you is amazing. So, is the cold weather that comes and it becomes a different experience altogether. 

In trekking, you choose to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. 

At the beginning of the trek, Sayantan who was our trek lead, asked us why are we here? If you wanted to enjoy your vacation, you could have gone to Goa, stayed at a resort etc but instead you are here, going to live in cramped tents, walking daily, sweating, carrying loads etc. He told us that you have chosen to live in discomfort, in order to enjoy. He asked why? And he also gave options - (1) To enjoy nature. (2) To spend time with yourself/discover yourself (3) Make new friends (4) Live minimally. He went round the room and along with introductions, you were expected to share why you are here by choosing one of the options. I, ofcourse chose, to spend time with yourself.  

Day 0 - Travel from BLR to Dehradun

I booked a connecting flight via Delhi. Delhi airport has street food shop, so I had Golgappas. Reached Dehradun at around 2 pm. The airport taxi was charging us a bomb. I met another passenger/stranger and we shared a cab and split the fare. It is interesting on how you make friends/acquaintances during travel. My stay was at a place called Cocoon which had a very nice lawn, online pics were very appealing. But the lawn doubles down as a wedding venue in the night and there was a Mehdi ceremony in the night. They blared loud music but I was too tired, so I slept soundly, though after some challenge. In the evening, I tool a long walk and had Samosa at this Motashow sweet shop and it was pretty good. Dinner was at Pind Balluchi. 

Day 1 - Travel from Dehradun to Raithal.

Met with fellow trekkers at 630 am and boarded a Tempo for Raithal. A journey of 6-7 hrs. It was good to see a 16 year old trekker, just finished his 10th boards, came solo - a break before he starts his JEE prep. I was impressed :) . The drive was comfortable. We stopped at a Rawat restaurant at Rautu ki beli and I had tandoori Parathas - loved it. Lunch was also homely. At Raithal, IndiaHikes as created its permanent basecamp with Swiss tents for staying, overlooking the Gangotri range. It was awesome. First glimpse to see how IndiaHikes has grown so well. Felt proud and happy for them. 

In the evening, we did our intros, met our trek leads, Sayantan as the primary lead, along with Alok and Yashbir ji - both locals.  IndiaHikes also gave us a thermal inner lines to use inside the sleeping bags since they are clean. Along with an eco-bag to carry garbage from trails. My backpack was heavy so I decided to skip the eco-bag. Abhout 40% of trekkers decided to offload their luggage to mules. I was tempted but decided to carry. 

Day 2 - Drive to Barsu and hike to Pichkiya

Barsu was about 75 mins drive from Raithal, at a similar altitude. We started walking at around 10 am. It was sunny. Today was all ascend. Initial trail was stony but after an hr, we entered the tree cover. Forest was beautiful. Dense, green and clean. We made several stops while going up. At a stop, Sayantan played a game, each person shares their name and their hobby. Next person repeats this for everyone who came before him. Good ice breaker game. 

While my backpack was heavy, I did not feel any pain on my shoulders while carrying it. It has a very nice cushion, even when empty, the backpack weighs couple of kgs. So, I was comfortable. Today was the day of packed lunch, we had roti, cabbage sabji and two slices of bread sandwich. 

Pichkiya is a good campsite - has water supply, flat ground and a good view of Yamnotri range. Weather was good through out. No need for any jackets yet. 

Our welcome drink upon reaching campsite was Aam Panna. It was tasty. Evening snacks was Chana-Alu chat. While there was hot water too, I decided to drink natural normal water to acclimatize myself. 

Day 3 - Pichkiya (10264 ft) to Utron (~11K)

Surya Top typically also covers Dayara Burgyal, in some parts, but that part is now steeped in snow. So, we were taking a different route. Day 2 was a short walk - ~3.3Km but it became ~4Km, since the usual Utron site had some issue. We walked extra 0.6Km to get to upper Utron (forgot exact name). This camp-site had views to Surya top, our summit climb for next day. Day 2's trail was all forest trail. We saw Cherry blossom trees, Rhodendron trees. The mountain views were really good. There was no other soul in sight. We are in the wilderness now. 

Our campsite had georgeous views. We reached, had lunch and decided to relax inside the tent. Inside tent, we could hear rain coming down, only to later realize that it was snow. In just a matter of 2 hrs, everything around us was all covered in white. Our trek transformed from a Spring trek to a Winter trek. It became cold. All of us were surprised, shocked. It continued to snow till late in the evening. Our next day Summit climb was in question now. Sayantan said that we will decide in the morning, 4-5-6 am - 4 am wake up, hot water, 5 am breakfast and 6 am we leave for summit climb, provided the weather is well. If we can not leave by 8 am, the summit is a no-go. 

I have been to previous bad weather scenarios, so this was not new. 4-5 hrs of snowfall had made people realize that if this continues, it will be trouble. So, there were not many questions. 

Since we could not do much, I lied down in my tent and spent time chatting with my tent-mate who is a startup founder too. Many stories to share :) 

I had a really bad sleep in the night. It was cold and I messed up my sleeping bag arrangement. So, in the night, I was constantly tossing and turning. But I did sleep, but it was broken up many times. 

Day 4 - Utron to Surya Top (12900 feet) and then to Pichkiya (11679 feet)

Morning was clear. Infact, it didn't snow at all during the night. So, we were on for the summit. We left sharply at 6am. It was a steep ascent in the beginning followed by gradual ascends and flats. You could see Surya Top all along the way and it didn't look too far :) This was also a day of a lot of ridge walk, it was beautiful. There were mountains all 360 degree around us, all covered in snow now. The walk was amazing. 

Summit climb was tough. The last km gradient is steep. It takes effort, lot of breaks, heavy breathing to get there. Snow had made the climb slightly slippery too, so we had to be careful. There is a point where there was an option to leave your luggage and only carry a small day pack with water and Ponchos. I decided to carry my full pack. The challenge with Surya top is that as you are climbing, you will see a peak but it is not the eventual peak. The local peak hides the bigger peak. This happens atleast three times. You would push yourself that you have reached only to realize that it is not the top. So, the mind games go on. I took short breaks but was able to reach the summit at 9:53 am. The earliest person came at 9:35 am and I was somewhere in the middle. Not bad I would say :) 

The climb down was interesting too. We left the top at 10:30 am and around 10:45am it started to snow. Soft round balls of snow. We pulled out our Ponchos and slowly climbed down. Round snow touches the Poncho and falls down, it does not leave any wet water mark, pretty interesting phenomenon. 

Siyari is a beautiful valley right at the footsteps of Surya-Top. We reached at around 12:30. But it was all white and snowing. Snow stopped after couple of hrs, enough for us to pitch tents and have lunch. But it snowed the whole evening. 

They had given us trail mix to carry this day. It contained horse-grams, peanuts, and those white golis that you get outside temples :) . Day 4 night was also very cold. It snowed all through the night. Our tents and gear were of good quality. My sleeping bag setup was ok, so inside the tent, it was not very cold, but still, I had many breaks in my sleep. 

Day 5 - Siyari to BarsuKaDera

We climbed from the Siyari valley to join back the ridge walk. From now onwards, we were going to retrace the same trail back to Barsu. There was some talk to go directly to Pichkiya, lower altititude will lead to less cold nights. But, along the way, at BarsuKaDera, it was so beautiful that we decided to camp there only. The walk down was easy. Sun came out well. We walked for about 4.5Kms today. Snow also started to melt down

At night, we played multiple rounds of Mafia and it was fun.

Day 6 - BarsuKaDera to Barsu and then bus to Raithal

Just plain descent :) We started at 7 am. This was our last day with the mules and staff, so we introduced them, said our thanks and gave some tip. The kitchen staff too, in their enthu, made Chole Pudi for breakfast, at 10,000 feet level :) 

After reaching down, I had an omlette at the local Tapri. Raithal basecamp of IndiaHikes has no shower facility, but someone asked around and told that there is a homestay, about 10 mins walk who is ok for us to take showers. I did that. Costed INR 200 :) Went to a local temple and there was some folk dance happening. Since, it was only women and children, I didnt stand there for long. Had maggi at another tapri. Trek was done and now time to pamper. 

As I got down, I got network for the first time and saw that Rubrik is going public today. Felt happy about it. At 630, I joined the remote call and saw the proceeding for 30 mins. It was fun but not as much as folks who were there in office. I logged off and went back to mountains

Day 7 - Drive back to Dehradun

Nothing much to report. Dehradun was hot, very hot :) I ended up going to cinema (watched Ghostbusters flick) just to avoid the heat. I stayed at Lemarq on EC road, an okay-ish hotel. 

I liked his phrasing - yes, we choose to live in discomfort during a trek. But what you gain is to just be with nature, in a lifestyle on how our ancestors, lived (I know not exactly but still better than the city life) - in between these giant mountains, trees, streams, meadows. Walking, climbing, is a physical challenge but I get to know more about my breathing in these days than ever. Carrying your own backpack, each item is evaluated on why is it needed and there is a trade-off. I discarded two items to reduce my weight and they were a big mistake. I didn't carry a Sun-cap since I sweat a lot, but I got badly sunburnt as a result. Big mistake. I also didn't carry any goggles thinking I can manage without them. But it snowed a lot and after 5-6 hrs in snow, I could feel a difference when Sun rays reflected from the white. Fortunately, clouds game and it didn't hurt much after that. Back to the discomfort, it is difficult to describe the joy but it is there, an inner peace kind of thing, a sense of accomplishment too. At the summit, after the gruelling climb, I got teary-eyed, the same feeling that you get after running an long HM. It is a feeling that makes one go there again and again.