Hampta pass trek without guide or tour company

Its all began on one fateful Sunday morning i.e 5-Aug-2018, when we had to work that weekend,
As the entire office was empty except for the unlucky few, we were 4 guys having tea together then decided to plan a trek together for the upcoming holidays(25th aug to 29th aug), After few minutes of discussions, we finalized the "Hampta pass trek" But there was a problem, the trek is of 4 days and we had only 3 days excluding to and fro travel time to "Manali", the starting point of trek.
Initially we decided to called few trekking companies, as none of us had any experience of trekking even with guides but their schedule did not match our holidays, and also they don't provide 3 day trek like we wanted. After some discussion among ourselves among the subsequent days, we decided to do it on our own and to have an ultimate adventure. We started planning for the things needed for the trek, after checking on multiple websites, we finalized the list. We divided everything among us 4 guys, some are personal items which all had to buy and other are communal items which were divided. We ordered everything online like Rucksack, cooking gas, butane canisters for cooking, tent, light utensils etc. We were so excited that we watch every kind of stuff available for camping online. 

Saturday
Finally the day arrived, Friday 24-Aug-2018 evening, after office all went home and decided to leave at midnight, All packing done and we were ready to leave after all people arrived, we left Gurugram at around 12 am night. First stop "murthal sukhdev dabha" at around 3.30 am, we had paratha with tea then left after 30 min. After driving all night, we reached near Ambala during first light and greeted with heavy rains, one time our entire windshield got covered with water splash from overtaking car.

Morning was really amazing with heavy rain, beautiful songs and cool breeze, we were greeted with some splendid view of Satluj river, Its amazing bridges and foothills forest near "Roopnagar, Punjab" after which mountains started and we entered "Himachal Pradesh". Until now, we had forgotten everything from our normal lives and were transcended into another mode, Only thing that was there on our mind is to reach Manali and get the trek started.

We stopped for breakfast at around 8.00 am at a local dabha and after getting refreshed of all night driving, left around 9:00 Am. View along the road was amazing as we passed along the "Bhakhra-Nangal dam" and for a while it seemed all fine. There was no sign of road block due to landslide or heavy rain as we were cautioned by many people from Himachal But as the good times never last after 1 and 1/2 hour of driving we got stuck in a huge traffic jam of around 3 kms, As the traffic was not moving, it seemed as the disaster struck and we may have to find some alternate place for trekking route nearby, Some idiot also told us you cannot reached "Manali" as the highways is closed after "Bilaspur" but we did not loose hope, as we had plenty of it.

After intervention of Himachal police the traffic jam got cleared and after 2 hours we were finally on the ways again. To make up for the lost time and also probable jams in the ways ahead, we decided to have lunch on drive through and So, for lunch we had apple and banana at thela at sundernagar and cheese burger at a food truck near "Mandi". We crossed "Pandoh dam" and a really dangerous tunnel of 2.5 Kms at "Aut" around 4 Pm, then we reached "Kullu" at around 6 pm with apple orchard all around again we encounter large traffic jam at Kullu, after crossing this jam. We encounter the most amazing and serene sunset near intersection of "Parbati valley" and "Kullu valley". Water of Beas river was sparkling with reflection of evening sunlight filtered through trees, we could only adore this view and moment from our car windows as we had a goal of reaching Manali by 8 pm and cannot afford to stop here but the drive was awesome through it.

 
We reached Manali at around 8 Pm and went shopping for provisions that we could not carry from "Gurugram" like meat, vegetables, bread etc. as our plan for trekking without any Guide or Tour operator, we were again cautioned by hotel operator as by many others. He said valley for wild bears and fog sometimes become so intense that you cannot see a person standing next to you. But we were determined not to let any of this get to us and continued as per our original plan. after dinner and packing our bag-packs. we went to sleep at around 12:00 am. we left around 5 kgs of food in the car to lighten our load.

Sunday
Next morning we got up around 6:00 am, then we found taxi for reaching "Jobra" around 18 kms from "Manali", the drive was very steep and dangerous at places, around 11 am we reached "Jobra" after some delays for getting permit due to day being Sunday. We had breakfast at a dhaba at Jobra and left with our heavy bag packs for trek around 12 noon.

At Allen barrage

                                                                 trek starting point

Trail started at Allen barrage, we encountered first of many "Shepherds" at the bridge on a fast stream, we had to wait while all sheep and goats passed from there. Trail progressed through forest initially after trekking through forest for about an hour, we reached the clearing near Jobra campsite. We reached Rani river runs alongside the trail till it slowly disappears into the Glaciers of Hampta Pass. View became extra ordinary, we were suddenly in the vast beautiful meadows overlooking the hills adorn with many waterfalls. At around 1 pm we crossed Rani river to the left side of it through a bridge at jobra, We could not get enough of the beauty of the valley. As our bagpacks were heavy, we stopped frequently and also to admire the view, at 2:00 pm rested.

    Jobra meadows

Crossing Rani river bridge

                                Resting on way to Chika

At 2:30, we reached Chika campsite(usually first camping location), we rested for a while on the banks of cold and beautiful stream at Chika. The sand was black and sparkling and water was icy cold, but putting your feet in water for short interval was super relaxing. Then we left chika around 3 pm, we decided to skip lunch today and camp around 5 pm where ever we will reach. At around 4:30 pm, We spotted a place for camping from the distant it seemed perfect, for reaching there we needed to pass from underneath the Waterfall getting bit wet in the process. After reaching the campsite, we realized its not good at all, entire ground was boggy from the water seeping from mountains on left side. But we had no choice, after trekking all day, we were tired as hell and could not walk any longer and weather was also getting chilly very fast. we quickly scrambled our tent and divided ourselves in 2 teams, 1 in-charge of cooking and other in-charge of putting up tent. We all were feeling dizzy from altitude sickness as our camp was around 3300 m and we didn't get time for acclimatize. We cooked up rice, chicken, egg and bread, we quickly had dinner and went to sleep, 4 guys were crammed in 1 tent. All were not able to sleep expect for 1 guy, who was snoring in minutes. we were also bit scared from the tales of bear roaming around the valley, we kept our folding knife ready just in case.

 Checking map at Chika, Left-Sukesh, centre-Viney, right- Niraj, Photo- Ashish

    River crossing at Chika

    Crossing the waterfall

Morning after first day camping

Monday
We got up around 5:30 in the morning, it was very cold outside, after doing our business in the tall grass behind some stones. We prepared breakfast of bread, omelette and coffee, In the cold morning, in the middle of no-where coffee was like nirvana. Sun reached our camp at around 7:00 am, then we quickly folded our tent, sleeping bags and packed everything. After sun bathing for 15 min or so, we left around 8:00 am, again the weather was amazing with crystal clear day, in 15 min morning sun quickly got rid of Teeth chattering cold. After few min of hiking we found our first obstacle of the day, a giant water stream, we needed to remove our shoes, rolled up our pant sleeve and the cross the fast flowing stream, it took around 1/2 hour for all of us to cross the stream.

After crossing the stream we reached the most exquisite "Jwara valley", here the nature was at it finest. Entire valley was full of wild flowers of different shades purple, yellow, pink and white in the meadows and many waterfalls from glaciers above. Amid the reflection of morning Sun over the grassland and numerous water falls and streams, we lost all our tiredness and our senses. Mesmerized with view, we crossed "Jwara valley" by 10:30 am in the morning into another amazing place called "Balu ka ghera". The trees line is now left behind and only grass land was there from now on.

Jwara valley photos

Balu ka ghera is a flat plateau in valley with criss-cross glacial river flowing in between, we stopped here for about an hour. We played in the water for a long time but only for a short interval at a time otherwise your leg will freeze. After bit encouragement I also took a bath in the chilly river then after drying out we left the place around 11:30 am. We walked for about an hour on a flat rocky terrain mostly, then we stopped at around 12:30 for lunch and relaxation

 Balu ka ghera

                                     Maggi at high altitude

We had Maggie for lunch and just laid there in the sun for a long time relaxing, but we were still hopeful of reaching Sheagoru campsite by evening. So we left at around 1:30 pm, after trekking for about half an hour we reached a river, here Hampta trail diverted into two, One directly across the river to the top of the pass and other going around the river along the base of mountain. After some thought, we decided to cross the river directly and climb the mountain directly as it seemed to be a shortcut. Little did we knew at this point about the way ahead and to make us feel we are on the right way there were marked ways on the stones towards the pass. It seemed we need to climb one peek them there will be descend.

I being the trailblazer and guide crossed the sandy river first, I removed my shoes then kept it in my hands and then started crossing the river, at around midway I started going down in the sand like a bog, I quickly changed my footing and managed to get out of the river on the other side, but my shoes got wet in the process, my fellow trekkers were really scared watching me go down, one of them had to go because of that. After one by one crossing the river and drying our socks and shoes, we were again on our way it took around 1/2 hour to cross the river. Then we started the steep climb to "Hamta pass" summit at 2:30 pm, as the ascend was steep, we were slow. Add to that we needed to cross those 2 fast flowing glacial streams which became very large due to a warm day and being in afternoon. It took around 1.5 hours to climb the first ridge at Hampta pass, at around 4 pm, basically time we were hoping to save were lost plus some extra. lots of tiny pink and yellow flowers were there on the side of the river on the plateau after the first ridge.

After crossing the river

    View from the first ridge

After the plateau, there was second ridge to climb with promise of flat descend after that, but when we climbed the 2nd ridge by 4:30 pm, we were gasping for air after each section of climb as we were almost at top of Hampta Pass at 4300 m and the air was very thin. We were surprised to find the third ridge as we were expecting descend from there on, as this climb was not discernible from the Google maps our primary source of research  for the trail, Now we were in a hurry to cross the pass, days was getting dark and things were getting really scary.

    Tiny Himalayan Mountain Weasel following us at 2nd ridge overlooking plateau

Our energy was already exhausted and after watching the third ridge our morale also got exhausted. We were looking at the possibility of spending the night at 4300 m, 20 min of time got wasted by shepherds crossing but still we kept on going, at around 5:40 pm, seeing one more 4th ridge to climb, we decided not to cross the pass tonight and camp at the pass itself, we found appropriate camping spot just in front of a glacier, we knew it dangerous to camp at this height but we had no choice, we had enough food and fabric to spend the night here.

From fun and exciting mode, our trip was now under survival mode, we were all feeling dizzy from the altitude sickness. The atmosphere was extremely cold and getting colder by every hour, crackling sound was also coming from the glacier in front of us. There was some silver linings, the sunset was amazing, we found some water seeping from the stones near our camp, dug a pit there for water to accumulate and after some time we scooped water from the pit into our bottle just like in a survival show. Doing even a little amount of work at this height was a struggle with low oxygen and altitude sickness. We managed to put up tent, make some Maggie for dinner(by the way it was disgusting), then we slept.

    Glacier in front of our Camp

    Beautiful sunset

    Camping location

Tuesday
We got up at first light and after doing our business behind some large stones. We had coffee and we decided  to leave early without breakfast at 6:45 am. After climbing the fourth ridge we reached our promised land and were very delighted to see the spiti valley and Sheagoru campsite. After long and difficult climb now we were ready to descend into the beautiful valley. but the descending trail was not visible as the top of "Hampta pass" was full of large boulders and the trail was lost in them. After some scouting we are able to find the trail and started descending around 8:00 am

    On top of Hampta pass ready to descend

    Hampta pass from below

It took us around 1.5 hours to come down to the valley, again we were delayed by goats and sheep, but today we didn't mind. day was beautiful with our destination just in sight, we could not have asked to better weather, it was bright and clear, sun was so bright that you could not distinguish its disc, but it was not hot it was warm and amazing. At the valley there was a clearest lake you could find, things on it surface had the illusion of floating in the air.

    Water bottle floating on water surface as if floating in air

We reached "Sheagoru campsite" at around 10:00 am, we had to cross the icy river here to get to trail on other side. We stopped to break fast here, it was scrambled eggs, after relaxing for a long time we left around 11:30 am. Trail was very beautiful with snow covered mountain peeks, valley full of grass and red carpet of flowers all around. After so much descend of our knee caps were badly hurting but it was easier than climbing, we were moving fast. after about 2 hours hiking we reached crystal clear stream at around 1:15 pm, all rocks were rusted red and water was extra refreshing, we played in water for about 1/2 hour then started hiking again

    At Sheagoru campsite

    At Sheagoru campsite

    Carpet of red flower

    Flowers

    Crystal clear stream.

Around 2:10 pm, we had a first visual of our destination i.e. An iconic bridge on the "Chandra river"(also known as Chenab river). Around 2:45 we were on the banks on Chandra river, from there it was hike towards west along the banks of river to Chatru. We did not stopped any further and reached our destination by 3:40 pm.

    Chandra river bridge at Chatru. trek end

After completion of trekking, we were extremely tired, hungry and thirsty. After having food and drinks at the Dhaba at "Chatru", we started searching for transportation to "Manali", 83 km away but we could not find any. so we waited there for any form of transportation but to no luck, there was no cell reception

Life at Chatru was at standstill, people were in no hurry for anything and it was a meeting point of all shorts travelers. Fellow trekkers like us, old foreigner couple, middle aged biker couple, young hippie couple hitchhiking all having fun and interacting with each other. after waiting for about 3 hours, we finally got ride, it was a pick up truck loaded with 2 bikes, we had to sit in the back along with bikes on cardboard boxes. Ride was very bumpy as the paved roads were non existent, it was clear and pitch black with no source of light except for the trucks head light. First time in our life we were able to see entire galaxy in the sky. It was an  amazing ending to an Incredible trip.