Summary of Sandakphu hike

• Reached Sepi Gaon on 8th evening to the tea house after a day of travel
• Pallavi and Dhruti from the group travelled with us on the jeep from the stop just before Dudhia
• They were part of the 10 member group from Media Ant folks and friends
• On reaching the tea house(homestay) we were given tea and some crackers
• Trek leader Jaspal introduced himself and asked us all to introduce ourselves
• Most folks introduced themselves in darkness because the power went off.
• Dhruti mentioned that she was going to use this trek as a recovery trek after a long run over the past week
• Sunit from Jaipur mentioned that he had come with 4 of his friends without much preparation but hoped to have fun.
• Could not catch too much of what most folks were saying due to the darkness and crowd
• The entire group strength was 32 , and had come in sets of (10 + 10 + 5 + 3 + 2 + 2)
• Jaspal measured the BP and pulse of every member and noted it down.
• He mentioned that we needed to be on time and need to respect the mountain. He talked in detail about AMS and asked us to watch out for symptoms and be careful
• Rohini didn’t like his brusque way of talking and likened him to an army general
• We all collected sleeping back liners to sleep in, once we would camp out in the open, in tents.
• We had a rather good filling dinner and went to sleep. Even at 1920 meters , it was quite cold and we slept well inside the blankets
• We were introduced to three guides, one leads the way ,one brings up the rear and the third is somewhere in the middle. Binod, Milan and Srujan were our three guides.
• Srujan was a newbie , Milan older than him, and Binod was a bit older , probably late 20s.
• Day two was start of the trek, we were to go to Samanden via Ramam
• Our day started with tea at 6:00 am, breakfast at 7 am, and departure at 8am
• We were asked to keep our mule bags ready before we were ready for departure
• Packed both my mule bags with tarpaulin to protect from the rain
• Jaspal weighed each mule bag to ensure they were less than 11 kg.
• We started the trek a little after 8 am. The Srikhola bridge was a short 1km distance away. We reached the bridge in little time as it was a gentle descent
• Once we crossed the bridge we took a right towards Ramam. This was a broken road that had a little tar in patches but mostly a jeep and walking track.
• Lunch was quite filling. The salad in particular was quite likeable. Radish, Onion, other vegetables with finely chopped red hot chilli seasoned in mustard oil.
• Hot lunch from a tea house typically means some dal , vegetables and chappati, salad and some papad.
• As I expected the rice , vegetables and salad was quite tasty
• Rohini complained of leg pain from the newly acquired trekking shoes. We suggested she change to her regular shoes that she was used to.
• Before starting again from Lunch she changed into those shoes and continued the trek.
• From Rammam it was mostly a gentle descent
• The route here on went from a dusty jeep track to a pure walking trail.
• We went past mostly pine forests and some rhododendron plants in a completely shaded walking trail
• I was trailing our gang and keeping pace with Anant and Arun.
• The down hill trail ended up in a beautiful stream where everyone was dipping their legs and playing
• Once we started chilling down here, the guides tried to tempt some fishes to come to the area by throwing bread crumbs
• We spent a huge amount of the time in this break, close to 40 minutes or so.
• Once we left this stream it was a steady uphill, all among a mix of pine trees, Buransh shrubs and bamboo plants
• After a stretch of a couple of km, again there was a bit of a break. We waited for the entire troop
• This was the typical format everyday. After a stretch, we wait for the gang to get together and then proceed.
• At this final stretch , we had to go over a small hillock, and boom, the valley of Samenden came into view.
• At this point, we were greeted by the most amazing sight of the valley.
• The entire village was a small valley , surrounded by clusters of pine forests.
• Photos won’t do justice to the visual treat we experienced when the valley first came into view
• There was a football ground, we dumped our bags and engaged in a game of football.
• 14-16 of us grouped into two teams and played the game. It helped us familiarise with each other a bit.
• Post football, had a called water shower, felt really good.
• Samenden was a 2400m elevation, next day we were to go to 3600m (Phalut)
• Vani started feeling uneasy on this day. Later in the evening she had difficulty speaking.
• The neurologist in the group Dr Reddy told us the symptoms resemble trigeminal neuralgia.
• Vani and Ananth made the decision to leave the group, Jaspal suggested they leave immediately.
• They decided to sleep overnight and then leave in the morning, after feeling just a bit better
• Next day morning she was better, had started talking normally but she mentioned her hand was paining
• They left at 6:30 or so. The rest of the group left at 8.
• Today I made Rahul reduce a lot of his luggage , I noticed that he had packed too many things on his backpack the previous night.
• The initial part of the hike was somewhat easy, a small ascent and then a small descent and then we landed in the village of Gorkhey. It was almost identical to Samanden, only the football ground was missing though.
• From Gorkhey the very first hill climb was super steep, probably at an angle of 45-55 degree at places. So 100%+ gradient average overall.
• This was way steeper than the kuccha road we climbed from Srikhola on day 1 of the climb.
• Once we got out of the first hill, there was a steady climb followed by an occasional descent
• We had lunch in a hut on the way, no water sources, so Arun purchased a water bottle.
• I managed to have a good nap in the sun and wind. No idea how, but i managed.
• Our lunch was longish , so we had some time at hand.
• After lunch we continued on our hike towards our 1st campsite.
• We took a break where the SSB camp was in our sights about a km before.
• It started getting very windy and since I had packed my jacket with the mule, I used my poncho as a wind guard.
• We took a longish break here, as the mules hadn’t come as yet , and with them the tents, etc.
• The mules went past, and then later we started after the break.
• At the SSB check post, we had to enter our Aadhaar numbers and phone numbers and names, and then go ahead.
• Finally we reached the camp area, our tents hadn’t been set up , and there was a small tea house.
• Some of the folks took up beds within the tea house at their own expense.
• I had an insanely splitting headache, not sure if this was due to the high elevation or it was a caffeine headache.
• Today we were served milk coffee for tea. They had setup a dining tent along with our tents.
• After drinking 3 glasses of coffee my headache disappeared and I could at least focus.
• We picked up our tents next to one of the kids tents
• Vedant and Rahul stayed together in one tent, Nishka and Sangavi stayed in another tent.
• Temperature was really cold at night, and going to dinner to the dining tent needed motivation
• Once we tucked in for the night, and we did that at 9 pm, I was looking forward to a good night’s sleep
• While sleeping I had the urge to empty my bowels, but didn’t have the motivation to get out, so held the urge
• Unfortunately this caused severe cramps on my right leg, and I had to get up.
• Took a water bottle and rushed out to the makeshift toilet tent. Had loose motions and emptied my bowels.
• Once I washed and came out of the toilet tent, and climbed up to the level of our sleeping tent (it was a few meters higher), looked up, and I was treated to an amazing night sky.
• The night sky wasn’t visible when we were sleeping , as it was quite foggy and misty at that time.
• The night sky was clearer than probably anything I have seen in the past, there was no light pollution
• My thoughts were cut short by the sheer cold in the open, I had to get in the tent to get some warmth
• I went back to the tent, and slept again. Thankfully did not have to visit the toilet again.
• We had soup at 6 pm , and everyone’s pulse and SpO2 levels were taken. The criteria was that everyones’ oxygen level should be above 80.
• At our dinner briefing we were told we would see the sunrise at 5:30 am and had to be ready by 5 am.
• Given my tiredness I decided not to wake up early in the morning, but by 4:45 the sounds outside from Opendro and company started
• Rohini declined to come, opting to continue to sleep in her sleeping bag instead
• I finally yanked myself out at 5:05 am or so and then decided to go up the hill.
• I saw the sunrise before the peak as I was walking up. Jaspal was tailing me going up to the peak
• We went to the peak and hung around there for a while.
• The sleeping Buddha , Kanchendzonga and Everest along with the 3 sisters were visible in the sunrise — it was such a beautiful sight
• Then we were treated to tea on top. This was black tea. But by now we learnt to enjoy any hot drink that came our way.
• Coffee once, Lemon tea at another time, then black tea at one site, sometimes herbal tea, mostly regular milk tea — I learnt to savor any hot drink when it was cold.
• After drinking tea , I decided to head down, Once I headed down to one ridge, I saw a bunch of yaks, I figured i was on the wrong route and changed direction
• Once I came down a bit, I realised I had come down the wrong direction, to go back I would have to climb up and head down the direction of the camp.
• I decided to follow any path I could without having to climb up again, I wasn’t enjoying walking with the thick hiking boots
• Getting down some more I found the water source and the rubber/plastic pipe that supplied water to the camp.
• Now I just followed the pipe toward the camp. At times it was not hikeable so I had to find a walking path.
• At times the shrubbery was think so I had to carefully crouch and get ahead.
• Finally after walking for sometime I found a trail, now I could just go to the trail and walk ahead very fast.
• I had a very light breakfast as I did not wish to get stomach cramp again
• Today was supposed to be a tough day as well since the entire hike was around 3600 m elevation level
• I took more time to pack the mule bags, etc today, so left the camp a little later than everyone else.
• Today the path took us on a jeep track, and we walked on the ridge of the mountains
• As we made our way ahead a couple of km we could see clear visuals of the snow clad Sleeping Buddha
• Since the clouds made their way between us and the snow clad peaks they repeated disappeared from view
• At one point the snow clad Kanchenjunga towered well above the clouds. It was a beautiful sight to behold.
• Today we had to take our packed lunch in the morning , since there was no place to break for lucnh
• We were all given veg pulav in the lunch box we had handed over in the morning.
• The hike was relatively easier today (though I would hear otherwise from some of the rest of the gang)
• We had one big lunch break after descending down a valley amidst some meadows.
• After this yet another break, we had another uphill.
• This uphill was sustained , slightly long and ended up sapping the energy of folks
• At the top was a meadow , where the yak and ponies had liberally fertilized the grass.
• A measure of the exhaustion of folks was that no one minded sitting on and around the dung decorated meadow.
• As usual once everyone gathered on the meadow , and once we had done joking around , we restarted
• Again, as usual, in a short while after some gentle undulating meadows , we saw the SSB camp which said ‘Thakum’
• Now we could see the area where we had to camp tonight. There was a tea house in the distance.
• We all trooped into the dining area of the tea house.
• The mules and the tents arrived a little later. The TTH staff assembled the tents as usual.
• This area had a big gathering of mules , ponies and yaks, many with bells on their neck.
• In the evening , Jaspal informed us that we did not have to measure our O2 levels and blood pressure , since we continued to be around the same altitude (Today we were at 3500m as opposed to 3600 a day earlier)
• Today evening, all of us gathered after tea (and pakodas), and in a group , we sang songs, and then played dumb-charades.
• To me, the highlight was Ashwin cracking Shawshank redemption from ‘Swachcha — Hindi word for clean’
• The dinner today was inside the dining area of the tea-house. We continued our group session for a while
• We were told that tomorrow would be a rather short hike to Aal. And a relatively light day, in preparation for the day after.
• Tonight was very pleasant in the tents. There hardly was any winds outside and we had a good night’s sleep
• Breakfast at Thakum , we had Pooris. The staff managed a decent spread over the 3-4 days they cooked despite the terrain. All the stuff was carried via mules and ponies
• We started rather late today as we knew we did not have to walk much , the distance given was about 7km.
• Previous night Jaspal had said that we would reach Aal early and have a hot lunch.
• After hiking for a few kms, we landed in a huge meadow from where the sleeping Buddha was clearly visible.
• Someone had setup a binoculars using tripods and some of us used that facility to take a peek around Kanchenjunga
• At this point, a lot of people started talking on the phone since we got connectivity via Airtel West Bengal. (We were still in Nepal though)
• We took a huge break here, snacking, talking and walking and sometimes sleeping. After a longish break, the marching orders again ensued.
• From here , once we got the marching order we went towards our day’s destination.
• Surprise, today’s destination was just on the road side, our campsite was literally off the kuchcha road that was occasionally used by jeeps to get around. Right on the path
• When we reached the camp, the kids had already reached and we reserved our tents.
• The tents today were lined up in a straight line just at the base of the hill.
• The toilet tents were set up above on the hill a few steps up from the location of our tents.
• There was a permanent tea-house where a kitchen was setup. I guess this is where the staff cooked.
• There was a semi-permanent toilet structure that people dubbed as ‘Slumdog millionaire’ toilet. Basically there was a deep pit and a wooden structure on top, so you sat Indian style and gravity takes your stuff about 5 feet below
• There was a pillar marking the Nepal India border , our camp was in Nepal and a few feet across we had India.
• Kids (and adults) had fun going back and forth between India and Nepal.
• Pre dinner our entire gang (8 of us) got inside Opendro’s tent and played ‘Contact’ – a game taught to us by Nishka.
• Dinner was a real chore today, it was shivering outside , and Rohini didn’t wish to come out.
• We had a small singing session in the dinner tent, and then getting inside the tent was an insanely difficult task.
• Rohini had stacked up our bags against the head of the tent at the base of the hill, telling me that wind was coming in from there.
• We were told that Phalut would be very windy and Aal would be fine. However Aal night was extremely cold.
• We had to go out in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. It was so cold and windy, my hands and fingertips froze.
• We got up early and climbed the small hill next to the kitchen. Sunrise was a treat to watch. Everest and its twin sisters were clearly visible . The sleeping Buddha was also aglow in the early morning orange sun.
• Today was supposed to be a long Downhill day, but we started at 8:30 or so.
• Before starting , lots of photographs , especially holding up a banner that said ‘We summitted Sandakphu’
• We went towards Sandakphu, and reached there in no time. It was about a km from our camp.
• Sandakphu was dirty, on the Nepal side of the road there was a big structure being built, possibly the visitor’s centre. Lots of trash around (both sides of the border)
• After spending a huge break at Sandakphu , we continued walking on the jeep path.
• After about 50m on the jeep path, we took a left to a walking trail, and this trail headed east and down.
• We were told that today would be a steep downhill. The initial part of the trail did not disappoint.
• However it was a rather muddy path with decent grip, and I had my stick with me from Day 2. I could use it to balance and go down fast.
• The dog (Jack) pretty much led the trail for the initial part. It knew the way
• After waiting for a longish time, I started walking back and found the rest of the gang coming on.
• We passed through huge Bamboo forest stretches. Lots of Red panda notices, but no red panda
• We came on to a clearing and had a long break , today everyone was fine with their breathing but today was the knee sore day.
• We took a big break at the clearing, and there was a kitchen here, apparently a meal was being cooked for another group.
• We saw a lot of marking today for the Hell Run trail, the run would use this stretch the other way (cllimbing up)
• In general most people had energy today since it was 100% downhill. So downhill that I don’t recall even a small stretch going up today.
• We would go ahead and wait for the lead guide , Milan to catch up.
• The dog would go ahead of us , and if we would not catch up, come back up to see what we were up to.
• After stopping ahead about 3-4 times, we asked Milan if we could go ahead , Milan gave us the go ahead
• I went ahead with the kids and the dog. I was mostly followed closely by Anupam and then Rohini and Opendro were following. Arun was also not lagging too far behind today.
• After passing through a Conifer forest stretch, a village was visible in the distance far below. This was supposed to be our lunch point.
• As we neared the village, all the walking path was a paved concrete path. This was actually painful to descend on.
• Sangavi and Rahul had a mini unofficial competition and Rahul ended up getting a bruise on the back of his fore-arm.
• Today was the first day we had lunch in a big sheltered village after the breakfast at Semenden, which was basically day 2, when the stretch started.
• I thoroughly enjoyed the lunch today. The sliced salad with spices and dressed with mustard oil — I loved it.
• After yet another massive lunch break (by which time our joints had crystallised), we went towards the tea house destination today
• A little after descending from Gurdum, we crossed a bridge over a flowing mountain stream.
• Once we crossed the bridge, there was a small ascent from the river but it was always within earshot.
• After the ascent , again it was a continuous descent till we reached the village.
• Finally we went ahead and reached the destination – Timburey. It was mind blowingly fabulous
• We were next to a noisy stream and we could hear the noise clearly from the homestay.
• There was an empty bathroom and I really enjoyed having a cold water bath at 17 deg celsius
• Remember we had descended from a location where we had sub-zero temperatures at night.
• In the evening we had a get together and all of us were told to recount our experiences
• It was really fun listening to everyone after the trek. Easier since we now could put names to the faces we endured over the past 5 days.
• Jaspal also mentioned that this is the first time he saw people do the trek in sandals, and attributed it to our fitness
• I had been alloted a room with the two teenage boys. They shared a bed and I took the single bed.
• I got up early in the morning and went for a morning walk, was rewarded with beautiful views of the sunrise between the valleys.
• I went back to the village and located the stream with the help of locals and dipped my feet in the morning.
• The temperature early morning was about 10 degree celsius and it rapidly increased.
• Once we packed everything one last time, we continued walking towards Srikhola bridge, where our trek would end.
• After walking on the jeep path , which led to the tar road, we again took the walking trail.
• The walking trail again led back to the road, a short distance from the bridge.
• After we crossed the bridge, we ended up spending 15-20 minutes there, The jeep was to come and take us to the Sepi homestay where we had left our luggage.
• Most of us got tired of waiting and we decided to walk to the homestay. Opendro remembered correctly that it was probably half a km to the village.
• Once we reached the village, it was time to say goodbyes to all our friends whom we met during the trek.
• We got one jeep just for our group of 8 with 4 kids and 4 adults. The 4 kids occupied the rear.
• We took a break at Mirik to have lunch with our group. Rohini wanted some Roti and Curry and curd, which she got
• We also drank Rhododendron (Buransh) juice, and we bought the juice and wine to carry back home.
• After this lunch we continued towards the plains, and eventually reached Dudhia and our vehicle took us to our hotel , near Bagdogra airport.
• We got some time to talk to Vani and Ananth after they joined us here.
• Our hotel was 2.5 km from the airport. We spent the evening eating some Bengali sweets, and the kids had ice cream
• Rest of the evening was spent packing for the flight and again having dinner.