Phase 1:
Our journey began on the 23rd of October, 1997 when we left for Delhi aboard the Karnataka Express. We were seen off by our club members and president. The train journey was fairly uneventful and we reached New Delhi station at 12:00 noon on the 25th.The next leg of the journey was to begin at Old Delhi railway station , where we had to board the Mussorie Express to Rishikesh at 10:25 p.m.
This time the journey wasn't as uneventful as before.At around midnight , the luggage compartment caught fire.Unfortunately, one of our rucksacks got burnt. The silver lining was that it was the spare rucksack intended for the porters and contained rations and a few other such replaceable materials. Due to the fire the train was delayed and we reached Rishikesh only at 6: 00 p.m.We stayed at a guesthouse run by the Temple committee where we met a Bengali mountaineer who had just returned from a successful trek to Ronti ,which was near where we proposed to trek. He gave us a clear picture of the kind of weather and terrain we might expect to find.
We left for Ghat the next morning at 9: 00 am by jeep.The route was very scenic and the roads,far better than we expected ; Even so ,two members of our team were victims of upset stomachs due to the steep roads and treacherous hairpin bends throughout the journey.At 7:00 p.m. , a landslide impeded further progress when we were seven (7) kilometers from our destination. The rains which had caused the landslide hadn't yet abated and we trekked our way to Ghat. We spent the night at a lodge called 'Anand Bhavan'. It was five (5) days since we left Bangalore.
The next day, 28th of October , was sunny and beautiful with the rays of the morning sun painting the sky with different shades of yellow and orange. It was only now that we could appreciate the beauty and grandeur of the mountains all around us. Porters had to be hired and the rations that were lost in the train fire had to be replaced. By the time all this was taken care of, it was 10 : 00 a.m.
Day 1 : 28 / 10 / 97: Ghat to Ramni : 24 Kms
We started the trek at 10 : 30 a.m knowing that we had a tough day ahead of us .Ghat is situated at a height of 1331 meters and Ramni was at 2013 meters. So, we had to climb 682 meters in rough terrain for 24 Kms in less than eight (8) hours. Initially, everyone set a fast pace and we covered a lot of ground in the first three (3) hours.Our enthusiasm on finally starting the trek after days of travelling was the main reason.The beautiful scenery all around us kept our thoughts away from fatigue and also hunger since we had decided not to stop for lunch. Around 2 : 00 p.m ,the terrain really got tough and we had to struggle to keep up with the two (2) porters. The duration between rests started growing shorter as we proceeded. The girls were finding it especially tough. We had expected to reach Ramni by 6:30 p.m at the latest. This looked highly improbable and the effect of skipping lunch was showing on all of us. Finally at 7: 30 p.m ,the decision to halt was made just 4 Kms from Ramni since it was dangerous to continue any further in the dark in that kind of terrain. All of us spent the night in an old abandoned hut which the porters found. Everyone was too tired to even think about eating let alone cook . So, we slept on empty stomachs enduring our aches and pains hoping for the best for the next day.
DAY 2 : 29 /10 / 97 - Ramni (2031mts) - ACCLIMATIZATION
The decision to have acclimatization on our second day at Ramni was taken since Ghat was at too low an altitude to be of any use for acclimatization. We reached Ramni at 9:00 a.m after a refreshing breakfast which we prepared at the previous night's campsite. The Tents were pitched and with nothing much to occupy ourselves with, we decided to visit Ramni 'village' which was nothing more than a cluster of huts perched precariously atop a cliff. The people we met and talked with were friendly and simple folk. They were also very hard working and god fearing . They were surprisingly well informed of all current happenings around the country even though the village was cut off from all modes of transport.
One of the village elders told us about their customs, traditions and beliefs. They are a very proud and patriotic people. He laid stress on the fact that all their people were peace loving. He deplored the fact that most other people living on India's borders like in Kashmir and the Northeast were bent upon creating trouble (Ramni overlooks the indo-Tibet border). After this lively discussion ,we felt it was time to say goodbye and return to our tents.We decided to turn in early as it had started to rain and also since it would help us get off to an early start to the next phase of the trek tomorrow.
Phase 2 - Ramni - Chechni - Jhenji - Pana - Sartoli
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