My tryst with dhauladhar mountains , part -1

My adventure trip began with an overnight journey in a Volvo bus. I had a fairly good sleep given that it was a comfortable semi sleeper bus. As I opened my eyes in the morning it was a sight to behold . Right in front of my eyes there were the mighty mountains welcoming with open arms . We started our trek from Dharmkot, Mcleodganj and the final destination was Indrahar pass. The way to which was through Triund, snowline and Laka got .

Scaling up our way through ups and downs of the robust Himalyan mountains , we reached Triund after walking for around 3 hour and15 minutes . The tender green grass, the thick blanket of clouds crafting their way up, the small bright flowers springing out here and there made for a picture perfect treat to the eyes.

Making headway to snowline we were faced by a rugged terrain. It started drizzling as we moved upwards . The rain drops tinkled as they fell on the rocks. Just before reaching snowline what we witnessed was a rare sight . A rainbow in the valley !The snowline offered the most breathtaking views . The snow capped mountains ,the most prominent being the Moon peak ,a small lake and the clouds ascending from the valleys below

Moving further ahead for next half an hour we reached the destination for the day- Laka got . We recharged ourselves with a mugful of tea and set our tents at a suitable ground. We spent the evening wandering around the

Laka glacier and watching the mesmerising sunset. Finally we retired into our tents post dinner as the next day was supposed to be the most challenging part of the journey.

After midnight I was woken up by the sound of heavy torrential downpour. My heart sank at the prospect of reaching the summit turned bleak, because the weather turned hostile but by six o’clock in the morning we set out to achieve our goal ,brimming with enthusiasm.

Our first point for halt was Lahesh caves, this time we had a glacier to cross . We jumped and slid and played on the glacier for a little while then proceeded towards Lahesh caves.

The ascent got much more difficult. We had to crawl sometimes while at others we had to use both hands to climb up the boundary . We walked for 3 hours or so . Ascent up to Lahesh caves drained us a little, physically as well as mentally.

As the ascent continued to be more difficult, the zeal to reach the summit kept plummeting.climbing for more than 2 hours we reached a point from where Indrahar pass was only 200 meters away. Right infront of us lay a challenging glacier where there was fresh snow. As we were not expecting a situation like this it broke us down completely and we decided to return , with a promise to come soon , and this time completely prepared.