Who took this photo: There is a dispute about this picture in my house, my young and naughty nephew claims he took it whereas I remember taking this one myself. Either way, both of us remember this beautiful trip. My nephew saw snow for the first time on this trip and I for the second time in my life. But walking on snow is altogether a different affair. It is something that I am not comfortable at all! And to think that people happily climb mountains of snow and ice, in storms!
I was quite happy that there was little snow on the ground on this Har Ki Doon trek whereas I could see a lot of snow on the peaks! Now that is how a nice trek should be, at least in my opinion.
View on the Har Ki Doon Trek, Uttrakhand
I remember my first trek to Sar Pass, in Himanchal Pradesh. In that trek for one whole day we walked on snow. Then trekking for the first time, I was wearing my city shoes, a sneaker and how I slipped for the entire day! There were two of us on that trek who slipped a lot. I remember the guy saying to me, “where everyone else was walking comfortably we were on all fours.” It was a horrible feeling.
I blame my husband for it. He had trekked before and yet did not warn me to wear a proper trekking shoe! The second time around at Har-Ki-Doon, I was wise and wore what locals wear, something called ‘hunter shoes’ and it has pretty amazing grip, so slipping on snow is now a thing of past. But it is also true that there was very little snow on the way in 2004 in Har-Ki-Doon. And yet it was such a beautiful trek.
Mridula Dwivedi
I started 'Travel Tales from India' my India Travel Blog in 2005 and it has become an anchor for my travel writing. My blog was once linked at BBC and The Guardian.