It was a fascination that I always dreamed of. When I watched people playing in the snow, when I saw pictures of landscapes with a layer of snow, when someone compared soft snow to a sea of butter, I wanted to be there and experience it. It never snows where I live, and I had never seen snow until a few years back.
I did get to see snow a few years back, and my experiences and encounters with snow improved gradually. But my expectations remained high and the dream remained unfulfilled through this gradual experiences. My first experience with snow was a small glimpse of bits of snow from a distance. My last one was really the best.
It was in the late winters of 2002 near San Francisco Bay in California. It was a rainy day and I could hear the dripping of water almost all through the night. And when I woke up in the morning, there was a small tip of whiteness in the hills at a distance. I was thrilled to see it though it was many kilometers away. Later in the day, I pointed to a friend – “look at the snow”!! He replied back with complete disregard: “there’s hardly anything, I wouldn’t even bother to call it snow”. He went on to explain how much snow gets deposited on earth in the north during winters and bragged about his experiences. At that moment, I hated him. His speech left me feeling more unfulfilled than before.
But my moment of experiencing abundance of snow was not far away. Only a month later, I was on the plane taking me north – all the way to the Arctic Circle – into Alaska. Alaska is packed with snow everywhere even though it was summer when I was there. From the window of my hotel room in Anchorage City, I could see snow capped Chugach Mountains. I soon travelled into these mountains and took a train that took me through places covered with thick layers and layers of snow. I loved every bit of it. I saw plains that looked white as far as you could see. I saw mountains covered from bottom to top with snow and even glaciers, which were shedding their excess of snow. It was a treat to eye, and yet, I still felt something missing. I never got to touch clean and fresh snow even though I saw so much of it. And since I was there in summer, I never got to see a snowfall. The snow in the towns and cities was cleared away and whatever was piled nearby was too muddy to feel like snow. I still did not get to touch and feel the soft beautiful powdery snow.
Images from Alaska
It was the Himalayas at Sikkim next. Once again it was summer and I was not going to get everything I wanted. I saw the snowy peaks. I saw the mighty Kanchenjunga standing like a big wall of snow. But despite hiking for four days and climbing more than 10,000 feet there was no fresh snow in sight. Only at the end of my journey did I manage to touch some snow but it was the snow from previous winter and was more like hard ice. But at least this time, I got to touch it, unlike earlier.
Kanchenjunga
I went to Sikkim again in October, when the winter is just about to set in. Once again, I hoped to see soft and powdery snow, and hopefully witness snowfall. Wherever I went, there was no snowfall yet and I had to feel good just to see snow capped mountains at a distance. But just before we were about to retreat, we decided to drive much higher and try our luck. And we did get a bit lucky this time. It started raining as we drove up. As we moved higher, to our joy and amusement, we could see occasional crystals falling on the windshield amidst the rain! It sure seemed fun. The small semi-solid crystals would fall on the windshield and spread like a star. We walked out into the drizzle and rejoiced on it. It was great fun. Yet, it was like a short preview of what I wanted to see. I still had not got what I was looking for – a proper snowfall and powdery layer of it on the earth.
Read more about Sikkim on paintedstork.com
* Gochela Trek
* Gangtok, Yumthang and Gurudongmar
After all this, I almost stopped having any expectations. Every experience of snow was joyful, but the longing in me always kept me from making these experiences complete. A corner of me was spent in anticipating more instead of experiencing what was in front of me. When I saw the glaciers, I wished to be walking on them. When I saw the snow capped mountains, I wished to be on the top of them. So the next time I headed up the Himalayas I went without much expectation. This time I was going there to ski, at Auli, and yet I was mentally ready for a situation where I would have to come back without skiing if there was no snow. As if thats how it would end up, Joshimath – the town head to go to the ski lodge had no traces of snow anywhere. But when I took the cable car to the ski resort I started seeing mounds of snow, which soon turned into an ocean of snow. Some branches of the trees had small piles of snow on them that indicated fresh snowfall. It was fun to see it all so close. When we reached the ski lodge, there was snow everywhere we could see. It was the first time I was walking on the snow. And I obviously loved it.
Slopes of Auli
It was so much fun – to walk on it, to learn to ski and even to fall. I could finally experience the soft powdery layers of snow and enjoy the feel of it. I had more coming on my way. Two days of skiing later, the sky turned cloudy on an afternoon and the least anticipated happened. There were flakes of snow falling from the sky! One after another, they would fall and land softly on my head and shoulders as softly as petals of flowers. I suddenly felt a rush of happiness, which slowly morphed into a peaceful and joyous mood. I swayed with the falling snow and let them land on my tongue; I stood still and watched as mother nature blessed us with her bounty. It was all that I could ask for. Skiing was suddenly secondary and I felt all my wish getting fulfilled. My search for snow was complete at that moment!
Also see more about Auli in paintedstork.com
Visit to Auli in 2005
* Images from Auli(plenty of snow)
* Trip report
Visit to Auli in 2006
* Images from Auli(little snow)
* A back-breaking journey: from Rishikesh to Auli
* First Day at Auli
* The days of Skiing
* Spending time in Auli
* Trekking and walking around
* About Auli
When I got into the bus last Friday evening, I was headed towards fulfilling a long-standing plan: to climb up the Brahmagiri hills. Brahmagiri peak, located in Coorg district of Karnataka is a part of Brahmagiri Wildlife Sanctuary. The climb goes through leech ridden tropical forests to grasslands and shola(forest high in the hills where grass is the dominant vegetation, and trees are found in small groups where water is available) above the forest line, and offers great vistas of Sanctuary area and the planes below.
Irpu Waterfall
We started our hike a little late on the Saturday morning. By the time we had breakfast, took the necessary permits and changed buses to reach Irpu, it was already 10.30am. Fortunately it was not a sunny day, which made the climbing easy. The climb starts from Irpu falls, a well known landmark in Kodagu(Coorg). Leeches waiting on the forest floor gleefully welcomed us into the National Park once we walked past the waterfall. The initial part of the journey offers easy walk via tropical forest and lot of bamboo, and starts getting steeper slowly. We encountered several streams on the way and water is in plenty. Forest floor all the way is littered with colorful dry leaves and green saplings besides the bridle path.
Rich colors of the forest
It was 2 hours of climb before we left the forest below us and hit the grasslands. Some steep climbing for another 30 minutes and we reached our base camp – the Narimale forest camp.
The Narimale camp inside the forest
A Stream that runs next to the camp
Narimale camp is built to shelter forest guards who are on duty to watch against poaching. It serves as an excellent base camp to visit nearby peaks – Narimale peak and Brahmagiri peak. The presence of the camp also reduces the load of the trekkers by not having to carry any camping material.
More about Coorg on paintedstork.com
* Driving trip to Coorg
* Relaxing in Coorg in the monsoons
Tired and hungry that we were after a good climb, we quickly prepared food and hogged on it. After a short rest, we headed for Narimale Peak, which is 1.5km walk from the camp. As we walked through the grasslands, a Sambar emerged from the shola and ran away after seeing us. Some one in the group sited an elephant too. Narimale Peak offered us beautiful vista of the plains below, the sholas and the Brahmagiri peak at a distance. As the sun moved below the horizon, we made a quick retreat to the camp. It started raining as soon as we reached the camp and we were lucky not to get caught in the rain. We prepared an early dinner at the camp and then went to sleep.
Our escort takes a look at the sholas from the Narimale Peak
View from Narimale Peak
The next morning was foggy and the visibility was low. We contemplated over breakfast if it makes sense to climb the Brahmagiri peak in this weather. But since we did not have much else to do, we decided to make it anyway. The walk to Brahmagiri takes you through grassland, and occasionally through small patches of shola. Small white and pink flowers dot the green grassy plains.
The peak to the extreme right is Brahmagiri where we were headed.
After an easy walk for almost two hours, we reached the foot of Brahmagiri Peak. As we looked up to it, the peak was completely covered in fog and we could not see what is up for us. The bridle path to the peak suddenly got steep and we were quickly climbing at 45 degrees. It soon got worse – it must have been around 60 degrees slope or even worse. It would have been a climb of may be 150 meters to the top but the quick ascent got us tired quickly. But once we were up there, the vista was beautiful and worth all the effort. Interestingly, while we climbed up in foggy weather, other side was completely clear and offered us nice view of a valley in Kerala.
At the Brahmagiri Peak. Inscription reads that the Peak is 1600 meters above the sea level and is 9kms from Irpu waterfall.
Walking on the ridges of Brahmagiri Peak
We rested here for a while and walked a bit on the beautiful ridges. A bit of walking and we saw a few Sambars and a ma elephant with its baby. Weather had completely cleared up as we headed back and offered good view of the surroundings and the Brahmagiri peak itself. We also got to see Wild Gaurs on the way back. A few of us discovered thorns of porcupines here and there. Elephant dung was littered wherever we went. A pair of Nilgiri Langur were spotted on a tree at a distance. There was life in every part of the sanctuary.
Nothing goes waste in the forest. Even the dung of the elephant supports some form of life
As we returned to the base camp, we packed up quickly and headed back to Irpu. An hour and a half and a lot of leech bites later, we were back at Irpu Waterfall for a refreshing dip in the water. We came down from here for a session of refueling our stomach and returned to the city by the overnight bus.
Brahmagiri Information.
REACHING
Brahmagiri wildlife sanctuary is a restricted area and one has to take permission from Range Forest Officer(RFO) at Srimangala village. Call the RFO a few days in advance and inform your trekking plans so that they can arrange a mandatory escort for you. Getting permits is easy and hassle free.
To reach Srimangala, take a KSRTC bus to Gonikoppal from Bangalore, which is 6 hours journey. Change buses here and travel for another hour to Srimangala. Pay the necessary fees at Srimangala RFO office and get your permits. You can also shop here for groceries you will need for your stay at the top. Irpu falls, where the trek begins is another 30 minutes by bus. There are not many buses from Srimangala to Irpu and you may have to hire a jeep if you can’t get a bus.
ACCOMMODATION NEAR IRPU
You can get no-frills accommodation at the temple near Irpu offers. There are also some home stay kind of resorts near Irpu, one is Ramcad which is pretty close to Irpu. Nearby village Kutta has some places like Pearl Garden, Chilligere Estate and High Falls Holiday
TREKKING IN THE PARK
The Narimale camp, which is in the middle of the forest, is the best place to stay. Camping elsewhere is probably not allowed, but check with the RFO if you want to. Narimale camp is 4.5km from Irpu falls and can be covered in 1.5 to 2.5 hours depending on your fitness. From the camp, you can trek to Narimale Peak, which is about 1.5km, and takes around 1.5hrs to go and come back. Brahmagiri
Peak is 5kms and takes around 2 to 2.5 hours to climb up. Another place to visit is Munekal Caves, which is 3.5kms from the camp. Munekal caves is called as Pakshi Patalam at Kerala side of the sanctuary.
I am trying to use the next few months efficiently and have made plans in plenty. I just made a review of the whole plan and it all looks very very rosy!
I am kicking of the December season with a trek in the wilderness – Brahmagiri peaks in Coorg(Kodagu). I shall be taking a short break when I come back and then head to Wayanad in Kerala for a birding trip. From then it is to Karwar and may be Goa for a few days. I will have a few unplanned days when I come back from Karwar, but am toying with an idea to head to Andamans in that time. Andaman is a place I have always wanted to visit but the idea of having to take permits etc is always discouraging.
The next year, I am headed north to kiss the Himalayan winter snow. I shall be off skiing in Auli for a week, then return to the plains and spend a week in the blissful surroundings of Rishikesh. My next rendezvous shall be Corbett, where I hope to spend another week. From then on it will be the plains of the Ganges – Banaras for a few days. Before I make my trip home, I shall visit the Taj Mahal at Agra, the symbol that India has been for rest of the world.
I am sure I will need some well deserved rest by then. There are a few unplanned days once I return. March is probably going to get much more exciting. I shall head towards the splendid North East – Arunachal Pradesh where I will be working on wilderness surveys for a week, and then hang out on my own in the state. If all goes well, I might even visit the famed Kaziranga and Manas National Park in Assam, but that is not completely in the radar now.
I have kept most of my April free and unplanned yet, but I just received an offer from a friend to go diving sometime in April. I am sure that would be a good idea. April is as far that I can road scotfree, and the days beyond are going to be spent less exotic!