A challenging trek to Kinner Kailash
P. M. Das

A 12-member team of Punjab policemen which included four IPS officers, left Patiala for the Kinner Kailash region of Kinnaur Distt. I was a part of this team. This was a vindication of an attempt to visit this area a couple of years ago which was aborted because heavy rains had washed away roads and damaged many bridges in upper Kinnaur.

From Shimla we drove to Kalpa and Thangi, the roadhead and then walked for four hours till Morang. After that we followed the Charang Nala, eventually halting at the village schoolhouse at Lambar. The next day we followed a gentle track of 20 km through a deciduous forest till a point below Surting where we were received by the ITBP, who served us hot tea and pakoras. After a brief rest we walked 3 km to the Buddhist village of Charang at 3506 m where we stayed at the PWD Resthouse. We visited a monastery 200 m above the village as well as the ITBP post which had been guarded by the Punjab Police in the 1960s.

We spent a long day climbing a broken track up a steep slope to a pass which descends to Lalanti Gad above Surting, reaching the camping grounds at Lalanti Dogri (4421 m). The camp was above the tree line and in a very picturesque spot. However, it was not reached without adventure. At one point we found that the regular track had been eroded and had to scramble across a ravine to proceed further. On route we saw snow cocks, snow pigeons and choughs.

The next morning we left at 8 a.m., climbing up a gentle slope. Due to lack of acclimatisation, a number of members felt nauseous when we arrived at the site of the camp below Charang Pass at 16000 ft.

We broke camp at 7 a.m. and departed after a breakfast of halwa. The pass is a glacial one and the approach route is from the north along steep slopes packed with snow till fairly late in the season. Many in the team had not seen so much snow on a pass. Fortunately despite the steep gradient there was no mishap but for a breathtaking moment when one of the porters slipped and his load that he was carrying rolled down 200 ft. It was quickly retrieved, however, and the climb continued. I detailed Mohan Lal and Inder Kumar who were the most experienced, to bring up the rear while Negi, Kulwinder and I pushed on to the pass where one could see prayer flags and other offerings made by travellers of previous years.

When the entire team arrived there was a session of photography as we looked towards the north-east, the peaks lining Tibet, west to virgin mountains 20000-ft high and southward down into the green Baspa Valley which was wooded with deodar forests. Ramesh Sharma our pundit conducted a small puja ceremony to propitiate the gods that dwell on such passes.

The descent was steep and unrelenting. Though there was no glacier on this side of the pass, the terrain demanded caution. Cheema, Nilabh and Kulwinder slipped while descending a snow chute. When they arrived in a heap at the bottom, it was found that they were unhurt though bruised and shaken.

Negi and I rushed on after the descending porters and very soon we arrived at the quaint village of Chitkul (3435 m). Curiously, our entry into the village was heralded by the loud braying of a pair of donkeys who had been left out to graze. We walked into a comfortable resthouse for a hot bath, a good meal and a good night’s rest — the comforts of civilisation for a traveller.

The next few days were spent in a recce of the Upper Baspa, towards a peak of 6000 m, then in driving down and halting for two days at Sangla. Here there is good trout fishing in the river and Cheema and I spent a morning with rod and line on the river. We visited the famous Kamru fort and were regaled with its history by the guide after which we witnessed a pahari wedding blessed by the devta of the local mandir.

After completing the parikarma we drove down the Sutlej from Kinnaur, spent an enjoyable afternoon at the town of Sarahan, visited a wildlife park and the Bhima Kali temple.