What is in the snow?
When I was a child, my hometown witnessed occasional hailstorms. May be it still witnesses, but I am not there to find that out. After the storm, all the children would just come out and play with the leftover ice, which in those days, used to be ..well ..a lot of leftover ice. As I grew up and stopped witnessing those hailstorms, it became obvious that now it has to be the case of �pyaasa going to kuan� and not the other way round, the case of me going to where the snow is. So, the wait started. The wait for winter to come. The wait for snowfall in the Himalayas, and the wait for a trip to the snowbound hills.
I decided on Narkanda, a small hill station 50 kms north of Shimla. I have been doing a lot of deciding lately, especially when it concerns a trip. On a trip to Narkanda, one can combine both skiing and trekking and when you add the advantage of it being quite close to Delhi, the decision is well and truly made. The hardest part in planning trips, which is getting harder day by day, is to find people to go with you. Luckily, charanjit had come to India, the ever-willing atri was there and we managed to get chotton, ajay and Upi to join without any need of my convincing skills.
So, we hired a Sumo at a very reasonable rate (Actually Upi did it, and I have developed a new respect for his bargaining skills) and were off to Narkanda. There was one minor glitch, though. Charanjit had been lured to join by the bait of a trek, which I was not sure was going to take place. None of the web-sites delivered an unequivocal verdict on whether a trek to Hattu peak is on in the winters and Charanjit had scant interest in skiing. However, with a late disclaimer about the trek being a high probable but not a definite event, we were off to Narkanda.
I had come to know from reliable sources that this year there had been a lot of snowfall. However, a dissenting voice (some acquaintance of Sachin) informed that we would not find much snow. So, there was some suspense on the amount of snow we would see at Narkanda. Early in the morning when Atri proclaimed that he can see a lot of snow while crossing Kufri, we knew that we were in luck since Narkanda is much more snowy than Kufri (because of higher elevation). By the time we reached Narkanda, we could see vast sheets of snow covering most of the slopes and we knew we were in for a real treat.
After some deliberation, we checked in at Hotel Hattu, which has some pretty good rooms with heating and splendid views. Another reason to stay at Hotel Hattu is, you get skiing equipment at very reasonable rates there. The downside is you need to carry the equipment to the ski slope, which is a fair distance. Since we had almost no sleep in the night, it was decided to ski on the first day and leave the more arduous task of trekking, for the next day. So, we picked up our equipment and were off to the ski slope.
Now, Charanjit was the experienced skier in our group and gave us some starting tips. There are just two fundas, one for picking speed and one for braking. Well, I would like to add another to the funda list, the one in which I have become an expert, and it is to get up after falling. And believe me, you use this funda more often than the other two. Most of us were soon able to pick up speed but braking is kind of complicated. You have to wedge your skies in a particular angle and bank your legs as well. I found that if I needed to stop, it was easier to just fall on one of the sides because of two reasons. Firstly, it is a sure shot way to brake, something you really need when you have reached the edge of the slope and you are not quite in a suicidal mood, and secondly falling on your sides is really easy to do, as I could not figure out a way to fall either facedown or on the backside. So, the only way to fall is on your sides and since you can fall without putting in any effort, even a slight effort makes the fall imminent. In fact, an effort to do virtually anything else as well, pretty much leads to a fall, a fall on your sides.
Now, since one has learnt to fall, one also needs to perfect the art of getting up. For no particular reason I can see (other than my low weight probably), I became an expert in getting up fairly fast. In fact, I demonstrated my expertise to the rest of the group time and again, where a few demonstrations were voluntary. After spending a few hours trying to perfect the third funda, that of braking, and realizing it was futile, we hung our skiing boots and left for a late lunch. After the lunch, a few of us (chotton and me mainly) thought we needed some practice for the impending snow-trek we needed to do on the next day. So, we explored the surrounding areas for a few hours walking on snow-covered slopes and then retired for the night.
A trip to Narkanda is incomplete without a trek to the Hattu peak, which is approximately 8 kms from there. The peak is motor able in summers but becomes snowbound in winter. After going up a few kilometers, when we were trying to avoid snow as much as possible, we landed at a stretch in which there was no way one could avoid snow. Fortunately, we were not the first trekkers to Hattu after the snowfall and there was a foot-track, which we used to prevent out shoes getting wet. Well, I have seen snow a few times in my life but being surrounded by white sheets of snow on all sides is an altogether different experience. I have always been fascinated with white color all my life and ..well.. there is no white more serene than snow white.
However, the scare of frostbite had prevented us from really letting go on the upward journey. However, while coming down, chotton started walking right through the snow and the ape that I am, I followed suit soon. Pretty soon, the scare of frostbite was a thing of the past. On the trek, there is a place where there is frozen pond and all slopes surrounding it are thickly covered with snow. Now, the hindi movie fan that I am, I could not let go this opportunity to slide in snow. So, chotton and I took turns taking snow slides. By that time, the thought of clothes and boots getting wet had been banished from our minds and we ran up and down the snow covered slopes like 5 year olds. Well, nothing much of interest happened after that.. at least nothing as interesting as the snow games, for sure.
And I realized that even though I am not a child anymore, there are still things, which could bring the child out. And well, that is one thing in the snow. to answer the question posed earlier. It somehow lets yourself to be unbridled, unrestrained. It allows you to enjoy your existence and have fun, pure unadulterated fun. But, as with most other toys and games it does not wane with time. At least, the charm and mystery of snow has not decreased, even by an iota, in my case and I am once again waiting for the winter, the snow in the Himalayas and the trip to the snowbound hills. What exactly is in the snow? Well..maybe, I will find out next time and will let you know.
For photos, look at my album narkanda at my photo albums Home page for travelogues