Himalayan Explorers

Panastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1 grooming kit, a review

2011-10-26T09:02:00.001+05:30

Yes, I am now officially an expert on reviewing electronics.I have taken it upon myself to pick out the worst (or best) Made in Chinaelectronics and review them. Being a not-so-tidy man, I was hard pressed to bea little ‘put together’ leading to run to the local electronics store and buythe Panastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1 grooming kit.

The Panastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1 grooming kit is availableonly at this one store in Dharamsala. The box contains an electric shaver and littlegizmo for nose/ear hair and a lot of plastic that doesn’t contain anything. Italso has a small sheet of printed stuff talking about nothing in particular. WhenI saw this equipment sitting amongst other similar, misspelt names (Soni,Pansonic, etc) I just saw a vision of myself as a metro sexual male, alwayslooking good, clean shaven and somehow in a suit. Cutting a long story short, Ibought the damn thing because it was the cheapest.

Coming home I ripped off all the plastic, plugged the shaverin and went to work. A very interesting thing happened. The four whirlingshavers got stuck in my stubble and just clung on to my chin. So here I am,standing in front of a mirror, with a buzzing shaver stuck to my chin. Luckilyfor me the makers of the Panastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1 grooming kit, used theworst materials they could find and it just stopped and fell off. To be fair tothe product, the little buzzing gizmo works just fine (if you tap it hard onthe side of the sink) and the shaver does work under certain circumstances.

So, being very objective I shall give my expert opinionregarding this piece of equipment. Well, the Panastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1grooming kit can be a painful way to start your day, but hey, no pain no gain,right? It will not, I repeat, it will not shave ALL the hair off your face. Itchooses to randomize its approach to which hair stay on and which go off. Soyou are left with a patchy set of hair that you can get with a razor yourself.I must say, the patches I got done were very smooth. The noise is just a littleover that of an electric saw. My wife thought I was blending something in thebathroom and was very suspicious for a day or so. I t does have a red LED lightshowing it is charging and a power button. It looks like any other shaverthough and can fool anyone casually glancing at your personal kit (nosyneighbors, jealous relatives) into thinking you are Yuppie!

I hope this review helps all those thinking of buying thePanastar RSCX 7500, 2-in-1 grooming kit. Please DON”T buy it. Until my nextencounter, Cheers!!

Black and Yellow

2011-08-31T11:00:00.000+05:30

As the rains finally wind down in our part of the world, I find myself spending some quality time at home. Playing music, hanging out with friends, shopping on the internet and having morning conversations with my new friend, Eddie, a black and yellow corn spider.

Eddie has taken up residence just above my sink and has usually made a large web all night which I invariably stick my head into every morning while cleaning my teeth. First few days he tried to attack me, but he now knows better. I am a recent fan of spiders, as we have quite a few varieties living in our house.

They are brave (Eddie takes me on every day without fail), can take on prey 4 times their size, make the most beautiful webs, the web itself is a miracle material, they kind of look cool, their toxins are used for curing diseases and they take care of insects. Eddie dumps his leftovers in my sink though I am sure with a little training he can be house broken.
Cheers

mcleodganj weathergeek: monday morning (24jan)>

2011-01-24T11:07:00.000+05:30

mcleodganj weathergeek: monday morning (24jan)>: "our monday is starting off beautifully... full sunshine and temps in the low 40sF (5-6C). we could see a build-up of clouds this after..."

mcleodganj weathergeek: tuesday morning (30nov)>

2010-12-01T09:45:00.000+05:30

mcleodganj weathergeek: tuesday morning (30nov)>: "status quo... dullsville. this morning's satellite photo shows absolutely nothing going on across virtually all of south asia. stellar lat..."

Seven Days and Seven lakes

2010-10-17T15:09:00.000+05:30

I live in Dharamsala and outside my windows, I can see the Dhauladhar Mountains very well. Dead North is the Indrahar Pass and the distinct Mun Peak. The walk to Indrahar is not far from my house and it would be the shortest way to get to Chamba and it is the most used trail to get to Manimahesh for the holy dip. As we cross Indrahar pass, there is a holy lake situated right under the peak called Nag Dal (Snake Lake, dedicated to the Nag Devta or Snake God that lives in the hair of Lord Shiva). The interesting thing is that this lake is situated in a narrow valley formed by the twin range of peaks facing North and South, separating Kangra and Chamba Valleys. This narrow valley, slopes downwards towards the West and hence the water from Nag Dal flows West, making more lakes.
Now i had heard about these lakes a lot and locals go to these lakes every year but somehow we never got around to visiting the Lam Dal (Shiva's Lake). This i the holiest lake after Manimahesh and attracts a lot of pilgrims during Shivratri. So around Shivratri, my friends and I decided to visit these lakes and see them all if possible.
During the course of these seven days, we got to cross unnamed passes, got rained upon endlessly and had to do two river crossings. But the reward of seeing the lakes was immense. As you enter this narrow valley over a pass, you see Lake #6, Nagara. There is a camp site here and the local Gaddis are always here to assist and to guide travelers in any way they can. The Gaddis believe that on this holy ground, Shivji comes to assist travelers and test the locals in the form of a human being. So either the traveler could get assistance from him in times of need or the locals could get tested by him as a traveler in need.
When you are climbing the Gag pass to get into this valley, there is a water fall that is gushing out of the mountain. It is literally a hole in the stone and the water comes out at great force. The story is the the Pandavas were in these mountains and Draupadi was thirsty and tired and could not walk any further. Bhim used the tip of his mace and struck the rock to get water for her. Now in reality, this hole in the mountain is connected to Lam Dal on top. The lake bed has a hole which leads to this spot!!!
Anyway, The floor of this valley between the peaks is very shallow, around 3900m at Nagara. This valley floor rises to the East and drops down towards the West. As you follow the Lake going East, it is a good 4 Km hike to the main lake of Lam Dal. Lam Dal being holy, you have to take off your shoes and walk barefoot towards it. There is a high probability of loosing your shoes as it is difficult to tell where you took them off! Anyway, our guides made sure we would find them, but the bitter cold and the fresh morning dew didn't help the feet. The lake itself is magnificent. the little temple at its bank is perfect and yes, it does overwhelm you enough to believe in God, at least for that visit.
We walked back following the Lam Dal flow downwards and saw all the little and big water bodies it was forming. The one that stood out most was Kali Kund. It is a dark green still lake where no one is allowed to bathe as it will kill you. I just feel bad as we didn't have the energy to see Chandrakoop (Moon Lake), the lake above Lam Dal.
So, in design, the lakes are named after the physical form of Lord Shiva. First there is Nag Dal, then comes Chandrakoop, then we have Lam Dal, then Kali Kund and so on until the Nagara lake at the bottom.
This area is full of stories of the Pandavas and a lot of it has to do with Bhim. When we cross over Minkiani Pass and go back into Kangra Valley, we stay on the banks of another lake, Kareri Lake which was formed due to depression formed by Bhim's knee when he knelt there as he was tired.
whatever the reasons and the stories, these lakes are an amazing feature to be seen at least once in your lifetime. The beauty of the place is indescribable. It has all the hallmarks of becoming a great trekking route - ease of access, water, adventure, beautiful camp sites and the destination itself is spectacular.

Spiti!!

2010-10-17T15:00:00.002+05:30

Finally!!

It was a monster ride, the road is non existent, the mountains are huge but it was all made possible as the weather held for us the entire time. The week we were in Spiti, the weather was clear and the temperature steady. As we left, it all went back to normal - snow, cold, slushy roads, etc.

Spiti was a new area for all of us on the trip and nothing could have prepared us for the beauty of its villages and the landscape. It is jaw dropping! I nearly drove off the mountain road a few times as I was just staring at some insane feature.

Being an old culture it was really interesting to see the animistic traditions existing with the reformist Buddhist traditions. Over here you will find monasteries belonging to the Sakya sect and all monasteries, except the Mudh area, are built as fortresses. Reading the history of the area, it has had its share of war and killings. Being always fought over by the guge and Indian kings, Spiti rarely had a chance to govern itself. But due to its inaccessibility, the ancient culture and artefacts got preserved. But how long that will last is another questions. Our Government isn't known for a sensitive response to art or any sort of preservation. Case in point being the Precambrian/Cambrian fossils that could be found while walking in the Kibber - Komik area. The locals and tourists have pocketed nearly all of them with our Government's token law saying it is illegal to remove fossils. Another case being the roads and the dismal quality of labor that is put to work in these areas.

When you travel through these remote areas where the terrain and weather are harsh, you realise the strength of human spirit and the strong beliefs in religion. People survive on belief. The more hard your life, the more elaborate the set of beliefs that make up your view of God, the world, of your place in society. In these areas time stands still, centuries make no impact only we, as visitors, insist on doing so. We wake up the locals by telling them what year it is and that all they believe in, is cute. Patronizing.

The beauty of Kunzum La, the gruffness of Rohtang Pass, the openness of Spiti and her people is a story that reads well. The story is spiced by the monasteries, the history, the local myths and mellowed by the huge, gentle mountains that keeps Spiti far away from the hordes of tourists and corporates, not for long.

Joy of the outdoors

2010-09-25T07:35:00.001+05:30

Barot, Mandi

Another awesome season is nearing its end and I keep wondering if there will come a time when I am not amazed by things I see. Every time I finish a trek, I think I have been to the most beautiful place, yet. The joy of outdoors is immeasurable. Humans are meant to leave home and wander to appreciate what they have. The apprehension of leaving home and the excitement of coming back after days out in the mountains are the two main reasons that make it an intimate experience.

Flags at Dharamkot

Baby Goat, Kharibahi

Sunset at Kareri Lake

The more you travel the more you realise how beautiful things are around your home! The small flowers growing randomly on the hillside, the little colorful lichen on your gate, the sunrises and sunsets from your window, the sound of voices and birds and insects... I could go on.

Trying to go to Spiti

2010-08-09T22:28:00.000+05:30

Towards Jogindernagar

For the last one and a half months, Elise and I have been trying to access Spiti. The rain this year has been crazy! Lahaul, Spiti and Ladakh have been devastated by it. Dharamsala, where we live is very wet too, but we can still handle it.
The first attempt saw us stranded in Manali for 5 days and this time, Aug 5th, saw us all ready for our trip and the cloudburst in Ladakh happened. Not so devastating is the state of the Gramphoo to Kunzum La road. the weather is fickle and the roads a death trap.

But, I got a few hundred kilometers of riding :). The roads are very good connecting Mandi to Kullu, but post Kullu it is horrible for bikes.

One of my fav stretches of road goes from Jogindernagar to Mandi. Quiet, picturesque and the weather was too good.

Mandi

River after Pandoh

Dhaba Break!!!

My Hero Honda Karizma

The Roerich Museum, Naggar

The Roerich Gallery is a beautiful Museum and a sight for sore eyes. Every time I visit it, I get fired up to rival these amazing explorers of all time.

Roerich Museum front lawn

Waterfalls on the Manali Highway

So far, every time I visit Manali I meet someone really amazing. This time I was introduced to Sey Rimpoche, the incarnation of Ladakhi Tripon Pema Choegyal, direct heart student of Togden Shakya Shri .I was nervous meeting a leader of such standing face to face, but was put at ease when I met him. I hope we can work in harmony towards common goals in this land of the Gods.

Views from our house

2010-07-29T22:04:00.000+05:30

Just thought I would add some pictures taken from our front yard recently! Enjoy!

Climbing in Manali!

2010-07-29T21:49:00.000+05:30

I am a trekker. I am best at roaming the mountains, free as a bird. While in Manali, I decided to try climbing for the first time in a VERYYYYYYY long time. Here is the proof! :)

Nobody's going to pat you on the back...

2010-07-29T21:43:00.000+05:30

While in Manali, I was whining to a friend of mine about how badly run this industry is and about the loppy practices most outdoor companies employ.He turns as says to me "Nobody's going to pat you on the back for your efforts but it will definitely change/improve the way things are." Good enough for me!

The last few months have been a flurry of activity - lots of trekking, attempt to reach Leh, meeting new people, getting really good ideas and opportunities to match these ideas.

The business side of it all also became so much better because of the effort from Elise and Prateek to fine tune our presence online. The ideas flowed in due to the quality of people we met. Even so recent as a year back, I had no clue we were doing the right things. Website SEO? Blogs? Social Networks? Metatags? Key words? We were swimming in unknown waters, in my case drowning! Things worked out as I realised that one day you just have to sit down and do it. One has to, at some point, remove the thought of instant remunerations and work at the job at hand. Patience is sadly a virtue. :)

The attempt at reaching Leh; the road was blocked for the 5 days we were trying to get across, but we met the coolest people and stayed at a wonderful place in Manali called the Drifter's Inn and Cafe. Wonderful place and good peoples.

The perfect water filtration plant

2010-07-29T21:33:00.000+05:30

On the 14th of June, we had a family of four go with us on trek to Kareri Lake. Drs Arti and Hemant Trehan and theri two kids Tanvi and Angad. I have to mention here that those two are the most well spoken, thoughtful and lovable kids I have met. Credit to the parents and to the children.

The Trehans are Doctors in the Air Force, the same Government Organisation my father served in. I have a soft spot for the services as My grandfather and father served in the Army and Air Force, respectively, and I have been the direct beneficiary of their service - good schools, excellent people, so much respect. It is huge leg up in India when your parents belong to the forces.

I was very keen on having a family on a trek as I was curious to see how my guides would respond to having kids on a trek. I was even more curious to see how the kids would do.

The weather was perfect (maybe a little on the hot side) and we set off towards our first day's destination all happy and smiling. We were all still happy and smiling when we reached! Excellent so far and I noticed the kids were so good at walking, making friends and being kids. We played cricket til Hemant and I could not run any more and thankfully, were saved by the rain. Had a bit of a hailstorm, nothing serious. The rest of the trek went off well. Good weather while trekking, a good heavy hail storm when we had camped. Lots of good food, no emergencies and no whining kids!

On the subject of potable water, I know by experience, no one gets sick drinking water from the river after we cross the last habitation. On the way to our camp site on day 3, we walk along this river flowing over these big boulders. Hemant pointed out at how perfectly water filtration was taking place in front of our eyes. The rocks, fine shale and sand were perfectly, naturally proportioned, there was sun and air for the process and the water is perfectly potable. These kind of things are awe inspiring and just hearing of the actual process described made us love what we do even more.

In the course of the 5 day trek, the kids made friends with all of us. I would find them deeply involved in fun and games in the guides' tents, washing dishes, cooking food or just exploring the area we were in. I definitely want to get more families to treks and have an outdoors experience. I can' forget Hemant's face while walking, it had pure bliss written all over it, or the kids playing games with the guides, their enthusiasm for everything, or just the happiness the mountains gave the family. It was a treat for us as guides. If your clients can appreciate every thing they are experiencing without slotting them as good or bad, then you feel fulfilled. You feel happy that you chose this as your profession and you are doing something right.

Himalayan Explorers AND Silver Stripe Outdoors

2010-05-01T11:05:00.003+05:30

Triund 2010 - A fun overnight trek to Triund, a meadow situated at 2800m, 8 Kms north of McLeodganj. Let the pictures do the talking

Mun Peak with Clouds

Sanjeet Mangat, Raja Sahota, Prateek Khurana

L-R: Tushar Singh, Raja Sahota, Amit, Ishan, Ranjan

Dhaba at Triund

Mun Peak, clear skies

Tushar Singh and my Quechua 4.1 Tent

"My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades"

Fantastic Trek fellows,

Cheers!!

On the way to Barot!!!!!!!

2010-04-23T15:28:00.002+05:30

Pic from http://hellotxt.com

More Barot

2010-04-23T15:26:00.002+05:30

Fishing spot at Barot

2010-04-23T14:32:00.000+05:30

Barot, District Mandi, Himachal Pradesh

2010-04-23T09:04:00.000+05:30

Everytime I visit this little town, I wonder if promoting it is the right thing to do? This little collection of villages 25 Kms North of Ghatasni (14 Kms towards Mandi from Jogindernagar) is a fold in the mountains that is blessed in beauty, resources and weather.

The river Uhl and the Khad meet in Barot making the place ideal for spending days watching the water go by. The Government has a Trout Farm and they release fish into the rivers to make this place a paradise for anglers. There is a Hydel project here as well and hence this little village gets it tourists, courtesy the road made by the Project. The scenic beauty of these fishing spots are breath taking and even I, not a fan of fish, want to pick up a rod and fish.

Barot is easy to get to. Palampur and Mandi are both nearby large cities. From Dharamsala, it is a 105 Km drive to Barot. The National Highway connects 80 Kms of this distance from Dharamsala to Ghatasni. From Ghatasni, a small road, made by the Hydel Project company, goes to Barot.

The tour books, internet accounts tell of a Summer Palace of the Mandi Kings in a place called Jhatingri. This spot is 5 Kms from Ghatasni and when we visited this spot

We were told by the locals that the Palace had been totally taken apart and all the goodies shifted to private homes since the year 2000!!! So much for promoting Himachal Pradesh responsibly. I have yet to see good accounts of travels that are accurate or informative. The Palace at Jhatingri is a prime example

Anyway, back to Barot...

Barot has small home stays which are not expensive, one really good restaurant and two Forest Rest Houses that make it good for family stays. There is also a good camping site where you can set up tents and be adventurous.

I am going to get together a large group of my friends and their families and go there in May. I want to assist in promoting this sleepy little place and making it a destination for responsible tourism.

5 Kms North of Barot is Loharadi, end of the road and the start of trekking trails going into Kullu, BAra Bhangal and Manali. Loharadi has a cute little women's shawl making centre, where you can still get organic cloth made straight from sheep wool. The stretch of road from Loharadi to Barot is where the fishing is good and the sites are accessible.

We did get caught in a hail storm on the way back from Loharadi and got soaked to the bone. Prateek and I went shopping for clothes and pieced together some clothes to keep us warm for the night. With a little assistance from 500ml of rum, we were very comfortable :)

Looking forward to May and all the people it will bring to us

Love and Good wishes to all

Trekking with old friends

2010-04-19T21:31:00.000+05:30

This IPL weekend in Dharamsala, it was crazy! Lots of cricket fans, traffic jams, important people with big cars, not so important people in bigger cars, Deccan Chargers, Chennai Super Kings and a brief visit from Punjab Kings XI. We took this time to take a small group of people to Triund.
The walk to Triund is an 8 Km trek over mostly easy terrain (gets a little steep towards the end) but the trail being over 2000m throughout, it can get tough for weekend warriors.
Anyway, I was incharge of a group of 4 people from Silver Stripe Outdoors and two of my best friends - Prateek Khurana and Sanjeet Mangat. The former is a young smart ass who almost ran most of the way and latter is my friend for the last 29 years!! A long time for friendships to last so I figured I must be doing things right :)
The weather is great, it is trying to rain hard and keeps the heat down, nights are mostly clear and it is not uncomfortably cold anymore.
It was also nice to see the efforts being made to keep Triund clean was actually working! Trash was segregated, the shop keepers were spouting newly learnt facts about garbage and they were genuinely involved in cleaning the place up. Too good to be true? It is up to us now to encourage this change and support it.
All in all great weekend - good friends, clean trails and great weather...

To Kareri Lake!!

2010-04-12T18:40:00.001+05:30

To Kareri Lake!!

2010-04-12T17:43:00.001+05:30

Fantastic trek!! The weather is just amazing!! We ALSO took a 6 month old baby all the way to the lake (3000m) and back.

To start at the beginning, we took one of our favorite guests to Kareri lake. Now this favorite guest (Ewa) has a friend (Katrin) visiting Dharamsala and she has a 6 month old baby (Kaya). Since Ewa wanted to see the lake, we decided to carry the baby all the way to the lake. Kaya, turned out to be a gem and better behaved than 90% of our clients!! :)

The group consisted of 1) Ewa 2) Katrin 3) Kaya the baby 4) Bridget 5,6,7,8) Raja, Sachin, Kapil, Vinay (The Himalayan Explorers Team). Sachin was the designated baby carrier.

We set up camp at the Forest Rest House ( a big four room affair) at Kareri Village (1800m) and 9 Kms out of McLeodganj.

The rest house has attached bathrooms and a beautiful premises that makes it really fun. But, be prepared for leaking pipes, mouldy linen, faulty wiring, etc. The caretaker is very generous and you can have the place to yourselves for a simple 500 rupees a night.

It is unseasonally hot, almost pushing 27 Degrees and gets very hot as we go higher. The heat was debilitating and the short 9 Kms trek seemed like an expedition.

On the 10th of April, Day 2, we decided to start early (as possible) and make it to the Kareri lake, around 14 Kms away through a steep terrain. We would be ascending 1200m in a short time!! Plus, we had to make sure that Kaya would have no side effects from the altitude.

Then came the windy climb towards Trekkers Junction (Lioti). This place is an excellent camping ground 10 Kms away from Kareri Village and ususally we camp here and rest. We reached this point by 1230 and had a huddle to decide if we all wanted to push for the lake.

The dilemmas were 1) Baby's condition 2) We will be late for dinner 3) We can get late and might have to trek through the dark. Having, in a democratic process, come to no decision whatsoever, Ewa decided for us, being the benevolent and beautiful dictator. From Lioti (2400m) it is a 4 Km walk to the Lake and a 600m ascent. At this elevation, the sun and the terrain gets tough even for the best of trekkers. As I was walking I realised that the group was not flagging in any way and were all loving it.

We reached the lake around 2 PM and after a quick lunch, were sufficiently refreshed to make the return.
The lake itself is diminishing every year I visit it. Lack of snow, hot weather, someone somewhere using more aerosols, factories, planes, green house gases, cow farts, affluents, and what have you could be to blame. Who knows anymore. We have so many theories and every person that can read and click a mouse has a theory now. In the interim period the rest of the world's future is still being decided by the few who have brought us on the brink of extinction.

All I brought away from this trek is the haphazard way outdoor activities are planned in the region, the way large tracts of pristine forests have been marked for clearing to build roads, the gross neglect of the Forest Conservation department OF the forest, the way people are selling their lands to developers, it might be the last time I see the tree lined trails, I am happy to be here, I hope I can show my kids these places, hopefully I can help fix something, write a letter, yell at someone...

A great Summer to all and big hugs to Ewa, Bridget, Katrin and Kaya.

Himalayan Explorers

First trek of the season

2010-04-04T08:03:00.004+05:30

Always magical, the year ahead seems full of promise and business is the last thing on your mind. Your clients are Gods as the euphoria of waking up from hibernation makes you a little too grateful.

The trek itself is an easy one and is a 12 Km round trip from Naddi. The weather is perfect and the trail climbs slowly to just above 2000m for a good practice run. In fact, I am seriously thinking of making it part of our routine conditioning.

Back to the point, I just wanted to wish all my fellow adventurers a great season ahead and hope some of us will cross paths

Good wishes and warm regards,
The team at Himalayan Explorers

The Story of Bottled Water (2010)

2010-03-28T20:59:00.001+05:30

See this and do something!

Proud members of Leave No Trace

2010-03-13T10:35:00.000+05:30

Hi all,

We finally became members of a fantabulous organization called Leave No Trace. "The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics is an educational, nonprofit organization dedicated to the responsible enjoyment and active stewardship of the outdoors by all people, worldwide."

We have been practicing the 7 steps of this organization in our trekking and have finally become eligible to join this amazing team. We plan to convince them to come to Dharamsala and spread more awareness about outdoors ethics to our bunch of trekkers, tour operators and visitors. When I see Dharamsala, I see the dire need for us to do activities to promote active stewardship as practiced in other countries. We all talk about it but none of us actually do anything. For those who are doing something, they fail to inspire more people to join. Unless we involve the Government and community leaders, we will get no where and finally will have no choice but to abandon the area and look for cleaner, unexplored areas to resettle in, where in a few years the same story will be repeated.

I know not many people read this blog, but those who do need to spread the word to others they know and contact us to assist in the fight

Raja Sahota & Elise Noel

Opening new routes for Himalayan Explorers

2010-01-29T20:44:00.002+05:30

While Elise, my beautiful fiancee, works on life coaching, yoga, greening the world, healthy eating, I shall be opening new routes. We are planning on exploring Ladakh this year. Apart from that there two or three little used passes close by that need exploring. The Bhimghasutri Pass, the Gag pass and the Kundli Pass are the little used passes West and East of Indrahar pass.

ALSO, we - the boys and I - are doing courses to increase our skill levels. Hopefully, we will have GREAT pictures soon.

Good luck to the team and keep watching this space for updates

2010 with a bang!!

2010-01-26T10:11:00.005+05:30

A happy 2010 to all, be healthy and stay happy...

Himalayan Explorers will be the new sensation in outdoor business for the year 2010. Why is that? After spending a lot of effort (and sleepless nights) getting feedback from friends, colleagues, customers and business partners (anyone with a brain) we have tweaked the business and are ready to perform. The website got tweaked for easier crawling, we are linked to every social network possible, we have a designer, a business consultant, a CA and new equipment. I even have the urge to, of my own volition, go and meet travel agents to sell my products!!

Seriously, it has been a long time coming. The boys and Elise and I need a break after two years of hard work. How can you help? Promote our website on your networks, tell more friends about the company, just word of mouth and goodwill can lead to business for us.

Warm regards from all of us at Himalayan Explorers

Trek through Minkiani Pass

2009-06-07T08:43:00.006+05:30

Finally A camp site!!

Looking Back at the Pass

At the top of Minkiani!!

View of Kareri Lake from Minkiani Pass

Start of the climb

Temple at Kareri Lake

View of Lake and the Pass

Close to trekkers Junction, 3200m

Campsite at Kareri Village

Starting the trek at Stobari

This pass located at roughly 4300m, is in the Western section of the Dhauladhars. The trail head is around 4 Kms from McLeodganj from a place called Stobari.

We took bare necessities on this trip as well. This year weather is very wrong! It is hot and stormy below the 200m mark and still snowing in the passes!! Added to that, this year is slated to see the record melting of Glaciers in Himachal Pradesh. Very, very woerd and sad.

This trek is a very popular passage for the locals to visit the holy Lam Dal (Second largest lake in HImachal) and to cross over into Chamba.

We did this trek in a total of 4 days as there was so mauch snow on the Chamba side, we had to keep walking to find a decent camp site and ended up walking for ten hours and hence we had to skip one camp site altogether.

Trek to Sari Pass

2009-04-25T02:17:00.010+05:30

Fantastic trek!! We set out to be the first to cross this pass this year and I think we truly were!!

The pass is totally snowed in and at the top, after a harrowing 3 hours of climbing straight up to avoid the snow, we found that all the routes down into Kullu were indeed heavily snowed in. The executive decision taken by yours truly was - Lets go straight down towards the glacier and take this glacier down until it meets the Sarbari River. Did I mention we had no equipment for snow - even crampons.
Well 10 and a half hours later, a lot of consulting on the map and using the compass as a magic wand, we actually did the trek without injury to body or ego. Check the photos

On the bus to Barot

At Campsite Barot

Above Andarli Malan

First sight of our destination

Camp at Lahes

Just climbed that

In sight of Sari Pass

Final walk to the col

5 Hrs on the glacier

At the Kullu bus stand, alive and well

Trek to Guna Temple

2008-12-06T12:19:00.003+05:30

The Guna Devi trek is a great day hike as well as anovernight trek. It is a two hour walk from a place called Naddi, 3 Kms from McLeodganj. The views from the temple of the Bhimghasutri Pass and the valley below are spectacular. During Festivals, the temple is bustling with pilgrims and is a great opportunity to see Indian culture. This destination is used by us on three routes as a stop over point.

Rooms at the temple

From the Temple

The Temple

Crossroads at Bal village

View of the Bhimghasutri Pass

THe Bhated river

The shack at Bhated river

Thamsar and Kaleheni to Manali

2008-12-05T16:47:00.004+05:30

Thamsar Pass

Thamsar Glacier

Kaleheni Pass
Billing

Kareri Lake Views

2008-12-05T10:42:00.005+05:30

The Kareri Lake is the third largest natural lake in the Dhauladhar region. The lake is located in the North West Sector of the Dhauladhar range at a height of 3200m ASL. Here are some pictures in different times of the year:

Sunset At the Lake

Kareri in June

Kareri Lake in July

Kareri Lake in December

The Himalayan Explorers Members

2008-12-05T10:22:00.007+05:30

At Himalayan Explorers, we are six people running the company. Out of the six there are 5 guides and one manager (who is also a guide). Although we re a for profit company, we split all our money equally with the larger share going to the company itself. Below are the photographs of all the members:

On A trek

Raja Sahota

Vinay Bedi, Sachin Kumar

Sachin Kumar, Ishaan Sharma

Suresh Kumar, Kapil Trehan

All of us!

Raja Sahota, Kapil Trehan and Sachin Kumar

Trek to Inrahar Pass, 4350 m

2008-12-05T09:53:00.010+05:30

View of the Pir Panjal Range from Indrahar pass

View of Triund from Ilaka

Shooting Star at Ilaka

Indrahar Pass 4350m

Himalayan Explorers Guides at Ilaka

Prayer Flags

2008-09-13T13:05:00.000+05:30

Thats my dog-Tony

Dunlop Geo Cruiser for Karizma

2008-09-12T20:42:00.000+05:30

I really didn't believe it worked! I have been in Dharamshala for a year now and own a Karizma. I had problems while driving around on the company fitted MRF Zappers. Today, upon recommendation, I switched to the Dunlop Geo Cruiser. It adds a 100% to stability and improved my average speed incredibly. It comes at 1100 Rs per tyre but worth it - So far.
Going to take it for a spin to Holi next week!!

11 Sep 2008 I'll say this only once...

2008-09-11T08:15:00.000+05:30

January til September ths year has been a long and hard ride. This year I decided to take the leap and do things I always wanted to do - start a trekking business, move in with the love of my life, make a family home and finally do something permanent for the community. For years I have been working with youth groups in the area, walking, touring the mountains and tring to work out a realtionship with some degree of luck.
The past few months have been arduous on all levels. The trials and tribulations have taught me a lot about myself. I am now ready to sit down in one place and take each day as it comes.
I am involved in setting up the trekking company and the Himachal Governement legalities are immensely archaic and time consuming. But I am confident I will get the damn registration in a few weeks. My company is called Himalayan Explorers and is staffed by members of the Youth Group I have worked with for the last 8 years. It is a good set up and the boys love it, so do I.
We are moving towards a virtual office wherein we shall not need a shop to operate the business and all bookings will be done on line or by contacts.
Come October and I am going to be preparing for the next year's plans, why? Because I need to earn the vacation I have planned for December!!!
Lately, we (Elise and I) have found a friend from Chile, Felipe Viveros, who is also looking to do insane things in life. Together, we plan to start an eco village in the mountains. After working in the mainstream for 15 years, it is very difficult to break the mold and do things spontaneously, but I am almost there :)