Sandakphu With Family & Friends

The word Sandakphu evokes a lot of memories in me. And all of them are pleasant ones. I went to this “highest point in West Bengal” (12,400 feet) about 25 years ago. Completely alone and in winter when there were tonnes of snow there and no tourist except for a lone Japanese guy who I met only in Sandakphu. Slept in small shacks along the way, in my own sleeping bag that I carried in my own rucksack. These are now called “home stays” and now they offer more than just a place to sleep. In 1990 they were just homes of poor local mountain sherpas who let you sleep in their house and eat their food.

From getting bitten by a whelping bitch on a very cold night in Sandakphu to striking up friendships with the locals to getting lost in Rimbik forest, I did a lot of things that only I want to remember.

In 2000 I went there once again. This time with Monisha and of course my friend Ambarish and his wife Bidisha. Now we needed to hire a porter for our luggage. But it was one porter for the four of us. The four of us carried quite a bit of our own luggage too. We thoroughly enjoyed the trek once again, except the climb down from Sandakphu to Gurdung which really tested my thigh muscles and knees.

In 2014 March I did this same trek once again. Now with Monisha and Geetanjali (Mampu) who is ten years old. My friend Ushnik and Jhulan also accompanied us. Only Jhulan and Mampu were novice trekkers, so to say. This write up is about this third trek of mine.

The nameless lodge where we stayed in Dhotre. 

This time, on Ushnik’s suggestion, we chose a different route. We would go as far as Dhotre from NJP by jeep, which is about 20 km beyond Maneybhanjang, our usual starting point. Eat our lunch there, hire the porters (it is mandatory now to have a “guide” with you – which in real life means a porter) and proceed towards Tonglu on day one itself. Next day we would go as far as Gairibas (via Tumling and Jaubari). After that the usual breaks at Kalipokhari and Sandakphu.

We would see if we were strong enough to make it to Phalut. We didn’t have any specific plans for coming back or didn't know which route to follow. It would all depend on what we decide to do in Sandakphu. But Phalut was high on my agenda, as I had not been able to go there in my past two hikes.

Weather gods spoilt our plans a bit. We reached Dhotre around midday amid really gloomy weather. 

Gloomy is an understatement to describe Dhotre on our arrival

Dhotre is a very small hamlet with just a few houses and a couple of “home stays” only. It was biting cold and we ate our lunch of momo and tea amid a bad hailstorm. Small globules of ice were falling from the sky. After a while we decided that proceeding in this weather was out of question. We must spend the night in Dhotre and walk straight to Gairibas tomorrow. So in effect we don’t lose a day but walk more than what we had originally planned for in one day.

Ushnik discussing the porter hiring charges and route etc

Nevertheless, we hired the porters for tomorrow’s journey from the local union. These days they have unions and porters are allotted to you by rotation. We had one porter each for the Sens and the Roys. I had stuffed all our items in the large North Face backpack for the porter. I would carry my Lowepro Flipside containing the 7D with 400 mm f5.6 and 5D Mk II with 24-70 and two 1 litre water bottles on either side. It was a good 7 kg weight. Monisha would carry a small laptop carrier kind of a bag with some essentials and also my binoculars, battery chargers and my rain jacket. Mampu will be carrying a small knapsack containing her essentials. She would also carry the emergency medical kit. Rest everything was stuffed for the porter. It weighed a good 20 kg. 

The North Face sack has this incredible ability to take everything that you throw at it and find a place for it and then wait for some more. It is really a pleasure to have it. I had bought it in 2002 from the US paying a small fortune. I have never regreted the decision.

We had a basic candlelit dinner at night (there is no electricity in Dhotre; not even solar power) amid yet more thunderstorms. The food wasn’t so bad. Egg curry and rice. The ladies thought the egg curry was awful. The place isn’t so bad. We were given two rooms on the first floor. The bathroom is in the ground floor, as is the dining hall. I was surprised to find they had a nice cosy bed with blankets and quilts. Even in 2000 these home stays used to provide just a very basic bed and you were supposed to sleep in your own sleeping bags. In fact we weren’t even carrying any sleeping bag. I reconfirmed this with Ushnik several times out of sheer disbelief.

Part of our bedroom in Dhotre

Next morning, after a big breakfast of aloo paratha, we started walking at around 8 am. My porter is Manoj Tamang. Stout looking with a funny hairstyle. He smiles to see the large bag. But picks it up without a grumble. His friend Dawa is relatively frailer and younger too. He goes for Ushnik’s sac, which is relatively much lighter.

It’s not raining but not sunny either. We walk through the foresty path towards Tonglu. It’s a more than gentle gradient. But nothing too steep. Relatively, much better than the Maneybhanjang to Chitre hike on the other route. The trail goes through a dense forest. There is virtually no bird movement. One of the reasons for my choosing this route is that I was told it’s fairly bird rich. But I saw nothing.

After a couple of hours and somewhere below Tonglu our porters said we must take this narrower trail and go straight to Tumling. We must not go via Tonglu, which would be a meaningless detour.

On this short-cut trail there was a short rain of snowy globules. Since there was no water, I didn’t mind. I got a bit nervous about the cameras though and pulled the raincover on the bag, which remained throughout the journey. Monisha had the umbrella ready in her bag. Soon enough I could see the huge white Chorten of Tumling and felt reassured.

We had a short tea break at Tumling. I saw a yellow-billed blue magpie, but couldn’t photograph it. After some biscuits and tea we started our onward march to Jaubari. This is a gentle walk of a little more than an hour, which we did comfortably. A little out of Tumling, you officially enter the Singalila National Park. There is a fancy gate welcoming you and you are supposed to buy your entry tickets. But there is no one to sell you the tickets. So you move ahead. There is a road bifurcation. The jeeps from Maneybhanjang take the right road to go straight to Gairibas. Trekkers take the left one via Jaubari which is much shorter. However, the descent from Jaubari into Gairibas is pretty steep.

I later learnt that the path on the right is very bird rich. Probably next time I will take that. Gairibas is straight 6 kms from there.

Mampu's mood lifted after a hot soup and an omlette

Mampu had got terribly bored before reaching Jaubari. She was crying and swearing, saying she would never come to the mountains again. Ushnik handled her carefully and calmly (I was a little ahead of all this drama) and brought her to the Indira Lodge where we had omlettes, momos and hot soup, not to speak of the tea. The old man of Indira Lodge is a very nice person. He didn’t charge for the soup. I took his photographs which he said we must send to Mr Pradhan of Maneybhanjang who would send them to him. Mampu’s mood also lifted and we started off for the last stretch of day one.

The owner of Indira Lodge, Jaubari

After the short Jaubari break (we had stayed overnight here in both 1990 and 2000) we walked down the road to Gairibas. On the way I saw a wall creeper and a fire tailed sunbird. However, photography wasn’t good due to challenging light conditions. It was still very gloomy with very low light and poor visibility.

We reached the small hamlet of Gairibas and headed straight for the Trekker’s Hut. This is the best accomodation we found on the trail. It’s a dormitory of seven beds that we had all to ourselves.   Gairibas is pretty famous with birders and I soon realised why. I found many yuhinas and warblers and laughing thrushes etc. But light for bird photography, again, is a major issue in Gairibas, even if it is otherwise sunny.

Gairibas Trekker's Hut

There was some electricity in the evening (possibly through a solar set) where they lit up a 5 watt CFL bulb in the room – which gives me more headache than any useful light. Ushnik brought out a home made gadget to charge the mobiles from the holder from where the bulb hung. I realised it was useless to charge the mobiles because there was no network. So I switched off the phone. We had a fantastic khichdi at night with omlettes and papad etc. I think the boy even fried some chopped potatoes for us.

Monisha playing with a Sherpa child at Kaiyakanta

Next morning we had a back breaking walk up the road for 4 km to a new hamlet called Kaiyakanta. Even in 2000 there was no such halt. But now it is a small hamlet with a few tea stalls where we had the customary tea. Weather was still gloomy. We marched ahead towards Kalipokhari and reached it in good time. From Kaiyakanta there are two roads – one goes up and another stays level. Ushnik and I thought the road going up is the one we normally take. But the porters suggested the level road. While reaching Kalipokhari we realised this was perhaps a new route that we took. Because the village pond came to our left. We remember the pond being always on the right hand side of the road. We saw such a road merging in Kalipokhari but ignored it, now that we have arrived.

In Kalipokhari we stayed at good old Chewang’s lodge where I had stayed in 1990 and 2000 as well. We had a very good time in the kitchen with the Amma doing all the chores. Ushnik and I had a tongba each (a local brew). Towards the end we both got a little high. It was a very enjoyable evening with many types of people around. There were many other guests there. We met a group of youngsters from Calcutta who came that day all the way from Tonglu!!!! What a senseless waste of energy. There were more trekkers from Calcutta, some of who seemed totally drunk. One of the porters was really hilarious with a great sense of subtle humour.

Chewang's wife who runs the show almost single handed

The Amma of this “home stay” deserves a special mention. She did all that is required to cook the food for some 30 guests that night. She chopped the vegetables. Washed the utensils. Cooked the food and served it too. It was a delicious khichdi with omlettes. She also handled the different ridiculous demands of the tourists with a smile.

In the night the sky had cleared up and the stars were dazzling. Ushnik showed us some popular constellations. We could see light coming from a Sandakphu hotel called Sherpa Chalet. It’s a five storied hotel now in Sandakphu !!! We went to sleep happy that the skies had cleared and we would be able to see Kanchenjungha clear tomorrow.

But all my hopes of a clear weather on the next day - the final day of our hike to Sandakphu - were dashed in the morning. It was gloomy. Dark. Cold. Full of clouds coming up from below. I had half a mind not to even start. Visibility was really poor. And I knew today would be a bad day of uphill climb. I didn’t want to do it in this weather. But Ushnik egged me on and I started reluctantly. Breakfast was Tibetan breads hand made by Amma.

From Kalipokhari the road is almost level upto Bikaybhanjang after which the uphill climb starts. Bikay is famous for its pheasants. But with visibility hardly beyond the finger tips of an outstretched hand, I had no inclination to look for them.

The lonely road to Sandakphu. Slow but steady is the answer

I had started off first from Kalipokhari and so started the slow uphill climb alone. On this climb there are many short cuts, called Chor Bato. These reduce the distance but are very steep. I took the ones that were very obvious. Total 5 of them. There were several sections on the way that were full of snow. I didn’t stop even once for water but kept on walking. In one place I stopped for some photography because I thought such snowy and gloomy conditions might not be encountered later. Turns out I did the right thing. It was painfully sunny on our way back down the same path.

I was really surprised to note that I reached Sandakphu in about two hours from Bikay. I had thought it would take me perhaps four hours. The others weren’t too far behind. They had started later than me. So naturally they reached after me.

The only good thing about such gloomy weather is you don’t feel as thirsty on the way. I drank water only once on the way.

Sandakphu was cold, dark and windy as usual. There was some snow around but not as much as I had seen in February 1990. The main snow must have melted out.

We found accommodation in Sunrise right next to the five-storied Sherpa Chalet. My first impression after seeing Sandakphu after almost fifteen years is, it looks a lot shabbier than it used to be. There was a pristine quality about the place which was missing this time. There is a largish army base now here, not to speak of a sizeable presence of the tourism industry. That’s understandable but it could have been more visually pleasing.

I started feeling a nausea after drinking a horrible tea at Sunrise. Later I learnt they had added some “masala” to the normal tea which made it unpalatable for me. This masala is favoured by many but not us Bengalis. Even Monisha had a similar feeling after the tea. I started feeling a bit of a headache too and was initially worried that it could be the beginning of an AMS. Then I realised that probably this was due to dehydration. Drank some water and started feeling better.

It rained rather heavily in Sandakphu that night. All my hopes of the sighting of Kanchenjungha next morning were dashed. We hit the bed with a heavy heart amid sound of rain water dashing on the tin roof. I got a room with a view of the eastern side only. Ushnik got a room with view to the north.

Early next morning I opened my eyes and saw a grey outside through the window. Closed my eyes back again. But soon I had to jump out of the bed. Ushnik was calling. Wake up and see the sight. I knew Kanchenjungha must be visible. Got ready in a jiffy and ran out of the room.  

Lo and behold. What a sight. All the drudgery and gloom of the walk vanished. Open blue sky. Not a speck of cloud anywhere. And Kanchenjungha is dazzling right in front of our eyes. Guarding the Northern horizon. I have seen this sight two times in the past. But it never gets old. You can spend a life time just gazing at the pristine beauty. 

Ushnik explained the various peaks of the massif, which is also fondly called the sleeping Buddha. The morning was so clear that even Everest-Lhotse-Makalu troika was also visible to the west. I woke up Monisha and Mampu and went about like a mad man clicking. One never knows when the clouds from the valley would come up and block the vision. 

This is the glorious east view of Mt Everest standing tall in the middle. The one to the right is Makalu and the one in the left is Lhotse. These are all peaks that are in the hallowed group of 8,000 meter plus. Apparently this is one of the six spots from where Radhanath Sikdar did the survey of Everest and found it to be the highest peak in the world. Till then Kanchenjungha was believed to be the highest peak in the world. This is folklore and not verified by me. However, it is highly believable as Everest was measured from India and this is one of the very few points in India from where Everest is clearly visible. I believe it is also visible from somewhere near Darjeeling. Tiger Hill? I don't really know.

Snow has a wonderful quality of making everything look beautiful. Sandakphu was looking gorgeous as the morning sun shone brightly on the fresh snow. 

  

Birding was also rather fruitful. I got some rare and not so frequently photographed birds. 

Black-faced Laughingthrush 

White-throated Redstart

White-collared Blackbird

 We were extremely lucky, we were told. Sandakphu hadn't seen the Kanchenjungha in the previous five days. We had wanted to go to Phalut and go back down through some other route. But the porters were really grumbling. They didn't want to go to Phalut saying the road would be really bad with snow. Finally we relented and decided to listen to them. Phalut remained untouched even after my third trip to Sandakphu. 

The next day we came down to Gairibas. It was very very sunny till Beekaybhanjang, which is just at the bottom of the climb to Sandakphu. But from Kalipokhari it started getting gloomy and misty once again. We kept trudging nevertheless. We walked right upto Gairibas and went once again back to the trekker's hut. 

The next day Ushnik and Jhulan went back. We stayed on in Gairibas for a couple of days more, taking bird photographs and recording the calls. Next we walked back to Chitre via Jaubari, Tumling and Meghma. 

Meghma unfortunately is now a dirty large mountain village. I couldn't recognise the Meghma of our previous treks. Let me keep that memory only and try to forget what we saw this time.

Near Chitre Mampu unfortunately had a fall on the asphalted road. I think she got ecstatic to see the asphalt road after a long time and started running down the steep road when she tripped over. She cut her chin. Nothing very serious but these days we get a little too concerned with these cuts and bruises to our children. But anyway she soon forgot about it.

We spent the night in Chitre in the small lodge and came down to Meghma the next morning. We had to go back to Dhotre to get our suitcase. But that's another story. 

On balance it was a nice trek with my daughter and wife. Jhulan's maiden trek was really impressive. She walked pretty well. So did Mampu. I don't know if she will want to walk in the mountains again. Even if she doesn't, she will remember this for a very long time in her life.