Hi Steemit Friends,

Have you ever heard of Acute Mountain Sickness(AMS), or altitude sickness? Do you know that every year people die on high altitudes, and all due to this particular sickness? Take the example of the Shri-Khand Kailash trek, every year 4-6 people die up there in the last 2-3 kilometers of the trek just when they are near to the Kailash peak at about 5200 metres elevation. Bhrigu lake trek takes you to the Bhrigu lake at an elevation of about 4300 metres above MSL.

If you are a regular follower of my travel posts, then you must know that as of today some I have done quite tough treks, but this story of mine is of the times when I was a rookie level trekker. This was the first trek where I felt as if I was about to die and all due to the lack of oxygen in my blood. Along with me were Tarun and Aayush, both elder to me, and very good trekkers. Aayush had already been on this trek, and therefore he acted more of a guide to us on this particular trek. Before going further with my story, let's have a brief info about the trek.

Brief necessary Info

Starting point of Trek - Gulaba at 2600 metres elevation
Nearest Airports: Bhunter airport in Kullu, Jubbal Hatti Airport Shimla, Gaggal airport Kangra, Chandigarh airport.
Nearest Small town: Manali at 2065 metres elevation at 22 kilometers from Gulaba
Nearest big town: Chandigarh 312 km, Delhi 553 km (Use Redbus for booking the Volvo buses from Delhi)
Trek Length - About 14 kilometers from Gulaba to Bhrigu, another approx. 15 kilometers from Bhrigu to Vashishat

My Experience of Single Day trek

A daily hike of about 4 kilometres, which I used to cover 6 days a week in my childhood to and fro school and home, surely was helpful for this trek. Else there were not many treks where I have been onto. This was somewhat a long trek, moreover up to an elevation of 4300 metres which would be my highest level of reach if reach safely.

Those early childhood hikes were on the mountains below and in front of Dhauladhars, but this trek was close to Pir-Panjal, and we know that they run higher.

Reaching Gulaba - the start of the trek

Day was 3th August, 2014 - a Saturday. Mr. Tarun, my good friend and college batchmate, and I reached the HRTC bus station of Mandi at around 10 PM.

(I-camera person, and Tarun Goel waiting for 12:00 AM bus at Mandi bus stand)

At 12:00 AM, we hopped into a HRTC bus that carried a board of 'Dharamsala to Trilokinath.' Our night journey from Mandi to Hanogi was accompanied by the dense rain drops from the invisible sky. Due to several reasons, sleep was not coming into the mind. At Kullu, Aayush got into our bus, so three of us reached open eyed at Gulaba at 5:00 AM next morning.

Aayush and Tarun shared the same passion of trekking, and because Aayush already had trekked the Gulaba to Bhrigu lake trek, he also had to act as our guide for this trek.

I had never gone up to elevations higher than 3500 m- the elevations at Adi Himani Chamunda in Kangra and Dayara-Bugyal in Uttarkashi, both of them I had reached in past. Out of my habitual over-confidence, I was excited to get off the bus and start climbing.

Morning Sunshine- the mix of White, Green and Golden colors

After getting off the bus at Gulaba, the cold forced us to put the warm cloths on. With each foot step up on that mountainous trail, daylight started to penetrate the darkness, and as we climbed a distance of about 1 km the sun-rays crowned the white mountain peaks around us with a golden color.

(Darkness passing into light)

(The grassy slopes and holy cows)

(Sun-rays on far peaks)

(L - Aayush, R- Tarun)

(Peaks in light)

Aayush told us the names of the visible peaks, one of them was the popularly known Hanuman Tibba which is the highest peak(5,639 m or 18,500 ft high) of Dhauladhar range.

(Mountain Dew and Grass)

This trail formed with the footsteps of earlier visitors, was surrounded on both sides with the dense 1 to 2 feet jungle flower plants. Although they looked beautiful, later I would come to know the associated dangers for human life. Oak trees accompanied us, providing the beauty and life(oxygen) at the same time up to an elevation of about 3200 m, but then suddenly they cease to exist.

No trees- only shrubs, flowers and grass carpeted meadows

Soon at around 7:00 AM our faces got glittered with the sun-light, it was 1.5 hours after the start of the trek.

(Morning rays finally climbed from the back of the mountain)

On the way, along with some temporary Gaddi shelters, we saw their livestock grazing here and there, mostly cows. Also one beautiful herd of horses graced us with a rare spectacle they presented.

(2 small sloped roofed shelters can be seen on the mid slope)

(Nothing looks more beautiful than this)

For these animals, summer season and this place seemed to be a perfect habitat. Grass and water both are available in abundance. But one thing I fear is the snow leopard, god save these animals.

One after the another we climbed the smaller peaks on the trek, and reached at the first source of water on this trek since the starting point at Gulaba.

(Resting for a while)

(The Steepness)

(Another small rest)

At Kolang Nallah(Stream)

This stream of water carries purest water, and one can drink it as it is. Remember to carry water from Gulaba, as it is no less than 6 kilometers from Gulaba to this point.

(Downstream)

(Upstream)

Meadow after meadow and hill after the hill, the trek is the most beautiful high altitude meadow trek. Another 1-2 kilometer gradual hike from the Kolang Nallah took us to the Rola Kholi camp site.

(Singular trek)

(First view of Rola Kholi base camp)

Rola Kholi Base Camp

Surrounded by low height mountain slopes on three sides, the place looked safe from wind and rain attacks. A water stream whose origin was a far visible melting glacier on the mid slope, run on the side of this plane pasture land.

(Small headaches)

Elevation is about 3810 metres, and therefore it makes a perfect camping site, so that people can get acclimatized with the low level of oxygen. I could see few tents and a herd of mules, loaded with the luggage of some kind.

In winters the site gets snow covered, and that makes another adventure to camp at the site. Here is a video showing the camp site in winter, posted by one of my friend on youtube.

Trekkers who want to do the camping for more than 2-3 days, must carry the food, and therefore mule service is required. Hire them for carrying the necessary things if you can't bear the load on your own.

Acute Mountain Sickness

If you go with a guide, and you are new to such heights, definitely you would be asked to camp at Rola Kholi, but not us. I could feel the pain that has started in my head, but I had not yet heard the name 'Altitude Sickness.' This was the day of my introduction, but in a hard way.

I had been feeling low since the morning. Reasons I thought of were the late night dinner, unfulfilled sleep, no breakfast, and in-digestion, but suddenly after climbing about half a kilometer further from Rola-Kholi, I felt an urge to vomit.

I thought that it was the non-digested food, but Mr. Tarun and Aayush started to talk about something, which I heard for first time. They both insisted that vomiting was a sign of altitude sickness, and they once asked me go back, but I was sticking to my reasons.
I told them I was alright, and that it was nothing more than a non-digested stuff. I didn't want to go back after reaching at more than 3800 m and climbing up to 4300 m seemed easier than to turn back. But I wouldn't know that this climb was not what I had ever learnt of.

Soon we caught up with a group of school teens from England headed up to Bhrigu lake. They were very slow compared to us. I think their plan was to reach the campsite-Pandu Ropa, at the other side of lake. So their trekking was planned for three days, which is the normal trend of trekkers on this trek, but our plan was to reach lake and come back on the same day. This gave my body no time to acclimatize.

(Talking to the group guide)

The group on the other hand was slow and had already spent one night at Rola Kholi, that lowered the risk of altitude sickness for them.

Crossing Glacier and fight with Altitude Sickness

If I calculate the elevation difference of Mandi and Bhrigu, within less than 10 hours of time since last time at Mandi, I was 3500 metres up above in the sky if I look straight up standing at Mandi bus station.

Oxygen density starts to drop down after 2700 metres, so altitude sickness can catch anyone and at anywhere after that elevation if not acclimatized. I had been thinking of it to only be a digestion problem, the cause of my low feeling, so I forced my body, dragging it up.

I didn't want to believe it to be mountain sickness, because I wanted to reach at the top. This last part of my ascent journey to the top was the most difficult.

(Trying to evaluate myself and the remaining trek)

The Last Ascent through Glacier, Big Rock and Scree

After a total of about 3 kilometers of sine wave trek from Rola Kholi, it gets puzzled with big rocks. One has to use his hands and feet at the same time. Stretches covered with moraines and scree could also be spotted. Then came an upwards 90 degree ascent along a glacier. Aayush carried a pack of Glucon-D in his bag, and offered it to me. I was tired as hell, couldn't take more than 8-10 steps at one time.

Water is highly recommended while you are attacked by the altitude sickness, so both of them kept offering it to me, steps after steps. Tarun sir advised to me to drink as much water as I could, and I feel thankful to both of them for having that knowledge and offering it to me. I was getting unconscious, but somehow I climbed the last and the toughest stretch.

(Please ignore my pained face, it was a courtesy of mountain sickness)

It was totally vertical and snow cladded, and to climb it over was a big success for me, but it exhausted me completely. Then I tried something, I put my fingers on my tongue and rubbed its surface, hoping to get a vomit. I vomited few drops of water perhaps, but that was it, there was no food in my stomach to vomit out. I thought it could alleviate the condition.

But it didn't really help. I was hanged somewhere in between my sleep and consciousness. Finally I reached at the lake bank. Aayush and Tarun had climbed a bit faster after the glacial hike.

(First view of Bhrigu Lake)

At Bhrigu Lake, but unconscious!!?

I wanted to lay down and sleep, not because of the peace or calmness at the place, but because of my sickness. I laid down, closed my eyes, almost unconscious, and waited to get back some energy and freshness.

This didn't got any better, my headache was getting worse, and then I could clearly feel the effort which I had to make to inhale the air. It felt as if something had clutched and therefore choked my throat and chest. A bit of glance here and there, clouds hovered around beautifully, appearing and disappearing constantly.

(Trying to correct my face, but no success, Bhrigu lake in back)

(Beautiful lake on the mountain top)

After resting for about 10 minutes, I was woken up by one among Tarun sir or Aayush, which one I don't remember for sure. Resting helped a bit with my headache, but as soon as I tried to stroll around the periphery of the lake it came back like a lightening bolt. After taking few steps and clicked few photographs and laid back.

(Notice board at lake bank)
Sun appeared and disappeared with the permission of those mad and uncontrollable clouds, which were following the wind. More than those clouds, I was getting seriously mad, because the pain was killing me and I was loosing my conscious.
As this was a cloudy day, nothing much was visible except the lake.

Descent back to Gulaba

Tarun and Aayush had reached at Bhrigu lake at around 11:30 PM but I must had a 10 minutes difference and at around 12:30 PM we started back down. This indeed was a visit to the heaven and hell, heaven was the place itself and hell broke withing my body. I felt worse with each step that I took, I felt completely exhausted. When we reached back at the glacier, the English people group was busy in climbing across, some of them were crying, literally.

(The English group, hiking the glacier)

I didn't feel like walking a single step further, yet both of them suggested that I had to get down to lower altitude as soon as possible. I forced myself hard.
I think gravity was a big help this time, so stepping down was easier.

They saved my Life

Tarun and Aayush were walking ahead of me, much much faster than me, but they were in their normal walk, it was me who was slow. And they wanted me to follow fast.

They sat at places, waited for me to reach them and offered me water and a dose of Glucon-D and an emotional push to carry on. I felt to cry at places, because my breathing had become so heavy, and headache was on the verge of exploding my head. At each stoppage, I hoped to gain some strength but at some points it got horrible, thoughts of death came to my mind.

But then I recollected all the things in my mind which I still would do in my life. One of them was writing such blog post. It further made me to want to cry, but somehow I controlled myself, because it could also had demotivated my friends who were constantly pushing me to reach the safer elevations.

With 6 to 7 of such stoppages, I reached almost at a vertical distance of 100m near to the tree line, Aayush started walking along with me, and Tarun a little ahead.

Everything has to pass, this pain had to pass too, either by leaving me unconscious or giving me a lesson for life. What happened with me was the latter. As soon as I reached the trunks of the Oak trees line, I felt a sudden improvement in my breathing, headache just fumed away into the fresh air.

While I was still walking down at the higher altitudes, I had planned that if I would survive this sickness, I would thank the brothers, and so did I, when I felt safe. I tried to joke away the whole tension, and felt a great difference between the two states of my body. I visited the heaven and hell on the same day.

At 4:00 PM, we were back to Gulaba on the Manali-Leh road, we got lift and came back to Manali. Tarun searched for the medical store and bought a Diamox tablet. After taking it in, I felt relieved from all the pain, within 30 minutes of taking it.

An Advice.

So that is all I want to tell you from this story. If you are going to an elevation for first time, take a tablet of Diamox or any other for altitude sickness, and also water is must. Try to acclimatize at the relative elevations and walk slowly in a comfortable manner. Take 2 or 3 days if you can, have halts at the campsite of Rola Kholi and Pandu Ropa.

Thanks for the kind visit!

P.S. If you are interested in reading more, you can read my earlier posts from the series and follow me for more. Earlier posts are as following.

Wild Himalayan Treks #4 - Kheer Ganga(Kullu) - Abode of Shiva

Wild Himalayan Treks #3 - Trekking up to Kareri Lake at 2934 metres - A story of overconfidence and learning -part.2

Wild Himalayan Treks#2- Personal Account - Parashar Lake in Himachal (India)

Wild Himalayan Treks#1 - Visiting Tunga Mata Temple- 9 km Uphill Trek surrounded by Deodar Trees