Trip Report Indian Himalaya trekking firms. Tapovan/Gaumukh?

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Hi
I am going trekking in the Indian Himalaya this year in Late Sept./Early October 2018 .
Can anyone recommend a local / Uttarakhand Foothills based trekking firm that will arrange all permits, porters, guide, cook ,camping fees , transfers etc. for the Gangotri glacier trek up to Tapovan?
This mob have the best itinerary but they are pricey.
www.trekgarhwalhimalayas.com/gaumukh-tapovan-trek.html

However I doubt I could pull this package together myself. This firm look quite professional.
I have been all over India 6 times so I am aware of what chaos , crookery , delays , bedlam and so on are awaiting the less wary trekker in N. India.
T.

 

[Myazma]

Walking a couple of days up a well trodden path between guest houses should not require services of a babysitting/trekking company.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Walking a couple of days up a well trodden path between guest houses should not require services of a babysitting/trekking company.

The crossing of the Gangotri Glacier up to Tapovan and the base camp for Shivling Peak etc. is not something I am willing to take a chance on solo.I don't know that area at all. I am more gung ho in the Oz Alps than I am abroad. In fact I am more of a Lion at home and a kitten abroad.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

We have booked and paid for an 11 day trek with AQUA TERRA. They are based in Delhi. The trek will take in Gangotri, Gaumukh, Tapovan, Nandavan, Vasuki Tal and two glacier crossings as well as a rest day at Shivling Peak Base camp.

 

[skifree]

We have booked and paid for an 11 day trek with AQUA TERRA. They are based in Delhi. The trek will take in Gangotri, Gaumukh, Tapovan, Nadavan, Vasuki Tal and two glacier crossings as well as a rest day at Shivling Peak Base camp.

We look forward to your report.

 

[LDJ]

It’s all down to personal preference but I just rock up (I do plan/investigate visa/weather/routes etc) with all our gear (hiking tent etc) and do it ourselves or find a local guide but once you are there it’s easy. Did a 7 day circumference of stock kangri (6100m) in northern India unaided just camping and hiking with our own gear. I like meeting my guide if I am going to get one and I hate having an army with me. I like carrying more gear and going more remote. You’ll have an amazing time either way

 

[LDJ]

With glaciers I would definitely get a local guide especially if you plan to walk in the dark

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

At Altitude I am less inclined to strap a Yak to my pack. It is a holiday so we ( two friends and I ) are paying people to do every thing for us so we can just walk , gawk, talk and take photos.

 

[LDJ]

At Altitude I am less inclined to strap a Yak to my pack. It is a holiday so we ( two friends and I ) are paying people to do every thing for us so we can just walk , gawk, talk and take photos.

I concur there is logic to this. My wife and I did have a couple of crazy days carrying large packs for 14hrs+ because the maps and accuracy of distance were just plain wrong

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Somebody else's blog for a similar trek is here. Of course my report will be better !!
https://www.skandavale.org/blog/pilgrimage-source-ganges/

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

I got my Indian visa this week

 

[teckel]

Somebody else's blog for a similar trek is here. Of course my report will be better !!
https://www.skandavale.org/blog/pilgrimage-source-ganges/

Without (or with minimal) religion, I hope?

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Without (or with minimal) religion, I hope?

You will be given a secular but spiritually attuned account of an inspiring place.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

There are less than 3 weeks until I jet off to trek in the Indian Himalaya.

 

[Myazma]

There are less than 3 weeks until I jet off to trek in the Indian Himalaya.

Enjoy the boom shiva

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Thanks, shukriar , dhanyavaad. I won't be seen in shorts at all in Asia/India!!

 

[Myazma]

Thanks, shukriar , dhanyavaad. I won't be seen in shorts at all in Asia/India!!

Dude from the endless info about yourself you provide here I doubt you'd do,try things or go to places I and others have travelled thru in the Himalayas. Well at least not without a guide
Will Mr T get to the source of the Ganga, inshallah, maybe.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Dude from the endless info about yourself you provide here I doubt you'd do,try things or go to places I and others have travelled thru in the Himalayas. Well at least not without a guide
Will Mr T get to the source of the Ganga, inshallah, maybe.

I am sure you and others on this forum have travelled wide and far in the Himalaya and the Karakorum as well as the Hindu Kush and the Pamir. I am always able to learn something from someone else and have never claimed to be an expert.
I do not know the area above the Gangotri Glacier and we feel better going with a guide to cross two glaciers( The Gangotri Glacier and the Ruktvarn Glacier) and we are heading for Vasuki Tal and Shiv Ling base camp.

 

[Myazma]

Getting close now Mr T, hope you really have a great trip and look forward to a few photos. Safe travels.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Getting close now Mr T, hope you really have a great trip and look forward to a few photos. Safe travels.

 

[Ubiquitous Steve]

Just flash them a pic of one of Team Bears Picnic Tables and the rabble will volunteer to be your Sherpas!
Team Bears have a cult following on the continent!

Hand out a few cheap wrist watches to keep the Indians on side!

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Just flash them a pic of one of Team Bears Picnic Tables and the rabble will volunteer to be your Sherpas!
Team Bears have a cult following on the continent!

Hand out a few cheap wrist watches to keep the Indians on side!

I was not aware that The Team Leader and the bears were or are well known in the Asian Sub Continent. We are paying porters to carry our stuff. So there will be no need to whip up any interest with photos or gifts.

 

[Ubiquitous Steve]

I was not aware that The Team Leader and the bears were or are well known in the Asian Sub Continent. We are paying porters to carry our stuff. So there will be no need to whip up any interest with photos or gifts.

Stay away from them cracks in the snow....they terrify the bears even in photos !

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Hi. I just got back from 3 weeks in Northern India and a week in hot , wet and sticky Sri Lanka. The high altitude trek in India was looking good and the firm we selected turned out to be very good in every respect. However I became ill on day two on the nine day trek and had to return to Gangotri with a porter. I remained very ill for a few days more , just cactus in my hotel room in Gangotri. I came good after about 3-4 days but basically I had to wait 7 days in total for my friends to complete the trek and meet me in Gangotri for the return trip to Haridwar in Uttarkhand.It was disappointing to say the least. I plan to make a travel insurance claim because I prepaid a fair amount of AUD$ for the best Himalayan trek I have never done.
I got as far as Cheerbasa(3600 M. ) when I developed a fever and mild mountain sickness, together.
:-(
I am now considering having a XC ski holiday somewhere, sometime , abroad such as Canada or Japan .

 

[Myazma]

Bugger, was looking forward to blog

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Bugger, was looking forward to blog

I will post some photos of the scenery as far as Cheerbasa (3600 M.). I am not going to give up trying to walk this route. I will give it another shot in a couple of years.

 

[Kopite]

That’s devastating. What was it? Food related?

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

That’s devastating. What was it? Food related?

Hi. I got a fever similar to influenza. I had some AMS symptoms but the fever left me very weak and the AMS symptoms were compounded by being so poorly. Walking from Cheerbasa at 3600 M back down to Gangotri at 3100 M over 9 kms was a superhuman task in that state.
Thankfully the trekking firm sent a porter with me to carry my gear and ensure that I reached the hotel successfully. I was deeply disappointed since I had planned this trek for years and I had motivated two of my friends to come too.
They completed the trek and I hung around a hotel room for 7 nights in Gangotri which , once somewhat recovered made me stir crazy and left me gutted once it sank in that the whole point of going to India was to trek with my friends with an expedition team, and
that whole matter had indeed slipped through my grasp because of illness.
I am still not 100 % well. The illness depleted me. I was scary sick , unable to eat or hardly walk around for a few days. Just going up the ten steps to hotel from the bazaar was overwhelming.
I can recommend AQUA TERRA as an outdoor adventure firm . They specialize in Trekking and Rafting in the Indian Himalaya. They treat people, esp. their local employees, the environment all in a first class manner. Their manner of organizing such trips is top notch.
I would trek with them again , for sure, but I am just happy to be back home and building up my health, fitness , energy and stamina to do things I really enjoy here in Ozstriya.

 

[Myazma]

Got your film developed yet?

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Got your film developed yet?

I have a digital camera memory card that I will start to look at tomorrow .I will post some photos soon. Thanks for your interest in this matter. My two friends who completed the trek have taken some impressive photos of Shivling Peak.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Here are some photos from my trip to India and Sri Lanka.Although illness stopped me completing the pre paid trek that I went with my bush walking club friends to do , some things were still good.
It was my 7th trip to India.
We arrived in Delhi on 25/9/18, In the last days of the rainy season. Delhi is a city I know very well and I am fluent in Hindi. I took Ms. A. on a tour of some of the sights, mainly from Delhi's Afghan and Mughal past.
The first place we visited was Humayun's tomb.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The whole complex of tombs and gardens has been well restored.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Some places in Delhi are very touristy, Humayun's tomb is one of them.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The Red Fort is another touristy place but Ms. A. was on her first visit to India, Asia and a non white person country in general so I played the tour guide . She enjoyed being accompanied by a Hindi speaking man of Indian origin who knows the details about all of these places ( me).

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The Red Fort( Lal Qila) in Delhi is interesting. I had not been there for ages, possibly decades.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

A visit to the chaotic old city and the Jama Masjid( Friday Mosque) was like going to Urban Pakistan with its strong North Indian Muslim vibe.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

I cannot believe the Hindu nutcase governments in Delhi and Gujarat are renaming many cities and places that have Indian Muslim type names such as Ahmedabad, Mughal Serai and Faizabad etc..They are renaming these places after Hindu Nationalist Nutcases who gave untouchables and Muslims a hard time.
It is just nuts to try to erase the 1000 year old history of Indian Islam.They regard the 300 Million + Indian citizens who are Muslims as foreigners!
They probably think The Taj Mahal in Agra is a Hindu temple and not a Muslim tomb!.
The British started all of this Hindu vs. Muslim crap in the Northern Sub Continent.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

By day three in Delhi Ms. M. had also arrived for the Uttarakhand trek.
We went for a walk around the Purana Qila ( The Old Fort) near the Zoo.
It is now a place for couples to smooch on the lawns under Mango trees.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The Old Mosque at The Purana Qila is the highlight of the remaining structures that date back to the mid 1500's.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

We three also went to visit Safdar Jung's tomb, which dates back to the 1700's.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

A sleeper train trip from Delhi to Haridwar took us to the foot hills where AQUA TERRA, our trekking company picked us up for the two days of road travel to Gangotri in the Himalaya.We stopped for Brunch on day one of the road trip from Haridwar to Uttarkashi.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The foothills were very green from the monsoon.This is between Uttarkashi and Gangotri.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

We stayed at a very nice place near Uttarkashi called "Kuflon Basics" , away from the commotion of the town.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

I was able to take some photos from the window of the Jeep on the way to Gangotri.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Each time we crossed

the river at a bridge the view changed.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

The scale of the Himalaya dwarfs anything on the planet.

 

[skifree]

All too green, must be another planet.

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]

Brian Eno: Another Green World. Post monsoonal Indian Himalaya in early October.
Bhagirathi River ( Headwaters of the Ganges).

 

[Mister Tee on XC Skis]