Stuck in Rain, Blessed by Snow: A Solang Valley Christmas Story

Happy Christmas to all my friends on Hive! This post should have been published much earlier, but since it was already late, I delayed it a little more. Actually, in October, I went to Solang Valley in Himachal Pradesh to volunteer at a trail running event, and during that time, we were stuck for 2-3 days due to heavy rain, and it started snowing in the higher areas. So, today, on the occasion of Christmas, I'm presenting this snowy post to you.

So, it was October 8th, and I, along with my companions, reached Solang Valley from Gurgaon in Haryana by car. The distance was approximately 600 km, which took about 12 hours to cover. Stopping along the way for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, we finally reached our favorite valley, where it had been raining heavily for the past 2-3 days. According to the weather forecast, it was predicted that it would continue raining in the lower areas for the next two days, and there would be fresh snowfall in the upper hills.

From the hotel balcony, I watched the rain falling, and as soon as the clouds cleared, I could see the fresh snow on the Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal ranges, which made me very happy. So, two days later, when the weather cleared, we had to go from Kothi to Kothi Top, and then on to Solang Valley via Khobi. This route was for reconnaissance and route marking, which we had to complete in one day because the weather was predicted to turn bad again in the afternoon.

We packed our breakfast and set off at 7:30 AM from Kothi (2850 meters). Marking the route through the apple orchards, we crossed the village boundary and entered the forest, where we soon reached a water stream. This was the only place where we would find water, and there would be no more water further on. After drinking water and refilling our bottles, we braced ourselves for the long journey ahead. We reached Kothi Top, situated at 3500 meters, after 2.5 hours. So far, we haven't encountered any snow on the trail, although with the clear weather, we can see fresh snow on the distant mountains. As we continued, we saw some shepherds who told us that the conditions had been very bad for the past two days due to snow and hailstorms. When I asked them, they said that there were no more camps further ahead; all the shepherds had descended due to the bad weather.

Beyond Kothi Top, the forest begins, and along with it, patches of snow from the recent snowfall start to appear. We are currently at 3500 meters, and the trail will take us up to 4000 meters, so the snow depth is likely to increase. We didn't have to go far to find deep snow; the race trail is completely buried under it. We are now marking the route with ribbons because we don't want the runners to get lost in this forest two days from now.

The snow is knee-deep. It's a good thing we brought plenty of ribbons, otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to mark the trail. Mount Patalsu Peak, with an elevation of 4450 meters, is visible ahead, and we need to reach its summit cap, where we hope the snow will end. Our difficulties are increasing because there's nothing but snow as far as the eye can see.

We have hiked 8 km in the snow so far, and although walking in the snow is difficult, the views from here are absolutely stunning. Mount Patalsu, Hanuman Tibba, Friendship Peak, and the Manali Valley behind us are motivating us to keep going. We weren't expecting it, but a runner appeared in the distance behind us, heading towards us. He soon reached us and told us that the footprints and ribbons on the trail were clearly visible in the snow. His validation reassured us that no runner would get lost in the forest. Khobi came into view from a certain distance, and it took us another hour of walking through the snow to reach it. The altitude here is 3800 meters, and there's no shortage of snow. We stopped here for a while, and I reflected on the trek we had completed so far. My pants and shoes were soaked from the snow, and I was feeling a little cold, but the good news was that we didn't have to climb anymore; we just had to descend towards the Solang Valley, where our hotel was waiting for us.

On the way down, we saw some runners who had come to scout the route. We shared our entire day's experience with them and invited them to walk back with us, which they happily accepted. The kingdom of snow extended all the way to the Saga Dug campsite. Finally, when the snow disappeared from the trail, we picked up speed and reached our hotel by 6:30 PM. We had hiked for almost 11 hours in the snow, and I'm happy that we were able to complete the given task in a single day.

So, how did you like this blog? If you liked it, please let me know in the comments. Now I'm off to enjoy Christmas. Stay happy and keep smiling. See you in the next blog!

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from One Plus 13R, and post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.

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