Yet another short trek, unexplored and unknown to most of
the people: Nag Tibba
Location : Nag tibba, distt.- Dehradun, Uttarakhand,
India
Distance from Mussoorie: 57 km
Trekking route altitudes : Min: 4590 ft. (at Pantwari)
& Max. 9915 ft.(Nag tibba top)
This was a dream destination I always wanted to visit :)
We were a group of 15 people started our journey from
Dehradun by car to Pantwari village from where the trek began. Trek was of
moderate difficulty- actually easy till camp site but moderate due to snow clad
mountain trek the next day.
We started our trek at around 12.30 pm carrying our
backpack with only essentials like warm clothes, raincoat, some energy drink,
chocolate/ energy bars, camera (most important), etc.. Trust me- that too felt
like a tons of weight after some time.
Trek was steep and continued so but easy to climb. We
stopped at a nice meadow for lunch, took rest for 30-45 mins and again started
the journey for the camp site. 
The trek was muddy and steep, typical mountain trek but
as we continued the view started to unfold and we could see the ranges of
Lesser Himalayas.
The air became cooler and cooler as we hiked.. We reached
to a small clearing and clicked some shots J
People generally camp here instead of Nag Tibba base which
was 2 km further up. One can see the
entire beautiful valley from this place.
The first site of Nag Tibba base was amazing as the place
was covered in snow. Bright yellow camps were ready on white snow bed. We were
served pakoras and tea and our trek leader briefed us for next day’s hike. We
had our dinner by 8 pm, by then it was dark, chilli, windy and we were hell lot
of tired, But just as we looked up at the sky all tiredness vanished.
Gazing up at the naked sky was one of my dreams come true.
I could see all the constellations and actually started counting the stars
which are numbered in a place like Delhi. We made plans to start our trek to
the peak at 5.30 am so we could see sunrise from the peak; chit chat with
bonfire and music went on and later we retired to our tents.
The night was not as peaceful as the sky depicted at
first. Sleeping bags, jacket, sweater, sweat pants- nothing could stop the
chill coming from snow bed below, then it started to rain- first slowly, then
vigorously followed by hail. It went on for the entire night and early morning
when it finally stopped at 9 am.We started our trek again with our 5 layers of clothing plus raincoat which also worked as windshield.
We could see thick clouds all over Nag Tibba snow peak and were so determined to go into that dense white unknown as if walking on the vault of Heaven to experience hail and snowfall.
The entire journey to the peak was mesmerizing, I
witnessed snowfall for the first time..it was beautiful. Snowfall continued as
we climbed ahead in knee length fresh snow. Its difficult to hike in hard snow-
we were also given spikes for that but luckily the snow was fresh which made it
easy to hike but still difficult than normal hiking because though the snow bed
seems to be at the same level the ground beneath it might not be. Also if you
have low BP (as I do), make sure you take some chocolate/ energy bars with you,
I had that bar in a middle of nowhere waiting for 2 guys to join us as they
missed the track and took wrong route.
It felt so blissful as we hiked..all I could see was pure
white everywhere…I could not make out where the mountain ended and where the
sky started..it was as if walking on clouds J
and thousands of wind chimes ringing rhythmically as snowflakes touched the
leaves of forest trees all around me.. As the sound of silence pursued we
continued our journey ahead.
The best part of trekking in snow is that you’ll never
have shortness of breath the entire time you are in snow and because of normal breathing
you won’t feel tired.
Few of us who were a li’l slower than others were
following the track left behind by them. Walking on those foot marks is easier
than making new ones. One- it gives you a right direction, and second- when
snow is knee length its better to slide your foot in the existing foot hole,
this’ll give you good grip and lesser chances of slipping in snow. But make
sure foot marks are going ‘towards’ the top and not coming from there ;) Usually hikers take different return route.
Our welcome was done with snow balls and the third world
war began J
The view from top was breathtaking; I still wish we had
more time to sit there. One can see Himalayan range from the top- all snow clad mountains, given the weather is clear.
Don’t forgot to visit the Temple at Nag Tibba base J
One of my favorite treks now- Nag Tibba is gaining
popularity amongst Delhiites because of its snowy weather at a short distance.
Make sure to pack water bottles, rain coat and a trekking
pole- kindda important for steep and snow trek.
Happy Trekking J
