TLDR: We scaled the peak and but the hike took 16 hours. We were almost about to be rescued from that mountain.

The plan

Planned this hike for summer when the weather in Flagstaff town is pleasant. Had even bought Traction Cleats to attach to my hiking shoes to get a good grip on the snowy parts of the trail. The plan was to stay overnight at Flagstaff and start the hike in the early morning around 6 AM, finish the hike at 2 PM and then return to Phoenix the same day.

The ascent

Started early from Flagstaff and had a heavy breakfast (sic, mistake, suffered later because of this) at Denny’s. We started the hike around 6:30 AM. My stomach felt a bit bloated (you know why) and that made me get exhausted at regular intervals. The trailhead is at an elevation of 9,200 feet.

After 4 hours of rigorous hiking in the wilderness and struggling out way through the snowy parts of the trail, the goal seems still a long way ahead. We never gave up. At around noon, we reached the saddle point of the hike. The saddle point is where the wilderness ends and you can see some great panoramic views. The summit is just a few more steps ahead, is what we said to ourselves. At 2 PM, we reached the summit.

My stomach had been upset all this time and finally, I puked after reaching the summit point. It felt good soon after. Just look how happy I felt after the fact.

The descent

The descent was also challenging as our knees were paining. We started the descent at 3 PM and were into the wilderness by 7 PM. This is when the sun went down. Luckily, the moon came up and it was a fairly full moon night, so we had some light to help navigate the trail.

We met a guy who was going up around 6 PM, and that guy was a huge help to us. He had an extra headlight band which he gave us when he met us back at around 9 PM as he was on his way back after reaching the saddle. He gave us some company and motivation to pick up our pace going down. There was no cellular network available to inform our other 2 folks who were probably waiting for us at the trailhead.

Totally exhausted, and knees in pain, we reached the trailhead at 11.30 PM that day. The other folks who were waiting for us at the trailhead were about to call for emergency help as we had been in the mountains unreachable for an unexpectedly long time. We had to stay back in Flagstaff for the night, as we were not in a situation to drive then.

"It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves." - Sir Edmund Hillary

We woke up at 5.30 AM for the morning tea and other chores. The morning was cold and the hot tea sips provide some power and motivation to move on. We had our freshly prepared breakfast and got all ready to conquer Jalori Pass, the highest point of our expedition. We didn’t carry much stuff, just one water bottle and some important stuff like sunglasses, medicines, snacks, a camera, etc. We did wear some extra warm clothes as we knew that the temperature would be very low at the top. We were to hike around 5 kilometers from Sojha to Jalori Pass. The natural view was again awesome. We had some really nice photographs on the way.

The road was bad at places, not maintained, and quite narrow as well. Luckily there was no rain to stop us anywhere that morning. There was minimal traffic on the road, thus we were able to walk safely all the way. There was a small patch of ice on the way. We enjoyed snowball fighting over there for a brief moment.

We reached the highest point on the road, where there is a Temple and a snacks shop. There is an uphill and a small pathway that goes all the way up. It was cold in here. Some folks decided to stay there and enjoy the mountain breeze, some decided to go up to the highest point. I followed the latter folks and took a rest after some time around mid-way, where there was plenty of tiny grass over an area to lie down and take rest. It was a euphoric feeling to fill your lungs with the fresh, clean, and cold Himalayan breeze.

The view was fantastic, and the wind was refreshing. One would just stare at the infinite mountains lying ahead. The best thing here is that this place is not quite famous amongst tourists and hence there are very few tourists here. We enjoyed all the open spaces and freedom.

I descended back to where the other folks were taking a rest and having some hot snacks. We had hot onion Pakoda, Maggi, and omelet. We were then waiting for the Himachal Transport Bus to get us back to Shoja. Its scheduled time was 12.30 PM and we had to wait till then.

The bus arrived and we clicked our last group photo near the temple and ran for the bus. The bus gave us a roller coaster ride as the whole road was bumpy. We reached in under 15 minutes to our destination Shoja. Lunch was ready for us by then. After lunch, we packed our bags and got ready with our cycles.

This time we had to descend and hence we had to load our luggage on our shoulders and not on the cycle rack. We were already told that the downhill journey will be tougher than the uphill journey. Mechanics advised us to always use the brakes and never to speed up on a downhill. What made the journey worse was the road conditions from Sojha to Jibhi. All the bumps on the road would try to imbalance our cycle but we were strong and we kept going.

At one spot near a pothole, I used the front brake instead of the rear brake and I fell off my cycle. Since some of us were quite fast and some very slow, the distance between participants became wide and we were not able to find anyone in front or anyone behind. Feeling simply lost, I kept on moving. After we reached Jibhi, road conditions improved and we also encountered the incoming batch that was moving towards the Jibhi camp. They were all beaten down by the arduous journey and we tried our best to motivate them, by mentioning “Today’s journey is all about to end, Jibhi camp is just a few steps away!”. We then moved ahead as our destination was Manglor camp. When we reached Manglore, I saw folks waiting to regroup before heading towards Manglor camp. We waited for all to regroup. A few folks at the very end took their own time to complete the journey safely. Bindu Ji and Tiwari Ji reached the last participant, we then regrouped, congratulated each other, and moved to Manglor Camp to conclude the day’s journey at around 4.30 PM.

We took some rest at the Manglor camp. Leg pain has reduced by now as we got accustomed to the daily cycling routine. We had breakfast there and some of us went to a nearby temple. It was a children’s playing area and we got involved with them. Kids were really innocent and cute there. We returned to the camp for some rest and to pass time with others. We played some indoor games and then we had our dinner on time. We had a good night’s sleep that day as we had accomplished a marvelous feat that morning.

The next day we woke up at around 6.30 AM and got ready with all our gear for the final cycling journey. We were to travel back to Aut. The road was mostly flat with some descent so we were able to cover the distance quickly. The scenic places were again awesome, but we decided not to stop for photos as we had already taken them while moving up. Soon we reached a point where the incoming batch was waiting. There Mithun was waiting for us. He was to lead us back to Aut Base camp and BinduJi and TiwariJi would take the incoming batch to the expedition. We returned to Aut via the 3 km long tunnel safely. It was just 10.30 AM, so we decided to go to Kullu and maybe also do some river rafting. Our plan for river rafting got canceled as it was closed that day for some unknown reason. We went then to Kullu via Himachal State Transport Buses. Kullu is a very nice town, with a great market for shawls and woolen clothes. We booked our return journey tickets to Ambala from Kullu Bus Stand. We had booked the early morning bus to take to Chandigarh the next day. From there we would take a bus to Ambala, where we have our train booked for the return journey to Mumbai.

Conclusion:

Jalori Pass expedition was a very memorable experience as it was my first expedition. Also, the journey was full of Himalayan scenic beauty. Cycling across Himalayan terrain was arduous for the legs but the journey was extremely pleasant. The fellow participants were very nice folks, who made the journey cheerful all the way.

We had our wake-up call at 5.30 AM in the morning. We had our morning chores, followed by a yummy breakfast which included oats, and then we got ready to commence our expedition. We transferred our luggage bags to the Base camp store Room. We also packed our lunch which included parathas and dry vegetable sabji with pickles. I had my phone switched off to save battery, in case there was no electricity in higher camps. We were provided with a packet of snacks for the journey which included a ParleG packet, Frooti, and some chikki. We were then ready with our bicycles and the base camp leader hosted the green flag to signal us to march ahead. The next batch of participants were also there to wish us luck.

Our first camp was Manglore camp. We had to cover 22 kilometers over the road to reach Manglore base camp, the target for the day. We traveled back through the 3 km long Aut tunnel and crossed the Beas river on our journey. Mithun was accompanying us for some 5 kilometers, and then he stopped. The returning batch was about to reach that point and a handover of responsibility of our group to the trek guides. After some 15 minutes, a few cyclists reached our point. In around the next 30 minutes, the whole returning batch reached, and they greeted us luck for our journey and also shared some stories. There was also a 12-year-old boy who completed the trek along with his family. Mithun planned to return to the base camp with that batch and introduced us to Tiwari Ji and Bindu Ji, our guide and mechanic for the complete expedition. The road was almost flat with only a small uphill points, hence we were able to cover longer distances without any fatigue. We stopped at places to take photos on our bicycles. As we moved ahead the view from each corner of the road was mesmerizing. We had some awesome photos on the way which included our cycling and the Himalayan scenery with the Tirthan river parallel to the road at most places. The roads over here are built-in such a way that one side is hilly terrain and the other is a direct pitfall. The traffic is mostly passenger vehicles, buses, and loaded trucks. We had to carefully steer from the road corners. For some parts of the journey I was ahead of the group and then I used to stop ahead and use my mobile camera to capture photos of the folks cycling past me.

The journey was smooth as the roads were almost in good shape, we all tried to keep pace with the group as we didn’t want to leave any team-mate behind. In case of any issue with the bicycle, the Tiwari Ji would fix that in a jiffy. Bicycle chain getting out of the loop was a frequent issue that many of us had to face. But that was just a small issue, which got fixed in a matter of minutes.

On our journey, we met many locals who enthusiastically waved to us and we waved our hands back to them. We had a small shop near a construction site and met one retired army personnel, he was there to inspect the construction of his new home near the riverside. He mentioned he is planning to open a restaurant over there for the tourists.

We waited at a point where we could fill our water bottles and have some snacks. The potable water usually comes directly from smaller streams next to mountains. Our next break was for lunch at around 12 Noon. We ate our packed lunch and continued towards Manglore, the destination for the day. We reached Manglore Base camp by 2 PM and parked our bicycles in the store-room inside a small shop. Manglore is a small town next to the river Tirthan. Our accommodation was managed on the 1st floor above a shop. There were 2 rooms, one for the boys and one for the girls. We took a rest for some time. Our legs started to give a hint of some pain. As it was a sunny day, I hoped the water not be too cold and jumped to take a bath. The water was cold but survivable. It was refreshing to have a bath with cold water.

At 4 PM we went out for a walk around the town. There was a small river stream nearby and our guide took us there. The water was cold, so we were only able to immerse our legs in the water for a short duration. We started another round of photography there. We had some chit-chat with our guides, Bindu Ji and Tiwari Ji.

Then we had to return back to our campsite. We had our breakfast served hot. By this time, I realized the cold is making my legs pain more. It was difficult to climb stairs now, due to knee pain. Soon it was getting darker and colder. We then started playing UNO in our rooms to kill some time. Hot breakfast is served around 6.00 PM on the camp terrace. Damn, my legs were still paining.

We had our dinner at 7.30 PM. The dinner was delicious, roti with sabji and then kheer. We then picked up our blanket and sleeping bag and went to sleep. We had to wake up early to start our journey the next day and our legs were still paining.

Day 4: Towards Jibhi Camp

We woke up at 5.30 AM to sip our morning tea. Then to morning chores, followed by a hot breakfast. We packed our dry lunch and were ready to march to the next camp by 7 PM. It was a 14.7 km long journey to reach Gibhi. We took our cycles and started our ascend. We had heard from the other batch that Gibhi is the best campsite and we were overly excited to reach Gibhi. The road today was a little steeper than the day before. We had to take several breaks in between small ascends. This also gave me opportunities to explore my inner photography skills. Bindu Ji and Tiwari Ji were constantly persuading us to speed up to reach the next camp. Some of us then started to push the cycle during the uphill ascend, by this time we only had uphill ascends with only countable downhill slopes. I and Raj usually cycled at the end to ensure all are ahead of us and nobody is left behind. It was just too tiring to cycle the whole uphill in one go. It started to drizzle by then. By halfway, we sat down near a structure that looked like a bus stop, for our lunch. Few folks were ahead of us, but we were not able to continue before our lunch, so anyways we started our lunch without them. There we met an independent cyclist who came from Australia and was traveling through south-east Asia and then throughout India for the last 1 year. His cycle was fully loaded with stuff, I believe he had his own tent and a sleeping bag with him. Some rest and we were again ready to kick the paddle.

We reached Banjar market in between, where we had some bananas from a local shop. Dr. Shreyas and our group leader Raj Verma had great fun interacting with the locals in the Banjar Market area. After crossing Banjar we moved to smaller roads, with little vehicular traffic. Most of the time, we have the road for ourselves. No more heavy Trucks on the roads at least from now.

We reached Jibhi by around 2.30 PM. The accommodation over this camp was tented and there was a flowing stream nearby. A separate structure was constructed nearby for the washroom facilities. We parked our cycles in the open near the tents and went to the tents to settle down for some time. The light drizzle we faced in between had got us somewhat wet and hence had to hang our jackets outside the tents. Each tent was big enough for about 10 participants.

Bindu Ji and Tiwari Ji took us to a nearby waterfall. The view around the waterfall was great. It was quiet inside the jungle as there were only trees around and the path to reach the waterfall included crossing the streams over fallen trees. Only our group was there at the waterfalls, hence there was no other disturbance in the area and we enjoyed the whole scene. The guides advised not to go inside the waterfall as it is extremely cold water. Still, Dr. Pankaj had the dare to do this and he did it.

We returned back to our campsite for some breakfast. Hot Batata Wada (Potato Tikki) was served to us at around 6 PM. We enjoyed our campsite till sunset with our group and then we had early dinner which included Rajma, parathas, Rice, Dal, and Kheer. There was one bulb in each tent, and one near the dining area, so we had our dinner in dim light. Like today there was a light rain, the weather was a little foggy and colder than the previous camp. We headed to our tents and took to bed. Experiencing the YHAI tented accommodation was another great experience. Again we all gathered in one tent with TiwariJi and BinduJi. Raj and Bindu shared some ghost stories with us. At around 8 PM we returned to our sleeping bags.

Day 5: Ascent to Shoja Camp

We woke up in the morning at 5:30 AM to get ready for the final cycling ascend. We had our breakfast and tea in the cold outside. The morning was a bit foggy. No mood in taking a bath in this cold, and also there is no need to have a bath as due to the cold environment, it never gets sweaty. We got ready with all our gear by 7:30 AM. We had our lunch packed and ready to set sail.

We marched ahead to our next campsite on our cycles. Jibhi to Sojha was only 7 kilometers, but the elevation was huge, and we had to cycle all the way. After a few kilometers of proper road, the path was getting difficult at every turn, with almost all hairpin joints across the whole path. Even the road condition deteriorated for the final 5 kilometers. Most of us were pushing the cycle rather than actually cycling, as it was much less tiring for the legs. It was a bit rainy too. Every 100 meters was taking huge time due to the elevation and worst road conditions.

We had our lunch mid-way and also took a rest while taking photos. While reaching Shoja, we had a nice amount of fog on our way, due to the rains.

The last 2 kilometers were the toughest. Pankaj was the only one who decided not to push his cycle, as he insisted to complete the journey on cycle only. Hence he was the last man on our journey, taking longer breaks, while we just pushed our cycles through. Our guides were motivating us to pick up the pace, as it would get late to reach Shoja.

We reached Sojha around 3 PM. Sojha is a small village at an altitude of 8500 ft. The accommodation site was in a concrete structure. More of like small shops. One room for the boys and one for the girls. One attached bathroom in the girl’s room and one common bathroom outside. There was a resort nearby that provided a hot water bucket for Rs.100. By the time we reached it was almost sunny, and hence I decided to have a bath in cold water here. The first wave of cold water over the body is something that I can’t describe in words. Then I had to complete the whole bath in under 5 minutes as it was getting unbearable. The girls in our group had taken the opportunity to get hot water and have a comfortable bath instead. The view from our site was scenic.

In some time, by 5 AM, the sunny weather turned to moderate rain. It was getting darker and colder. We had our breakfast in our rooms due to the rain outside. The rains showed no signs of retreat till 7 PM, so we had our dinner as well inside our rooms. There was no electricity, so we were dependent on torches and flashlights. After dinner, it was still no signs of the rain stopping. It was difficult to even move out of the room to the kitchen to get food, due to the rain and cold. We took turns getting food for everyone from the kitchen. My turn came when we needed more rotis, it was damn cold outside due to rain. We quickly consumed the hot food and completed our dinner. The boy’s room was small, but we were able to adjust in all. There was no electricity, so we had nothing to do other than go to sleep. Hence, we went to sleep in the warm comfort of our blankets and sleeping bags. By now our legs got accustomed to all the pain and we eagerly awaited the final trek to Jalori Pass the next day.

The Idea

I am not a very outgoing person, but my cousin sister Shruti introduced me to Himalayan expeditions and motivated me to participate in this cycling expedition with her. She choose this as this expedition was a unique mountain cycling experience and also had some nice reviews from her friends, who participated the previous year. This eventually became my 1st cycling expedition and one of my most memorable journeys. It was organized by Youth Hostel Association of India. It was a 8D/7N expedition in Himachal Pradesh in the month of May-June in multiple batches. Each batch had 20 participants. We registered as a group of 6 participants, which included me and my sister Shruti and our friend Aditi and 3 other friends of Shruti, whom I met only during the trek.

We had planned this trip well in advance and booked the train tickets in advance. We also had undergone some stamina building cycling practice in Sanjay Gandhi National Park in Mumbai, where we would get bicycles on rent for 2 hours.

Commencement of our Journey

Our train journey initiated from Bandra Terminus. The destination was Ambala Junction. It takes around ~24 hours to reach Ambala Junction from Mumbai. We had most of our snacks packed from home. The summer heat had drained us completely during our train journey. I met 3 friends of Shruti, who also participated with us in the journey. The train crosses Vadodara in Gujarat, Ratlam in Madhya Pradesh, Kota in Rajastham, Delhi and Haryana. There are plenty of photo worthy country side views you can capture while on this long and tiring journey.

Day 1 :Reach Base Camp

We reached Ambala Junction in morning the next day. As we were 6 explorers, we had booked an Innova to get us from Ambala Junction to Aut, out base camp for the trek. Ambala to Aut is 275 km/ 6 hour journey by car through the hilly terrain of Himachal Pradesh. We also got a glimpse of Chandigarh on the way as the highway passes through outskirts of Chandigarh. We had our lunch on the way in a Dhaba (Indian roadside lunch points) near Chandigarh. Our destination for the day, Aut is a small town on the Chandigarh-Manali highway. We reached Aut in late afternoon.

Aut is at an altitude of ~3750 feet, so it gets mildly cold in here. We have Beas River flowing parallel to the highway and Aut market is between them. The area is surrounded by hills on both sides, with the highway cutting in to the valley. There are pockets of houses around the hills.

The base camp was after the 3 km long tunnel towards Aut and behind Mehek Dry fruit building next to the highway. There was a small welcome poster board near the camp site to welcome all Jalori Pass Participants. We saw some fellow participants in the base camp, but before meeting them we were allotted our shared dormitories. We freshened up and met our fellow participants. There was one guy from Haryana, a girl from Bangalore, two dentists from Mumbai, two engineers from Pune, and one engineering student from Nagpur. With the 6 of us, and 7 of them we were a total of 13 for that batch. Although we were a group of 6 and other were either alone or in groups of 2, we were able to bond very well with each other.

We met Mithun that evening, the camp leader who managed the expedition from base camp. He is a cycling enthusiast. He is always seen wearing this cycling suit and also he has his own high-end mountain bicycle. Evening time is for rest and small activities, as it gets dark by 7 PM. We had some group discussions and cultural items like singing and sharing jokes. It helped to break the ice in our group. Mithun shared his stories of cycling across India. We then had our early dinner which included Gulab Jamun. The local cooks do make awesome food here. Since they anticipated around 20 participants and only 13 arrived, we were served an extra round of Gulab Jamun. We were provided blankets and sleeping bags in our common room. The night was cold.

Day 2: Acclimatization and Orientation

A loud bang on the door- “Chai, Chai” (“Tea, Tea”) from the cooks woke us up at around 5.30 AM. It was very difficult to get out from the warm comfort of sleeping bag and blankets into the cold environment of the dawn. We then had our morning chores, without any warm water. Brushing our teeth with the cold water, and routine activities with cold water only. I choose not to have a bath, thought I was feeling stale, just because of the damn cold water. It was a bright sunny morning.

It was time for the morning exercise. We started jogging from our base camp to the nearby ground site where we were given practice of some body warming exercises. It was just simple plain exercises which included Surya-Namaskar (ancient exercise that resembles sun worshiping) and other simple exercises. We returned to base camp after some 1 hour of body warming for some tasty breakfast. We had our snacks which included bread jam, bread butter, and daliya (oats). The food at the base camps was really good.

We then had an acclimatization walk over the nearby hill with our guide. Mithun was also with us along with the guide. The never-ending stair way up the hill looked daunting at first sight. After every corner, there were just another couple of steps. We took a moment of rest in between to catch our breath, and at the same time the locals just seem to mock us as they conquer the steps with their sheer pace and stamina. Even old local ladies were more energetic than us. We had some breath-taking views while on our way to the summit of the small hill. There were plantations of tomatoes and other veggies over the hill. We were advised by our guide not to take long breaks as it cools down your bodies and make it difficult to gather pace again. He also advised not to take long breaths from the mouth as it burns more energy again normal breathing from the nose when under fatigue. Kaustubh was the guy from Nagpur who was in our batch. He was somewhat bulky and he was grasping for his breath in the middle of the uphill climb. We waited for him to get normal and then continue the climb. The path was really nice traversing across small houses mostly made of wood. We also met some small local kids and greeted them warmly. Even they were excited to see trekkers.

We had rest time at the hill top around 10 PM. The guide had a bottle of fruit flavored squash, which was made into a drink for all of us. The guide gave us some instructions for the program, the do and don’ts. We had to choose a team leader among 13 of us, and we unanimously voted for Raj Verma to lead us in this trek, as he was the one with vast experience in trekking. He had previously completed Jasalmer Cycling Trek, which he had narrated us the day before. We then had to start the decent back to base camp. After taking some pictures over the hill, we started the descent. We were given two options, the same path or an alternate route to descent. We choose the alternate route. The new route was somewhat slippery at the start. Later when we saw the downward view of the path, some of us including me instantly regretted the decision of the path chosen. It was as if each step is a matter of life and death. Each step needed careful planning before executing. With a slow and steady pace, all of us were able to descent safely and reach back base camp. We reached on time for the lunch at base camp.

The lunch was simple nutritious food, which included green vegetables, parathas, and rice with Dal. After lunch we had some 30 minutes time for rest and then we had a session on basics of mountain cycling. Mithun taught us how to use the gears as we all were new to mountain cycling except Raj. Using gears looked simple at first. Then we were allocated our cycles for the trek, which we first had to clean them with water. We then adjusted the seats and with all the safety gear (Helmet, knee cap, reflector) we went on a trial ride. We started on the tar road, which was easy, then came the uphill climb. The site was near the highway, and it didn’t have any traffic, and featured an uphill hairpin climb so was perfect for our practice. This uphill climb was difficult, we had to just cycle on the 1-1 gear (the most powerful) gear to make the climb. We repeated the climb multiple times to get a hang of it. We then returned to base camp for breakfast at around 5 PM.

The cycling practice

Some participants from the next batch had arrived there and they were having their meetup. We quickly had our breakfast and picked our allocated YHAI ruck sack to back our bags. We were advised not to carry heavy non-essential items as we will need to adjust our ruck sack on the cycle rack, which will add to our weight when going uphill. So I had packed only the required stuffs and rest all went to my other bag which was to be kept in the Base camp Store room. I had 4 shirts with me, but to reduce the weight I decided to carry only one in my ruck sack. I had a quick dry t-shirt, so I was quite confident that it would be very useful as it can get dry after wash in just 15-30 minutes. Also the weather over there was cold, so there wasn’t much issue of sweat. One small medical kit, one extra set of clothes and one jacket for the cold.

Then we had our dinner at around 7.30 PM, again delicious but simple food. We double checked everything twice and with a ready mindset and ample preparedness, we settled in our chambers for the night.