I decided to find out the real cost this past week when I got leave and took off for Joshimath by myself.
The real deal in trekking equipment on gets from Uttarkashi or can even hire from the IMF HQs on Benito Juarez Marg opposite Anand Niketan Delhi which is a bit expensive. Depending on what kind of trek one has in mind, equipment like gaiters, trekking poles, helmets etc can be bought cheap in the Thamel area of Kathmandu or nearer home in Dehradun for a little more money. Good waterproof shoes can be bought on Jabong dot com and heck, all these can be bought for a price or hired in Uttarkashi. Uttarkashi is the right place for hiring manpower as it is very important to get the right guide and HAPS or high altitude porters. That is true about good porters and guides from Uttarkashi but in Joshimath I found with bargaining one can get the cheapest labour as they are not so much in demand as in Uttarkashi. On arriving at Joshimath by bus instead of my repaired car which had stood still for four months as a testimony to the condition of Himalayan roads, I found myself in a happy daze as I could see the presiding deities of Joshimath the Hathi and Ghori peaks in clear sunshine. Had a fantastic stay at Hardwar again in a Rs 250 hotel called Citizen behind Shiv Murti and only a two minute cycle rickshaw drive from the bus stand. Now these kind of hotels must be unmentionable for loads of folks who would not even bother a sniffle at such lowly digs but in the end I feel living in Rs 10 tea-houses, caves and hovels is a luxury in the upper reaches why not start early and the trick is in getting the room opened and one has to check out for oneself if the place has a bad smell and you can always walk out and demand a better room and on finding one spread out your trekking mattress, sleeping bag to prtect oneself from any contact with the hotel's naughty bugs. A super Bengali thali at Dada Boudi hotel near Harki Pairi for only Rs 65 with all kinds of veggies, daal, potatoes crisply fried, mutter paneer and chutney is something one look forward to as the next day's bus ride it is better to survive on oranges and water as the bus hugs the twist and shout roads and kinda shakes the very core of your being be it a Volvo bus which are non-existent in the Himalayas or be it your spring mattress laden and air suspension equipped SUV. Reaching Joshimath one finds out the last two years the rope way to Auli is closed and instead of the Rs 200 charge the Sumo Victas, Grandes and Golds charge yer a flat Rs 1000. Digging around for info one finds out that the one way charge is Rs 600 but for another 100 he can wait for 3 hours though he exclaims that his waiting charge is Rs 150 when jokingly you can remind him he can buzz off. Later the same bloke was ready to take me half way to Malari for the full day for only Rs 700 which I ultimately did aided by some Israeli kids on Bullets who were cruising en-route to Banbasa check - point to enter Nepal. The two Israeli young men Raaz and Arnold were staying in the GMVN dormitory for Rs 250 each and at this age I can't stay in a dorm and the GMVN hotel at Auli as soon as you enter had tariffs starting from Rs 1500 to 3500 while the guides who offered their services for Rs 700 for a walk around paradise told me that the one above would cost me from Rs 3500 upwards and I cursed myself as a time share RCI plan from a relative would have cost me free ; better luck next time. So I scout around a bit and find the tea stall opposite the GMVN hotel has a little hotel built below which had a room with TV, electric heater and geyser for Rs 1000 which I bargained for Rs 600 and the owner readily accepted. Mind you folks, these are all lucky junkets during the off season and don't kill me , I am only the piano player ( in a bar, lol ) !! Very neat room with brand new sheets and blankets which I had no need for though it is aesthetically appealing to the mind and soul and I dump my huge rucksack and in a backpack putting my cameras and oranges and a crackers' packet and a handful of nuts and raisins and prunes trail mix and a bottle of mineral water which costs Rs 25 at Auli instead of @0 at Joshimath (stock up folks for your stay in Auli but for your snow trek for a longer duration buy an iodine filter from Jabong dot com maybe ) I walk the talk uphill towards the skiing slopes. Reaching the skiing slopes I look at the condition of the slush where well heeled Indian folks dressed in faux fur coats for god's sake are standing still on their skis and occasionally flailing their arms with their whole body straining to keep still while a German couple swooped around like eagles effortlessly on their skis. Now my brand new pair of Keen's water proofs were useless without gaiters as the snow was knee deep some places in the upper slopes seeing the condition on the ski slopes. So what does one have in such circumstances, holy mackerel , a bloody pair of gum boots hired for Rs 50 a day. Dressed like a penguin in black rubber boots I trudged beyond the skiers and I could have taken the only smaller ski lift which was working in the upper reaches from the ski slopes till Number 10 tower which is the last one
himalayandreamscape 