Now that it’s peak summer, it’s time for trekking or hiking in the hills for many high school and college students. Far away from the daily grind, trekking allows them to discover nature.
While most trekking trips are organised by educational institutes, there are youngsters who build their own teams under the guidance of experienced trekkers or mountaineers.
Take Subham Adhya, a 21-year-old studying bachelor of computer application (BCA) from Indira Gandhi National Open University. The Howrah lad was first “bitten by the trekking bug” when he was a Class VI student. He had gone to Vaishno Devi in Jammu with his parents. He says, “I was just 10, but I thoroughly enjoyed the uphill journey through the nature trail. Later, I felt an urge to touch the snow-clad upper reaches of Simla while working for a school project.”
This was when Subham decided to become a boy scout. He learnt many practical lessons from his time there. Among these would be camping, cooking in the wild without conventional utensils, organising daily schedules and basic leadership skills.
In 2019, he went to Sandakphu, near Darjeeling, with the scout group. And thereafter to Dehradun (Uttarakhand) and Deo Tibba (Himachal Pradesh), a base camp for mountaineers where “I experienced fascinating snowfall all day and night, for the first time in my life,” he says. That was the day he decided to become a mountaineer and joined a basic course at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, Darjeeling, in 2022. “I wish to continue both mountaineering and trekking even after I join a full-time job,” he tells The Telegraph.
For many seasoned trekkers, 69-year-old Ratan Lal Biswas is a living legend. A former employee of the Indian Railways now living in Titagarh, a northern suburb of Calcutta, Biswas started trekking when he was 17. That was a trip to Tonglu in Darjeeling in 1972. He says, “Since then I have been trekking every year.” In the early days he trekked to Gangotri, Gomukh and Pindari glaciers in Garhwal and Kumaon Himalayas.
While trekking to Pindari, he met his would-be mentor and avid trekker Kanailal Ghosh from Calcutta. Says Biswas, “He changed my idea of trekking drastically and I started looking for new vistas in Nepal, Ladakh and even coastal trekking along the beaches of India (including Andaman an Nicobar islands), Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.” He also went trekking to deserts of Rajasthan, frozen lakes and rivers near Mansarovar (Indo-China border), passes and rugged mountains in peak winter. He has undertaken 112 trekking expeditions.
He offered some tips for would-be trekkers. “Find out the route and appropriate season to visit the place before the expedition,” he suggests. “It is good to talk to people who have already explored the area, if possible.”
He warns against going trekking with near strangers one connects with on social media. “Unless you know each teammate well, there won’t be any coordination or bonding.You won’t get adequate support during a crisis,” he says. Temperature and chances of snowfall should be gauged in advance and trekkers must pack appropriately. “To avoid mountain sickness at high altitude, one should not ascend more than 2,000 feet per day. Acclimatisation is essential,” he advises. “Regular exercise, yoga, walking, swimming all year round can be required to keep yourself tuned to trekking,” he adds.
He suggests that novice trekkers begin with Sandakphu, Har Ki Doon (Uttarakhand), Panch Kedar (Garh-wal) — “the easy trekking routes”.
Mahua Biswas (35) is a seasoned mountaineer and sport climber. Sometimes she goes on hiking tours with friends for fun. She’s trekked to Sandakphu (3,636 metre) quite a few times. In 2017 she went on a trek to Goecha La (4,940 metre) in Sikkim and later to Suru Valley near Kargil. She says, “Some people don’t take trekking that seriously and often meet with accidents. Walking in high altitude areas, where the level of oxygen is low, is not an easy task; physical fitness matters a lot.”
Malay Mukherjee, a Howrah-based mountaineer who has conquered several high peaks in India and abroad, including Mt Everest, says many trekkers in West Bengal learn through short stints of rock climbing in the western districts of Purulia and Bankura.
As a professional trekker, he conducts trekking camps for students. He warns, “Nowadays young people venture for trekking trips attracted by advertisements of unscrupulous agents on social media without verifying their experience or efficiency. This can be dangerous.”
That trekking needs years of practice and proper grooming is best demonstrated by Swargarohini Parial, a Class XII student of Shri Santoshi Maa Academy in Joka, in the southern suburb of Calcutta. Her father has been a trekker for over three decades but she had her first brush with it in 2022 as part of a young 12-member team under the guidance of Mukherjee at Sandakphu. Trekking helped her learn how to be a good team member and about “real” nature. She says, “I also learnt that you can survive without a smartphone or Wifi connection. It opened my eyes to a whole new horizon — I now know how small and insignificant we humans are in the whole scheme of nature.”
Last updated on 09 May 2023
