The Base Camp, Kasol

Kasol is a sleepy himalayan town at an altitude of about 5500 ft. The town is situated on the banks of the river Parvati. The famous hot springs of Manikaran, where godess Parvarti is supposed to have meditated, is just 5Kms from here. Kasol is frequented by lots of foreign tourists, israelis in particular. Youth hostel has setup its base camp for the Sar Pass trek here. And that was our destination.


>> Base-camp as seen from the road

The base camp was at much lower level than the road. We had to walk a good 100 mts down some steep steps to reach the camp from the road. On the east and south it was covered by the hill on which the road was. On the other sides it was covered by not so thick a foliage. Beyond this foliage, to the north and north-west of the camp, flowed the crystal clear waters of the river Parvati.

>> The base camp. Officer's tents.

The tents for men were on the south side, while the women's tents and the toilet were to the north. There was quite a big open space between them. At the eastern end of the open space were the officer's tents. To the west was the kitchen and the dining area. Youth hostel had done a very good job of maintaining the whole place.



>> Bangalore baays and gurl @ the base camp.

We got ourselves registered in the office and had lunch. The lunch was pretty decent given the place and the scale in which it had to be prepared. The dining area was pretty clean. Even the toilets were well maintained. The water used was pumped directly from the nearby river and was very cool during the day and very cold during the night. Probably that was the reason why none of us took bath here. :)

Sar pass trek was conducted in batches. Every day a batch left for the trek and a batch returned from the trek. We were in the tenth batch and hence named "SP 10". With 69 people in the batch, ours was easily the most populous batch. Every batch spent the first three days in the base camp, engaged in activities like acclimatization, rock climbing, rappling, etc.

>> Relak'sing' at the base camp :)

During these days, we got used to the "tent life". Its fun to live in tents, though its not very comfortable. To fight the cold conditions during the nights, we had sleeping bags. Sometimes, we felt a little cramped inside. But on the whole it was quite manageabe and enjoyable. :)