Bara Banghal Trek - Photo Essay

Bara Banghal Trek - Photo Essay

Beautiful Fall colours near Riyali Thatch campsite                                                    Photo: Sharath Vishnu

 

On my first trek as an intern guide with White Magic to Miyar Valley, Shyamlal Bhai - our cook - used to keep us occupied in the evenings with interesting stories of his previous profession. He was a horseman before he took to cooking delicious meals. He has spent the last couple of decades in the mountains and we used to listen to him very keenly as he dug into his experiences in our cozy kitchen tent. I remember him mentioning that Bara Banghal was a very special trek for him as very few people knew the trail and also that it required to cross two high passes to complete the trek. Though I found it interesting, I didn't pay much heed to it then. Little did I know that I would accompany him on the very trek three months later. Bara Banghal is a village situated at the confluence of two tributaries which join to become the river Ravi. The village sits between two 4800m high passes - Kalihani and Thamsar - which means that it is completely cut off from civilization. The 14 day trek which goes from Manali to Billing through the village and the two high passes is unique in every sense of the word.

The trek can be undertaken only during a small window post monsoon but before the winter snow cuts of the high passes. We started the trek on 3rd October which was slightly later than ideal. The trail starts off from Hadimba temple in Manali. The first couple of days of the trek goes through beautiful deodar forests and birch trees. The fall colours were in abundance which made the wilderness look like a well maintained garden. As we moved higher on the 3rd day, closer to the Kalihani pass, great views of the Kullu valley opened up to our south as we climbed the last steep patch to reach the base of Kalihani Pass.

En Route Kalihani Pass                                                                                       Photo Credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

Most days on the Bara Banghal trek involve 6-7 hours of hiking, there aren't many easy days on the trek. But the day we cross the Kalihani was supposed to take longer as the campsite on the other side is far. KG bhai, our experienced guide mentioned that this year there was a lot of snow which should make the descent easier. The downhill otherwise is on boulder fields and loose rock which is slow and tiring. We started for the pass at 6am with giant silhouettes of Indrasan and Deo Tibba seen on the other side of the valley. It took two hours on loose rock for us to hit the snow line. The snow conditions were perfect with couple of inches of fresh snow on the slopes. As you gain height, the panorama of snowcapped mountains extends and peaks of Lahaul become visible. The climb gets steeper as you near the pass and the altitude also starts to act on you. The pass isn't seen until the last half hour of the climb so you keep looking up to guess where it could be. As we climbed the last few meters to the top, a magnificent landscape opened up on the other side. The sight of the vast Kalihani glacier with its snow field was one of the best I've seen in the mountains. It was a view which was more than worthy of the climb.

View from the top of the pass                                                                           Photo Credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

The peaks in the background, the vast snowfield, dark blue sky and cumulous clouds all seemed like it was straight out of a painting. The view was too perfect to be true. We all couldn't stop smiling at the sight as we started the descent down the glacier. After an hour of gentle downhill, we could see a beautiful emerald green lake shining at a distance, one of the highlights of Bara Banghal trek. We stopped by the lake for a quick lunch and started the long descent down to our campsite, Donku thatch.

Emerald green lake adding to the stunning landscape                              Photo Credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

The path is not very evident after the Kalihani pass because there are very few people doing this trek. There are many places where you need to walk on mountain slopes where there is hardly any trail and you can feel the wilderness around. Unlike what most people would imagine, it is not all downhill to the village. Even after the pass, all the 3 days involve 6-7 hours of hiking with a good share of uphills until the last day where we go down from Dal Ki Marhi to Bara Banghal.

On the way to Dal Ki Marhi                                                                                 Photo Credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

Bara Banghal is a quaint little village where nothing happens in a hurry. The people are very warm and extremely laid back. We had planned a rest day to go around the place but the trekkers insisted on shortening one of the longer days on the climb to Thamsar pass so we just got a glimpse of the village which is surrounded by many legends and stories.

Vegetation reappears as we descend to lower altitude                      Photo Credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

The Bara Bhangal Village with river Ravi seen on the left                                Photo credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

We leave behind the stream which we followed all the way from Kalihani and start by another stream which originates from the Thamsar. The climb is steep all the way till Marhi and we now have the holy Manimahesh Kailash in our background. We hiked from Marhi to the base of the Thamsar pass in bad weather hoping that the storm doesn't deposit any fresh snow on the pass. Shyamlal Bhai expressed his concerns over the weather which had blessed us till then. Sure enough, the weather cleared just before dusk giving us a brilliant sunset by another magnificent lake below the Thamsar where we had set up our camp.

Aspen Glow on Mt.Manimahesh Kailash as seen from Marhi campsite        Photo credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

We woke up to absolutely clear skies and started hiking on an extremely cold morning. We could feel the cold increasing each passing day and camping at 4500m in late autumn was surely going to be cold.

Thamsar Pass seen (to the right of the peak in the centre) at dawn from the campsite                               Photo credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

We had camped very close to the pass from where the climb is gradual all the way to the top. Here too the snow conditions seemed perfect and we were on top of the pass in couple of hours. We enjoyed for an hour on top as we waited for our horses to catch up and descended into the clouds on the other side of the pass. The descent down to Paynetu and onwards to Billing is through a narrow valley but on a well-made trail which is used often by the villagers. We reached Billing late next evening finishing this iconic trek.

View from the top of Thamsar Pass looking down towards Billing            Photo credit: Sharath Vishnu

 

The Bara Banghal trek is truly one of a kind for many reasons. The landscape and the views throughout the trek is not just beautiful but very different. You go through different types of terrain and get to see the fall colours in the forest, vast glaciers, beautiful lakes, gorges, rivers and the big snowcapped mountains all in a couple of weeks’ time. There are very few treks in the Himalaya which offer such rich diversity of terrain for trekkers. After doing this trek, I have no doubt why Shyamlal Bhai, with all his experience in the mountains, considers this trek one of the best.

You can view snaps from the Bara Banghal Trek on WhiteMagic’s Facebook Page,  Album titled – “The Bara Banghal Trek“.

You can join us on our trek this year! Click here for more details & to join us. If you are short on leaves and want a shorter trip, we have a trek this year which goes up to the top of Kalihani Pass only which you can check the details of here. 

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