CEO Takeover: Manan talks about Trekking in Himalayas

It’s #CEOTakeover Week and Advensure’s CEO, Manan Vora talks about his incredible experience trekking in Himalayas, from Batal to Baralacha. We say incredible, because the pictures are poster-worthy. And the campsites are exotic enough to be featured in Nat Geo Magazines!

This was a 7-day trek from Batal, in Spiti, Himachal Pradesh to Baralacha, a high mountain pass in Zanskar, Ladakh. I went in the month of July and was accompanied on the trek by my aunt and uncle, who also regularly travel. They have a page called We Heart Adventure (We had written a post a while back on We Heart Adventure)

We started the trip from Solang in Himachal, drove to Batal and from here, began the trek. The roads were barren and still so lush and beautiful! Himalayan roads can be one of the most inhospitable and dangerous roads to drive on. And yet, they are the best roads I have ever been on.

Trekking in Himalayas is always an unexpected experience, one moment the landscape is lush and green. But the very next moment, entirely snow-covered. In fact, the trail was impassable before and even during our trek (for small periods) due to extreme snow. So we ended up being the only trekkers on the route, for most parts.

We would trek for 8-9 hours every day and reach camp by evening. And then spend time alone on different parts of the camp, clicking away to our heart’s content, while our porters/guides would prepare dinner.

I’m going to let the resto f the pictures to all the talking!

Lots of waterfalls on the way to Leh!

The campsites are something every trekker, backpacker, traveller, adventurer or photographer must experience. Most of them were by the river and we would sleep with the noise of the river flowing in the backdrop. You might think this to be loud, but in fact, was really pleasant and soothing- it would lull us to sleep in no time!

On our very last night, we camped just before the Baralacha Pass. This was the highest point on the trek. Once we got there, as was practice, we split to take pictures. This was at around 9 or 10 in the night. And all we could see was snow all around us, and millions of stars up in the sky- clear as crystal! Indeed, this was the best day of our trekking in Himalayas.

Perfect campsite for our last day of trekking. We camped right beside this beautiful lake and could not get ourselves to move away from it. One of the best days we had spent in the mountains.