Madhu K R's Weblog

Joshimat and Skiing in Auli (Part 2)

We had taken a video coach bus to Rishikesh. This bus was operated by private folks.
For some reason bus journey always put me into sleep. I can sleep for hours while traveling in bus.
So I was not very keen on boarding a video coach bus in the night.
I didn't raise my voice because others were interested in boarding this 'video coach bus'.
It was lot more cleaner than all other government operated bus.
They were playing a hindi movie 'Masti'. I hardly watched it for 10 minutes before I fell into sleep.

We reached Rishikesh at 3.30 in the morning. We took 4 am bus to Joshimat.
Joshimat is about 230 kilometers from Rishikesh and it would take around 12-14 hours to reach by bus.
I swear it is a roller coaster ride in those ghats section.

Some of the towns we passed on our way were

Devprayag,
Srinagar (Not J & K srinagar, we have one in uttaranchal too)
Rudraprayag,
Karnaprayag,
Nandaprayag

and then Joshimat.

We reached Joshimat around 5 pm. .
This ends of tiring bus journey. Our next journey is to Auli in ropeway.

Joshimat

This small holy town is full of temples and is where Adi Shankaracharya attained enlightenment while sitting in a cave.
This town attracts lot of tourists because it is just 40 kilometers to Badrinath.
This is also first base point for all the trekkers who wants to visit holy Hemakund Sahib and Valley of Flowers.

We checked into a hotel near bus-stand Komet. He charged us Rs 300 for a room with 4 beds.
It also had TV. First thing Saurabh did when he entered room was to tune to 'NDTV Profit' to check the stock prices.

We did inquire about the ropeway start timings from the hotel owner.
Ropeway service to Auli starts at 9.30 in the morning. We were told that they charge Rs 200 for a round trip.
I called up my home to inform that I have safely reached Joshimat.

Jan 29 2006

We reached ropeway station by 9.30 am. But there were already a bunch of people waiting for the first batch.
So we couldn't get in the first trip. We had to wait for second round which was scheduled at 10 am.

In the mean time I went around the place to find out more details about ropeway.
Here are some facts about Ropeway

System: Zig back, BI-cable with two cabin
Slope Distance : 3.96 kms
Total ascent : 1.15 kms
Number of towers : 10
Travel time : 15 minutes

This was the first time I am traveling in a ropeway. I was really excited.
It was fun seeing all those big houses becoming really small in front of you.
There was a notice in the base station prohibiting taking photos in the ropeway.
But no one was caring about the rule. Everyone was busy clicking the photos.

We got down at the 8th tower. This is the stop for Clifftop resort and GMVN guest houses.
The view from the tower 8 is fantastic.  I took lot of photos.
The attendant there said that they have lift to go down. I was pretty impressed with the facilities
and felt proud about technologies available in such remote areas.

Clifftop Resort

It's a unique resort of its own kind at an altitude of more than 10,000 ft and is the second highest resort in the world and is the only Skiing resort in Asia which is located on the Ski slope/track.

While sitting in the resort one can have a clear view of the snow covered Nandadevi range (highest in india & third highest in the world) other ranges include Dronagiri , Kamet , Trishul.

All the rooms had wooden interiors. We got a duplex room. Our room was in the top floor. After having a welcome tea,
We went on a walk to get more information about skiing.  We inquired in hotel too. They were charging Rs 500 per head.
This includes rent for equipment and instructor fee.

We walked little up the slope to a place where people were waiting for the ski lift.
Saurabh caught one of the guy who agreed to provide us equipment and teach us for Rs 100 per head.
The instructor name was Kailash Shelly.

He got 4 pairs of skii and shoes. First was the theory part. Teaching us what is ski, how should be your body position, how to balance, how to slow, how to fall etc.
Then came practical. All I remember in the theory was I have to have my skiies in parallel position to move and spread the heals to slow down. So I put the skies on and gave a push and concentrated to be in parallel position.
Boom !! I was now speeding down the slope. Now I got scared looking down the hill. Immediately I tried to slow down by going back. I fell down.
It was fun. We skied for 3 hours. Saurabh had done skiing before. So he was comfortable in balancing and controlling.
All others were first time to skiing. I don't remember how many times I fell. I was falling everytime I went down. Pretty much same state with Pramod and Jalan.
Later they kind of got the trick and got the body balance right.But I was not at all improving. I simply couldn't get the body balance.

We were completely tired by the end of the day. Didn't do much in the evening. Just watching TV to see how India did in the third test against Pakistan. Of course we played Uno.

Posted at 05:41PM Feb 09, 2006 by madhu in travel  |