27 September 2023
After resting the whole day yesterday, my body was completely refreshed today. Today we have to go to Beas Kund for marking. So after freshening up in the morning, three of us leave for Beas Kund. Beas Kund is situated at the confluence of Dhauladhar and Pir Panjal mountain ranges. This pond is the origin point of river Beas. This pond is situated at 3700 meters.
To reach Beas Kund, one has to take a bus from Manali to Solang Valley, the road distance from Manali to Solang Valley is 14 km. From Solang one has to book a taxi to Dhundhi which is a distance of 6 km. The Beas walking route starts from Dhundhi. The distance from Dhundhi to Beas is 8 km with an elevation gain of 1350 metres. So this was the basic information about Beas Kund.
Our partner drops us off at his car at a foggy 10:30. Dhundhi turns on the GPS in the watch and three of us leave for Beas Kund. The weather is clear and the sun is bright so today is going to be fun. Slowly following the trail, we reach Palchani Nala after covering a distance of 2 km. Hanuman Tibba, whose height is 5980 meters, is shining like silver in the bright sunlight. I capture this beautiful scene with my eyes and mobile camera.
The climb starts from Palchani drain and continues till Bakkar Thatch. A tent colony has been built in Bakkarthach, in fact the base camp of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Mountaineering Institute is set up here, all the trainees stay here during training and everyone gets grades after the course. We take a break of 10 minutes and again leave towards our destination.
If we move a little further, we find Shepards, after talking to Shepard, we come to know that Shepard had come in the last week of March and now they are coming down before the snow falls, in winter Shepards go to the lower mountains with their animals. Where snow does not fall. Now the climbing starts again, today we have climbed one hill and have started climbing the next one. The view from here is so beautiful that Hanuman Tibba is visible in front and Friendship Peak is visible on the right side.
At one o'clock in the afternoon we reach the boulder zone, this boulder zone is two km long and from here only big stones are visible as far as you can see. It would be more accurate to call this place a sea of stones. If we move ahead from here, the Beas River blocks our path. The river has become quite wide, now to cross the river we will have to build a bridge by laying stones. By throwing 5-6 big stones we succeed in making a temporary bridge.
At 2 pm we finally reach Beas Kund. It is sunny, a cool breeze is blowing. This is a sacred lake, so we cannot take any leather item here, cannot wear shoes, girls are prohibited from touching the water of the lake. Sage Beas once performed penance here and this lake is named Beas after him. After spending about half an hour here, we leave, now we have to climb Lady Leg Climb. This climb has an elevation gain of 650 meters in 850 metres. Lady Leg Climb has a gradient of 37%.
After doing this climb in 24 minutes, we start descending towards Nuali drain. We get down on time, now our target is to reach Dhundhi from where we started this morning. We reach Dhundi at 5 pm, our companion picks us up by car. After coming back to the room, I take a bath, have dinner and now cover myself with the quilt. So this is how today's day ends.
