Bob's Blog

Land of Baloo

Crossing the Kugti Pass to Lahaul – a migration route for shepherds and bears alike

For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack.
—Rudyard Kipling, The Jungle Book

The next part of my journey would take me over the the Pir Panjal range via the Kugti Pass; from the Hindu, Chamba valley – to Buddhist, upper Lahaul. This was the toughest pass I would encounter, and I was slightly apprehensive to complete it solo.

The pass is slightly over 5000m, and the route is steep, meaning I would have to take a few short days to acclimatise. This also meant I'd have to carry extra food. The area was remote; a nature reserve, with signs up about how to deal with close bear encounters. The pass also included a glacier crossing, nothing serious from what I had read, yet having never crossed one, it added to my perceived risk.

I arrived to the trailhead village of Kugti and the locals were rather apprehensive of my arrival – I was the first foreigner they had seen all year. Fortunately, I met Anu on my arrival and he kindly welcomed me into his home for the night.

I left early the next day for Keylong temple – a pilgrimage place for Hindus, and a sacrifice spot for the local ghaddi shepherds on their annual migration, over the Kugti Pass, to the fertile pastures of Lahaul.

At the temple, I met a friendly guy called Vishal – and had lunch at his place. I was just setting off when three guys arrived at the temple. They told Vishal of an encounter with a bear at the meadow below the pass. From what I gathered, the bear had jumped over their camp and then attacked them.

Locals had been warning me of bears, though it felt like fear-mongering. Before, I had asked Anu – he didn't seem overly concerned and I trusted his opinion. Vishal however, was concerned and he asked a few of the locals if they would guide me, yet there were no takers.

After a short deliberation, I set off. Yet 10 minutes along, and with more space to think, I decided it was too much. I retreated back to the temple, and then decided to go back to Kugti village, in search of a guide.

On my return, I found that Anu had gone to Bharmour for the day. So, I approached a group of men with my proposal and quickly had volunteers. And so it was that I met Barshotem. We negotiated a price, supplies, number of days and agreed to meet the next day back at the temple.

The next day, Barshotem arrived and off we set for two short days while we acclimatised. We set up camp at Duggi Caves, collected some wood and made a fire. Just before dusk, Barshotem pointed and shouted "Baloo, baloo!" He had seen a bear across the valley. And indeed, I could just make out a big and black figure, slowly meandering across the valley terrain.

The next day we walked to Alias, the last meadow before the pass. At 4200m it was beyond the tree line. So at the last spot, we gathered wood and humped it onto our backs and hiked to the meadow, where we would spend the bitterly cold night. The campsite was usually a shelter, with iron panels enclosing it, yet the last of the ghaddis had taken the panels back down, leaving us to the biting cold winds!

With the weather in mind, we needed to summit the pass early, so we woke before dawn, at 4.30am. It was so cold on they way up the water in my bottle froze. The view at the top was spectacular, with the Manimahesh and Dharuldar ranges behind. And in front, Lahaul ('Southern Country' in Tibetan) and the Great Himalaya – the range which led to Ladakh, aka Tibet. Apparently, the bears migrate over the same path.

We descended the down the steep trail, traversing a few glaciers whilst avoiding the shallow crevasses and just soaking up the magnificence of it all. We would have camped at an empty ghaddi settlement that evening but Barshotem didn't bring enough food (grrrr), meaning we'd have to walk all the way to the first village.

We came down the valley to a beautifully autumnal Lahaul, passed Rapay village and crossed the Chenab river as it was approaching dark. We walked to Shansha village and eventually found a homestay with a friendly guy called Pobwan. After dinner, Pobwan brought some home-brew whisky made from wheat and apples and I settled in for the night.