"It was by chance that I landed on the Kashmir Great Lakes trek by Indiahikes. That trek changed the way I looked at trek leading. 

I was born and raised in Chhattisgarh. In the environment I grew up, independent thinking or non-traditional career choices were frowned upon. I struggled to break free from the set notions. Finally, I quit my full time job in 2019 and joined an International NGO.

In 2021, I was all set to travel to Croatia to represent the India Chapter for the NGO. Unfortunately the conference was cancelled and I had 7 days in my hand. That’s when I decided to trek to Kashmir Great Lakes. 

On the trek I was in awe at how Indiahikes was actively working towards sustainable trekking. It felt like a new dimension had opened up in my life. Moving forward I wanted to actively practice sustainability. 

I also observed how impactful it was to work as a trek leader. 

Throughout my career I attended many leadership programs. But this was the first time I witnessed a role where you could apply all the learnings to impact people’s lives in a very short span of time.

Soon after the trek, I wanted to be associated with Indiahikes. Around the same time Indiahikes opened recruitment for Weekend Trek Leaders. I decided to apply and got selected. 

In the past two months, I have led three groups as a Weekend Trek Leader. As I lead treks, I meet new people, talk to them about values like sustainability. 

Looking back at my journey I notice that these conversations give me a deep sense of love and pride about the work that I am doing. Being a Weekend Trek Leader here fills me with gratitude.”

Why I Became A Weekend Trek Leader with Indiahikes 

I have always wondered what goes on a family trek. Recently I got an opportunity to lead a Deoriatal Chandrashila family trek with 7 families!

What I witnessed throughout the trek was sheer love, compassion, empathy in kids and their parents. 

Our conversations were around, friendship, kindness and love. 

We also talked about having hardships at school like bullying and not being kind.

The parents realised that treks are the best way to connect and to know the untapped potential their children possess. 

Shachi with children on the Deoriatal Chandrashila trek

They became kids with them, climbing trees, eating wild strawberries. They saw how children were helping each other out climbing steep sections, crossing streams and rivers, giving out helping hands, washing their own dabbas in cold water, taking so many responsibilities and pushing each other to reach the summit together, even when they were tired to go on. 

One kid, Vidushi, talked about how even living under one roof did not get quality time from her parents. This was the first time she actually saw mom dad being together, taking care and loving each other. "Not just the trek, even preparing for the trek helped us bond really well.. We haven’t spent time this way in a long time". her father added. 

I deeply thought about how parents just shower kids with gifts, but the true gifts kids want is time, stories, building things together, experiencing things together, affection. 

Kids got closer to nature, tracing leaves on Trek memory books, running around in the forest to find that one perfect leaf which resonates with them, hugging the trees, drawing them to learn different perspectives.

During bad weather they were grateful for rain poncho, hot food, eating hailstorms and finding happiness in smallest of the things, like moss which they called "the fluffy".

I am so grateful to be a part of something which brings families together. It gave me a purpose.

The families after completing the Deoriatal Chandrashila trek

These kids are the future of us, the values they hold will define the course of the future. Treks help them be kinder, loving, grateful and caring. Families after the trek provide them a cradle to grow, be more supportive and loving.

“I Have Always Wondered What Goes On A Family Trek.”

Being hit by acute mountain sickness made me realise that it can happen to anyone. 

I was leading the first team of Rupin Pass trek this summer season. The day before going to the Rupin Pass we were at the Upper Waterfall campsite and it snowed heavily for about 12-14 hrs. At night my SpO2 (Oxygen Saturation) level was 99%. My pulse rate was 67. 

Thankfully the weather cleared up quite a bit on the pass crossing day. It was extremely sunny and the entire trail was covered with 2-3 feet of snow.

We started the pass crossing climb at 6:08 am. It took us 6 hours to reach the Rupin Pass.

After staying at the summit for half an hour we started descending. 

While descending, I realised that around 3 trekkers were too slow and were lagging behind.

So, in order to check on them I quickly went 1 km up towards the pass. It was a 15 minutes walk up again. 

After a while I got a throbbing headache and I started feeling pukish. The headache soon turned severe. It was a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. I was extremely fatigued, dehydrated and hungry at that time. 

I immediately took Paracetamol 650 and Pan-D and ate some food afterwards.

Because of my condition I took the call of reshuffling the team. I went ahead with the lead guide descending down as quickly as possible. 

My SpO2 level was around 90% at the altitude of 13500ft. 

As I reached Ronti Gad campsite, I ate some snacks, drank a lot of water and rested for one hour. By then the headache had subsided considerably. I was still feeling fatigued. 

My SpO2 level came up to 95% at 12,600 ft. By night time my headache and all other symptoms were gone. 

An incident like this makes me realise how AMS can hit anyone. I have been in a high altitude region for quite some time. I had even done a recce of the Rupin Pass trail upto 13,000 ft on 18th May. 

What went wrong was not eating enough breakfast and lunch on the pass crossing day. I also drank very little water till I reached the pass.



Being Hit By Acute Mountain Sickness Made Me Realise That It Can Happen To Anyone

Although littering is one of the most prominent and obvious problems that we witness during the trek, there are more problems that needs addressing.  Our Green Trails initiative looks at efficient human waste and food waste management, greener alternatives, non-degradable waste reduction, complete waste cycle and creating awareness amongst locals and visitors. Indiahikes has consistently worked towards addressing these problems and in reducing carbon footprint along the slopes.  

Solid waste management: Indiahikes has, with the help of the trekkers, collected over 750 sacks of non-biodegradable garbage and has redirected them to different landfills/waste management organizations over the past three years. With our continued efforts, we have set the bar for the clean up campaigns during treks.  And our clean-up activities don’t stop with the slope.  We regularly organize clean-up campaigns in the local villages along the slope.  Not only do we organize clean-up campaigns but we also work along with the locals in setting up regular exit routes for the wastes collected.  We take it further and consistently engage in discussion with the Divisional Forest Officers (DFOs) and Chief Conservator of Forests (CCFs) towards working on sustainable trekking.  

Let me share a recent success story. Indiahikes, along with the locals set up a model village at Jaubhari, the base camp for Sandakphu, with segregation units for the whole village.  The collected recyclable wastes are diverted to kababdi walas (scrap merchants) while the non-recyclable wastes are diverted to the landfill in Siliguri. With an example at hand, the villagers and the government officials at Sandakphu have now come together to set up a waste management system for the whole trek route.

Efficient human waste management:  Using toilet pits is the current norm for toilets that are followed by most trekking organizations in India.  These pits are not only detrimental to the green cover but also threaten the hygiene if improperly maintained.  To address this, we have introduced wet Indian toilets and drums lined with cocopeat.  The wastes generated are collected in a single big compost pit, thereby generating valuable nutrient rich manure out of human waste.  And we haven’t stopped. We are still experimenting on efficient toilet systems that can cause minimal impact on the environment and at the same time can re-utilize the potential of the human waste.   

Efficient food waste management:  Food waste and kitchen scraps that remain after being diverted as food for local cattle is disposed in a compost pit at each campsite.  We are slowly working on introducing biodigester units that will produce fuel and manure from the organic waste generated. We are making incremental progress towards reducing our packaging wastes by either buying it in bulk and using local fresh produce.  We also regularly experiment on introducing local food in the menu, which serves not only as a means to reduce packaging waste but also as a means to experience the local culture.

Green alternatives introduction: Vim bars, toothpastes, hand washes, etc. leaches into the ground and degrades the soil.  There are natural alternatives that are readily available.  Towards this, ash is slowly replacing Vim bars at all slopes and we are further moving towards introducing eco friendly soaps, etc.  New ideas such as creating cloth bags out of old clothes and rags, making eco friendly soaps using ash and oil, rain water harvesting are some of the new initiatives that are currently on our focus list.

If you have any more ideas that can contribute to reduce the carbon footprints on the slopes, please do suggest them to us. You can write to me on lakshmi@indiahikes.in.

Indiahikes has been working hard to keep the mountains clean and to bring down the carbon footprint to zero in the Himalayas. Here's a peek into their work.

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