Introduction
Ever since the trekkIyers successfuly completed the Markha Valley Trek in May 2022, as a group we were on the look out for a suitable second Himalayan trek. Something that was neither too hard nor too easy; Moderate level - to use the technical lingo! On 5th January 2023 Dr Swamy sent a message in our WA group. He was checking out the Khopra Ridge Trek in the Annapurna range area of Nepal. Swamy had talked to the orgainsers TTH - Trek to Himalayas who required minimum 5 people to confirm the trek. Swamy himself, his wife Sumathi & his nephew Aditya were planning to participate.
The trekkIyers group was promoted by & the founding members were : (1) Dr Narayanaswamy (2) my BIL - jijaji - Dr Ramesh Raman (3) my younger brother Vaidhyanathan (4) our school friend Sridhar & (5) yours truly. At the time of writing this blog (April 2023), three of us were 52 years old, one was 55 & the eldest 57!
Shankar (A CA friend & also an Iyer) who was aware about our maiden trek showed interest in joining in our future treks. However when I checked about his availability for the Khopra Ridge, he could not join due to personal reasons. Ramesh could not join as he had just taken a new assignment. Vaidy had some (financial) year end work to be completed & excused himself from joining the current trek. I checked the dates in the website. The trek was a 9 day trek from 1 April 2023 to 9 April 2023. After checking my own schedule, I replied in affirmative to Swamy's WA message. In a couple of days Sridhar too confirmed. So with 5 of us confirming the trek & paying up the amount, the trek was on.
The logical next steps : (1) to book the flight tickets from Mumbai to Khatmandu return, (2) arrange accommodation at Khatmandu and (3) arrange travel from Khatmandu to Pokhara return. Though Markha was my first Himalayan trek, my fellow trekkIyers had done many more and were experienced in making these arrangements. I had immense belief in the resourcefulness of my fellow trekkIyers and left these arrangements to be made to their discretion, occasionally following up with them regarding the status.
With the travel & stay arrangements taken care of, the next important aspect was compiling a list of the trek gear & other travel paraphernalia. My prior experience of one Himalayan Trek & the experience of my fellow trekkers, literature available in TTH website & several sites in the www I prepared the rough list. I was sure that TTH would send their list with the welcome email.
Sridhar & self were traveling together. As the traveling day neared I ensured that in terms of documentation the medically fit certificate from our family Dr, passport, full vaccination certificate and an overseas insurance policy was ready. I informed our office about my absence and set up the vacation responder in my emails. I was eagerly looking forward to the 31 of March 2023, when the Indigo Flight would take off from CSMT Terminal 2 Mumbai to Khatmandu.
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