We were woken up at 6.45 the next morning so got dressed and headed out for breakfast. Breakfast was pretty substantial – porridge, toast, an omelette, and banana. We were given our lunch to take with us, and a sleeping bag and a thin mattress, and then we had to take the things we needed for the journey – raincoat, umbrella, water bottle, camera, and then a change of clothes and overnight things as we would be staying up in the mountains overnight. It was quite a lot to carry given the long hike. We set off at 8.45. The 1st 10mins were really hard, I felt like I wouldn’t be able to do it but then it got a bit easier, I think my body started getting used to it. It was extremely tiring though. We had to keep having regular breaks to catch our breath. It was very hard to breathe up there, plus it was very steep. We were pretty much climbing up rocks constantly. And right by the edge of the cliff. Its definitely the most exhausting thing I’ve ever done! Being in a group helped though. I think I would have given up pretty early on if I was on my own. We got to Triund at lunch time after 4 hours of trekking which was where we would be spending the night. There were 2 rooms with beds, so we could have 4 people in each bedroom, and then the rest of us would be sleeping out in the communal area on the floor. I opted for that as I couldn’t deal with 4 in a bed for a 2nd night. The place had no electricity or running water! There was an outside toilet nearby, but we were told it would be easier to just pick a tree and go there! We had lunch which was very substantial – a big portion of rice, potatoes and vegetables, a large piece of bread, a chocolate bar, and a small packet of biscuits. We were all starving though so managed to finish it all! We were then given the option to carry on trekking for an additional 2 hours to get the snow line which most of us wanted to do. It was a hard 2 hours but we made it eventually, it was a bit of an anti climax though, we were expecting to see snow and an amazing view but there was nothing! It was very foggy so we couldn’t really see anything from there. And then it started raining! We were then told it was an extra hour and 20mins to get to the glacier at the top and asked if we wanted to go. After coming up this far, it didn’t seem so much further and we really wanted to end the trek with a spectacular view to make it all seem worth it so most of us decided to keep going. It was incredibly tough. We were all so tired and our legs were so weak and this was the steepest part of the trek! And the rain wasn’t helping. We got there though, our guide pointed out the snow but it was too foggy to see it well. It didn’t really seem worth the extra walk, but I was glad to know that I had made it to the top! I really never imagined that I would! We got up to 3600 metres up.
Then was the walk back down to Triund where we were staying. Walking down was very hard! Not exhausting like walking up, but just hard walking down the steep rocks, trying hard not to fall. And the trainers I was wearing were pretty bad! We were recommended to bring trekking boots but I had already left the country when I got that email plus I wouldn’t have had space to take them. I had bought some cheap trainers from the markets in Agra thinking they would get pretty wrecked on the trek so I could just throw them away afterwards and I thought they had decent grip on them, but it was quickly apparent that they weren’t good enough. I kept slipping on the wet rocks and the mud so was walking very slowly so I don’t fall and break anything! I got back to Triund after a couple of hours and it was the quietest evening we’ve had! You could just see that everyone was completely exhausted! At around 8pm, we started making arrangements for sleeping! I didn’t sleep well that night either. The floor was so hard, I just couldn’t get comfortable. So it was a long night! I listened to music for a bit and just stayed lying down to give my body some rest.