Pindari to Panchachuli
Train to Kathgodam, overnight. Then a car through winding roads into the Bageshwar district. The plan was Pindari Glacier first, then Dharchula, then as far north as we could get before the snow stopped us.
Khati is the last village before the glacier trail begins. It sits at around 2,200 metres, in a valley where the Pindar river runs loud and cold. Most people passing through are trekkers. We stayed a night.
Pindari
The trail from Khati to Pindari is roughly 25 kilometres one way. It goes through oak and rhododendron forest, past waterfalls and small settlements. Uttarakhand grows wild bhang everywhere at this elevation. You notice it after the first hour.
Rain hit on day two. The trail becomes mud. You put your head down and keep moving.
Pindari Glacier sits at around 3,660 metres, off the flanks of Nanda Kot. Quieter than you expect for something that size. Rock, ice, and the sound of meltwater running underneath.
I juggled at the base. Altitude makes everything harder. Lungs work at about 70 percent. The balls go up the same as always but the arms feel heavier than they should.
Dharchula and Dugtu
From Pindari we came back down and drove west to Dharchula, a border town on the Kali river. India on one bank, Nepal on the other. From Dharchula, the road north to Dugtu is not a road in any conventional sense.
We rode on the roof of a jeep. The driver did not slow down for the places where it had partially fallen away. You hold on to whatever is strapped above the wheel arch.
Two hours of that. The valley opens up as you gain elevation. The peaks start to show.
Panchachuli
The trek from Dugtu climbs through forest before breaking into high alpine meadow. Tree cover thins and then stops. Above treeline it is rock, scrub, and snow.
Snow comes in patches first, then covers everything. The trail markers get harder to follow.
I juggled with snowballs near the base camp. They compact enough for two throws, maybe three. After that they fall apart.
The Panchachuli peaks, five of them, sit in a row above. At that hour, with the light low, they look like something from another country. We went up and came back down the same day. I stayed until it got too cold to stand still.
The kids
At every stop along the way, Khati, Dharchula, the villages between, there were kids. Juggling travels well. You do not need a common language. You hand someone a ball and they either want to try or they do not. Most of them did.
