Bhaba Pass is situated in Himachal Pradesh and connects Kinnaur with Spiti valley. There is some difference of opinion about the maximum height of Bhaba Pass and that ranges from 4850 meter (15912 feet) to 4910 meter (16108 feet). In this trek one starts from the green pastures of Kinnaur and ends in the cold Himalayan desert of Spiti, the elemental variation in this trek is overwhelming.
The Bhaba Pass trek is usually done from Kafnu (in Kinnaur) to Mud (in Spiti), but many people do the same from Mud to Kafnu also. But the trek from Mud to Kafnu was not our choice as this involves crossing the pass on the very 2nd day of the trek and the ascent to the pass from this direction is pretty arduous.
The Bhaba Pass trek, using Kafnu to Mud route, is generally done in five days with the following itinerary:
Day 1 – Kafnu to Mulling
Day 2 – Mulling to Kara
Day 3 – Kara to Pustirang
Day 4 – Pustirang to Baldhar, crossing the Bhaba Pass
Day 5 – Baldhar to Mud
Kafnu to Mulling: This is an easy trek and should not take more than 6 hours for people who may not be physically very fit but won’t budge mentally. The walk is mostly flat with only one gradual ascent.
Mulling to Kara: This is an easy trek too and takes about 6 hours (same conditions). The walk is mostly flat with only 1 short ascent.
Kara to Pustirang: The highlight of this trek is glacial stream crossing, otherwise the trek involves mostly flat and one short ascent.
Pustirang to Baldhar: This will be a long day and is advised to be started early in the morning. This trek involves ascent from Pustirang to Bhaba Pass and then descent Baldhar. The ascent to Bhaba Pass involves 3 steps. Step 1 is a long steep one (this is the main climb), step 2 is a short one but steep in between and the 3rd one starts with a descent and then a gradual climb to the top. Just after crossing Bhaba Pass, there is a sharp descent and then gradual descent along side the Pin river. About 3 or 4 KM before Baldhar (just below the first ridge where the Pin river takes the right turn) there is a camping ground (Bara Baldhar) and one may choose to camp here after the tiring trek, but then next day reaching Mud will become a longer one. Also the climb down from the trail to the camp site and again climbing up to the trail next day will be an arduous one. The path from Bara Baldhar to Baldhar is a gradual descent, but the rocky trail is a hindrance.
Baldhar to Mud: Baldhar to Mud is a gradual descent along the Pin valley and a very pleasurable one. There is a short ascent to Mud village after crossing Pin river.
Our journey: 27 June, 2014 – 11 July, 2014
We were a group of 7 people:
1. Uttam Chowdhury – age 51, some experience of trekking
2. Bhaskar Ghosh – age 47, 1st trek
3. Ajay Dey – age 46, some experience of trekking
4. Angshuman Kar – age 46, some experience of trekking
5. Arunangshu Kar – age 41, some experience of trekking
6. Joyashish Ghosh – age 35, 2nd trek
7. Rajesh Kumar – age 33, 1st trek
The highlight of our trek was certainly the Bhaba Pass crossing, but this year much of the trail from Pustirang to Baldhar was heavily snow covered. According to our guide & cook, this time of the year, not much snow is expected in this stretch other than at the top of the Bhaba Pass.
27, June 2014 – 29, June 2014
We started our journey from Howrah station by Kalka mail at 7:40 p.m on 27 June, 2014 and reached Kalka at 4:40 a.m. on 29 June, 2014. As this was the first trip to Himachal Pradesh for most of the team members, we opted for iconic Shivalik Express to travel from Kalka to Shimla. The journey from Kalka to Shimla was a pleasant one and we reached Shimla at 10:30 a.m.
We pre-arranged a vehicle to take us from Shimla to Kafnu and so left Shimla by 11 am. The distance between Shimla and Kafnu is 212 KM and takes about 10 hours. The road from Shimla to Kafnu passes through Rampur and follows the Sultej river after that till Wangtu. At Wangtu we took the diversion for Kafnu and it is about 22 KM. We were supposed to reach Kafnu by 9 PM, but due to some trouble of the vehicle, we were travelling, we reached Kafnu at 11 PM. We got our accommodation in the only hotel of Kafnu.
Our decision to travel by Shivalik Express, from Kalka to Shimla, was wrong as we had planned to reach Kafnu by the same day. We should have hired the vehicle from Kalka itself and that would have saved us crucial 4 hours.
Day 1: Kafnu to Selti (June 30, 2014)
We were supposed to start our trek by 8 AM, but due to our late arrival to Kafnu last night we started our trek at 11 a.m.
Today’s trek was a gradual ascent alongside Bhaba river and a very pleasant one. Instead of aiming for Mulling, we had to end today’s trek at Selti by 2:30 p.m. as we had a couple of first time trekkers in our team and it was the 1st day of the trek. The Selti campsite is a nice one, but nothing when compared to Mulling campsite. Returning to the hills after 1 year (last year we went to Roopkund), it was a heavenly feeling all along.Throughout the day we had bright sunshine, with some occasional rain cloud floating around.
Day 2: Selti to Kara, via Mulling (July 1, 2014)
Today we could start at 7:00 a.m. in the morning and we had to cover yesterday’s lost ground, i.e. Selti to Mulling and then reach out for Kara. Morning was full of bright sunshine and everyone was cheerful. The gradual ascent to Mulling meadow was a very pleasant and refreshing one. The campsite in Mulling, beside Bhaba river, is one of the best in my opinion.
After Mulling the trail is a gradual ascent, with a short but steep ascent after crossing Bhaba river. We crossed Bhaba river using a snow bridge, but heard from the guide that there is a natural boulder bridge (then covered with snow) that is generally used to cross the river. After this ascent the trail slowly descends to the meadow of Kara. In this part of the trail, there is a natural shelter that is used by the shepherds, here one can get mobile phone signal for the last time. This campsite is equally enchanting as that of Mulling.
Day 3: Stay at Kara (July 2, 2014)
Today we were supposed to trek to Pustirang, but due to heavy rain we had to stay put at Kara. In the afternoon, we strolled around the campsite.
Day 4: Kara to Pustirang (July 3, 2014)
Today’s trek started at 6:30 a.m. in the morning with crossing of a glacial stream. The stream is pretty fierce at some places, considering our ability. We were advised to cross the stream early in the morning, as the flow of water is less at the day break and increases as the day forwards. After crossing the stream, there is a little ascent towards left, after which it is a level walk till Pustirang. We got lot of snow cover in this stretch from avalanches from last winter. This really helped us prepare for the Bhaba Pass crossing, where the snow cover was much more.
There are 2 campsites in Pustirang, lower and upper. We had to go for lower campsite as the higher one was under snow. The view from the upper campsite is magnificent and would have saved a few minutes of 1st ascent next day for Bhaba Pass.
Day 5: Pustirang to Baldhar, Bhaba Pass crossing (July 4, 2014)
This is the only tough day of the whole trek. We planned to start at 5 a.m. in the morning, but could start only at 5:40 a.m. Today’s trek is made up of 3 parts:
a) Ascent to Bhaba Pass
b) Descent from Bhaba Pass to Pin valley
c) Trek along the Pin River till Baldhar.
Both ascent and descent from Bhaba Pass are pretty steep, but the trek along the Pin River has gradual descent. Ascent to Bhaba Pass involves three flights: the first one is the steepest one and it took us about 2.5 hours and next two together took 1.5 hours, i.e., the whole ascent we made in four hours. Except at the early part of this ascent, major part was on heavy snow.
Descent from Bhaba Pass also involves three flights, but we were lucky that this year the whole stretch was under heavy snow (abnormal for this time of the year) and we used sledging to come down these flights. Due to the sledging, it took us very little time for this descent.
Trek along the Pin River till Baldhar was a long walk over snow till Bara Baldhar, and from Bara Baldhar to Baldhar it was mostly on rocks from landslides or scree. Till Bara Baldhar, the whole stretch was under snow and during this part the weather was really bad with some initial rain and then with snowfall. But there was a peculiar phenomenon, after we turned right for Baldhar, at Bara Baldhar, the weather turned from worse to better !!!! and that’s too within a distance of not more than a kilometre.
During daytime the weather in Baldhar campsite was pleasant, though very windy but after the sunset temperature dropped substantially.
Day 6: Baldhar to Mud (July 5, 2014)
Today’s trek from Baldhar to Mud is along the Pin River and pretty flat. Today we crossed three rivers and all had bridges on them. The first one is on Baldhar Nala, just after the campsite and the last one is on the Pin River, just before the final ascent to Mud village. One could see the Mud village only after a short time in the trek, but it is a long way. During this part we first experienced the cold desert of Spiti, the wind temperature was around 20°C with snow here and there, whereas the temperature of the rocks were about 35°C. The variation of colour of the rocks were astounding – bright yellow, light to dark magenta, orange are the prominent ones.
Some information I thought was worth sharing:
Accommodation in Kafnu
There is only one hotel, Lake View Resort, in Kafnu and it fills up pretty fast and so it is better to ask your guide to book it for you in advance. Caution – the food can be very costly if you don’t inquire about the price beforehand; each plate of chicken curry cost us Rs. 400, whereas the asked price of other chicken dishes was around Rs.150
Accommodations in Mud
There are numerous comfortable guest houses/homestays in Mud. If you are not having a really bad luck, getting accommodation should not be an issue. Even if you don’t get accommodation in Mud you can move to Kaza, the sub-divisional headquarter of Spiti, which is only a two-hour drive.
Accommodations in Kaza
This is the main town of Spiti and a popular tourist place. There are no dearth of good hotels in Kaza with very good facilities.
Guide for Bhaba Pass trek
Our guide was Billu Negi Wangpa and cook was Jai Negi. Actually Jai Negi is a guide too, but as our intended cook could not make the trip Jai Negi took up that position. Jai Negi is a certified guide and has done advance course from Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (Manali). As a guide Billu Negi is very good, but we didn’t like the way he overcharged us after the trek ended. The total expense he proposed before we started was Rs. 45000- (for seven people), but at the end of the trek we ended up paying Rs. 67000, i.e. an almost 50 percent more.
Transportation
We contracted for Shimla to Kafnu drop and then Mud to Manali drop. Mud to Manali was in three days, including Spiti trip of Dhankar, Kaza, Komic village, Lengcha, Key Monastery, Kibber, and Chandra Taal. The total cost for this vehicle trip was Rs. 23000.
If someone wants to skip the Spiti trip, then bus service is available from Mud to Kaza in the morning. From Kaza, buses are available for Manali, but I am not sure about the timings. There is a good bus stand at Kaza.
I am attaching a few snaps of snow around Bhaba Pass to convey how much we enjoyed this trek on snow. Hope the information shared above helps those interested in doing Bhaba Pass trek.
