We four friends were worried about where to celebrate the new year. It took us two months to find the answer to this question. And finally we got the answer in the form of 'Baleni Pass'. Baleni Pass is a mountain pass located in the Dhauladhar mountain range, whose height is 3730 meters.
It is winter in the entire Himalayas and the first beef has fallen all around. Our friend says that we don't need to take a tent as there are huts built by the local sheep and goat herders, we will go and stay in them and go to Baleni the next day and come back and stay in the hut.
The one-way walk to Baleni Pass is about 28 km, for which the walk starts from Chadhi. We were already in Beed, from where we would go to Dharamshala by bus where we would board the car of two more of our friends.
After discussing the whole plan over the phone, we leave and reach Dharamshala by a 3-hour bus journey, where after waiting for half an hour, our friend arrives in his car. In which we keep all the stuff and go out for shopping. We go shopping to buy pulses, rice, some green vegetables and eggs.
By car, we reach Chadhi in the next two and a half hours, where we park the car near the power project and start walking. If it is winter, the cold wind is hitting the face. Don't know about the rest but I am very excited about this track. For the first time in my life, I am going to celebrate the new year in the mountains.
Soon we cross a local temple named Chanderbela, reach among the Shepards' huts. If we go a little further, we find herbalists, after going a little further, we find hunters who are coming from where we want to go. We rest at Dhaledh, the height here is 2340 meters and from here a path leads to Kareri Lake.
The sun is about to set and we have to reach Charkhotu as soon as possible. Now there is snow in the snow on the way, fresh snow has also started falling from above. We collect wood along the way because all the vegetation on top will be buried in snow. At 5 pm, we finally reach Charkhotu after walking 18 kms.
There are many shepherds' huts here, we shift to one after a little inspection. These huts are made of mud and stone and are very warm inside. We first light a fire and then lay out our sleeping bags after laying out the mattress. Soon we start making tea. The sun has set and it is getting colder but the temperature is fine because of the fire burning inside.
We play songs, cook many types of food to celebrate the new year. We make dal, rice, papad, roti and kheer. We start eating food at 11 pm and say till one in the night. Meanwhile snow starts falling and at 12 o'clock we wish each other a happy new year and eat sweet kheer.
For the first time I celebrated the new year in the mountains and that too in the midst of fresh snowfall. The next morning we wake up to the New Year's calendar and pack our bags and start coming down. Although we were supposed to go up to Baleni Pass but due to bad weather and fresh snowfall, we could not go. We start descending at 10 am. Snow is still falling but not as much as last night.
After 5 hours we reach Chadhi where our car was parked. Putting the luggage in the car, we leave for the return journey. So this was our New Year trekking in which we celebrated this festival in the mountains.
