The mighty Dhauladhar ranges in the Himalaya run between Chamba Valley in the north and the Kangra Valley in the south. Standing at over 6000 Mts at places it is a spectacular and precipitous mountain range which has these beautiful and thickly wooded slopes leading to its base. There are a few high passes which are used by the local "Gaddi" shepherds to cross the range back and forth with their flock.
I have been to these ranges almost 19 years ago accompanied by Naru and a few others when we attempted to cross the 4500 mts high Thamsar Pass but returned unsuccessful due to treacherous snow and ice conditions at the base of the Pass.
The trail to this pass starts from the small sleepy village of Bir located between Palampur and Joginder Nagar. Bir is at an altitude of 1340 mts above Sea Level and is a lovely plateau with the towering Dhauladhar to its north and some minor hills to the south descending into the dusty plains of Punjab.
I remember the first day's walk (or climb) was to the top of the densely wooded slope at an altitude of 2300 odd mts. This place is called Billing and is a small clearing on the ridge top, is lush green, has a Chai shop and views of the snows further up. We had camped up here overlooking the entire Kangra Valley spread out below. I stood on the top feeling the wind on my face and looking enviously at a couple of huge Eagles riding the wind with effortless grace and poise.
As I stood on the very same spot some 19 years later surveying the scenery below, I felt breathless with anxiety and anticipation for I was about to leap off the mountain top and soar like those great birds. I carefully inspected all my gear, laid out my canopy neatly, got into my harness and connected the canopy to it. Checked my reserve parachute handle. Attached my new Helmet camera to my helmet and got ready. Behind me dark clouds had gathered around the upper slopes of the range and were threatening to turn into a thunder storm at any moment. The skies in front were blue and inviting with a very thin layer of wispy clouds way up above me. The headwind seemed perfect as i took a deep breath launched my canopy into the air, stabilised it, spun around and faced the abyss. With a couple of resolute steps I ran to the edge of the hill top and was airborne. The hills fell away below me and I could feel the great rush of the headwind on my face. I maintained course heading straight towards the plain as I did not want to try my luck facing the wind's turbulences in the mountains. A small ridge to the left looked promising and I made a tentative turn towards it and as I overflew the ridge I felt my canopy being shaken a little bit as it entered the lifting air over the ridge. My Variometer came alive and started beeping to indicate my ascent and the rate of ascent at 2.5 mts per second. once out of the lift I sank gently towards the plains until i hit a nice strong thermal coming up from the harvested fields below heated by the Sun. A jerk on the canopy indicated that I had entered this column of rising air and I started doing gentle 360 degree turns to stay within the thermal's boundaries. My head started spinning and I felt giddy all of a sudden. The Vario indicated a 5 mts per second rate of ascent.
The next hour or so I played with the thermals which were in abundance until I noticed the storm on the Dhauladhar had turned huge and thunder claps started becoming frequent. I was now flying right above the hotel where we had set up base but nearly a 1000 mts above. I circled gently and took in the awesome scenery around me.
The winds around me started gusting a little bit unnerving me and I set course towards the designated landing field still way too high to land. I used the 'Big Ears' yet again to lose height. At about a 200 mts from the landing I spotted the windsock indicating the wind direction at the landing. I made a couple of S turns and made my approach and touched down like a feather to the delight of the small crowd that had gathered at the landing to watch the pilots land.
For the next three days, I made several trips to the take off point high above Bir called Billing which I mentioned earlier. This is a gruelling 15 km drive climbing a 1000 mts in that distance. With each flight I could feel my confidence growing and on one flight, I dared to actually circle right above the mountain using the lift to gain height. I had set myself a target of reaching at least a 1000 mts above the take off. A few minutes of circling in the company of the Magnificent Griffin vultures and my vario showed 3450 mts. I looked down at the take off which was now a 1000 mts below me satisfied I turned towards Bir and headed out of the mountain for another nice soft landing.
From my last visit to Bir, I could see changes in the form of a few hotels which had sprung up to cater to the steady stream of international pilots who turn up in large numbers every year to enjoy the flying possibilities offered by this site. There is also a small Tibetan settlement with a Monastery adding to the charm of the place. Dotted with small Tibetan food stalls, there was an abundance of Tibetan cuisine to sample.
Before driving to Bir, I had reached Dharamshala and spent a few days climbing to the snowline to the north of Mcleodganj which takes one to the crest of a hill with spectacular views of the snow covered Dhauladhar and also the steep climb to the Indrahar pass.
Some Trekking : From Mcleodganj we climbed all the way to a place called Triund which offers great views of Dharamshala and Mcleodganj. We pitched our tent nest to the Forest Rest House in the lush green hillside. There were chai shops offering hot food and chai making the stay comfortable. The temperature dipped to 4 degrees in the night but inside the tent we were quite comfortable. The next day we climbed higher to reach the snow line spent an hour and then headed back down.
Although I have now flown a dozen sites including a few picturesque ones in Auckland, nothing can come close to the Billing experience.
The flying season in Billing comes to a close due to monsoons until late September but no sweat Yelagiri near Bangalore comes alive in June and that is where I will be headed next.....
