Paperwork Before Grunt Work

The next few months were spent in readying for the trek. Uncle Sudhir was a gem in this regard. He took care of all flight and railway bookings and basically managed the whole trek. His friend Bharat Shah who runs High Adventure, a tourism enterprise based in Almora, Uttaranchal, did the rest. Shahji, as he is fondly called, looked after hotel reservations, transport in Uttaranchal, all the necessary tourist permits and hiking permissions, etc. He coordinated the trek with the Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN, for short) which is the only resource for camping out in the mountains on the route. He is a highly experienced guide and was our official trekking guide on the route.

Since most of the Adi Kailash route comes under the inner-line area, being on the Indo-Tibet border, the rules are quite stringent. We had to supply copies of valid passports, or character certificates from the chief of our local police station. Since the trek is highly strenuous, a medical certificate from a qualified doctor is a must. Shahji sent us application forms to the DM, requesting permission for entry to the inner-line area. We duly filled them, signed them, attached recent photographs and sent them off. All this was done well before June 2007, since we were supposed to leave on the 28th of July.

With the paperwork almost over, we began training for the trek.