Deo Tibba, Kullu, Himachal Pradesh India

 Deo Tibba is situated at an altitude of 2,953 m above sea level. The place has been found to have a mention in the great epic of Mahabharata, in which it has been identified as Indralika. It is said that Arjuna performed penance here, on the advice of Maharishi Vyas, to obtain the Pashupati Astra from Indra.

We had optimistically allowed ourselves five days to reach the base of Deo Tibba, barely 16 miles from Manali in the Kulu Valley, but right from the first day we were thrown off schedule. We had hardly marched a few miles out of Manali when we dis­covered that our Tibetan porters were very slow, and we took the unusual decision of dismissing them. We recruited a second team of Tibetans the next day and they were a great improvement, but at 11,000 feet they found snow conditions so difficult that they decided to return and no amount of incentives could keep them back. Now the only alternative to abandoning the expedition was to carry the loads ourselves, and in a series of ferrying operations with the help of four Ladakhis and two Sherpas we moved 800 lb. of stores through the Jagatsukh nullah to Base Camp at 15,000 feet in the Chander Tal basin at the foot of Deo Tibba. We left Manali on May 18 and now it was the 29th.

Our next problem was to decide the route by which we were to attempt Deo Tibba. Originally we had planned to go along the watershed ridge which runs in a south to south-west direc­tion. This route would involve two camps, one at 16,000 feet on the cold and inhospitable Duhangan Col on the western side of the watershed ridge, and another at 18,000 feet. An attempt by this route would take at least five days which we could not spare, in addition to an inadequacy of porters to stock the camps.

The second route was along a narrow ice-fall between the verti­cal south face of Deo Tibba and the watershed ridge. This ice- fall looked a fearsome sight from Base Camp. The left margin consisted of a number of huge broken seracs which peeled off regularly to crash down to the Chander Tal with an enormous roar. However, to the right there appeared an extremely steep ramp comparatively free of hazards. We had heard rather mixed opinions of this route and it was after much deliberation that we decided to attempt Deo Tibba along the ice-fall.

On May 31 at 6 a.m., Adi Mistry, Sherpas Passang Tshering and Ang Chottar, our Ladakhis and myself were busy roping up and attaching on our crampons at the foot of the ice-fall. It was a beautiful morning but a bitterly cold wind was blowing. Though the ground was extremely steep, we were able to make very good progress as our crampons gripped well into the hard early morn­ing snow. We had to cross a number of small crevasses but only one proved to be difficult, and steps had to be cut into the higher wall. Beyond this we traversed to the right under a large dome-shaped serac and climbed up an extremely steep and narrow gangway between the serac and the eastern margin of the ice-fali This led to a small platform at 17,000 feet just below the water­shed ridge where we were able to level out a camping-site. After dumping their loads, the three Ladakhis returned, while Chamba, our Sirdar, stayed behind.

Deo Tibba is a beautiful trek that would take you to the grazing pastures of the Gaddi shepherds, and offers magnificent views of the Deo Tibba peak (6,001 m) and its huge hanging glaciers. As you traverse across mountain streams, meadows and log bridges, the panorama of the mighty Himalayas keeps changing to give you an authentic feeling of the Greater Himalayan range, which in turn makes this a trek worth experiencing. It is an absolute delight for nature lovers and photography enthusiasts too. This trek is suitable for all age groups with a difficulty level of easy to moderate.