Season & Weather

To do hike anywhere in the world, going in right season and weather window is very important. Why both these factors matter. In the Himalayas the snowline shifts on Altitudes as per season for example – You can hike Sub-2500 m Passes during Winter (Jan – Feb), Sub-3500m (March – April), Sub-4500m (May – June), 5000+ m (August – September). However during Monsoon (July – August) Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand are flooded, during this time you can hike in Lahaul and Spiti which faces relatively less rainfall or another best option is to hike in Ladakh which has the best trails and less crowded, where you will get the actual feeling of being in Wilderness. I have recently completed 700+ km of hike from Spiti, Himachal Pradesh – Leh, Ladakh. Keeping above Information in mind you can choose your hike.

Now, I completed this traverse in May – June month. Right Season, in addition to it i was keeping an eye on daily weather. During these two months, i faced very less rainfall. I would say 3 to 5 days out of 28 days.

For Weather reports, whenever i had access to internet checked the report. Personally i was using Windy.com and weather forcast app on my Iphone. I am using permium account which shows the weather report of next 10 to 15 days.

Navigation

Now a days, you don’t need to carry paper maps to navigate there are lot of app which provide you the functionality to have offline maps at any point of time on Trail. However, still as a backup you can carry Paper Maps. I am using OSMAnd app for my navigation, it is a very useful app on the trails. All you have to do is upload the GPX file of your route and start hiking. OSMAnd app have a version which is free with some limitation and Paid version has more functionality such as contour lines, Hill Shades and other additionals.

1: OSMAnd Pro, Alltrails, Mapy.com

• Available on both Androind and Iphone. Have Free and Paid Version

• You can use other Apps which are mentioned above.

2: Survey Of India Maps

• For Survey of India Maps you can check the sheet number of the area, States are divided into square boxes and all these square boxes have Sheet Number. To find out the Sheet Number you can go to Indigeo Website here. Let’s Say you want to find out the sheet number of area from Munsiyari to Rur Khan you will Zoom in near munsiyari and see a box, click on it and it will give you sheet number 62B4. Then you will go to survey of india website here. Which requires you to register yourself once done you will see multiple options to download Maps go for “Open Series Map Download” which will be a PDF. there you will be redirected to a page where you will be asked to enter sheet number, after entering click on download and it will give you a detailed map of that area with old shepherd route and trekking routes.

• As per new information for Safety reason, Many trekking routes are removed from the Map. My suggestion is to keep these as the backup only to understand the features on the Map such as where is the stream, or hamlet, village or road. Then follow Contouring techniques and reach to that feature.

3: Asking Local About The Trails

• Always before leaving a village gather information from locals about the trail you are going on if there is any new knowledge about it. Sometimes you get to know whether trail is changed or shorter trail is made or if anyone is going so that you can follow him.

4: Take help of Shepherds

• Shepherds are like living maps of the himalayas, a shepherd of an area knows the trail better than anyone. Sit with them, gather knowledge from them about the trail or any other knowledge you want to know about.               

• There are other techniques you can follow. You can join “Life On Trails Bootcamp” to learn all the skill to be an independent hiker. These skills gives you lifetime free access to hike in the himalayas and free from going to any Trekking Companies.