Darjeeling Area Trail Run, 2013

The Singalila ridge runs along a north-south axis along the India-Nepal border in West Bengal, extending into Sikkim. It's a popular trekking route for beginners, offering relatively low altitudes, well maintained trails, and striking panoramas of the eastern Himalayas. On good days, you can see hundreds of peaks including 4 of the 5 highest peaks in the world. The scene is dominated by Kanchenjunga and its neighbours, but Makalu, Everest and Lhotse are visible to the naked eye as well. 

Santhosh, Rajeev and I ran part of this route as a self-supported multi-day run in Feb 2013. I never got around to writing a full blog, but here's a brief version:

Day 1: Reached NJP on the Darjeeling Mail, hired a taxi to Manebhanjang (7000 ft). Walked through  a steady drizzle along a very well paved road with a gentle gradient from Manebhanjang (7000 ft) to Tumling (9500 ft). 11 km, 3.5 hours.

Meghma village, on the way from Manebhanjang to Tumling

Day 2: It snowed over night, so our progress wearing running shoes  (this was supposed to be a running trip after all) was slow. At times there was a foot of snow that we had to plod through. Finally reached Sandakphu (12,000 ft) at 3 pm (19 km, 8 hours including a stop for lunch). Spent the evening feasting on some fiery pork and Tongwa (the local brew) as it snowed heavily outside. 

Slow progress on day 2

Nutrition comes in many forms

Day 3: Woke up to a fabulous morning. The skies had cleared, and it was brutally cold. But obtained gorgeous views of Kanchenjunga, Makalu, Lhotse and Everest, right from the hut where we were staying. Our shoes, wet from the previous day's snow trudge, had frozen solid, and had to be thawed in front of a fire before we could wear them. The volume of snow was too much for us to move forward towards Phalut, so we decided to descend to Rimbik (7500 ft). We arrived at Rimbik (via Gurdum and Srikhola) at lunchtime, keeping a brisk downhill pace (10 km, 3.5 hrs). We took a cab to Darjeeling that afternoon to decide what to do next. 

Kanchenjunga from Sandakphu

Makalu from Sandakphu

Shoes thawing

Day 4: Started early, walked to North Point, looking for the trail leading down into the valley. Reached Bijanbari (16 km, 2500 ft) three hours later, at the bottom of it after jogging down a road that winded its way through tea gardens. Had a few  bowls of maggi in an oily broth at a roadside restaurant, and started back up. We reached Keventers around 3 pm and consumed a few thousand calories. 

Oily maggi soup at Bijanbari

Day 5: Rajeev needed to leave for a family emergency. So Santhosh and I decided to pack all our stuff and find a route through Bijanbari up to Rimbik. We did a repeat of the previous day's morning run, except we made fewer mistakes. Three hours later, we were back at the same restaurant around 9 am, asking for maggi in oily broth. Asking around, we were directed towards a path leading to Khainjali, Jhepi, from where, we were told there's a way to get to Rimbik. We crossed those villages and arrived at Lodhoma (18 km from Bijanbari, which took us 4 hours), where some tasty momos and tea were served by a cute girl, who made quite an impression on Santhosh. From here it was a steep climb out of the Rangit valley, on a trail passing through forest and gardens, all the way up to Rimbik. We reached at 2:30 pm, 9 hours from when we started at Darjeeling, about 40 km away. We returned to the same hotel where we had lunch a few days prior, and got a room in the back. 

Rangit river

Day 6: Had a great day back in the mountains - we walked/ran from Rimbik to Gorkhey (28 km from Rimbik, 8000 ft elevation) and back, including a wonderful lunch in Rammam (approx. 56 km round trip, 9 hours of run/trek). Wonderful weather, and great views of snow peaks. The meadows near Gorkhey were very beautiful. Returned the same way, except we got a little lost for a bit. That night a drunk person kicked up a huge racket in a room near us, and we needed our sleep, so the owner of Hotel Greenhill was kind enough to give us one of his family's rooms. He remained apologetic till the day after, and even called us later to apologize again. 

Rhododendrons near Gorkhey

Day 7: Ran from Rimbik to Ghum. We retrced our route through Lodhoma (where Santhosh was disappointed his hearththrob was not around), Jhepi, Kainjali, Bijanbari (where the lady serving oily maggi must have been wondering if we were nuts to like her cooking so much). From Bijanbari, instead of heading to Darjeeling, we took the road to Ghoom. We did get a bit lost, which ended up in some tougher than expected hiking through tea estates. But eventually met with the road, and chatted as we hiked up the last few Ks to Ghoom. We covered about 55 km in a bit over 9 hours. From Ghoom we took a cab to Kurseong, where Suma Mashi was ready with a warm smile to welcome a couple of smelly guys.

Meadow near Gorkhey

Prayer flags near Gorkhey

All in all, it was an exhilarating week in the mountains. From trudging through snow at 1-2 km per hour, to covering over 50 km per day on back to back days, it was an experience like none of our other trips. And the beverages, both alcoholic (Tongwa) and non-alcoholic (fragrant Darjeeling tea) definitely added something unique !

Tea with locals

Ghoom station. End of the run.