What is trekking ?

Trekking is nothing more than walking for pleasure in the wilderness, carrying all the things you require to survive in the wild.

Does one need to be extremely fit in order to trek ?

Not at all. One just needs to be reasonably healthy and have a liking for walking in the wilderness with a sack on your back. This basic level of fitness can be easily achieved by moderate exercise for about 15 minutes on a regular basis. Thats all it takes ! Being moderately fit also means that you will enjoy the trek more.

How many hours of walking does a typical day of trekking involve ?

There is no 'average' value which can be given. It depends on the kind of trek, viz, Himalayan, Sahyadri or a Nature Camp. In Himalayan treks, usually 4-5 hours walking is involved. In Sahyadris, it can be stretch to about 6-7 hours. Nature camps generally involve very less walking.

What kind of clothes should one wear ?

Cotton garments, which are not very tight, nor so loose that you end up getting entangled in them while walking, are preferred. Avoid synthetic garments as they will not absorb sweat and and not allow your skin to breathe. Avoid jeans as they can be a nightmare to carry around in case they become wet.

Does one need to purchase expensive shoes for trekking ?

No. What you need are shoes with good grip on dry and wet surfaces. While most shoes will have good grip on dry surfaces, they can be extremely slippery on wet ones. You will get such shoes for about Rs. 500-600 in any multi-brand shoe-shop. Avoid buying shoes just before the trek. Use the shoes at least for a week or so before the trek. This will avoid sores and blisters during the trek.

What does one need to carry during a trek ?

We will provide a list of the necessary items required when you register for our programmes.

What about protection from the cold ?

It is advisable to use a sleeping bag during a trek. In case you do not have sleeping bags, we rent them out for our programmes. For all Himalayan treks, due to the extremely low temperatures, we will provide you with high quality sleeping bags fir for use in sub-zero temperatures. This cost is included in the trek fees for Himalayan treks.

Why dont you provide sleeping bags for the Sahyadri Programmes too ?

Simply because in the Sahyadris, sleeping bags, while preferable, are not a must. So we leave the option of using one to you.

What about protection from the rain or snow?

You need to carry good quality rain proof clothing to protect yourself from the rain. While trekking, it is more important to protect your sack and its contents than yourself from rain. This is because if all of your clothes get wet, the rest of the trek will be a nightmare. A simple solution to keep yourself AND your sack dry is to use a 'poncho' or an 'irla'. These basically comprise of sheets of plastic which are large enough to cover yourself and your sack at the same time. They also make you look mighty funny in photographs ! They are also great to slide on the snow during Himalayan treks without getting a very cold and wet rear end.

Can you please help me with understanding what these Difficulty and endurance Grades are, and how you define / allocate a rating on them? Is there any standardised (HMI or other such) rating system that is in existence?

Difficulty grade deals with the actual climbing difficulty.
Endurance Grade deals with the stamina requirement and total physical strength required.

one might have to walk 10 Km on straight road in a trek then its difficulty will be (1 easy) but endurance required will be higher (3 medium to high).Thats the difference between Difficulty and endurance

Now lets consider difficulty level....
Parameters on which this is decided are as follows
1. Season and climbing route (some route might be easy is summer/winter but difficult in rains or vice versa) eg. Harishchandragad in rains is hardest(5) and in summer comes to medium to high ( 3.5)
2. Difficulty level is always 3 or above if we are going to encounter any rock patch
3. Difficulty rating of rock patches depends upon the height of rock patch, available holds, risk involved
4. Difficulty rating also depends on number of rock patches we are going to encounter.
5. Some places there might not be rock patches but slippery scree or steep mud route which might be risky..then that adds to the difficulty level.

Difficulty level doesn't reflect in climbing conditions
At some treks we might make free climb on an easy rock patch
At some treks we might climb very hard rock patch with the help of trekking equipments.
Then second case is more difficult than first case but still first case is risky than second case. Our ratings does not indicate these conditions. Anyway we always carry safety equipments with us but do not use it unless it is very necessary.

Endurance grade Parameters
1. Total straight distance walk involved
2. Total height climb involved
3. Number of hours required to climb the mountain
4. Water availability on the trek route
5. Available resting time..

Whenever the total climbing time exceeds 2.5 Hrs we put the rating 3 and it goes on increasing according to the parameters I have mentioned above.

Anyway these parameters are revised after each trek, all parameters are reviewed ... participant feedback is taken into consideration and then rating is altered. There isn't any fixed scale on which we can rate the forts but experience and above parameters decide the ultimate rating.

However do not compare these ratings with the with the ratings of hardcore climbing activity. They have entirely different and little bit complicated system for the difficulty ratings. Their easiest level will be still categorised as hardest of regular trekking.