Flying “over the back” in the proper mountains rather than just along the front ridge was definitely high on my agenda while I was in Bir, however this was certainly not something to be underestimated with limited landing possibilities and a multi day walk out following an out landing. With an excellent forecast for the next day I tentatively made some plans, bought some gas and packed my Bivi gear in case I landed out. As this was my first time over the back, I decided against planning to Bivi but rather left it as an emergency option. Next time I will definitely plan a Bivi but it seemed more sensible to just have a chilled out flight the first time rather than worrying about finding a Bivi site and top landing and I was also unsure about the conditions to get back the day after. Compared to the previous two days it was so easy to climb out from launch and I soon found myself high above Hanuman Gargi ready to commit to the valley crossing and go over the back. While I could see other people had already. Read the full article…

Having arrived in Bir I was very tired having had three hours sleep in Delhi due to a late flight and watch time malfunction the next morning, which was made worse by another day of travel while exhausted. The first few days were certainly impacted by the travel, however they were still good flight days and were critical to learning the ridge for flights later in the week. I elected to take the internal flight from Delhi to Dharamshala, I am not sure if I would do this again in hindsight as it was much more expensive than a taxi once excess luggage had been paid for, but it did mean I didn’t have a 12 hour taxi ride from Delhi. After arriving in Bir just after lunch I went and had some wonderful food and explored the village in a slightly delusional state, even managing to find the money exchange where for a small fee I could withdraw cash from my credit card. Day 1 I was unsure how I was going to sort a taxi on the first morning, so I just assumed that I would walk to. Read the full article…