RAJAJI NATIONAL PARK - AULI

Updated: Jun 11, 2023

In February 2018, my elder brother Akshit’s friend (Amira) from the UK came to see India. She already had a list of places she wanted to see. As she was our guest, it was our responsibility to help her out by completing the list. She wanted to see the Himalayas and that’s where my mind came up with Auli. Last time I couldn’t complete the trek and I thought this might be the chance to do this. She wanted to see the Himalayan range which can be seen in Auli and also she was up for some skiing sessions. We also added the tiger reserve to her list because Rajaji National Park comes on the way toward Auli. One night in the national park and three nights in Auli.

We started our journey in our car Innova. Me, my mother, Akshit, Amira, and Heman(Akshit’s school friend) we ready to roll! We had our lodge booked in the middle of the tiger reserve. There was also a tree house, it was so cool. After checking in, we went for a jungle safari to spot some tigers. Unfortunately, we failed to spot even a single tiger, bad luck. But the safari was fun. At night we had a bonfire while we were chit-chatting.

After spending a night in Rajaji National Park, the next day early morning we left for Auli. We reached Auli by the evening. It took us almost 8 to 9 hours from the national park to Auli. We had our booking in Mountain Rover, Auli. Rooms were well maintained and heaters were installed. The windows of the room had such a beautiful view of snowy mountains. The mountain rover team was also very friendly and cooperative.

Sumit Chaudhary was the guy who was in command of Mountain Rover. So, our plan for the first day was to ski. Sumit sir assigned Lakshyta Gunjyal (Lucky) as our skiing instructor. She is a professional skiing player. She provided us with all the gear and equipment for skiing. Now we were ready for some skiing sessions. I had an upper hand in skiing as compared to Akshit, Amira, and Heman because it was my second time here. I came to Auli in 2014 and that time was my first attempt for skiing.

For the second day, we were up for a trek to Gorson. The last time when I came to Auli, I couldn’t complete the trek due to bad weather conditions and also because my little cousin was with me. This time all four were adults and also Lucky was with us, our guide to Gorson. Trek was going really well, we reached the jungle which we had to cross midway. It was a nostalgic moment for me, I even told Lucky about my last visit to Auli and also about the trek which I couldn’t finish. She also told us about her skiing experiences and the tournaments in which she performed. Thankfully we were wearing high-ankle trekking shoes provided by the mountain rover team. Still, the snow managed to get inside the shoes and started melting resulting in cold feet. At one point Heman gave up and he was continuously saying that we all must continue and leave him behind but that’s not how it works, we motivated him and made him continue the trek. After reaching the top we all were extremely happy and extremely exhausted too. But we forgot everything after having the view of the Himalayan range in front of our eyes. Just amazing!