UKC

Plan A is to spend 8 weeks in India in early 2023, Mid Jan to Mid March, starting in Bengaluru and travelling North by mostly Train. I was thinking of maybe trying to have a weeks trekking/walking somewhere I can see big Mountains, presumably the Himalaya, but big and pointy with snow on the top is the idea. Is there a good place I can just rock up, and set of walking and find accommodation as I wander along? Is this even a realistic consideration?
I know plenty of people who go on organised treks from the UK, but at the end of the day, I am only going for a walk, how hard can it be?

Manali is worth looking at as a base.  A new tunnel now runs under the Rohtang pass and that may be opening up lots of new possibilities,

Had an independent treck from Joshimath / Auli south for a few days with perfect views of the Gangotri group and the Nanda Devi sanctuary, Kuari pass treck. Think there might be quite some snow this time of the year, though. Auli is a skiing area!

Otherwise, you might have a look at the hill stations north of Naini Tal, which are probably free of snow.

It’s India! So it could be really easy or it could be a real struggle. Any trip in the subcontinent can be derailed to a greater or lesser extent by illness, weather, car crashes, politics, strikes and unexpected religious festivals, apologies if you know this already. I’ve had every single one of those things affect my South Asian travel plans, some multiple times. With eight weeks it shouldn’t be a problem but it’s a chaotic place.

Worth bearing in mind that the Himalayas are big and it’s cold in winter, so a lot of normal trekking routes will be closed or difficult at that time. I did the walk to Annapurna base camp in Nepal one Xmas/New Year and it was great but cold at night. However the Annapurna circuit which has some high passes was totally closed down. Nepal has more of the tea shop to tea shop type walking, I think that’s less of a thing in India but that might have changed. Otherwise it is probably best to hire a mule man or porter because you might have to be self-sufficient in places. If you stay in villages they will be able to help with that too. There are lots of trekking agencies in the major setting off points so you can just rock up and organise it through them. 

In case you can’t tell I am well envious!