Roop Kund Trek :2008

Roopkund it is then, i dont know how i decided on this, definately the photos and the blogs on the internet (although there ar'nt too many) but i am not a trekking guy but this trek was fun and "tough".

I did not know the guys i was to head out with, met them through BCMT forum on the internet, the plan seemed good and they needed a partner, i jumped in. Such trips are difficult to plan, not in terms of logistics, but if you are going with "KNOWN" friends: not everyone is free, some have wives ;), some tough jobs etc etc. and the window of the trek throughout the year is very small. June to September. And to reach Roopkund, is not gauranteed ... it all depends on how merciful the whether gods are at that point in time.

Roopkund is a tough trek, and the whether makes it tougher, we were prepared with an ice axe and rope. The guy who planned the trip was out at the last moment, thanks to the financial cricis in the US, yeah its a small world these days imagine the odds of that affecting my trek, and i was a bit uneasy, damm. When you are "part" of the plan you can only say ....damm ;-).

Day 1
Met the Other 2 guys (Suman and Sanket) at the station, and boarded the train for Kathdodam, in the morning at KGM the all too familiar feeling at the foothills came back, the smell of fresh Pines, the sight of the mountains and i was back in my element.
Enroute from our Taxi


we took a Taxi to Loharjung 250 KMS from Kathgodam, all the while prompting the Mumbai friends on how to pronunce kathgodam :).BTW we were 2 newbie trekkers and an experienced 8 year trekker amongst us Sanket ;-), this guy is like Mumbai don, all good stories of don friends and all, Mumbai rules kinda guy :).Suman on the other hand a Bengali, and too enthu for the mountains, a bit of Rum and he will go all out..even without it..lol, a true mountain lover at heart though.




Reached Loharjung at ~6:00 pm, through some bumpy roads terrific scenery and signs of torrential rains, all little rivulets along the way seemed like grade 4 rapids. Made us worry a lot: "are we even going to get halfway to Roopkund?".



Did some last minute shopping also this day, rice dal, ghee etc. We met our guide Narendra Singh who promised to be in early next morning to start the trek.

Day 2
A beautifull morning in Loharjung with fresh crisp mountain air and we were all ready in anticipation, Narendra was a bit late, the porters were arranged a few more last minute things to buy, A stove, kerosene, fresh vegetables etc etc and we were off. A straight walk till kulling about 4 KMS odd i think and then a desent towards Didna.
Crisp Morning at Loharjung


Ready for the first Day


Route:- we wanted to go Via Ali bugyal and hence the Didna route, a faster route is through Wan directly to Bedni Bugyal.

The plateau in the middle of that Mountain is Didna and towards the top right of the photo on top of the mountain is starting of Ali Bugyal


the desent from Kuling to Didna was laden with large loose rocks very painfull, and then straight up the mountain on the other side to Didna, warm up for the first day (trekking parlons) was more of a burnout for us :).Reached Didna, gorged ourselves on aadu's, We had an option to camp out or stay in a old house for some money, i was keen to camp but on our guides suggestion and the others opinion we took the house, and a good decision an the heavens let loose at night, torrential rain throughout.Gorged ouselves on delicious Khichdi prepared by Narendra singh he is an excellent cook as well.

At Didna having aadus with Gajendra and dhan singh


The house we stayed at Didna


I was very pessimistic the whole night, coudnt sleep well partly listening to the heavy rains outside and fearing worst for our trek ahead, and partly because Sanket was snoring like a train in my ear.

Day 3
The morning however was brilliant and sunny, we started off early leaving the porters to collect all stuff and catch us up, oh yeah these guys are champions, 20 odd kilos or more in the back and they skip like gazzeles while you pant your way through, amazing strength.Me and Dada (suman) had worked out a pace though, we were walking at the same pace a decent one. We had to walk up the whole mountain today, straight up, the gradient was easily 40 to 45 degrees and i am not exaggerating. Today we first hit Ali bugyal, all three of us started out together but we bade goodbye to Sanket, he was really struggling, and Narendra stuck with him as we left him to conqure his own deamons. As we neared the top of the mountain throug some dense forrest we were almost drained out, but as soon as we left the tree line behind a the landscape changed from Dense forrest we were now in a Bugyal (meadow) and WHAT A SIGHT, i do not have words to explain, as if we got our second wind and were almost running up , the top seemed near but after every curve there was a higher one waiting. It was a tiring but a pleasent climb, about 3-4 hours am not sure, i had no watch no mobile and had lost sense of all time.

The climb through the forest


The gradient


The tree line behind us


The Snaking Path below is where we came from just to give you an idea


the porters
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Me at Ali Bugyal


The porters had also caught us by this point in time, they left camp 1 hour after we did :).We had promised to wait for Sanket at Ali bugyal, so we did, we roamed around all of khopal top and ali for about 2 hours. All the while the clouds danced around below and above us presenting us some stunning landscapes of Ali.By the time Sanket reached the whether had closed in, that the norm at higher reaches is that it stays open till about 12 am then the clouds move in, maybe a shower and you might get a clear spot in the evening again. We started for Bedni from there still about hour and half away, after sanket had reached, but this time it was a straight (straight compared to what we had just climbed, straight path in mountains is a superflous term) path,half way throoug it started to rain and we jumped into rain Suits to protect ourselves, Bedni eluded us as we kept on walking and walking and walking. Since Narendra was behind us and the porters already ahead of us me and Dada took a wrong route,we almost started towards our fourth day destination, thanks to the whether gods who lifted the fog only momentarily to show us that we had missed our camp below. A teribbly cold night at Bedni followed, i was shivering in my sleeping bag with inner clothing on, The rain again continued throughout the nights we took
refuge in a district room instead of a tent. There are forest rooms also here, BTW room means something that has a roof on top here, nothing else, come prepared or else ;-).



Enroute Bedni Bugyal




Day 4
Exceptionally cold and beautifull, it was the first time we saw bedni in all its spleandour since it was all covered up last evening. and what a sight. We could see chaukambha far away, Nand ghunti and trishul were as if we could hug them. Truly magnificient views, again the whether gods seemed to be with us. In the meanwhile we had got to know from a group who were returning that there was too much snow up there, they could not make it to Roopkund, we were anxious and quizzed Narendra again and again on our chances, all the while he politely found one way or another to deflect our questions, he must have dealt with a lot of pestering tourists. I could gather though that for this time of the year it seemed way too much snow, we could see it from Bedni on out path, Narendra said it never snowed there this early. Anyways we had to start off, the group told us that there were two other groups up there in Bagua basa, and that Bagua basa is not fit to camp as there is too much snow, damm.
Trishul from Bedni early morning




Bedni Bugyal in the morning



Narendra probably had planned already to camp us at Pathar Nauchauni. so we started off from Bedni after a small prayer. Soon after the ascent from Bedni to our path we found snow in our path, and it was terrific wealking though it. Just about a kilometer from our camping sight a beautifull place where we took a break, Ghora Lotani, we met 2 groups decending along this path, both count make it. My heart was sinking, all the while admiring the pristine beauty around me. This was and easy day, we camped at Pathar Nachauni, first time in tents i was excited and it was cold, bloody cold. Our plan was to start off early tomorrow morning 5:00 am, as we had good about 8-10 KMS of trek one way. leave only with small packs as we had planned to return to this base camp, 14-16 kms a day is a huge distance, trust me. and if you see the gradients you will say its huuuuugggge.

Bedni in the Background this climb as esily about 25 minutes i think


Nandghunti on left and trishul on the right..their reflection on Bedni Kund


Chaukambha from Bedni

Prayers at Bedni

Narendra Singh Bisht

Snowy trail to Pathar Nachauni

Ghora Lotani



Hailstorm at our camp in Pathar nachauni

Night at the camp


Day 5

We got up early today and started off around 5:30 am, it was nice and cold, the climb up to Kalu Vinayak was intimidating,and also snowed up. We had news that it was snowed up at baguabasa so we expected it. we reached kalu Vinayak and what a place it was, probably the best place in the whole trip, a perfect temple, snow all around and, terrific views 360 degrees. I could have spent all day here. Altitude was also showing signs here as we were breathing heavy. We had to wait for Sanket, as Narendra was with him and we could see snow ahead. Sanket was about an hour behind us a little less maybe. We needed Narendra to lead us from now on.
Early next morning

Look closely that zig zag in the mountail is the trail to Kalu Vinayak

Kalu Vinayak

Our tents are down there 2 little specs, and you can see the path we took, cant see? see them in the photostream

Trishul and trishul..and follow the trishul(man made) where it hits the mountain along a dip, thats where Roopkund is :)

Chaukambha from Kalu Vinayak



Our major concern was to get to Roopkund early lest the whether closed in. We carried on till chera nag with Sanket trailing. The steps at chera nag made treacherous by the snow. As we waited again at chera nag for sanket and Narendra, we took a break and it looked completely snowed out ahead. At this point Sanket was completely drained. He decided to return back with one of the porters as he just coudnt go on. With Narendra leading the way we started for Roopkund, the trail diassappeared after about a kilometer, but we kept walking on the snow, all the time carefull not to fall off the edge, there was no trail here. The Final ascent to roopkund was tough, it had started snowing, the skies were making a good amount of noise, the final slope seemed unassailaibe with 3-4 feet of snow, every step sunk in sliding us down wasting the effort we just made, it was very tough. We gave up midway as the clouds roared above us, at one point i was lying flat on my chest, my stick deep in snow and just holding on unable to even stand.
Bagua basa



struggling up

giving up in bad whether

Finally there

We climbed up there..that ridge beyond which is Roopkund



Just as we gave up due to heavy snowfall Narendra said, its just 50 meters, uptill now he had left all decision to us, this last piece of words from him "50 meter door hai itne door aa ke nahin jaoge aagey" made me gather my strenght and i almost crawled on all fours and we somehow reached the top of the climb. A small word of motivation was all i needed.

Elation gripped us and we were totally exhausted, it was snowing very hard, so we spent very less time there took a few snaps, the lake was frozen. Downhill was fun as we dug in our heels and and just jogged down..it was fun and dangerous also, many times we coudnt see rocks n all also but the fresh snow helped us, it was soft and we could dig our heels for a grip. It was the best experience of my life.

The walk back to our camp was tiring, snow throughout the way, my feet almost froze off. It never seemed to end. Surprisingly this day all ate was a chapati, did not feel hungry even when i got back to camp. and as soon as i got back, i got into my sleeping bag, it was cold and i was tired. I only got of the tent next morning.

Photo gallery best Viewed as a slideshow at http://www.flickr.com/photos/nitin_joshi/sets/72157607656574874/