In this travel blog I would like to share all the experiences I had In my first ever big trek.
Place: Kedarkantha
Time: 26.12.2015 to 6.1.2016
Difficulty: Moderate
Trail Type: Round Trail
Duration: 6 days
The journey began from Howrah Station as we boarded Dun Express, a 2 night journey, to reach Derhadun from where our trip would start. We stayed at Derhadun for 1 day waiting for all my KGP friends to arrive so that we can start the journey together.
At Derhadun
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| Sahasradhara Falls |
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| Tibetian Buddhist Temple |
Part 2- Started our 8 hour bus ride to Sankri Village where the Kedarkantha Base Camp was located. The journey was mind-blowing with beautiful surrounding scenery. There were 12 of us in a traveller bus and we stopped at various locations to get pictures clicked.
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| On the way to Sankri village- as we stopped at various points for clicks and snacks |
That day we reached the base camp (Sankri- Located at the eastern most fringe of Uttarakhand) at 6.30 in the evening. It was totally dark outside, only the camp had generator facilities which were kept on upto 9pm. We were assigned to KK-15 group which would be starting a day after. We participated in camp fire that night to cheer for the team that made to the summit and came back that night and went to sleep to our assigned girls tent. The night was freezing (-1 degrees) and we couldn't manage to sleep even a bit though we were in 3 layers and inside sleeping bags.
Part 3- We were taken for acclimatisation walk at 6am in the morning. It was for the first time i experienced snow flakes and it was beautiful. Sankri is a small village situated in a cradle of big mountains surrounding it. For the first time in the morning lights I felt the warmth of the sun as I saw the mountains all around me, covered with thick snow.
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| Nihal Singh Verma during acclimatisation walk with the Swargarohini peak behind. |
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| Acclimatisation walk |
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| The Entire team listening carefully to Shahruk for instructions |
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| Met a very cute friend there at camp |
It was the day we started for the trek. We started at 9am with all our backpacks packed, lunch, water bottles filled and our comfortable shoes. The KK-16 team clapped and cheered us farewell wishing all the very best for the summit.
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| All lined up. Just the start of the walk throgh the pine forest. |
We could hear the chirping of the birds and our own footsteps and sometimes we could hear the sound of a stream flowing by where we refilled our bottles.
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| The walk. |
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| Co Trekkers.. KK-15.. Cheers!! |
And then we had the first glimpse of the snow in our first day walk.
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| As we crossed that log bridge, we entered into the world of snow and ice for the next 5 days |
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| The first experience of Snow. Winter is coming :P |
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| Deepank Verma in front of his tent. |
Day 1 comes to an end with this as we settle in our tents at Juda-Ka-Talab. It was about 4.5kms walk for about 5 hours uphill. We reached our camp for that night at 2-3pm and we rested our feets, looked around at the beauty of nature, dined and slept off by 6. It was the 31st of December on 2015 when the entire world was celebrating and we were there almost 8700 ft in between a forest filled with maple trees covered with thick snow. At that moment life felt really different with no phone network for 3 days, and also for the upcoming 4 days, with only 50 people by your side who were the only family I had at that moment.
Part 5 - This part started on 1st January 2015, with my happiest new year ever. We woke up before the first light of the sun at an altitude of 8700 ft and got ready for the second lap. We found snow all around us so some started playing in snow there only while some went on with their cameras and tripods to catch the rare beauty of nature.
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| 6am and we are not even sleepy! Ready to play in the snow |
After having breakfast we marched for another half an hour to reach the lake of Juda-Ka-Tab. It was one of the mesmerising setting with the ice frozen lake on one side and tall oak and pine forest covered with snow on the other side. Our entire team KK-15 went down in the frozen lake to play leaving our backpacks.
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| Testing the hard ice at Juda-Ka-Talab 9700 ft |
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| The game of Fire and Ice Without any fire :P |
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| The entire Team KK-15 On the frozen Juda-Ka-Talab |
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| With our second snowman which looked way smarter than the one before. Cheers to our boys! |
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| As we marched by |
That day we walked for another 2 and a half hour covering another 4 kms before reaching the base camp for summit at Luhasu (10250 ft and total walk of 5kms approx). We reached there by 2.30 to 3pm.
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| The lower camps for India Hikes at Luhasu (10250 ft) |
Part 6 - This was the final lap for the summit. We woke up at 2 in the night to start by 4am for the summit. It was totally dark and the only light was of the full moon showing above us.
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| Photo by Amit Kumar |
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| Following the trails at the crack of dawn, hurrying to catch the glimpse of the sunrise from the top. |
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| The climb may be difficult but we moved on as the destination's beauty awaited us. |
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| Catching the first glimpse of the sun on the way |
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| With the help of my friends I managed to climb this steep part. Almost the top but still not there. Everything looked so surreal at this point. |
After walking for over 4 hours we made it to the peak by 9.30 to10.30 in the morning. Everything was below us and the experience was like a dream. We were so tired and overjoyed that we couldn't understand how to express. So we sat and enjoyed the view all around.
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| KK-15 made it to the summit (12500 ft) |
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| Us at the Summit (12500 ft) |
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| The experience of joy for making to the summit. |
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| KK-15 making to the summit |
We started getting down by 11 or 11.30 am may be. The best part was we slide down the slopes of snow without any effort.
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| Sliding down the slopes |
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| Some fun moments |
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| The perfect SRK shots on the way youll find while descending down |
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| Getting ready for lower base camp |
Part 7- That night we stayed at Argaon (8000 ft) and on the next day we started for our base camp at sankri in the morning and reached there by 12 to 1pm.
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| As we left the snow behind, still walking through the trails and almost about to hit the road where the civilisation starts. |
The rest o the day we spent visiting the local areas in the village, watching the kids play and the hilly birds.
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| Village houses, roof made of slate and walls of stone |
Last Part- Thus here our awesome trek came to an end. That night during camp fire we received our certificates from the camp leader. It was a night full of music dance and warm fire and we slept to begin our journey back home on the next day in the morning.
And I would specially like to thank my friend Mousumi Mallick Sengupta for these amazing clicks. Not only she is an amazing photographer but also one of the best among the girls in KK-15 trek. She is also my batchmate in IIT Kgp with a brilliant performance in career as well.
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