Audens Col Expedition - June 2019.

15th June 2019 @ 1.00 PM... Jayant, Dr. Srini, Krithika and I were all huddled together on top of Audens Col, the 18000 feet high mountain pass that connects the Rudugaira Valley with the Bhilangana Valley in the Garhwal Himalayas. We could not believe we were there and it almost felt like a dream. How did we get here? Are we even supposed to be here? Have we tried to bite more than what we can chew? These were the questions that were popping up in my head, as I tried to calm my nerves. 

This whole story started with the idea germinating in my head 2 years ago during our Kedartal trek in the neighboring Kedarganga valley. We had explored the initial stretch of the Rudugaira valley trail as our acclimatization walk during the Kedartal trek.  My ears had stood up when our guide then told us that this is the same route that goes to Auden's Col from Gangotri and I had made up my mind that we will come back here someday. I had always been fascinated about Auden's col and had read numerous blogs about it which unanimously declared it as one of the most difficult and challenging treks one can do in India. Our group had been attempting increasingly challenging treks for the last 2 years, that bordered on the thin line between a trek and an expedition. We had attempted the Kang Yatse 2 summit (20500 feet) in the Markha Valley of Ladakh during Aug 2018. Though we could not reach the summit there and had turned back 100-150 meters shy of the summit, the experience of navigating moraine, glaciers and hard ice had given us the confidence that we were ready to attempt something like Auden's Col now. 

When I floated the idea of doing Auden's Col and Mayali pass to reach Kedarnath from Gangotri in 2019, Jayant and Srini promptly agreed to join. Krithika was my default partner in crime on these annual Himalayan treks. So the 4 of us finalized on the itinerary with a local trekking agency in Uttarkashi and booked our tickets for June 2019.

Below is the day by day account of our thrilling and memorable expedition.

Day 1/2 - 7th/8th june : The Journey Begins

We took a flight from Mumbai to Delhi on the evening of 7th June and boarded the overnight Nandadevi express from Delhi to Dehradun. We reached Dehradun at 6 AM and took a jeep to Gangotri via Mussourie, Uttarkashi and Harsil. We enjoyed Parathas and other food at Dhabhas en route. We had started From Dehradun at 6.30 am. and reached Gangotri at 6.30 pm. A Slight drizzle welcomed us at Gangotri as we checked into the hotel and slept as all were tired from the 2 day journey.

Pilot Baba Ashram near Uttarkashi

Bhaironghati Bridge before Gangotri

Day 3 - 9th june : Acclimatization at Gangotri

We woke up fresh in the morning, took bath and had breakfast. We then visited Gangotri temple. Found that there was a lot of crowd due to peak pilgrim season. To beat the crowds we then visited Swami Sundaranand's ashram and spent some time with him. He has been living in Gangotri for many years and at 94 years is considered a veteran in exploring this part of the Himalayas. He is a well known yogi, mountaineer and photographer. His book "Himalayas - Through the lens of a Sadhu" documents the various mountain ranges and glaciers of this area very well. He mentioned that he had done Audens col in 4 days during his prime. He requested us to visit his 2 floor museum which exhibits a good collection of his photographs. After enjoying his photography collection, we came back to the hotel and had lunch. We then took a quick nap while Krithika went to meet her indiahikes groundstaff and slope manager at Gangotri. After her return we walked to pandu gufa and took blessings from the sadhu who lives there. He offered us coffee and vibhooti prasad which was nice. Jayant and krithika did not come inside the cave as they did not want to remove their shoes. We came out and told them the sadhu admonished them for not coming in and taking his blessings. Scared to anger the holy man, they promptly removed shoes and went inside. After that we spent some time sun bathing and then returned to the hotel. Just before we had left from Mumbai, our organizer Bhagwat Semwal had informed us that a bridge before our first camp site was washed away due to flash floods & this meant access to Rudugaira valley was cut off. The other option was to go into the Kedarganga valley and climb up the 5000 meter Patangini Dhar and descend into the Rudugaira valley. This was a detour we were not keen on taking as it would have added more days to our itinerary and unnecessarily exhausted us with another high altitude pass crossing even before we reached Auden's col. Our trekking guide and staff arrived in the evening and announced that the route we had planned is now open as shepherds had placed some logs over the river where the bridge had been washed out. We felt relieved as this meant not climbing patangini dhar. We had our dinner and slept peacefully after hearing this good news.

Gangotri Temple

Swami Sundaranand Museum

Day 4 - 10th June : Gangotri to Nala Camp

The day of the actual trek had arrived when we would leave behind the luxury of cozy beds and bathrooms for 12 days. The day started with a visit to Gangotri temple and a prayer for safe passage. Then we went to the Mouni baba ashram to have breakfast where our staff was staying. There was some confusion as our porters had not yet arrived from their prior trek to Gaumukh Tapovan. Our organizer asked the 4 of us to move ahead with 1 guide and wait near the broken bridge for the rest of the team to arrive. We started at 9.45 am and reached the bridge after 2 hours of steep climb. We waited there for about 90 minutes till our lead guide also arrived there. But he had come alone as the porters had not yet reached Gangotri from Gaumukh. We started worrying as our luggage was still lying at Gangotri to be carried by the porters. Our lead guide tied a long rope to a bhoj tree on the other side of the bridge and we all crossed the makeshift log bridge one by one around 1.30 pm. Our guide said that he needs to wait here for all the porters and help them cross the bridge so he asked us to proceed ahead till around 2.30 pm and wait for them. After walking for an hour and crossing a couple of landslide zones and a glacier we reached an open place with good sunlight and decided to wait there. This place was probably used by shepherds to camp as we saw lot of sheep and the remains of a campfire. We enjoyed relaxing there for another 90 minutes before we saw 2 Nepali porters carrying some of our luggage and camping equipment. They were probably carrying 110 kg between them. We were amazed by their super human strength and stamina. After sometime our guides arrived stating they had to leave after the remaining porters did not arrive till 3.30 pm. They left the tied rope below for the porters to cross whenever they arrived. We all decided to keep walking till 6 pm and camp wherever we reach by then. After walking for a bit we camped at a good spot which was about an hour short of the designated camp site Nala camp. After a good dinner of Khichdi we all slept like logs.

Waiting at broken bridge

Bridge Crossing

Glacier begins

Nala Camp

Day 5 - 11th June - Nala Camp to Rudugaira Base Camp (lower)

We got up by 6 am and had breakfast by 8 am. We left our campsite at 8.40 am towards the Rudugaira base camp after the customary prayer.  We immediately hit our first challenge of the day. There was a section of the path where the glacier was not too safe as there was a risk of sinking into the river flowing beneath it. Our guide suggested climbing up higher and traverse on a steep slope to avoid walking on the glacier. However the slope was filled with loose scree and stones making it highly unstable to walk on. To make matters worse a family of mountain goats that was much higher on the slope was causing continuous rockfalls sending huge stones hurtling down towards us. We narrowly escaped being hit by one that passed a few centimeters away from Jayant and I. We somehow managed to find a safe traverse through the loose stones to reach the other side only to find more scree and landslide ridden sections to be navigated before we can reach the proper walking trail. There wasn't even a foothold available that could safely carry our body weight and a slip here would have sent us hurtling down to the glacier 50 feet below. We called out to the gods and carefully navigated this section with the guide's help. These adventures always seem like fun after they are done, but at that moment our hearts were in our mouths. After this section the rest of the trail was gradually steep but safe and beautiful. We could see Patangini Dhar on our left which would have been a nightmare had we taken the alternative route. After about 3 hours of walking we reached a large glacier which we had to cross and we reached a large meadow around 12 noon. This meadow had spectacular views of the mountains behind Gangotri town, the rudugaira valley/river and Patangini dhar and we decided to camp here since our porters had not yet caught up with us. We enjoyed the campsite soaking the sun while we waited for porters to arrive. As soon as porters arrived at around 2 pm the weather changed dramatically. The surrounding peaks were hidden by dark clouds and it started snowing continuously. After about 4 hours of snowing our campsite transformed into a white carpet. The 4 of us spent the whole afternoon and evening holed up in our tents as the temperature drastically dropped after  the snowfall. We had an early dinner and crawled into our sleeping bags hoping to see clear skies the next morning. 

Climbing the steep slopes to avoid sinking into the glacier

Rugged Rudugaira Valley

Crossing a glacier

Rudugaira Basecamp overseeing Patangini Dhar

Day 6 - 12th June : Rest day at Rudugaira Base Camp.

We woke up the next day to the same weather as the previous day. The meadows around our campsite were still looking like a bride dressed in white. All the surrounding peaks were still covered in clouds and it was snowing consistently. Today was meant to be our rest day but we were worried that if the weather did not improve it will surely hamper our progress ahead. Fortunately at around 11 am the weather cleared up and we happily went for an acclimatization walk on our trail for the next days camp i.e. moraine camp. Moraine camp is also used as base camp by expeditions climbing the Gangotri peaks. After spending sometime on the trail we returned back to our campsite and rested in our tents. The weather again showed its unpredictable side when it got cloudy and started to rain. After resting in the tent for an hour we suddenly started feeling hot inside. When we opened the tent zips we were surprised to see clear skies and bright sunlight. How the weather changes in the mountains frequently and the conditions can change in a matter of minutes is something you need to witness to believe. We gladly stepped out of our tents and had our lunch under the hot sun. After sunbathing for a while we retired back into our tents for a siesta. In the evening, we had an early dinner and retired for the day. We felt we had made good use of the rest day.

Before and After the snowfall.

Campsite covered in snow

Chilling out on rest day

Day 7 - 13th June : Rudugaira Base Camp to Moraine Camp

We started around 8.30 am after breakfast towards moraine camp. We immediately hit the next challenge of the day. We had to cross a water stream on a slope, but the trail around the stream had completely collapsed due to landslides. Our guide Govind expertly navigated this section carrying a rope and went to the other side of the stream. He then held one end of the rope and asked me to hold the other end tight. All of us passed the stream holding this rope as there were no footholds for us to stand firmly. After crossing the stream we had to climb a steep ice glacier which was also quite challenging. After this section we hit a rather steep, but safe climb towards the actual Rudugaira base camp (we had camped slightly below the actual Rudugaira base camp). We found both Himalayan brown bear and Snow leopard pug marks on this trail. It felt good that we were walking on the same path that was used by these majestic animals. After a climb of about an hour we reached the campsite that is used as base camp by expeditions to Rudugaira peak. The view from here was mesmerizing. We got our first clear views of Auden's col which is essentially the ridge connecting the Gangotri 3 and Jogin 1 peaks. On the right of the col were the majestic Gangotri 3, 1, 2 and Rudugaira peaks. Gangotri 2 was the most impressive of them all with huge conices of ice and snow near its peak and was one of the more sought after summits in this region by mountaineers. On its left were the impressive Jogin 1 and 2 which are usually climbed from the Kedarganga valley with base camp located beyond Kedartal. After spending some time soaking in all this grandeur of the Garhwal Himalayas we proceeded further towards our destination..After walking over a lot of moraine and glacier we finally reached moraine camp. We had a clear view of Audens col and Jogin 1 and Gangotri peaks from here. Auden's col looked so close yet far. We retired into our tents dreaming about crossing the col.

Stream crossing on a slope

Climbing the broken glacier

Steep climb to Rudugaira base camp

Panoramic view of Gangotri/Jogin peaks and first view of Audens Col 

Typical Moraine landscape

Moraine Camp (Gangotri base camp)

Day 8 - 14th June : Moraine Camp to Auden's Col Base Camp

Today we were supposed to walk over endless Moraine and glacier to reach the Auden's col base camp from where we were to attempt an early morning summit push. What we did not realize was how tough the day was going to be. There is usually no fixed route or trail in these sections of the trek that can be used consistently year after year. The terrain is constantly changing due to the ever moving glacier. We had read blogs about expeditions that had turned back from this spot as they just could not find a safe path from here till the base camp. Our guides contemplated the best path forward. If we stayed to the path on the right, we had to cross a few ridges to reach base camp including the last big ridge that was coming down from the peak of Gangotri 3. This path involved a few steep climbs over scree and hard snow. The alternative path from the left seemed to be going through flatter ground, but seemed like a rather longish detour. Our lead porter Nandu who has done this trek around 15 times declared that the route on the left looked deceptively easy but was ridden with crevasses and should be avoided. Our guides respected Nandu's advice proving that nothing tops experience in the Himalayas. We climbed the last ridge coming from Gangotri 3 using fixed ropes on scree, loose boulders and hard snow. This was a scary section but we crossed it slowly one by one. After scaling this last ridge the route was relatively easy till we reached the Auden's Col base camp at around 4 pm. This camp site was not ideal as there was no flowing water source. We had to melt lots of snow on the stove to arrange for cooking and drinking water. The mood was dark and apprehensive thinking about the tough summit push the following day. Our group had decided that we will leave for the summit around midnight so that we can reach the col at day break. But our guides insisted that we start early in the morning around 5 am. Their reasoning was that it would be safer to navigate the crevasse ridden sections in day light. We agreed to go with our guides recommendations and retired into our tents with alarms set for 3.30 am.

Negotiating rock and ice

Climbing steep sections with rope

Sukha tal en route base camp

Day 9 - 15th June : Pass crossing day

We woke up by 3.30 am with intentions of starting the march to the col at 4 am. But melting snow for water took much longer than expected. Our staff somehow managed to cook Maggi noodles for breakfast. We managed to leave base camp around 5.30 am. The trek from base camp till the actual base of the col ascent goes through a tricky patch of hard snow which is on a steep slope on the glacier that comes down from Gangotri peaks. Since the snow was relatively hard and we were traversing through a section with steep slope it took us a long time to navigate. We had not yet roped up but our guides anchored the rope on this section so we could hold the rope and walk. We were constantly worried of slipping down the slope and going towards the crevasse below. We finally reached the base of the col at around 7 am and roped up for the final ascent. From here on the ascent is very steep on a lot of snow. Our guides led the way carefully checking every step for hidden crevasses. We were asked to strictly follow in their footsteps as straying even a bit from their chosen path could have been dangerous. We were all asked to sit down and hold the rope tight in the event any one of us sinks into a hidden crevasse. Progress on this ascent was painfully slow and the col summit which is clearly visible throughout feels deceptively close. Its a comedy of errors when 7 of you are climbing a steep slope, roped up like criminals. Each person walks at a different pace and wants to stop at different times. There are a lot calls from different people to stop and start causing confusion, pushing and pulling.  After plodding on for almost 6 hours we finally reached the summit around 12.30 in the afternoon. It was a joyous occasion as we all huddled together for the customary group pic on the summit and offered prayers to Lord Shiva and mother Ganga. We only managed get a brief glimpse of the magnificent Khatling glacier from the top as white clouds slowly rolled in from nowhere resulting in a total whiteout. It soon started snowing and we could barely see anything. This was disappointing as i had seen gorgeous pics of the glacier with blue skies on other blogs and was hoping to click some myself. Very soon it became obvious that we were late to reach the Summit.  The daunting task of descending from the col into the Khatling glacier down a 70 degree 400 meter slope full of snow and rocks still lay ahead of us. initially one of our guides suggested camping at the col as rappelling down in such bad weather could be risky. However better sense prevailed as camping on the col at 18000 feet above sea level was not a good idea. We had read blogs where teams that camped here faced blizzards with 100 km winds that blew their tents away at night. A decision was made to descend to safety no matter how long it takes. However we had grossly underestimated the time needed to rappel down. We realized our ropes were not long enough to rappel to the base in one shot and we had only one sling harness between 11 of us. This meant that we had to:

• Anchor the rope at the summit and all 11 of us had to rappel down to a rocky outcrop midway on the way down.
• Given that there was only one harness we had to wait for one person to go down and the harness to be untied and pulled back up before the next person could go. 
• The last person to come down had to remove the anchored rope and descend to the rock where the rest were waiting without the support of rope using only ice axes.
• We then had to repeat the above 3 steps from the midway point to the base all over again.

All of the above was woefully slow considering that it was snowing non stop ever since we had reached the summit and weather conditions were sub-optimal. After waiting a long time for the 4 of us to go down, our porters lost patience and decided to rappel down without the safety of the harness. One of the porters slipped on the way down but managed to hold on to the rope. However he sent 3 of our luggage bags scurrying down the 400 meter slope. We thought our bags were going to disappear into the crevasse below, but they luckily stopped short of the crack. After spending almost another 7 hours on the precarious slope that had no proper resting place for all of us, we all managed get down to the base at around 7.30 pm. We were all dead tired by now after the Marathon trek of 14 hours with no food. None of us had eaten anything since the breakfast at 4.30 am. To make matters worse our guides announced that it was not safe to camp right below the col as the area was prone to avalanches and rock falls. So we had to walk on the glacier for another 30 mins to reach a safer spot. It was already dark now and there was not much flat space here to pitch all the tents. It was decided to pitch only 2 tents here i.e. 1 tent for staff and 1 tent for the 4 of us. There was no possibility of pitching the kitchen tent, which meant we had to sleep without having dinner. Finally around 8.30 pm we were glad to crawl into our sleeping bags knowing that our ordeal for the day was over. What was important was that we had all descended safely and had lived to tell the tale. This was clearly the most adventurous day of our lives till date.

5 AM start on Summit Day

Bright sunny day

Team resting midway

Almost there

View of Auden's col from Khatling side after descending

Khatling Glacier Camp 1

Day 10 - 16th June : Khatling humbles us.

We woke up to relatively clear skies this morning and decided to start early to try and cover as much ground as possible. Our campsite from the previous night was far from ideal and the fact that we had not pitched a kitchen tent meant we had to skip breakfast today too. The idea was to get out of Khatling glacier as soon as possible. The trek through Khatling Glacier to Zero point, which is the snout of the Bhilangana river and marks the end of the glacier should normally take about 8-10 hours on a clear day. However, we had no clue what Khatling had in store for us. We would have walked for about an hour navigating the maze of crevasses and it started snowing again. This also brought in severe white out conditions that made it impossible for us to see where we were going. We were surrounded by a white haze on all sides and soon lost all sense of direction with no visibility. It seemed insane to continue walking without knowing which direction we were heading in. Our guides pointed out the threat of getting lost and a wrong turn could potentially mean hours of backtracking. We finally decided to pitch the kitchen tent and wait out the snowfall and white out conditions. It was frustrating to be sitting there in the middle of nowhere just waiting for the snowfall to stop. After waiting for about 2 hours there was no sign of any weather improvement. So we decided to carry on as our guides had ascertained the right direction to proceed during a brief break in the snowfall. After walking for another hour or so we ran into another obstacle. The glacier suddenly dropped to a steep downward slope for about 50 feet. We had to dig our heels hard into the soft snow to make proper footholds to ensure we don't slip and fall. Kicking down hard with our heels required a lot of energy and was tiring us considerably. The fact that we had not eaten anything for 2 days straight was making this much more harder. We finally made it to the base of this slope and decided to get some rest here as this spot had some large rocks and a flat surface to sit. After resting there for a while the weather actually improved, but our staff recommended that we camp here for the day. They suggested that we were still quite far from the zero point campsite and might not reach there by evening and It would be wise to camp here rather than go ahead and be forced to camp at a less than ideal camp site. We cursed our luck that we had walked for the most part today under snowfall and had to stop now when the sky had cleared. It was only 3 pm in the afternoon and there were few hours of sunlight left. But the thought of having a proper meal after 48 hours and resting our tired legs was enticing. So we pitched our tents and camped there for the day. Our guides immediately cooked Maggi noodles which the team savored immediately. Our guides kept serving us soup and tea to pamper the 4 hungry souls and we closed the dinner menu with Khichdi.  We had lost another day without making the required progress on Khatling and had to resign to the fact that Khatling glacier was not done with us yet.

The mind boggling Khatling Glacier

Crevasse ridden glacier

deciding where to pitch tents

Jayant, the explorer

Khatling glacier camp 2

Day 11 - 17th June : Chasing the elusive Zero point

We woke up early again today with the same intention as yesterday i.e. get the hell out of Khatling glacier ASAP. We had a new reason for skipping breakfast today.. the stove malfunctioned and all we managed to get was some tea. We quickly got ready and left the camp cursing our luck. After walking for a bit, we again reached another steep slope to be descended on the glacier, very similar to the one on the previous day. But this time the slope was about 100 feet high, which just made it doubly scary. Our guide Govind came up with an idea to save time on this technical descent. Instead of rappelling down with a harness which would have delayed us considerably, he anchored the rope at the top of the slope, passed the rope through a carabiner and simply tied the other end to our waist and asked us to descend free hand. He was basically belaying us from the top and told us he will break our fall by holding the rope tight in case we slipped and fell. I was asked to go first and it really scared the living daylights out of me as there were no footsteps to follow this time. I was meant to be the trailblazer and set the path for others. I went down confidently for a while initially, but soon ran out of energy kicking my heels into the snow to create the footholds. I was now sweating profusely even in zero degrees celcius and at one point I just gave up and sat down in the snow. I had now put all my weight on to the rope and Govind held the rope preventing me from sliding down. Govind screamed frantically asking me to stand up and take off the weight from the rope. But i had ran out of gas and just sat there oblivious to his calls. Vijay, our other guide, came down to help me and he realized that I had descended the entire length of the first rope and still had about 30-40 feet left to descend to the base. He helped me to get up on my feet and take a couple of steps back so the weight would come off the rope. He then untied the rope at my waist and tied a second rope at the end of the first rope to ensure i could reach the base of the slope. I was so tired by now that i decided to just sit and slide down the last stretch. Though this seemed risky, it was an extremely fast way to get down and I was soon at the base. Luckily the others descended quickly using this method too and Dr. Srini pretty much slid down the entire slope. He unfortunately lost one of his trekking poles in the process which is now still buried there on Khatling glacier as a souvenir. After this bit of adventure, we fortunately had a long section of the glacier where we were able to walk easily and were steadily descending. The weather seemed to be slightly better compared to the previous day.  We soon hit some patches of moraine, which meant we must have approached the end of the glacier. Our porters had by now overtook us and had descended further ahead. After walking for a while we could see our porters down on the moraine and they had pitched the kitchen tent. We started wondering if we had reached zero point but were told upon reaching there at 3 pm that we were still quite far from zero point and had at least another 4-5 hours of walking before we could reach there. It was unanimously agreed to camp there for the day. This was our 3rd unplanned pit stop on Khatling glacier and we started wondering if we had enough days left to cross Mayali Pass and reach Kedarnath as per our original plan. It was agreed at this point to abandon the plan to cross Mayali pass and we decided to exit the trek through Ghuttu village from chowki/udar camp. I believe this was a wise decision as we felt totally exhausted navigating the Khatling glacier for 3 days and Mayali pass would have been another 4000 feet of tough ascent on snow. Our guides served us hot Pokadas here which lifted our moods and we named this camp as Pakoda camp. The weather had stayed good for most part of the day today, but it started snowing as soon as our tents were pitched. So we had an early dinner and went to sleep. Khatling had beaten us into submission over 3 days.

Dream World

Steep 100 feet descent on Snow

Day 12 - 18th June : Khatling Camp to Udar Camp

It had apparently snowed all night as Krithika and I found the ceiling of our tents just above our noses when we woke up in the morning. We had obviously forgotten to shake off the falling snow from our tents and our tents had collapsed some time during the night under the weight of the snow. Also the continuous overnight snow fall had accumulated over 2-3 feet of snow around our tents. Our camp site which looked like a mix of glacier and moraine the previous night looked pure white with a fresh dump of snow falling all night. Khatling apparently was not done with us yet. We came out of our tents and looked for our trekking poles which were buried under snow. It was decided to leave the campsite quickly after a breakfast of cornflakes and milk. The intensity of the snowfall had increased as we left impacting the visibility. We had camped close to a waterfall the previous night and could hear the roar of the flowing water clearly, but could not see it. We soon seemed to be walking around aimlessly with out a clear sense of direction. This is where the experience of our guides came in. In spite of such poor visibility then ensured that we stayed on the right track purely based on instinct. The overnight fresh snowfall had made some of these slopes slippery and some of us were constantly slipping and falling. Eventually, after descending steadily for around 3 hours we had reached the end of the Khatling glacier and could see some green patches ahead. The exit from the glacier was tricky as we could not just walk straight out of the glacier into the snout of the Bhilangana river. We had to traverse through a section full of large car sized boulders and climb up a hill to get down on the other side. We navigated this section carefully and were finally on to the other side on flat ground with a trail going along the right side of the Bhilangana river. We were so happy to be back on solid flat ground after 4 days of walking on snow, that this feeling cannot be described easily in words. After walking for about another 3 hours, we finally reached the green campsite of Udar Camp which is named after a cave and is used by trekkers coming from Khatling to exit to Ghuttu village. This camp is exactly opposite to the Chowki camp which is on the other side of the river and is used by trekkers going up Mayali Pass. We could see the steep ascent towards Mayali pass and were glad that we were not headed in that direction. We offered our prayers to Lord Shiva again knowing that Kedarnath lay just beyond the mountains in front of us. We were super glad that our tents for today were pitched on green grass and there was no snow around us. We had a hearty dinner of Dal and Rice before retiring into our tents for the night.

Collapsed tent at Khatling glacier camp 3

Total white out

Zero Point

Udar Camp

Route to Kedarnath via Mayali Pass

Day 13 - 19th June : Udar Camp to Jungle Camp (Chavni)

This was the most fun day of our entire trek. After crossing a few glaciers in the morning, we were walking through a beautiful forest on a well defined trail dotted with with green meadows and flowing streams. These were ideal trekking conditions and we all felt as though we were walking somewhere in the European alps in Summer. The beauty of this place was out of this world and we felt really happy to be here. Jayant, Dr. Srini and I could not resist the temptation of getting into a fresh water stream on the way where we found a small pool just big enough for us to take a dip. The water was freezing cold, but taking a bath after roughing it out in the higher altitudes for 10 days was something we were all looking forward to. After some fun moments in the water we walked away feeling totally relaxed and fresh. We took a lot of pics en-route and met a few shepherds who were herding their sheep on these meadows. After walking in the jungle all day we finally reached a clearing that was used by Shepherds to camp and decided to camp there for the night. The campsite had a stone structure made by shepherds and our guides decided to use that as the kitchen instead of pitching the kitchen tent. They made chapati (indian bread) and soyabean curry on a chulah (traditional stove with wood and stones) and served us hot food for dinner. This was one of the yummiest dinner we had in a long time. After a satisfying dinner, we all huddled around a campfire warming our bones and telling stories. We bonded well with our porters and guides hearing their stories and felt totally relaxed without a care in the world. This was one of the happiest nights on the trek and we finally slept peacefully knowing that the hardest part of the expedition was behind us now.

Crossing the last few glaciers

Jungle walk

Oh La La

Yummiest dinner in the world

Campfire

Day 14 - 20th June : Jungle Camp to Gangi Village

This was to be last day of the trek as we were told that we could expect road transport from Gangi village. Today also happened to be our wedding anniversary. Krithika and I could not have thought of spending our anniversary in a better way and were glad to be here. The trek from Jungle Camp to Gangi was quite long at around 18 kilometers, but an uneventful one. The days trek was a continuation of the beautiful jungle walk from the previous day. We walked non-stop from morning 10 AM till about 5 PM through beautiful meadows and forests with a steep incline of about 2 hours towards the end of the trail. We finally reached Gangi in the evening which was a quaint little village with about 10-15 houses. We found that the village school was closed, but the classrooms were open. So we decided to sleep in the school classrooms and ditch the tents. It felt good to sleep in the warm confines of the classroom. We had a good dinner which was wrapped up with some Rasagullas to celebrate our anniversary (a good gesture from our Trek Organizer)

Felt like the Alps in Summer

Beautiful pahadi people of Uttarakhand

Gangi Village

Day 15 - 21st June : Gangi to Ghuttu/Ghansali

In the morning, we managed to hop into a Pickup Truck at Gangi that agreed to drop us to Ghuttu . This was a dirt track descending all the way down to Ghuttu. A lot of locals hopped in and out of the truck as we passed another village called Reeh on the way. After a 2 hour drive on the dirt track that shook all the bones in our body,  we reached Ghuttu, where we finally got our mobile networks back after 12 days of isolation from civilization. We then managed to get a public transport bus from Ghuttu bus stop to the nearest town called Ghansali and reached there around 11 AM. We decided to check into a small hotel at Ghansali to rest and recover from all the fatigue. The day was spent doing nothing.

Drive to Ghuttu in a pickup van

Day 16/17 - 22nd/23rd June :  Ghansali to Dehradun/Delhi/Mumbai

We had a relaxed breakfast at Ghansali and hired a taxi to go to Dehradun at around 12 noon, which was a 6 hour drive. We reached Dehradun in the evening and boarded the overnight train to Delhi. We reached Delhi on 23rd morning and took a flight to Mumbai. We were finally back home in the hustle bustle of Mumbai after spending 15 soul cleansing days in the Mighty Himalayas.

Team Members:

1. Jayant Gosar, Mumbai
2. Dr. Srinivas L, Mumbai
3. Mahesh Srinivasan, Mumbai
4. Krithika Mahesh, Mumbai

Staff Members:

1. Govind Semwal - Guide
2. Vijay Kumar - Guide
3. Sandeep Semwal - Helper cum Guide
4. Nandu Adhikari- Lead Porter
5. Prasad Adhikari - Porter
6. Ramesh Adhikari- Porter
7. Gimli - Porter

Trek Organizer: 

• Vishnu Semwal  +91 9411147257
• Snow Spider Treks and Tours, Uttarkashi.

Other links:

Slideshow of the trek

Video clips from the trek


Local newspaper article covering our expedition