Trekking in Garhwal

Garhwal - Best Time

The optimal timing for our trekking trips is between May 1st and June 30th and between September 1st and October 15th. Both seasons have their attractions. During the month of May the spring flowers bloom at the margins of the snowline while the weather is generally settled barring the occasional pre monsoon storm that can blow up at any time. Day time temperatures can rise to the mid 20s even at altitudes while at night they can fall to 0 degrees C. The post monsoon season is a time of settled weather with clear views of the mountains. Day time temperatures will still be quite warm, upto 20 degrees C during the middle of the day, however at night the temperatures will occasionally drop below 0 degrees C.

Roopkund

Roopkund is a lake situated at a height of 5029 mts. in the lap of the Trishul Massif, hidden below a ridge on the periphery of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. It is often called the “Mystery Lake”, as in it lie some 300 corpses dated to the 14th Century AD, well preserved due to the cold and only seen when the lake thaws. There are two versions for these remains; one, that they are the remains of soldiers under General Jorawar Singh’s army which was on its way to Tibet, the other that they are the remains of people on a pilgrimage to Trishul base about 600 years ago.

High-up in the Himalayas, the Roopkund lake, surrounded by rock-strewn glacier and snow clad peaks, is a marvelous sight. The starting point of our trek is Mundoli village situated in eastern Garhwal Himalaya. To get to this starting point all trekkers are required to initially reach Kathgodam by over night train from Delhi.


The Valley Of Flowers

In 1931, Frank S. Smythe, who was part of a team of six British mountaineers that climbed Kamet, came across a valley beyond Bhyundar Pass that had “lush meadows… embowered amidst flowers. The Bhyundar Valley was the most beautiful valley that any of us had seen.” Smythe in his book recalls that his camp was surrounded by a variety of flowers – primulas, white anemones, golden nomocharis, marigolds, globe flowers, delphiniums, violets, eritrichiums, blue corydalis, white roses and rhododendrons. Higher up, near the moraine, were saxifrage, yellow and red potentilla, geranium, asters and gentians, so many that “it was impossible to take a step without crushing a flower”
Today this Bhyundar Valley is not very different from how Frank Smythe first found it to be. Through strict environmental control and tight Government of India regulations, the sanctity of Frank Smythe’s discovery – the Valley of Flowers has been carefully preserved. If you stand at the foot of the valley, grassy meadows run down to the cleft of the stream, which, even in August, is still fringed by ice. On both sides, green slopes turn to dark rock as they vault into deep blue skies. Rising gently, the valley ends as notch on the horizon, crested by the snows of the Rataban (6,166m) and Nilgiri (6474m) peaks. And underfoot, the flowers that give the valley its name.
The Valley Of Flowers is accessible from a remote village in the Indian Himalaya called Gangharia. Getting to Gangharia is a small adventure in itself.

Nanda Devi Sanctuary Trek

It takes eight days to reach the base camp of Nanda Devi on the south side. The Rishi Ganga River forces its way through two gorges. The first one, near Lata village, cuts off any possibility of an easy approach, and therefore a route over two intervening ridges -the Dharanshi and Malathuni – was explored. Shipton and Tilman called this the Curtain Ridge. Near the second gorge of the Rishi Ganga a route was explored over precarious, rocky terrain.

The approach to the inner sanctuary will always be difficult. The route is: Lata, Lata Kharak, across Dharanshi Pass (4267m/14000ft) to Dharanshi Alp, across MalathuniPass (4270m/14010ft) to Dibrugheta Alp, along the river to Deodi, Ramni at the foot of the gorge, Bhujgara half way through the gorge and Patalkhan across the main difficulties of the gorge. 'The Slabs' are the first of the challenges, where downward-sloping rocky slabs make for a precarious crossing. A narrow staircase of stones ahead cuts across a huge wall. Just one slip and you would plummet thousands of feet down the gorge, aptly called the vaikunth seedi (the 'staircase to heaven') by locals. If you climb up this, you will reach the heaven of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary, whereas if you fall, you might reach heaven anyway. Patalkhan is the first halt in the sanctuary. From Patalkhan, the route crosses the Rishi Ganga to enter the north side of the sanctuary.