Kedarkantha Trek

Day1 – Jan 1st 2024: 

“A breathtaking view, a feeling like I was on top of the world and an immense sense of satisfaction lied waiting for me at the summit of Kedarkantha”. My sprits were higher than the mountains on the road leading to Gharwal Himalays to summit Kedarkantha peak knowing full well that the arduous path that lie ahead would be challenging, but would all be worth it in the end. I took a flight from Bangalore to Delhi and landed at 2240. I had a connecting sleeper bus to Dehradun booked from Kashmere Gate at 2340. Alas, as soon as I landed the bus Marshall called to inform me that there was an hour delay due to drivers strike (change in rules for hit and run), this start was rocky, much like the mountain I was to soon climb. I stayed back at airport for another hour and then took a cab to Kashmere Gate and reached at 2430. There was no sign of bus, they had a link to track live location of the bus and it seemed to saying another hour delay. The icy chill crept through all my layers of clothing, leaving me shivering in nature’s frigid embrace. My clothes did little to keep me save me from this icy chill, offering me only the slightest bit of warmth. At last I saw the headlights of a bus, shining like a beacon of light and hope through the icy night that it was. At 115 we finally departed, I slept instantly. When I was woken up by the conductor, the frigid night had passed and in its place was a breathtaking, sunrise signaling the start of something great. Despite the delays, bus got me to Dehradun by 0615 and my journey began in earnest.

Day2 – January 2nd 2024

Boarded tempo traveller from Dehradun to Sankri (220kms away) and was going to be ‘8hrs drive.

TT driver Ramesh was typical gentleman and helped our bags to be tied on top. There were 10 of us booked with Himalayan Shelter for the trek. 2 Solo 2 girls (Nomita from Kolkata and Jasleen Delhi) like me, 3 girls (Kavitha, Manisha and Dimple) from Jaipur, 2 brothers (Dhruv, Shivam) from Delhi and 2 friends (Sumit, Naman) from Delhi. I was the only South Indian and married 😊 All others average age was around 24.

It was an interesting group and we started the drive through endless mountains, valleys, small towns and AlakGanga flowing in middle which we crossed several times. After a nap, we got a stop for brunch at around 11. Aloo paratha and tea was perfect and we continued only to be stopped due to Drivers strike. There was two halts and driver first said we would leave after 6 and reach Sankri by midnight. Delhi brothers and duo friends got Bacardi, Sprite and we continued new year party and first sip for 2024 middle of the mountains. 

Interestingly, Ramesh figured out we can continue and hope they don’t stop us. We resumed our journey at 1pm and were able to reach Sankri at 745pm. As we arrived hot dinner (Roti, Subzi, Dal, Chaval and Salad) was ready and we were hungry and tired after 12 hours drive. Post dinner, our rooms were allotted – I was sharing room with Delhi friends, Jaipur girls had a room and 2 brothers and 2 solo were the other pairing. It was very cold Zero or below at Sankri itself and we needed the thick bed worn on top as blankets and cuddled to sleep.

Day3 – January 3rd 2024

We woke up early (couldn’t sleep due to cold) to beautiful view of mountains from our room. Quick shower and got ready for the hike. We took the rentals that were needed like jackets, shoes, torch etc and had breakfast (Idly, sambar, chutney, bread, jam and coffee / tea). We started our hike and came down to Sankri market for some quick shopping of poncho, wet wipes, toilet paper etc., then headed into Govind National Park for our hike to Kedarkanta. Priyanka and Sonu were assigned as our guides. Both were very young (22 years or so), full of energy. Sonu seemed the softer kind and was literally dancing and running on the mountain while Priyanka was the lead and the one with clear instructions, managing time and keeping the group together. They both were trained and certified from HMI

I gave my bag to mules for 350/ day and had only another small bad with essentials and this was very helpful. We started to sweat after 20-30mins into the hike and had to stop to get rid of some layers of clothes and then continued. There were multiple tea shops selling all kinds of tea, juice, Maggie and bread / omelette. We stopped at few of these and I enjoyed some great Ginger Lemon tea or Rhododendron (Burranz) – juice from flower grown in the region that is supposed to be good for heart. After around 4-5 hours of steep climbing we reached day 1 camp near Juda Ka Talab. After some stretching, we were allotted tents (same arrangement and sharing as previous night).

We then had standard lunch (Roti, Dal, Subzi, chaval and salad) and the we were all getting to know about each other since there was no network or cell phones. After evening tea, it stared to get cold and we all cozied up in the dining tent for Antakshari (I went to back to some old memories of all Hindi songs and learnt a bunch of new or next gen Hindi songs). It was pitch dark and we needed our head torches even to move around to our tents or toilet tent. We were able to see clear sky filled with stars. Post dinner, we all settled in our tents. Boizs got together in our tent and had an hour of extended talk over Old Monk before we hit our sleeping bags.

Day4- January 4th 2024

We woke up to continued chilly cold morning. It was an arduous task to get through basic morning chores. We all huddled for an hour in front of the fire that was setup to get hot water. Then had breakfast (Puri, Bhaji and bread toast). Packed our stuff and started our trek to Kedarkanta base camp. We stopped at Juda Ka Talab which is a frozen lake / pond. It was amazing to walk / slide on completely frozen lake. After some great pics and views, we continued and reached base camp by 1145. In between, there was a network mountain/ point where we got JIO signal for calls and it was interesting to see everyone on phone and oblivious to the cold and trying to share quick updates to loved ones at home. 

There was some change in plan suggested by our guide to continue and Summit Kedarkanta today itself instead of starting at 2am tmr. This was based on two factors – weather and we had reached base camp relatively early compared to other teams. Everyone agreed to this change in plan. We finished quick lunch and started to summit by around 1pm. Terrain changed quickly and we hit the last of the tea houses and could see the summit in front of us. Tree link disappeared and we landed in snow and black ICE. Black ice was our new evil since this was completely hidden and hard to make out or find our step without slipping. We all got our spikes as additional grip for our shoes but I don’t think these helped much. Pace dropped drastically due to this black ice, altitude and steepness. We finally made it to the summit by around 440. Two girls backed off at the last tea house, so only 8 could summit. It was trophy or picture time as we waited for sun set in the windy and chilly peak.

Finally we had great views of the mountains around and vast sun set and our guides started rushing us down as soon as sun went down. We realised quickly that descent was going to be equally challenging with black ice and added constraint of darkness. Descent was on the other side (west) and not same as ascent (east) due to more snow and less black ice. We had shortage of head torches and couple of batteries ran out and I slipped and fell 3 times before we finally managed to hit the tea house. Through the descent, I couldn’t sense any of my toes since they were all frozen since I was the only one with no thermals and woolen socks. This was because they were in my other bag that was carried by mules and they did not arrive post lunch also when we started to summit and I had assumed summit will be tmr. At the tea house, I almost put my shoes in the fire that was boiling water / tea and slowly regained some senses of my toes. But we had to continue our descent, so we headed down in the dark all walking closely as a team and at some points holding hands to circumvent the fall and calling out black ice whoever fell or slipped and finally reached base camp. It was quick dinner and we all got into our tents. Boizs  got together for the much needed Old Monk and chit chat. For all (except me) this was the first summit and they were all very excited. Finally we hit our sleeping bags and thought we will sleep well given the long day, tiredness and old monk. But we could barely sleep due to the cold and icy conditions of the night and it was dripping ice and water in the tents, toes were freezing even though we had layers and were in sleeping bags. We somehow managed to get past the night.

Day5- January 5th 2024

We woke up or mostly awake through the night and started going through the pictures in the tent since we did not want to get out in the cold. Finally got out by 730 and had breakfast (Maggie and bread).. packed and started our descent to Sankri. We got down through Haragaon instead of Juda Ka Talab and through tea houses, some more stops and picks and then fields finally down by 12. I continued immediately on with some other group that was going down to Dehradun and reached hotel by 10pm. It was looong days and I managed to get down all the way from summit to Dehradun 😊 as soon as I got to hotel, I was glad to see the bed and hot water. Had a much needed shower after 4 days and crashed

Day6- January 6th 2024

Woke up at 5am and got my tickets changed to head home. Slept some more, then breakfast and headed to Dehradun airport for 3pm flight to Delhi. Spent the 2.5hrs break at Delhi airport lounge and then connecting flight to Bangalore. Vistara was good with meals and coffee and movies etc and landed on time at 1045pm. Got the bags and reached home by 1230 to surprise everyone by coming home a day early😊