Roopkund Trek 2018

        After our successful trek of Goech la last year, we started planning for this years trek. Couple of options (including Everest base camp) were searched and discussed and then we finalized yet another trek in Himalayas and in India. This time, it was Roopkund trek in the state of Uttarakhand.

        Roopkund is a moderate trek of 6 days famous for the mysterious lake with skeletons. Once again, we selected TTH as our past experience was awesome. Due to personal and official commitments, we finalized 1st week of June (8 June - 17 June) for the trek. Anagha is also joining for this trek, her being the first Himalayan trek. The group size started increasing hitting the 10 marks (to get 10% discount) very quickly and very soon we were 25+. 😀😀

        Travel desk was once again active to complete all the train and rail bookings. Sinhgad practice sessions started immediately, whereas Hadapsar folks found it convenient to do Kanifnath trek. We also had a K2S night trek as part of practice. Country's economy was boosted significantly with frequent visits to Decathlon, Everest shop along with Amazon and Flipkart!

Trek 100 shoes... new shoes for me :)

This time, we had a new t shirt for this trek, in 2 colors white and dark blue. 

Here is the design of the same.

Front side (same as last year)

Back side with trek route map

       Here is our detailed trek itinerary.

Details:

Day 1 - 8 June : Fly from Pune to Delhi. Delhi sightseeing like Akshardham temple, Lotus temple etc. Catch the Ranikhet express at night to Kathgodam 

Day 2 - 9 June : Reach Kathgodam in morning. ~10 hours of travel to Lohajung (base camp) and stay.

Day 3 - 10 June: Start of trek. Lohajung to Didna. Stay at village.

Day 4 - 11 June: Didna to Ali Bugyal. Tent stay.

Day 5 - 12 June: Ali Bugyal to Pathar Nauchani via Bedni Bugyal. Tent stay.

Day 6 - 13 June: Pathar Nauchani to Bhagawa basa via Kalu Vinayak. Stay in tents.

Day 7 - 14 June: Early morning start of the day. Bhagawa basa to Roopkund lake. Breakfast will b at Roopkund and lunch at Bhagawa basa. Stay in tent at Pathar Nauchani

Day 8 - 15 June: Trek from Pathar Nauchani to Wan via Bedni Bugyal and Gharoli Patal. Wan to Lohajung is a travel by road. Back to base camp and stay at Lohajung.

Day 9 - 16 June: Again day long travel back to Kathgodam and evening train (Ranikhet express) for Delhi.

Day 10 - 17 June: Reach Delhi early in the morning. Fly back to Pune. Will be at home by lunch time.

Since Ishani is not joining this time for the trek, she along with Ramesh sir are our ground support team.

Stay tuned for the updates and photos from this famous trek.

Enjoy.

#मम  

Goech La Trek: Day 8

Day 8

Sunday 7 May 2017

Thansing (12900 ft) to Goech La view point 1 (15200 ft) 

                                         ..... and back to Thansing

Distance traveled: 15.6 kms

This day would be memorable for each and everyone. The efforts we put in practice and preparation would be paid off and we were eagerly waiting for it. Everyone responded the midnight wake up call, quickly freshened up (their minds only... It was too cold to make contact of water with face) and assembled in the dining area with their bags. Our kitchen staff was very prompt and were ready with our packed breakfast and hot water to refill our bottles. They even prepared the hot porridge, which we ate just to gain more energy.
We started at 12:30 am with first target in mind - reaching Lamuney campsite in 2 hours. Some portions of the trail, especially near all water streams, were very slippery due to conversion of snow into ice. With careful walk and head light assistance, all the team reached Lamuney (13500 ft) well in time. After a small break, we quickly marched to our next milestone of Samiti lake (14100 ft), which we crossed at 4:10 am. Now the time was running very fast with sunrise expected to be at 5 am. Here we got divided and the runners hastily moved towards view point. They had now a single aim, reach the view point to get first sight of the golden yellow peaks during sunrise. As soon as the team realized that they would be short by 10 minutes, they suddenly ran towards left on a small hill. The view from here was simply mind blowing.

First view of the golden peaks

L: Forked peak R: Mt. Kanchenjunga

After witnessing the beautiful sunrise, team marched to summit the view point 1. (Visiting view point 2 and further is banned due to presence of snow leopards). The pathway towards it was little dangerous, however enthusiasm overcame the fear and we reached the view point 1 (15200 ft). The temperature was definitely below zero, however everybody had mouth and eyes wide open in awe with the astonishing view of Mt. Kanchenjunga and surrounding mountains. (Click here for the video) 

Pug marks of snow leopard

With Nerba at View point 1

  

Everything else looked minuscule in front of these mountain range. We tried to store as much as possible in our mind and cameras and started returning back. Now crossing the slippery path looked like a herculean task. Our sherpa, Napula and Nerba, steered us smoothly. (I have a beautiful story to narrate. Whenever you meet me in person, do ask for it!!)

Returning back from View point

Samiti Lake at downside

Now the return path, which we literally ran in the morning seemed little tough due to snow. We came down to Samiti lake, had finished our breakfast and spent time capturing the mirror perfect reflection of the mountains in the steady water. Everyone was feeling not to go back to campsite and stay as much time as possible near the Samiti lake. However we heard the weather changes here so frequently and it was not a wise idea to stay longer. Hence unwanted though, we started our return path. Now reaching Lamuney and Thansing looked like a distant task as we started dragging ourselves. 

      Breakfast time at Samiti Lake

The beautiful reflections at Samiti Lake

After crossing Lamuney, Mohan and I thought to sit in the water and relax. Samip, Suhas, MP and Babu too joined us and we spent close to 30 mins in the chilled glacier water. We were fortunate today as weather was bright with sun shining over the head. We reached campsite post noon, relaxed and enjoyed our lunch. We hardly slept in the afternoon as our minds were still roaming in the mountains. 


 View of the valley & river

 

We celebrated teams success during dinner time. Now 2 days remaining of our trek, 2 days of long walk - from the most serene place to the civilized place. Tomorrows call was 6-7-7:30. Everyday whenever we went to bed, we slept thinking about the next day. Now the situation got reversed. We went to bed, however were thinking about the Mt. Kanchenjunga and other peaks only.

My stats for the day:
Pulse: 86.  O2: 92.  Breathing rate: 21

Garmin details:
Thansing to View Point 1

View Point 1 to Samiti Lake

Samiti Lake to Thansing
#मम

Goech La Trek: Day 4

Day 4

Wednesday 3 May 2017

Tsoka (9685 ft) to Dzongri (12947 ft)

Distance: 7.65 kms Time: 5 hrs 26 mins

Today the call was 6-7-8. Trail till Dzongri is very steep with total height gain of more than 3000 ft. We gathered in the dining area at 7 for the breakfast. It was a special day for Atul...yes, his birthday. I brought special home made (thanks to Anagha) fresh mango barfi for his birthday celebration.

Winding up of the campsite

Breakfast menu

Team on the way

We left the Tsoka site at 8:05 am! Today we had to carry pack lunch.

The way till Phedang was very steep and tiresome. It goes through dense forest of rhododendrons. Half of the trail was ladded with wooden planks. Mules were crossing us on the way, and we had to give way to them. One thing I learned during my Amarnath yatra last year - stick to the mountain side when mules are crossing!

Trail towards Phedang

Pink Rhododendrons

Phedang

Few of us (Advait, Atul, Brahma, Vinit, Viraj and I) were sprinting really fast (as compared to others) and we hit Phedang (11715 ft) within 2 hours. There is only 1 hut available to sit and relax. We quickly grabbed the place before IH team. It was not the good time for lunch, hence we ate only partial of our tiffin. Weather suddenly turned from sunny to cloudy. Hence after the rest, we decided to move further instead of waiting for the rest of our group. We played oxygen oxygen game as oxymeter was with handy with Vinit and here Mohan gave us a shocker (momentarily) when his readings were 54 !! We asked him to not to measure immediately, take rest and then come.

Our next stop was Devarali top (12830 ft). Phedang to Devarali top was again steep ascent and breathing was getting tougher with small height gain. We had frequent stops on the way to regain our breathe. Weather here was very much pleasant and we took some rest here as well.

Devarali Top

We did stone pyramid at Devarali

@ Devarali Top

From here, the pathway till Dzongri was very easy with mix of small ascent and descent. After reaching our campsite, we (except Vinit, who was busy enquiring for something else!!!. ... no, no..not about the gorgeous girlfriend!!) quickly rushed into our tents and relaxed for a while. We also finished our remaining lunch. Within 15-20 minutes, all the members joined the campsite, and we came out of our tents for stretching exercise!

Team engaged in stretching exercise

Dzongri campsite hut

Everyone jumped on the hot (गरमागरम) maggie and tea made by Tashi before going out for some walk. Tsoka to Dzongri walk was tiresome with significant amount of height gain. Hence we did not dwelve ourself with further height gain for acclimatization! Vinit gave me one more shocker when he mentioned that Viraj had feelings like omitting. Though it may seemed like a symptom for AMS, he did not look that way. May be overeating had caused it.

After maggie at 5 and soup at 7, we did not have much space left in stomach for a full dinner. Hence we requested Tashi to prepare only rice (dal khichadi) for us. At the same time, we did not say no to Gulab jamun as well!

Shital, Suhas, Atul, Viraj, Vinit, Samip

Ishani, Mohan, Amit, Sheetal, Sushma, Bharati

 Evening soup time photos of the group. You can clearly make out 

from the faces how much everyone was tired :)

Babu, Prateek and MP

Dal Khichadi for dinner (Gulam jabun not in pic)

Most of us ate (though little) due to fear of AMS whereas few ate as if they were hungry from morning!!

We had 1 more day of stay here for acclimatization. We got to know from earlier batch about the beautiful view from Dzongri top. Prateek briefed us about it during lunch and we planned to leave for it at 3:30 in the morning!

My stats for the day:

Pulse: 85. O2: 95. Breathing rate: 19

Garmin trail details:

Tsoka to Dzongri Trail

#मम 

Goech La Trek: Day 2

Day 2

Monday 1 May 2017

Yuksom (5650 ft) to Sachen (7120 ft)

Distance: 7.6 kms Time: 3 hrs 33 mins (without break)

Actual start of the trek. Everybody got up early and were ready with their bags. We had a good breakfast and also got our packed lunch. There is a shop nearby for last minute shopping. Everyone bought a plastic paper (2 m in length) to protect their mule bags from rain.

Team together for the tea

Subba's shop for last minute purchase

The call for the day was 7-8-9: tea at 7, breakfast at 8 and trekking start at 9 pm. However due to some reasons, we kicked off at 9:40 am. Garminers (Atul, Viraj and I) had already saved the location and started the hike simultaneously! Initial enthu was very good, everybody were walking almost together with same tempo.

@ first iron bridge

The trail from Yuksom to Sachen goes through the dense forest known as Kanchenjunga National Forest. Initial 30 minutes were descent walk with first height gain of 150 ft followed by descent of 180 ft. Here we came across the first bridge followed by entrance of the national park. We spent a good amount of time here capturing the nature (and our moods too) in the camera!!

Kanchenjunga National Park Entrance

Dense forest walk

Babu and MP

Stop at one stream for fresh water!!

From here, the distance between individuals started increasing a little. The trail became slight steep till Sachen with overall ascent of 1380 ft. Walk through the forest was mesmerizing. River Rothang Chu was always on our left hand side giving her presence with the beautiful music of water and appeared couple of times as well. Close to 2 hrs of walking and we reached the second bridge of the day. Weather, which was good (bright and sunny) till this time, slowly started changing. Rain started with few drops for almost 10 minutes before turning into a big one. Everyone were happy with their 2 decisions: getting the poncho in the day pack and covering the mule bag with plastic!!

Second iron bridge

Team wearing ponchos...

Sachen campsite

Again a steep walk of 1.5 hrs and we crossed the third and final bridge for the day. From here, Sachen was hardly 20 minutes away.

(L2R) Mohan, Sheetal, Sushma, Shital

During briefing the earlier day, Prateek told us that we can do a small hike every day after reaching the destination which will be helpful for acclimatization! Hence we 4, Viraj, Vinit, Atul and I, hiked further for 35 mins and height of 350 ft. Till the time we came back, our group had reached Sachen and were enjoying the hot tea provided.

Advait and Ishani

Babu and Atul

Viraj and Mahesh

(L) Bharati, Amit (R) Samip

Sachen camp is in deep forest, stay in tents is mandatory. There is a small kitchen hut for cooking and another open hut as dining area. Atul, Viraj and I helped the team putting up the tents. Initially tents were less in no, hence we planned to stay 3 person in a tent. We reserved 2 tents only to keep our bags. We quickly settled in the tents, kept our bags outside and came outside. We had a wonderful stretching session followed by oxy-game and chit chatting.

Stretching session

Sachen campsite

At 7, we got a call from the kitchen for soup followed by dinner. There was another group from Indiahiking staying next to our camp, however sharing the single kitchen and dining facility. Couple of difference between these 2 groups: Indiahikes neither provides dining cutlery nor sweets during dinner!!
Post dinner, we quickly went to bed as next days call was 6-7-8!

My stats for the day: HR - 75 ; O2 -  95 ; Breathing rate: 25

Garmin map details:
Yaksum to Sachen trail
Sachen Acclimatization walk

#मम