Kedarkantha Peak

Preface

I was thinking about my last trek, but failed to recall it in an instant. Bingo!!!!! This is the time for new venture?, so I posted my query regarding Kedartaal on BCMT and got to know that it would not be feasible in this time due to snow conditions. This peak situated at Uttarakhand, in ‘har ki doon valley’ side at a majestic 3800 mts height. I hadn’t been in this area, so my interest also popped up and knowing after that it can be doable in 3 days, I was all set to conquer this peak?. So finally I and 2 other friends Vijay & Rahul got ready for the mission with my Indica.

Itinerary:

Smoking Hills Day 1: 1st May 2009: Chandigarh --> Paonta Sahib --> Vikas Nagar/Kalsi --> Naugaon --> Purola -->Mori --> Sankri (305 kms by car, not mentioning Sankri --> Purola 60kms)

I and Rahul left Chandigarh at 5:15AM, as we had to pick Vijay from Herbertpur. We reached Herbertpur at 7:30AM and Vijay was already there waiting for us. Now we headed towards Kalsi and followed the Yamunotri route till Naugaon.

There is nothing special about this route, except one thing "You would find crystal clear & sweet water of Yamuna River" that flows along with you till Naugaon rather what we find here in Delhi. We took turn towards Purola from Naugaon and moved to Mori after had our lunch at Purola. Purola is the largest and main town in this region. One can find each and every necessary thing here and that we knew later on (Thanks to God, this town having automobiles shops and mechanics!!).

Everything went smooth except our eyes dying for seeing any snow view. Vijay is the native of Uttarkashi and have relatives at Badgaon (near Purola); he was start teasing us by telling that how great the Bandarpooch Peak would look from Purola etc. etc.

On the way to Kedarkantha Peak Now the question was - Why it so that we can’t figure out any peak? Reason is very simple; they (Pahadi People) burned the Chir leaves so that the grass will be available in plenty for their cattle after Monsoon. But sometimes the things went wrong and this small fire turned up in huge forest fire and whole surrounding fills up with smoke, such that you can’t even see the hill opposite to river, leave the Bandarpooch apart.

Slowly we covered distance and reached Netwar, now the Sankri (our destination) was only few kms away. Suddenly it seems that the Mother Nature smiled to us and an unnamed distant peak covered with lots of snow, flashed behind the blanket of heavy smoke coat. Our attention directed toward that view and everyone pulled out their cameras outside for capturing that splendid view. They were shouting like kids, which diverted my attention too. I told them that "Yaar, mujhe gaadi chaalane do nahi to kahin Swargrohini peak ke chakkar main hum sab hi na Swar pahunch jaye" (Friends, let me drive the car, else we would surely reached to Heaven, if you continuously diverted my mind to outside).

The fate has wrote something different for us and what we remembered is that after a big jump in air the car hits ground like a light strike on earth. I applied breaks with great force and car came to halt instantly. Checked the damage, at first it seems to be only minor damages like bumper crashed from inside bottom, fog lights came out with broken cover. I collected all the broken part and kept them in diggy. I had tried to start the car and to my luck it was started in a single twist.

Bugyal on the way As soon we were proceeding further, I realized that a strange sound came from inside bottom of the car (this sounds was similar to an electric motor runs at a very high speed). I stopped the car at corner of the road and checked the engine; everything seems to be perfect. Then I checked the car’s bottom and found that some oil getting leaked from there. It was a perfect bizarre condition to us. We applied all our theories and soon found out that the power steering oil’ reservoir got empty. I was ignited the car and twist the steering and it was felt very heavy, this proved that the accident damaged our power steering compressor.

We were stuck at nowhere and to made thing worsen, there was no mobile signal. I checked with a local guy and he told me that there was no shop & mechanic available at Sankri & Netwar, even there was no mobile signal or PSTN at both the places. The only choices were to move back Mori (was some 30 kms from there) or Purola (was some 60 kms from there) in a private taxi. The time was 2:30PM and to our disappointment, Sankri is only 2 kms from there??. Had it been happened to us and that be just 2kms before, I asked myself??. I started cursing me and now starting to felt the seriousness of the damage.

Sight of Peak from Distant But Mighty God had its own wish and to our surprise we saw a M800 coming in our way, we stopped them and asking for help (I don’t understand what I called this, A reward to us to having these kind of peoples or curse myself for putting my burden on them). The car had been driven by Mr. Shashi Kant Dube, co passenger Mr. Amit Jha and Mr. Rajesh Sharma. They have their farm houses in Sankri and coming from Dehradun. Mr. Rajesh Sharma (elderly to others) offered their help to us, we felt awkward but seeing no other option we agreed (At that time, from inside, we also looking for any kind of help).

I amazed, why people curse M800, consider the situation where 6 people sited in that and that to be with full luggage, and the car negotiating those hard curves and road with ease without any hassles. We reached Sankri in no time and moved towards there Farm house situated some half kms off road on the hill (on the same way that we followed for Kedarkantha later).

The Team At farmhouse Sharma Ji cooked some food for all of us (Delicious Rice and Daal) and directed Mr. Shashi Ji to look for a mechanic. I along with other friends headed towards Mori at 5:30PM in their M800, but got to know that mechanic and other things available at Purola only. So we further moved to Purola and reached there at 8:30PM. By that time all shops were closed, so Shashi Ji had talked with there friends asking for mechanics. His friends meet us with the mechanic and thanks to God that mechanic was good enough that he quickly understand the problem. He advised us to come next day as he already took day off. Shashi Ji arranged a guest house and food for us and soon we call off the day.

Gaddi Dog Day2: 2nd May 2009: Purola --> Sankri --> Juda Lake (60kms on car + 7 kms by foot)

We woke up late at 7:30 around as the mechanic told us to meet after 10:00AM only. We got ready for the day and after had our breakfast we reached to Mechanic. He provided us the clamp and oil (that was the last available can of hydraulic oil in Purola, and mechanic told us to use it very carefully, as the next new can could only be arranged from Dehradun and that wasted one other complete day). He was asking whooping Rs1000 for his service if he would come along with us. We refused it and decided to take care of that damage our self.

We come back to the place where my Indica parked at 12:45PM and by chance lucky enough to get a road side local mechanic Nain Singh. By that time the chances for the trek was quite low, and it might possible that we had to move back to Chandigarh bare hands. But you can call it’s our enthusiasm that not loosen our hope for the trek. I told my friends to arrange the necessary things that we would require on trek from Sankri while I along with Nain Singh diagnose the problem. Nain Singh fixed the problem well and Indica was ready to burn the road once again??. The time was 4:00PM and I along with Nain Singh thoroughly checked the car and once confirmed that everything was perfect I moved to Sankri and reached there at 4:45.

Juda Lake Rahul and Vijay arranged all the things and a porter in meanwhile. We bid farewell and thanks to Sharma Ji, Shashi Kant and Amit ji and started our trek at 5:00PM. The route was full of boulders and none of our step falls in straight line, this was the ultimate test for our ankles?.

The route was passed form beautiful meadows, where Gujjar’s people already set their camp with the heard of sheep and mules. The route was scenic and we enjoyed a lot. Soon we reached Juda Lake at 7:30PM and started setting our camps as we were in the shadow region and it getting night and chilled already. Soon we pitched up our tents and our porter Thakur Singh collected some wood logs for cooking. The evening was chilly and the flowing wind made it more chilled during night. We had delicious vegetables Khichri in dinner and call off the day.

Cooking Food I found Juda Lake, just another lake filled with dirty water (though we made our dinner from that water). Nothing special can be written about that place. This could be looking haven at other point of year but in May this plcae is so so, excpet the coldness

Day3: 3rd May 2009: Juda Lake --> Kedarkantha Peak --> Sankri --> Mori --> Tiuni --> Hatkoti --> Theog --> Shimla --> Chandigarh (9kms on road + 2 kms trek + 430 kms by car)


Night in Tents We woke up at 5:30AM and soon retired from daily activities (what a warmth feeling I had after doing shit in open after a long period of time).We had short of water so decided to have breakfast ahead after arranging some water. We hide our luggages and kept only essential things with us for onward journey. We started at 6:30AM and at 9:30AM, we were reached, where tree line ends and started snow patches scattered here and there. We located a water source coming from melting ice and had Maggi as a breakfast. What a nice Maggi, prepared by Thakur Singh, he almost poured some 150gms desi ghee in just 4 packets of Maggi. This is looking awkward at first but filled us with lots of energy and provides enough warmth.

Climbing the Final Stretch We moved forward at 10:00AM after filling our water bottles and after 30 minutes we reached very close to Kedarkantha Peak, from here it seems a stone throw distance but soon found it be very far. We looked for the safe path to climb to peak as the wind blowing at very high speed. We decided to follow the straight path to avoid high wind, though tiresome but safe.

We reached at peak in almost 1 hrs straight and that was the happiest moment of our journey, as we completed the never ending journey to this peak. But to our shock whole the surrounding area covered behind the thick layer of smoke and nothing was visible. We never thought that our hard work would pay in this manner??. Still we bid prayer at Shiva Temple on top and clicked some pics. We start returning back at 11:45 and reached Sankri at 4:00PM. The return journey was tiresome at the path is full of boulders and we were felt it very hard to negotiate while descending due to fast pace. We paid the amount and thanks to Porter Thakur Singh, washed the car and started back to Chandigarh. This time we took Mori -- Tiuni -- Theog -- Shimla -- Chandigarh route. But I regret on my decision later on as most of the way was full of bad patches and in totally hills. The only stoppage we took at Hatkoti for Dinner.

Resting on the Peak We were reached Chandigarh at 3:00AM in the morning and completed this eventful journey.

Distances: Chandigarh (0 kms) --> Ponta Sahib (112 kms) --> Kalsi (144 kms) --> Nain Bagh (185 kms) --> Damta (196 kms) --> Naugaon (225 kms) --> Purola (242 kms) --> Netwar (287 kms) --> Sankri (295 kms) --> Mori (320 kms) --> Khooni Gandi (335 kms) --> Tiuni (355 kms) --> Hatkoti (383 kms) --> Theog (436 kms) --> Shimla (475 kms) --> Chandigarh (582 kms)