MISSION ROOPKUND

Sunset glory of Trishul(Photograph by Sudhesh)
MISSION ROOPKUND
It was my four year old dream to visit the place filled with human bones. Yes Roopkund as name says has horrifying history.

Roopkund Synopsis (Taken from wiki pages)
Roopkund is a place in Uttarakhand state of India, and it is the location of about three to six hundred skeletons at the edge of a lake—Skeleton Lake in the Himalayas. The location is uninhabited and is located at an altitude of about 5,029 meters. The skeletons were discovered in 1942 by a park ranger. At that time it was believed that the people died from an epidemic, landslide or a blizzard. The carbon dating from samples collected at that time in the 1960s vaguely indicated that the people were from the 12th century to the 15th century. In 2004 a team of Indian and European scientists visited the location to gain more information on the skeletons. The team uncovered vital clues including jewellery, skulls, bones and a preserved body. DNA tests on the bodies revealed that there were two groups of people, a short group (probably local porters) and a taller group who were closely related. Though the numbers were not ascertained, it is believed that three to six hundred people perished. Radiocarbon dating of the bones determined the time period to be in the 9th century predating the earlier inaccurate tests. After studying fractures in the skulls, the scientists in Hyderabad and London determined that the people died not of disease but of a sudden hailstorm. The hail sizes were as large as cricket balls and with no shelter in the open Himalayas all of them perished. Furthermore with the rarefied air and icy conditions, many bodies were well preserved. With landslides in the area, some of the bodies made their way into the lake. What is not determined was where the group was headed to. There is no historical evidence of any trade routes to Tibet in the area or any places of pilgrimage.





Our Journey
I had no plans of any Himalayan trek this year. Just that it was not feasible this year. My old pals were either engaged or married and no signs of any firm plan.
I got an offer for valley of flower in start of august from one of my ex colleague seshachala. I deferred the offer as he was doing “Char Dham yatra” with a small trek. Ahhh I am not game for that stuff.
Then in my office I overheard someone talking about Himalaya trip. Don’t know where but I raised my ears to hear more. After some time I went and talked with Sathya about their plan. I was very much interested as they were planning to go to most difficult trek gadwall Himalayas. It was kalindikhaal, but due to no availability of the people and less preparation we dropped the idea of kalindikhaal and went for Roopkund which was also a difficult summit.
Leave approval and people availability went on for a month and finally we settled down to leave Bangalore on 24th September. Wow! I was very happy.
Went to gym and prepared myself for all the torture which I am going to face.
Finally the day had come.
We were altogether 12 people from Bangalore.
Me,subbu, Guruprasad, sathya, Manju, Tuppad, Gowtham, Kiran, Balaguru, Sudhesh and two of my friend Bhagyesh and sonal.






DAY 1 Bangalore Delhi Haridwar
We had to catch train to Haridwar at 10:10PM. To be safe we booked Jet flight to Delhi. We reached Delhi airport at evening 7:30PM. Our trek organizers were waiting for us at airport. We were 12 of us; three taxies were booked for us to pick up from airport to Karnataka bhavan. Taxi guys messed up and we ran out of time and had to rush to railway station with no dinner. We got the dinner packed from haldirams. It was bad stuff full of oil. We had been booked in sleeper class and that too Mr. Lallo seems to have made things worse in train by increasing one extra berth i.e. side middle.
All the tickets issued was with respect to the two side berths and with addition of new one there was a full mess as new list was in circulation about the berths. With luggage on our back we barely manage to sleep in train. We reached at 7:00AM at Haridwar.







DAY 2 Haridwar to Gwaldham
After reaching haridwar we checked in one shady hotel to get fresh. I had cold water bath amongst the insects lying on the floor of the bathroom. AC vent of the room was filled with tons of dust. We had no courage to put on the AC. We had to board the bus to Gwaldham at 2kms from our hotel. We got hold of auto rickshaw and reached the destination.
After 8 hours of journey we were tired and hungry and wanted good breakfast. I wanted egg or paratha. Our trek lead suggested “Chotiwala” food chain at “Har ki paudi” i.e. at haridwar ghat.
“Har ki paudi” at Haridwar
Haridwar smells of burnt human flesh. Eeeeeeeehhhh.. How can you eat at such place.
Me and sonal had lost half of the appetite and I don’t know about the rest. Finally we spotted chotiwala and entered. It was okay inside. But place was shabby. I got no for “poha” and finally had to settle down on “alloo paratha”. After 10 minutes of waiting time we got pickle and we started feasting on pickle. Our rest of the gang had ordered for idly and dose.
10 minutes later we got out order and soon we finished one paratha sonal spotted medium sized dead cockroach in pickle……… daaaaammmm… I stopped eating and so were rest three of us.
Me , Bhagyesh and sonal went out in search of pesticide “Pepsi”. We took a packet of haldirams and two soft drink bottle.
There was no way I could ever visit this place again. Other guys were lucky to get good breakfast.

After our bad breakfast we boarded the bus and headed to our destination. We crossed Rishikesh at about 11:30AM.

Serpentine Mountain roads on the way to Gwaldham
As we were crossing the serpentine roads in the mountains, we were suddenly hit by a 1km long traffic jam. We halted at that place for lunch as it was already too late for the lunch.
Lunch was good with roti, dal, curd , sabji, green chilly chutney and rice. I was hungry so feasted heavy on the food.
En route to Gwaldham there are many pilgrim places. Route is very narrow to accommodate just one bus. Lot of public transport vehicles are either jeep or small buses. We had stopped lot many times to remove the on-road parking hurdles.

Devprayag was the first crowded place to hit and then was Rudraprayag and later in the evening was Karnaprayag. Just after Karnaprayag, we stopped for tea break.

In Karnaprayag, we have a Sikh dominated crowd. Some of our people were smoking and one of the Sardar turned towards them and sayid “ kyon cigarette pee rahe ho? Poore logo ko pareshaan karte ho. Kyon cigarette peena hai tum logo ko yaha?” Well being a non-smoker myself, I chuckled.

That’s it!!! Slowly our guys dispersed and we finally boarded the bus for our final destination. As night was dwelling, it was getting colder and finally we realized that temperature has gone really low to cover the body.

At night 11:00 p.m., we reached Gwaldham and a delicious dinner was waiting for us. Again at dinner we had dal, roti and rice and believe me, it was awesome (Typical “dhaba” meal).
I did praise the guy for making such a wonderful dinner. I learnt this art (or praising) from one of my close friend. She says you need to praise the guy who cooks for you. And it does wonders actually that guy was very happy. Hmm these are good things to learn.

After the heavy meal I pushed myself inside the quilt in the hotel. It was good night for the day. Rest of the gang went on playing cards for long. Guess they had better topic to relish on “ohhh hoooo Mr. Raj-anna”.

DAY 3 Gwaldham to Wan
We got up at about 6:30AM to see some glimpse of trishul peak from our hotel.

View of Trishul peak from hotel in Gwaldham (Photograph by Sudhesh)
Gwaldham village was dead at night when we reached, but in morning I could see 6-7 shops and cell phone had signal at such a remote village. We had good paratha breakfast in morning with coffee and headed to the place called Lohajung. This place is just 50Kms from Gwaldham but road is so bad that it takes 3 hours to reach this place.
One the way we stopped the bus to take pictures of Trishul. At this point I was not at all interested in Trishul peak.

It was fun filled journey and we enjoyed every bit of it. En-route, in another small village our bus got punctured. So we had to wait for 1 hour.
Road bus were negotiating were very curvy and dangerous. On many occasions, I thought he is going to drop us in valley. But the driver was cool. If there is another vehicle in opposite direction then one has to back off, till they get good space to cross. Many a times passing would lead the gap between two vehicles measuring less then an inch. That was awesome accurate driving. Hats off to these drivers.

We could spot a river flowing underneath; we were told that this is Pindhari Glacier River.
After 3 hours of drive we finally manage to offload ourselves. We had our lunch at Lohajung village.
Pravin, subbu and guru somewhere in mid of Gwaldham to lohajung
Lohajung village measures over 12 houses with one dormitory type hotel and one dhaba. Wow what a place to be at 7600ft.
We had our lunch at dhaba with khicdi and egg. It was very tasty and I did praise his quality of food. I was more then impressed to lock on to Airtel at that remote place.
Our bus had limitation to go to lohajung. From lohajung to Wan was another 15kms and it required special vehicle. Looking at the track, I realized it is an off road track meant for 4X4.

Subbu and Sathya at lohajung while guru talking on cell phone with….
After the feast at lunch we boarded small jeep and headed to Wan. It was like the jeep guy was taking everyone on dirt race track. I could feel lateral shift due to slush on road.
Jeep guy had to make a stop to check for his suspension, guess with our extra weight he must have broken the suspension leaf spring. After all the drama we finally managed to reach Wan at about 5:30PM.

Hard jeep ride from lohajung to Wan
Wan village was our first one without any connectivity. There were just 10 houses. We pitched up the tents.
By this time Manju was more interested in local kids. Or kids was seeing him as fatherly figure. Manju with local kids
Evening in Wan was spectacular, something which we miss by the name of night life in cities. Twilight fading out to infinity is the must scene to watch. Did you guys know that it takes exactly 1 hour for the light to fade after sun set? Well at least, I was unaware of it. As the light was fading out, stars started appearing in the sky. The horizon was lighted with flaming orange color at one side and other side of the sky was shining with millions of tiny lights. I had not seen so many stars. It was like shining blanket covering you from the sun. Sky is very beautiful at night; especially the patterns of the stars were very beautiful and unimaginable. I never knew about the beauty of Milky Way. Photographs do not project the true color; nature is indeed more beautiful than what the pictures can show you.

Sathya, Tuppad, Kiran, Gowtham, Guru, Manju, Bala and Subbu were busy playing “Least” in tent and dinner was getting ready for us.
An evening scene at Wan (Photograph by Sudhesh)

The menu for that night was roti, dal, sabji and pickle. Food was indeed really good. After rest, one gang went for another round of cards and me, Bhagyesh & Sonal went for a walk.
Our walk lasted only for 5 minutes as it was quite cold outside. I parked myself in the tent (Well you see, I do a lot of driving so excuse me for the nomenclature) and crashed for the day preparing myself for tough day ahead tomorrow. Water stream at Wan (Photograph by sathya)

DAY 4 WAN to BedniBugyal
Bednibugyal means Alpine meadow in local language. We were at 8000ft at Wan and Bednibugyal was expected to be at 11300ft. Over 3000ft in a day would be really strenuous climb and that too it measures mere 4 kms. I knew we have some tough task in store for us. We had good Paratha for breakfast in the morning and at around 8:00 a.m. we started our climb to Bedni.

Initial part was easy climb and then we reached a place from where trishul was clearly visible and better than before. We stopped by at this place for a small rest and to sync up with others.

Resting at the viewpoint of trishul. From left subbu, porter, Kiran, Gowtham and bala
This was the last time may of us must have taken the pics. After this place was serious descend followed by heavy climb. Climb was like climbing staircase. We stopped once we reached 10000ft for dry fruits. I was almost getting cramps and had to slow down a bit not to make things worse. We waited for everyone at 10000ft. Sonal had a bleeding nose due to altitude problem. She was forced to give her bag to a porter. Sudhesh was complaining about nausea but rest seemed to be fine. After about 3:30 we managed to gain altitude up to 11000ft.

It was a very tiring climb, but the view from the place was awesome. Beauty of the Alpine meadows was forgotten by shear pain in leg and scarcity of air.

Bedni camp was another 1.5kms from this place. I could already spot ice dumps on the way. It was getting chilly out there. I spotted Gowtham by then. I continued my march to the camp site. Manju, sathya and guru had already reached the camp site.

Bednibugyal campsite had ample amount of water and exhibits panoramic view or peaks like trishul, mrityagni (as said by our trek lead), chaukhamba, nanda ghunti, Kamet etc.

At the campsite we had our late lunch and tea. Lunch was khicdi and was awesome tasting with pickle. After our lunch we rested on the green grass of bedni camp.

There was this mrityagni peak getting uncovered by the heavy mist.
Porters pitching the tent at bednibugyal campsite
Bednibugyal campsite (taken from the GPS data of our track log)

Rain clouds were getting covered and there was a feel that it might rain a bit here. Tents were being pitched for us but we knew, if one sleeps soon after the trek, then there are chances that one will get fever at night.
Mrityagni peak after mist got cleared (Photograph by sathya)
Mrityagni (above) (once the mist cleared). We were thrilled to see 5000mts high peak in front of us.
This was indeed same feel of seeing Taj Mahal for the first time. Almost everyone took pic of the peak. And then suddenly the mist behind the peak cleared and uncovered Trishul which was twice as high as mrityagni.
Oh! God, we were mesmerized.

Glimpse of Trishul Peak after mist got cleared (Photograph by sathya)

None of our photographs had managed to capture this giant completely. It is like a giant ice cream cake kept in front of you.
Manju and Gowtham at bedni campsite. Difference in height of trishul v/s mrityagni is clearly seen (Photograph by Bala)

Trishul peak is over 7000mts in height. The name trishul is because it has three spikes like trishul.

Chaukhamba and Kamet are also visible from this place. Bedni camp has small lake. Reflection pics of trishul was worth the effort

Reflection of Trishul & Nanda ghunti Peak (Photograph by Sathya)

Nanda Ghunti peak (Photograph by Sudhesh)

Night was getting very cold and we had wrapped ourselves with extra clothing. At 8.00 our dinner was ready and only me, Sathya and Subbu turned up for the food. Night food was different today from paratha, khicdi and roti. Today it was peas pulao, dal and custard fruit salad. Yummy!!! I took three serving for the custard fruit salad.

Rule at cold places is to eat to keep your body warm. If you are at low altitude then vodka is right choice but at high altitude alcohol is poison. You eat only to survive the chilling night peacefully. After the dinner I had no guts to stand outside in cold. I preferred to park myself in the tent. It was bit strenuous day and required good amount of rest.

Chaukhamba (top)
And Kamet (below) both the pictures taken by Sathya on Day 5 morning

DAY 5 BedniBugyal to Bhagubhasa
New day and a new morning. I was very much reluctant to wake up in the morning. I didn’t want to leave the nice and cozy sleeping bag of mine for the cold morning. Just was waiting for the sunlight. With the sunrise we had to get ready and breakfast was getting colder. Today we had poori and aloo for the breakfast. I finished the breakfast filled my hydration pack and with sunscreen on my face was ready to march.

Again there was no briefing about the trek by our lead. He was simply saying it is gradual walk. I asked about water to which he responded ample amount of water is there.

Climb from bednibugyal to bhagubhasa
Bhagubhasa is the base camp for Roopkund. Camp is situated at 14125ft. So again there was 3000+ ft climb. Thanks to Bhagyesh for loading the trek route to bhagubhasa on GPS. Trek route on the GPS to bhagubhasa was showing 6.5kms. When asked the trek lead he had no answer about the terrain.

Me, Sudhesh, sonal and Bhagyesh were the last to start. Sudhesh was clicking snaps on the way and I was giving him company. Today somewhat I had no intention of rushing to the camp. We had almost gained 12000ft altitude.

Today GPS was a good help as we knew how much was left to cover. I could not spot the trek lead and he disappeared in minutes. Such a waste of the person.

Trail to base of kallu Vinayak
Climb was gradual up to a certain point where we caught up with everyone. We had water and dry fruits. We were bit slow to start with. Peaks were looking beautiful from where we had taken the halt, we thought of resting for more time. Snow clad pics were looking like black forest cake.

I was hungry by the time I reached here. Thanks to Bhagyesh for offering me bornvita powder. In our group there was a lady by name kranti. She was an inspiration at 60 years. There was one porter to take care of her. She was quite active and verbal at that age.

From left Sathya, Pravin, guru, Gowtham, Manju and Tuppad
Kranti will be happy with me; I helped her finish the box of desi ghee laddu and made her a ½ kilo lighter before the Kallu vinayak climb. How smart of me.

After the halt there was a gradual descend and then heavy climb up to Kallu vinayak. There was no water on the way and we finished out water just before the climb. Me, Sudhesh, balu, Gowtham and subu had no water left with us. I got ice dump at the corner and filled it in the bottle. Without water that climb was very difficult.

Drinking ice cold water would take out entire energy of your body, so it was required that we eat every time we drink ice cold water.
Just at kallu vinayak, Sudhesh, Gowtham and Balaguru
After a 1 hour drama we finally manage to reach kallu vinayak.
Kallu vinayak temple
Kallu vinayak is located at 14300ft. The best thing about Kallu vinayak is one side there is plain grassland and other side snow clad mountains. Transformation is so sudden that you feel the change as if we have changed the room.
Other side of kallu vinayak is full snow clad area and mountains. (Kiran, Gowtham and bala)
We were very angry about the water and on top of that our trek lead was not at all in sight. We reached the camp site at around 5:00PM.
Bhagubhasa campsite filled with snow and stones (Photograph by Sudhesh)
Bhagubhasa camp was snow clad. Day temperature was 4 degrees and as the night was approaching temperature was further dropping. Our dinner for tonight was pasta. Most of the people didn’t like it. But it was good. It was too cold to hang around outside. So I parked myself inside the tent to avoid freeze.

Night temperature was way below zero and we could feel the chill even in sleeping bag. Freezing Night at Bhagubhasa was saved by stomach full of food. Those who didn’t eat shivered a lot.
I slept early as next day was the ultimate climb to Roopkund. My body needed good amount of rest.






DAY 6 Bhagubhasa to Roopkund and back
My sleep was not yet over. Inside sleeping bag it was very cozy. It takes some guts to come out of sleeping bag when you see your bag and shoes are frozen. Somewhat our tent had gathered moisture. Base of our tent was snow. 4mm thick mat and sleeping bag was all that protected us from freezing night.
Order was raised by our team lead that we need to be ready by 8.00AM sharp. He was waiting for the sun rise. We filled our water bottle and had our breakfast.
Today we had porridge of wheat. It should have been daily diet for climbing but anyways it was quite filling. GPS trail from bhagubhasa marked by the group Initial 4kms walk uphill (Photograph by sathya)

We started our climb at 8:30AM. Bala and Kiran thought of staying back in camp due to injury.
Our water was carried by one porter, so we had to be with him all the while.

We were at 14500ft and we were feeling the heat. Sun rays at this height are sharp and they pierce through your body. Without sun glasses it is difficult to open your eyes. Snow clad path is like reflective material kept underneath. Walking at this height required good amount of energy. Climbing is like running a marathon with straw in your mouth. Only little oxygen will be available to you. From left Bhagyesh, porters, Pravin, subbu, Sudhesh, Manju, Tuppad and rest.

Sathya, Guru and our leader went ahead, rest of us were behind. We walked slowly to conserve our energy for the final 500 ft summit attempt. Since porter were caring water for us we waited for him. Porter warned our leader to wait for everyone and start the climb. He didn’t listen to porter and went ahead.
Me, subu, Manju, Sudhesh, Tuppad were behind. Slowly we were heading to the destination. Suddenly climb started getting steep and our pace was getting slower.
Steepness of the final attempt. You need to keep cool here
Frequency of the breaks was increasing and so was the thirst. We were waiting for the porter to get water, but he was busy holding Manju from slippling on ice. Manju got scared as he was slipping on the ice. Final attempt to Roopkund you can spot two people ahead (Gowtham and Bhagyesh)
There was guy from the other group who was saved by Guru and sathya. Now it was the final climb of 300ft, it was 60 degrees steep.

Gowtham in front of Bhagyesh at summit attempt (Photograph by sathya)
Finally after 1 hour we reached the top. Sathya and Guru were first to reach followed by Bhagyesh and Gowtham. Gowtham vomited on top due to extreme breathing.
Pravin waiting for subbu at final summit attempt
After 5 minutes Subbu along with me finished the line. I really liked the spirit of subbu; he was suffering from heavy cold and cough. It is very difficult to grasp for the oxygen when your lungs are already filled with cold. He had no signs of tiredness on his face.
First one to be at Roopkund Guru, Vishwa, Bhagyesh, Gowtham and Sathya (Clicked this snap)
Tuppad must have clicked over dozens of snaps while climbing. These guys are great to keep cool at such a strenuous climb. Many people stop thinking about surroundings while climbing. I could spot the camp area from the top easily, thanks to Bhagyesh orange colored tent.

At top of Roopkund on one side is Junargali pass and other side a strong rocky barrier to hide us from trishul peak.
Gowtham got hold of a skull and we all posed with that skull.
From left to right Tuppad, pravin, Pavan, subbu, lead, Ratan (porter), Amish, Sudhesh, guru, Gowtham and sitting Manju.
There was a small idol on top of the Roopkund. Roopkund is small lake at 15600ft and it was frozen at this time of the year. It is just behind us.

We were on top for about half an hour when weather started going bad. Chances of heavy snowfall and less visibility were driving us to descend as fast as possible. Bhagyesh was the first one to start descends and then was our lead. Guru and me followed the lead as visibility was bad.
Taken from manju’s camcorder when we were hit by sudden snowfall. People can be seen climbing down in mist.

After some time visibility was limited to 10feet. Descending on the snow is difficult if you don’t know the proper technique. Our lead didn’t tell the technique and fled down. Ratan (porter) helped people to descend and got them to safety.

Entire walk to the base camp without water and food was very tiring. After two hours of the descend we reached the camp site with shoes full of snow. I could feel my feet getting numb. Just a start of snow bite, but before it gets worse we were inside the tent. Snow fall had not receded yet and people had not yet come in. I had my lunch and went inside the tent to protect from cold.

I didn’t come out of tent that night. My shoes were wet and sleepers would have not protected my feet. Gowtham got the dinner for me in my tent. Brave guy to go out in the snow. I had my food and crashed for good. I was shivering as my sleeping bag was allowing cold air to seep in.

It was colder then ever in our tent today, I could not make out why. Next day morning I realized that due to wind, the tent protection had come off and we were only with one layer of tent at -10 degrees.

Sonal and Bhagyesh had offered me to share their tent at Bhagubhasa camp. I still repent the decision of not accepting the golden offer






DAY 7 Bhagubhasa to Aulybugyal
Broken mansion at Aulybugyal campsite (Photograph by Sudhesh)

Aulybugyal means Barren Mountain. This place has just plain grassland. From bhagubhasa to this camp is gradual descend of 3000ft. As the location is concerned, this place is just 2KMS away from the bedni bugyal camp site. One has to pass though the bedni campsite.

Again today I was the last one to start from the camp site. My shoes were wet and filled with snow.
I had to pack my bag with all the items which I had opened up in two days stay at bhagubhasa.

Me and Tuppad started after all were out of scene. On the way we met subbu and others walking slowly. After some time almost everyone were out of sight and only me, Tuppad and subbu were walking towards the destination. I had map on my GPS to bednibugyal camp. Finally after long two hours of walk we reached bedni camp site. Tuppad had shortage of water and so was subbu.

We got a small stream on the way to fill our water bottles. After another our long walk we finally manage to reach the camp site of Aulybugyal.
Tuppad and Bala sipping hot coffee with pakodas

At campsite we were last one to enter. We reached the camp at nearly 5.00PM. Cook had made pakodas for the lunch for us. We had pakodas as snacks and coffee till we were full.
Certainly from really cold temperatures to bearable ones was quite a soothing feel. People had good fun at Aulybugyal campsite. After some time it started raining at the campsite so we all had to pack inside the tent.
Our dinner was served inside the tent due to rain. Today’s special was kheer at dinner. I had three servings of the kheer..
It was a different chat after a long time. All the while I was more used to Mr. Raj anna and his adventure with tic tic tic tic. Today I had advice about getting married and doing some other trek as couple. I was not prepared for such kind of advice. It took me some time to get normal.
Tomorrow we are suppose to hit lohajung town and certainly in the civilization after a long time.

DAY 8 Aulybugyal to Dedani
Our plan to lohajung got changed as we were diverted to another village called dedani.
This village is located at 7000ft and we had to descend from 11000ft.

From left Tuppad, Bala, Guru, Manju, Gowtham and Pravin

After packing our bags we started descend of 8kms long. Descend was quite steep for many people. Sonal had knee problem while bala was shivering and almost shouted at me for touching him.

I was with Bhagyesh and sonal behind everyone. This was most tiresome journey of all time. We had to descend the valley and then climb few 100 feet to reach Dedani camp site. In between there was light shower to obstruct the pace. But overall people were frustrated with descend. It seems that trek lead told people that it is a short walk to dedani and people were not prepared for the same.
I knew Manju was fuming over the lead. In the mean while I was chatting with one of the Porter of our trek. He explained me the entire business model for the organized trek. I got his number for any future treks. He promised me future treks with him will cost me half of what I have paid with full luxury. It was worth waiting behind.
I reached the camp site of dedani at 5:30PM along with Pavan. I saw him limping badly so stood by him till the last. On the way I met Bhagyesh and sonal too.

Our later lunch was khichdi and coffee. Overall people at camp were very angry at lead and were finding the appropriate time to burst. Many people had leg pain.
Stone mansion at Dedani village (Photograph by Sudhesh)
Sudhesh, bala, sathya, guru, Kiran, Manju and subbu were busy playing least, while Bhagyesh and sonal preferred resting inside the tent. I had a long chat with Ratan our porter. He showed me his earlier tracks snaps and about his village. Ratan hails from the village where till today schools are 30 kms away. He is a mountaineer and a good craftsman. He promised me to show pindhari glacier next year.

I told him how much we have paid to the trek agency for the trek. After the further discussion I realized that our trek agency was the middle man, and entire trek was organized from haridwar to haridwar by Ratan for just 6000/- per person which is less then half I paid to the people here in Bangalore. I was furious about this kind of cheating and wanted to teach our lead lesson for the same. Anyways dinner was approaching and had to get ready to eat.

Today’s dinner menu was very tempting. Egg burgee, egg curry, rice, papad, pickle and chaang(desi daruu). We had egg burgee as the starter with bon fire. Manju went on after everyone, his favorite was Gowtham. After a long leg pulling of Gowtham over I2C, we crashed for the day.
Beautiful Stream on the way to Dedani (Photograph by Sudhesh)

DAY 9 Dedani to Gwaldham via Lohajung
At the sunrise our coffee was ready and Manju was looking very furious. People still had leg and body pain. Some had not recovered from yesterdays long strenuous descend. On top of that people were unhappy about the trek lead’s attitude and ongoing.

Camp at Dedani village
Today’s breakfast was ordinary as we had to mere walk 3kms. Manju had a hot discussion about the going of the trek with our trek lead. We thought to forget it all and started to lohjung from the dedani camp.
About an hour and half long walk we reached lohajung village.
Group after reaching the Lohajung village.
We had our lunch at lohajung village and proceeded to Gwaldham. We reached Gwaldham at around 5.00PM. 15/- per bucket was hot water availability. We had bath and had aloo tikki for our snacks. After the bath for the first time I saw my face in mirror. I was looking very bad with skin peeled off from my nose. Unshaven face had given me a look of psycho. Rest of the gang made deal with a local barber for mass haircut and shave.

Dinner was special today with chicken curry, dal and roti. Because of Manju’s morning blast, our lead was bit scared and wanted to cool us down. He asked me to order for any chicken dish for 10 of us. I asked for 2 kilo of chicken and he just could not say no to it. It was intended for only 10 of us and not the porters, but there was so much left they all had and also packed for next day. Yes Ratan did thank me for this act.

We finished our dinner and crashed for the day. Next day we had to travel to haridwar about 260kms from Gwaldham and takes 12 hours. We were told to get ready by 6.00AM.

DAY10 Gwaldham to Haridwar.
We started in morning at about 7.00AM. Stopped at karnaprayag for breakfast. Breakfast was not up to expectation; our parathas took 20 minutes to cook.

My frustration on parathas was building up, so me and Tuppad decided to ditch this guy and have breakfast at nearby dhaba.
Place where we stopped for parathas
Our day was not good; dhaba guy informed us that his aloo parathas are over. L
Yes before leaving I asked the owner if he has godreg taala to lock his restaurant.
Restaurant owner was bit shocked to hear. Wow I feel proud of that. This too I learnt from my friend :)
We stopped at marine drive at rishikesh for rafting.

From left Pravin, Manju, Sudhesh, Amish, Kranti, Lead (Vishwa) and rafting trainer
This picture is taken from manju’s camcorder
Rafting of 10kms long was good end to our trek. Most of the people were rafting for the first time in Ganga. Few had fall off’s from raft but it was fun. Think sathya jumped off purposely from raft. Water is numb cold and I could barely survive the water for 2 minutes. Out of 4 rapids on our 10kms long journey only one rapid was good. While rest was child play.

We had dinner at chotiwala at haridwar town. This one was different then the previous and food was certainly good. We boarded the Delhi train at 11.00PM.

DAY 10 Haridwar to Delhi to Bangalore
Delhi: Me and Gowtham decided o meet vindhesh and rest went around Delhi tour.

I had a nice facial at parlor in Delhi, all the dead skin and tan has temporarily disappeared from my face. Gowtham neglected this fact of facial and must have repented at Vindhesh house. It was his sister’s birthday today and lots of Girls (sister’s friends) were at his place... wheeeeeeeeeee smart me!
I met bala at palika bazaar in Delhi and then after showing him India gate, we dropped him to airport. I had Vindy’s Zen to roam around in Delhi. We synced up next day at piccadelhi restaurant at canought place. This was perfect ending for our trek.

Left sathya, guru Bhagyesh
Center sonal
Right subbu, Tuppad, Manju and pravin

TREKKING GROUP FOR ROOPKUND TRAIL

Balaguru

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sudhesh

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bhagyesh & Sonal

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Subbu ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ratan on left -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Gowtham
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kiran

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tuppad -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guruprasad

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sathya ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manju
Travelogue Compiled by Pravin