Many people say you get what you deserve not what you want. What if we get that ‘deserved’ and it is better than what we ‘wanted’? I could say that about our Kedarkantha Winter trek. I and my travel mate Prasad had discussed about a winter trek once when we were coming from the Spiti Valley trip in 2018. We never had a winter trek. We wanted to experience Snow.
In Feb 2020 we planned for Chopta- Tunganath Trek. Unfortunately, the weather was not favourable. The trek organising team suggested Kedarkantha. Kedarkantha is a mountain peak of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand, India. The final summit elevation is 12,500 ft. Isn’t it thrilling?
The trek starts from a small village called Sankri. It was night and dark when we reached Sankri. We were thrilled and scared, at the same time, by walking on the ice the first time. It was new to us. We got a gist on that night about what we are going to experience in the upcoming 3 days.
Day 1
We had to do a moderate hike through a forest about 3 to 4 hours after breakfast. We have got the extra gears like trekking poles, crampons etc. We were so excited to see the snow everywhere. Trees covered with snow made me think like it’s a Christmas dream. We reached near Juda-ka-Talab, a small pond which was frozen completely during winter. Trekking on the snow is amazing but the cold was unbearable sometimes. In the evening, my leg fingertips were used to get pain like someone is pricking with needles. There are no luxuries. Only basics. We stayed there in tents and slept in the sleeping bag.
Day 2
We have got aloo paratha and pickle for breakfast. Post breakfast, we started hiking to the Kedarkantha Base camp. Misty snow mountains and a water stream running by — the view make us believe that we are in a fantasy world. Base camp is surrounded by mountains. There were big snowfields with untouched snow. We watched a beautiful sunset there. An impressive place which compelled us to take photographs. We were given the instructions on that night about the summit.
Day 3
We woke up by 2:30 am. We all set with packing a pair of clothes, socks and water. We started to the summit by 3 am so that we can see the sunrise at the top of the mountain. It was dark and we just followed the guide. The climb was steep. Few mates had high altitude sickness. There was snow wind. When the wind goes through the trek pole’s small holes, we can hear a whistle-like sound. As a thin guy, I was holding the trekking pole very strongly to balance with the wind. It was adventurous. The summit trek required physical fitness and mental fitness. But the view from the peak was stunning. We couldn’t spend more than 20 minutes because of the weather. We descended from the peak in a different route.
We decided to stretch the hike till Sankri where we started the trek in one day. It was difficult and tiring. But when we reached the tents at the Basecamp we were tired and our body parts were started aching. We were happy and laughing. These pain will go in another couples of days. More than anything, the beauty we have seen with our eyes, the way we enjoyed the summit peak hike, all those moments are more closer to heart and are like memories for a lifetime.
