Khatling - Kedarnath: high altitude trekking

jyotipg

Latest reports from Khatling: Status of snow on 10th April, 2005

The route to right of Chowki from where we take a right turn for Masar Tal is covered with snow..
Masar Tal has a snow cover of 2 -3 feets. On Mayali Pass, there is snow cover of 5 feets. Some of the snow is wet.

The first group of trekkers (all foreigners) for this season have successfully covered the Pass.. They were smart enough to go with the gravity rather than going against it..
So, they prefferred to start from Kedarnath and then they were mostly going downwards most of the time.

JP

AvidTrekker

Timely info, Jyoti.... but may i ask how could you obtain it?? This is because lots of ppl want to know... (abt various other pass crossings as well) but i don't know any such source

Finally, you have decided to go ahead with your trek to Mayali Pass, it appears. All the best of luck and please give some sort of trekalogue on IndiaMike after the whole trip.

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jyotipg

Avid,

I spoke to my guide based in Uttarkashi today morning.. There was a group of trekkers who started their trek from Kedarnath and ended it near Malla Village at uttarkashi.. One of his friend was the guide for the trekkers.. So, he says its a first hand info from his fellow guide.

JP

jyotipg

Hi All,

Thank you all, especially avid for your useful inputs about this trek.

After all the discussions on this forum, the plans of the trek from Khatling Glacier to Kedarnath over Mayali Pass (5400m) are now crystalised.. If anyone interested in joining me, just yell out loud enough that I can hear in Bangalore.

Please find below the iterinary:

1st June: start from Delhi - Reach Tehri by end of the day
2nd June: Travel to Ghuttu by Jeep. Start Trek from Ghuttu and reach
Reeh (2100m, 10 kms). Gentle trek
3rd June: Trek to Kalyani.. Gentle trek most of the day and a steep
climb before Kalyani (2700m, 16 kms)
4th June : Trek to Bhelbhagi (3200m, 14kms)
5th June - Reach Chowki ( 3700m, 8kms)
6th June: Rest Day (Acclimatisation trek to Khatling GLacier and back )
7th - Khatling - Masar tal ( 7kms of steep uphill. Gaining 1000m in
elevation in a single day)
8th June: Masar Tal - Vasuki Tal (This would be the toughest day when
we have to cross Mayali pass and also 15 kms in a single day, all
uphill. Two steep climbs. One from Masar Tal to Masar Top and the second
from Pinya Tal to Mayali Pass. Involves crossing a small glacier)
9th June: Vasuki Tal - Kedarnath (2kms gradual uphill and 5 kms steep
downhill. Temple darshan in the evening)
10th June: Reach Rudraprayag/Rishikesh : Start early morning for
Gaurikund(14 kms). This will take 4 hours. then take bus/jeep to
Rishikesh/Rudraprayag
11th June: Delhi

Cheers,

JP

AvidTrekker

I was hoping against hope that someone is posting details on a web forum. And this has turned out to be the old and trusted way.... personal contact. Now it seems IndiaMike is turning out to be the forum for trekkers in India for whatever little info they can get.

I thank Mike for agreeing to my demand for a separate forum-head titled "Trekking and Mountaineering". Now at least it seems well worth it.

Thank You Mike!!

AvidTrekker

Please post a detailed [or short... )] report on IndiaIke.

ALL THE BEST & HAPPY TREKKING!!!

jyotipg

Avid,

that could be the most ideal scenario. But unfortunatley, most of the people of this forum are sitting in the Plains..

Even the tour operators wont be knowing about the ground conditions.. Or if they know, they would like not revealing the info to independent trekkers.. they would prefer to exaggarate things or at least try to keep things uncertain so that people have to bank on them for the guided tours.

The only people on the ground are the poor guides, porters and they usually dont have access to net. So, there is a information gap all the time..

Only in places like Nepal, where activities like mountaineering are so commercialised, we find websites which report day today weather and snow conditions.

But most of the serious trekkers would start planning their activities much in advance. They can get some ground info from their guides and make the forum more informative..

JP

jyotipg

Back from the trek now..

Result: Trek prematurely aborted just before Masar Tal.

Reason: Heavy snowfall.. Thigh deep soft snow just after the last ridge from where you need to need to go a bit downhill to Masar Tal. Crevasses have been formed on this route.. and the area is suceptible to avalanche.. This makes the trek ahead of ridge very difficult to cross..

Alternate route to Masar Tal : Instead of taking the normal route to Masar Tal, you may take the range which is to the left of normal route.. Descend from the this range to Masar Tal may be possible bcoz some grassy patches were still visible on that side indicating that snow might be less on that side and it may be realistically navigable.. But ascend to the the range is dicey since it appears to be covered with more snow than the normal route.

Status of Masar Tal: All covered with snow..

Can we reach Mayali pass?? No.. chances are unrealistic.. atleast for another fortnight.. You can expect much more snow ahead..

Weather: has been a spoilsport all through our trip.. It ran into really bad mood especially 7th June when we tried to reach Masar Tal. We expreienced atleast 5 hours of snowfall during the days(the last 4.5 hours have been heavy snow towards end of the day).
On the way back, on 9th June, we found that even the much lower ranges which were standing stark naked during our way uphill were covered with fresh layer of heavy snow. This was the view from Gangi..

Any challenges in reaching Khatling: Some of route is covered with snow fields(my guide calls them glaciers).. you have to cut your way through them with an ice axe to go ahead.. the first such snowfield exists at as early as 1 km before kharsoli which is 16 kms from khatling..

The bridge at chauki which we need to cross over to go to Masar Tal is broken.. Allow another 2 -3 hours to cross over to other side if you r big team and can afford to wade through the river using ropes..
In case, you plan to reach the mouth of glacier and cross over at that point, then allow for 5 -6 hours and be ready for some good climbs..

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AvidTrekker

Welcome back jyoti.

Glad you are back. Well you got a nice taste of snow-covered routes. I bet you will be hungry for more. My tickets are already booked for my trek.

Have you thought of doing pure winter treks like the frozen Zanskar river trek?

himadventures

Chadar Trek- once in a life time chance. I found this link: http://www.project-himalaya.com/trek...adar-gear.html which is good information.

trekker2

This trek appears to be almost expeditionary in nature judging by all the gear and supplies required to do it.