Kinnaur Kailash parikrama – An experience

wandersUnlimited

We did the Kinnaur Kailash parikrama trek in first week of Sep 07, & I wanted to share the experience with all. We were a group of two! , and believe in trekking without porters & guide, so this information may help others who have similar outlook towards a trek.
The total distance trek distance is approximately 60 KM starting from Thangi & ending at Chitkul. The trek distance compared to other treks like EBC & Kailash Manasrovar, Adi Kailash is small, yet a lot of things makes this trek unique & difficult:

a. Out of the 60-KM walk only 30 KM is on a standard trek path, the other 30 KM is boulders hopping!
Unlike EBC or Adi Kailash treks which are highways. This puts a severe limit to how many KM you
can cover in a day.
b. Stream crossing – There are at least 3 places where you have to cross the ice cold water knee deep. You can experience the disconnection with your legs & instant nirvana feeling!
c. Remoteness – After Charang village we did not see a single soul till we reached Chitkul. That was 3 days of complete isolation. This can be a problem if you get lost, like we did and are travelling independently without any porter or guide.
d. Charang Pass crossing – This requires prior experience of free hand climbing & basic rock climbing experience. It’s 500 feet of climb on a very loose surface with lots of rocks freely falling over you. More about that in detail below.
e. The markup stones put across the whole path from Lalanti passes right upto Chitkul are a real help. Without them we would never have completed this trek. Thanks to the unknown hands that have spent time in putting such signs, this is what makes this trek a pleasure.

Inner Line Permit – It is required for foreigners. There is some confusion for Indians; The Rekong Peo DC office & the HP tourism office tell point blank that no permit is required for the parikrama for the Indians. So based on this information we set out without any papers only to be stopped at Surting ITBP check post . Had to do a lot of pleading till they allowed us to proceed. So here is message to all fellow Indians, please get a pass from the DC office else make him commit whatever he says on a paper.

Day 1 (Thangi to Charang village: 30KM)- We started our trek from Thangi at 6.00 AM doing a brisk pace towards Lambar. There is a jeep road upto Lambar but these jeeps generally start after 8.00 AM from Thangi.
From Lambar to Surting the path is broken because of the road construction activity. What should have been a plain enjoyable walk becomes hellish, as you have to worry about the rock blastings going on the way. The speed with which the work is in progress, the road to Charang should be ready by Dec 07.
By 2.00 PM we had reached Surting. After half-hour of pleading & proof that we both were legitimate Indians, the ITBP person offered us hot Tea. They suggested that we move to Charang village 6 KM further & halt for night in the village. So we reached Charang village at around 5.00 PM. We were able to stay in the village with a guy who offered his cosy home to us. Quick dinner & of to sleep.

Day 2 ( Charang village to Lalanti camp: 13 KM)- Early morning visited the Charang Devi temple. It’s a unique temple dating back to 500 years. This is the first Tibetian temple I have seen where in a deity goddess is worshipped. After a quick breakfast started for the Lalanti Pass (4420 mtrs). The climb starts immediately to the left after you exit the village border gate. The climb to Lalanti pass is steep, took us 3 hours. The descent is also very steep & breathtaking. There are two ways to reach the Lalanti camp a. Charang village ->Lalanti Pass->Lalanti camp , b. Surting ->Lalanti camp ( no need to cross the pass).
After you descend the Lalanti pass we started walking parallel to the stream. The path is lined up with markup stones ( 3 stones placed on top of other) . It gets confusing at a junction of 2 streams as the markup stones seem to want us to cross the stream, but wait ! not at this place! Where water is gushing & deep too.
We spent a lot of time in following these landmarks and almost got swept in the water.
It took us sometime to use some common sense (so difficult at that altitude) , we then climbed up and started walking parallel to water from a safe distance. After some time we could see the Lalnati camp landmarks! ( A broken PWD shed & a small hut). The painful thing was these were on the opposite side of the stream & there was no place where we could cross it. So with the evening fast approaching we both decided to brave it & went knee deep in the ice cold water. After agonizingly crossing the stream we experienced our first of the many numbness effect of the legs!
We decided to pitch our tent near the PWD shed, wind was blowing very fast, so after a hot tea decided to retire. We were rudely woken up at 3.00 am in the morning by the rain showers. After an hour of wait inside the tent we realized that this tent wouldn’t survive the heavy rains, so decided to run to the tin shed. It poured till 8.00 am in the morning.

Day 3 (Lalanti camp to Charang base camp) We started late at 10.30 am after the rains had stopped & the tent was dried up by the sunshine. There are 3 big landmark stones kept just on the ridge of the camp, so we assumed this to be the way to charang pass. That’s a big mistake we made. After 2 hours of strenuous climbing we realized this was a wrong route & came down back to Lalanti camp. The actual route is just walk parallel to the stream. I don’t know why those confusing landmark stones are kept there, especially when the gully & the end look similar to the charang pass. Pl. see attached map to avoid the mistake we made. Its a map I found on this forum & I have detailed out the correction with different colors.
After crossing a big stream & lots of boulder hopping we reached a spot in the evening which seemed like a base camp halt, with lots of markups showing that people had camped here. Little did we realize that there was no water for 2 KM either direction, all streams were completely dried up. This is another unique thing about this trek, suddenly there is no water available to drink even for 2-3 KM walking. So our halt was not much enjoyable as we had little water to drink, so we did not even prepare the mandatory hot Tea! My right leg was hurt because I slipped while boulder hopping across the stream. I only hoped it could sustain the next day’s final assault.

Day 4. ( Charan Base camp to Charang Top : 5200mtr) This was a very crucial day. Our estimate was to cross the pass by noon & reach Chitkul village by evening., but that was not to happen. After 1 hour of walking we found a stream which seems an ideal spot to camp. It is easily recognizable, as there is a small pond on the opposite side. We reached the Charang pass upper base at 2.00 PM . The boulder walking can really screw up your calculation of walking fast. The final climb to the top is a 500 feet gully climb that is made of loose rocks & plenty of scree. We tried finding a route, but only solution was to climb the boulders on the right side of the gully that would take us half way up to the gully. The real fun starts in the final 250 feet to the top. There are no holds, all the rocks are loose & anything you keep you feet on is bound to become unstuck. So it was basically climbing like a lizard stuck to a wall with the wall crumbling down. I had stopped bothering about the loose stones that kept coming towards me, these were dislodged by my friend who was climbing ahead of me. I was struck by one of them, luckily the injury was not much, almost lost the foothold as I tried to dodge the stone. Half way into the climb it started raining. The rain really saved us as the scree & the mud become wet, which gave us anchorage to hold on to. We took a detour in final 50 feet moving towards the right side rocks. These look big & assuring compared to the 70 degree gully climb. But we soon realized that the rocks were equally dangerous as irrespective of their size, they would come unstuck with our weight & threaten to take us down. Sheer luck, some basic rock climbing skills finally saw us to the top after two & half hours of battle. It was indeed a relief to both of us as it had started snowing & we may not have made it to the top.
I have done lot of scree climbing, and free hand rock climbing at 70 degrees or more in the Sahyadri Mountains, but never had I done a climb at this altitude that too on such a loose surface. Based on earlier posting, we had thought some part of the climb was involving loose rocks & didn’t gave it much thought, but that description was incomplete. I think, if anyone wants to cross this pass in future then they have to carry three essential things –
a. Helmet, b. ice axe c. some rope for safety.
I am all for adventure in trekking, but what we witnessed that day was in spite of our climbing skills we may have landed to the bottom due to loose rocks or may have been fatally injured by a stone hitting on the head. I have written this part in detail so that others can plan safely.
The climb down on the other side is less dramatic compared to the climb up. Your knee brakes have to be on all the time till you reach the first bottom at 500 feet! It was getting late evening & what stuck us was the awesome view of the snow peaks around us. The sunlight was playing magic on these mountains & it was such pleasure to see the beauty of the nature. We just stood there till sunset, & then decided to pitch the tent on the slope. It was a tiring yet fulfilling day. In the excitement we had forgotten that there were no streams nearby! So another day ended without our mandatory hot chay!

Day 5 ( Charang Top to Chitkul ) It took us 2 hours of down climbing before we came across a stream of water. The climbing down is real painful, as it’s a walk on the boulders again. At the very last 1000 feet you will come across a trekking pathway that takes you into the beautiful village of Chitkul.
That how we ended the trek , late by 2 days but happy to have completed it without any broken bones!

Verdict – This is an amazing trek route. If you are looking for non-tourist trekking spots then this must rank high. As it is not so popular you are alone to enjoy the beauty & the fiery of the nature. No villages along the way, just open virgin land. The mountains around the gully do not appear to be that tall as you are already at an altitude, but they appear menacing when it starts to rain.

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capt_mahajan

Wandersunlimited, welcome to indiamike.

and how

wonderful report.

k_cborty

Wandersunlimited,it's a wonderful post.

Surely it will help many.

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Yeh Zindagi ek safar hai suhana...

himadventures

Yes- you were lucky to go through ITBP. We were not and were told at THANGI that we have to have a PERMIT from Peo. And DM at Pro replied same answer but he gave a wrriten letter which helps us to went through.

You did wonderful job as you did this without porters and guide. I am sure you might have felt relieved after you reach CHITKUL.

Few years back- with one person sick..we reached CHITKUL in night...that was one of the wonderful experience we had walking under shadows of stars.

Good job done !

dooms

wandersUnlimited congrats on an exciting trek and thanks for the post. Any links for the pics?

travel joy

Congratulations..Thats a great post from you..detailed and helpful..

uttam

Well done! Nice report thanks for sharing.

There is some real confusion about the permit. I happened to talk to S.P Kinnaur and he clearly told me that Indians do not require any trek permit. I was alone and interacted with ITBP men at Shurting, Kuno and Rangrik Tungma Posts but nowhere they asked for the permit. I am puzzled reading others experiences about the issue. There seems to be a different and independent working ways among these Govt. departments!!!
Friend, HRTC bus goes right till Lumber. But there is only one bus in a day. Charang is just 14 KMS trek distance from Lumber.

AvidTrekker

Good work, wandersUnlimited !!

Nice to read your account.

Since most people take a guide on this route, your experience was a refreshing change...

Keep up the Good work!
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wandersUnlimited

Hello All,
Thanks for such a positive feedback . Here are some pics I took.

Regards,
wandersunlimited

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wandersUnlimited

some more photos

Thanks,
wandersunlimited

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Tcube

WandersUnlimited, We were really helped by your account - very informative and inspiring. We are a group of 3 with only a little experience of walking in the Himalaya, .. do you think that we could do this somewhat safely with guide/ porters? will that make a big difference?

ranjan154

Very nice pics .. loving it..

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wandersUnlimited

Hello Tcube,
I am assuming that you are not an Indian national, so that would be added factor in going to remote areas as far as communicating in the local language. My suggestion to you would be to take a guide at least if you have never hiked independently in Himalayas. Please note that the guide will not carry your load.
Porters may not be required if you can carry a backpack of say 10-12 kg. This includes a 4 person tent which will accommodate the guide also.
Best luck for your plans.
Let me know if you need any further assistance.

Thanks,
Wandersunlimited

Tcube

Thank you ever so much for your suggestions - I am a proud Indian but unfortunately I am so very distant from the Himalaya as I work in UK.
You are correct- Without much experience of trekking in the Himalaya, I beleive that we will need a guide/ and or a porter.
I would highgly appreciate your further valued comments/ suggestions.
Just to let you know that we are a team of 3 (hence T CUBE - myself, my wife & cousin) we have had only a small exposure so far like Gomukh-Tapovan, Kedar- Chorabalitaal, Badri - Vasudhara, Chandrataal, Sandakhphu etc.
I thank you once again and would eagerly wait for any suggestions. We are very keen to do a trek around 3rd week of Aug and have got little more than 2 weeks in hand - so we are in the planning stage at present.
regards

Dilliwala

Tcube, have u read the first thread by Pijush shown in the links at the bottom? There's a lot of useful info re preparation, hiring a guide, and "permit/no permit?", etc in it. They were in very similar circs to yours - similar group size and trekked in mid-Aug '07.