Tapovan and Kedartal in October 2008.

somnath

Khatling-Panwali

Date Day Destination Distance in Kms Altitude Remarks

1 04.10.08 Sat train from Sealdah
2 05.10.08 Sun N.delhi > Haridwar.
3 06.10.08 Mon Haridwar > UTK
4 07.10.08 Tue Uttarkashi > Belak Distance: 22 kms + trek*15 kms
5 08.10.08 Wed Belak > Buddhakedar 17 km
6 09.10.08 Thurs Buddhakedar > Ghuttu 13 km
7 10.10.08 Fri Ghuttu > Panwali 17 km
8 11.10.08 Sat Panwali rest / reserve day
9 12.10.08 Sun Panwali > Shone Prayag / Rampur via Triyugi Narayan.
10 13.10.08 Mon Keadrnath
11 14.10.08 Tue Keadrnath
12 15.10.08 Wed Rudraprayag
13 16.10.08 Thurs Rishikesh
14 17.10.08 Fri Haridwar
15 18.10.08 Sat train from Haridwar to Delhi……..Train from Delhi
16 19.10.08 Sun Kolkata

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fab70

Thank you Somnath, so we have to wait until the 1st of october.
If the weather turns good I could wait some days in Uttarkashi until the conditions get better in Tapovan ( I'm coming from Italy for this so I really hope that it can be done ), or like you I could go to trek somewhere else ( maybe after Goumukh that can be done in a couple of days anyway ).

roy_supratim05

@Somnath,

Can you give me the mobile number of Mr. Satyajit (of Ria Mount Support)?? I have to hire some equipments as Sudeb Da (Alpine) have no more stock left un-booked.

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somnath

Ohhh... sure: 9883176092

Alpine is doing really good business this year.

adventure_is_utopia

hi guys...we are starting our trek from gangotri(destined to vasukital and back).. from 4th october. Hope to meet u ppl there...best of luck...please update the thread if anyone one of u has any special info about the trek...it sounds tough...!

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somnath

As per the schedule I'll be there on 6th. Hotel / staying option is open for us, else I could provide you the same. Hey fab.... what about a meetup there at UTK?
Please let us know if you are able to fix your alternative trip. Tapovan is my dream tour but .....

Hey, thats great but what about the permission?

Dilliwala

somnath, read your pm now.

Cancel Panwali and go to Kush Kalyani and Sahastra.
For the simple and specious reason that that's exactly what nyraghu is doing.

http://www.indiamike.com/india/trekk...ru-tal-t35600/

I think his dates are similar - you guys cud have an IM meetup.

somnath

Thank you DilliWala, honestly speaking..... I am unable to find some photographs of the route / sahastra tal. So cant assume the scenic beauty or difficulty level (not very practical... i know, but... still...).

fab70

Why not? I will be alone so I'd really like to meet people that knows and loves this mountains.
Tapovan is my dream too and if the path is open and the weather is fine I'll go, I don't care about the snow ( maybe it could be even more beautiful ). Only if there's no chance to go up there I'll think about something else.
We could fix a meeting in Uttarkashi for the 6th, I think I will be there since the 5th, how can you send a PM in this forum? I think PM are not enabled in my account.

Sadanand Kamath

Somnath,

I have replied your PM yesterday night.

Sadanand

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nyraghu

And a more specious reason'd be hard to find, Dilliwala :-) It looks like Somnath plans to end his trip by 19th Oct., whereas I'll be starting mine on the 23th Oct., so I guess our paths won't cross.

I hope you can make it to Tapovan, which I understand is your original destination. About the other thing, yes, there doesn't seem to be much information available about Kush Kalyani and Sahastra Tal, but here are some pointers which you may be interested in.

There are a few photographs taken at Kush Kalyani in Harish Kapadia's collection. See the six pictures starting row-wise from the one with the Indian flag. Chapter 9 (A trek in the lake district of Garhwal: thousand lakes) in Kapadia's book, `Across peaks and passes in Garhwal Himalaya,' is entirely about Kush Kalyani and Sahastra Tal, and the cover photograph of the book is of the Bandar Punch viewed from Kush Kalyani. Also, plates 10 and 26 inside the book are photographs taken at Kush Kalyani.

`Touching upon the Himalaya' by Bill Aitken and Geeta Kapadia has another Chapter 9 (Monson madness and seven lakes) on Kush Kalyani, available at Google Books.

Raghu.

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adventure_is_utopia

we,ve been trying for the permission but unfortunately havent got it yet... the guide there tells us...there is a chance that we still might get it from UTK DM..

solo_trekker

Hi there... Somnath and all...
Instead of writing a p.m., I'll try and make my suggestions on the forum itself...

Just a couple of things...
1) If you are doing the Panwalikantha trek from the Ghuttu side, you need to keep two days to reach Panwalikantha from Ghuttu... There are a couple of decent camp sites along the route and also a hamlet along the way... The reason is that this is just toooo steep a climb to be completed in a single day... I did it from the other side, and though I was going downhill continuously, I did it in pouring rain, and rest assured, it was quite quite slippery and slithery and downright dangerous... I'm talking about mid-August though...
2) Also the trek from Panwalikantha to Triyuginarayan should ideally also be done in two days... One night at Magguchatti / Kinkhola Khal and the next day right upto Triyuginarayan or even upto Soneprayag...
3) You don't really need to spend time at Rudraprayag...
4) If you want, you can catch an early morning bus from Gaurikund (base of Kedarnath, the road ends here) and reach Haridwar the same evening, by 5ish...

Fab 70 - you can send PMs once you post atleast 10 messages...

Guys, honestly... The Panwalikanha trek is an amazing stretch... The flowers I saw there at the peak of the monsoons were just amazing - wild absolutely wild... The walk on the ridge is just outta the world... And I, as usual, did it solo...!

Cheers...!

somnath

AiU, Dilliwala, Fab, Sadanand jee, Raghu and Solo, thank you so much for the reply. And thanks for your PMs also. All the info in PMs is already shared in the thread so that it becomes a good useful thread.

Dilliwala and Raghu :
Sahasra tal / Khatling - is the difficulty level is same as Tapovan? As you know we’ve 3 beginners in the team of 6. And we cannot accommodate one extra day (as per our schedule).
Thank you Raghu, thank you so much for those links…..

Solo, thank you so much for sharing your experience. Since this is October I cannot expect flowers but looks like (even Sadanand jee’s album says….) it is a nice place.

Yeah you are rite about the Gourikund > Haridwar journey. But this time we would like to experience the excitement of rafting near Rishikesh. So we need halt at Muni ki reti / Rishikesh. Hence Rudraprayag day can be utilized for that, thank you.

Anyways, allow me to update the situation of the region. As per the discussion with D.M., (thanks to my friend Anirban) Gangotri > Gomukh is open since last Saturday. Today it will be decided if it is asfe to open the Tapovan route. Weather is clear… sunny. So lets hope for the best.

Fab : Please write something here….. and you’ll be able to access PMs. Say - "Har Har Gangey"…..

nyraghu

From what I've read Sahastra Tal is not a difficult trek. OTOH, I understand Khatling Glacier is much more difficult. I am sorry about these imprecise statements, but I don't know any better.

Raghu.