Tapovan-NandanVan Trek in Detail and Explained

jyotipg

Hi,

I keep coming across multiple queries from people trying to do Tapovan as a first time trek. Most of the times, people are ill informed which can be a real problem on this trek. As the moderator of the himalaya trekker group, I have adviced atleast 50 odd people on Tapoavn travel. Many a time people who didnt pay heed to the advice for acclimatisation had a tough time in trek. So starting a informative thread for the benifit everyone.

Here is the route.
Gangotri(3040m)- Bhojwasa(3700m)- Gaumukh(4000m)-Tapovan(4500m).

Getting to Uttarkashi: Buses to Uttarkashi/Gangotri are available from Rishikesh from the Yatra bus stand. More comfortable way would be to go to Natraj Chowk in Rishikesh early in the morning by 5AM. You can get shared jeeps for Uttarkashi from there.

During off seasons, there is a mail vehicle which takes newspapers to Uttarkashi without fail. You can take this vehicle uttarkashi.

Getting Permits:
Permits are issued from Uttarkashi and need Approval from the SDM and IB. Get a local guys who can do all ground work for you for the permits. You can reach Uttarkashi, show your face to SDM and IB and should get permit within two hours.

Offlate, I have heard that permits are available directly at Gangotri also. But I havent done it myself.

Getting to Gangotri:
There are shared Jeeps from Uttarkashi to Gangotri though the frequency is pretty low. Or you can take buses to Gangotri. If you are done with the permit stuff, I would strongly recommend pushing off to Gangotri.

I WOULD STRONGLY ADVICE AGAINST SPENDING A NIGHT IN UTTARKASHI. SPENT IT IN GANGOTRI FOR A BETTER ACLLIMATISATION.

Stay at Gangotri

There are lots of Ashrams and small lodges in Gangotri. The best one with an excellant location is the GMVN guest house.

Guides/Porters

Guides and porters are easily available in Gangotri. While you are in gangotri, lot of people would approach you to act as guide. Most of them are porters who want to show up as guide to get higher money from you. At no point you should pay more than Rs 300/day to them. They should also carry your lugguage.

Importance of Acclimatisation

What makes Tapovan trek different from other treks is the height of the starting point. At 3040m, Gangotri is a very high starting point compared to other trek. In simplistic terms, the oxygen in Gangotri is around 25% lower compared to plains. Once you reach Bhojwas at around 3700m, even the tree line diminishes and your body gets upto 40% less oxygen everytime you breath. One study says that if someone lands from a helicopter on Mt. Everest, he will die in 5 minutes due to lack of oxygen. If someone lands a kalindi pass(6000m) from a helicopter, he will die within 30 minutes due to low oxygen levels. Imagine how would your body react when it gets 40% less oxygen in Bhojwasa? It might give you breathlessness, dizzy feeling, severe headache and vomitting. If you continue even after these symptoms, you are risking your life and the trek.

But Relax. Human body can adjust to these circumstances if given sufficient time. Once the body senses low oxygen coditions, it starts generating more number of Red Blood Cell (RBC) so that even the limited oxygen is transported efficiently to all body ograns and very less is exhaled out. This is the process of Acclimatisation which takes atleast 24 hours. Drink lots of water as this thins the blood and allows it to carry more oxygen. The thumb rule is that beyond 2500m, for every 300m of height gain, acclimatise for a day.

Since you start at 3040m, this mandates you an extra day for acclimatisation. IN ANY CASE DONT SPEND ANYTHING LESS THAN 2 NIGHTS IN GANGOTRI. THIS IS NONE NEGOTIABLE IF YOU WANT A SUCCESSFUL AND UNEVENTFUL TREK.
I have used this model with people who have never been to hills and also the experienced ones and none of the cases anyone had any problem in Tapovan/Nandanvan.

Suggestions for a successful Itinerary

Day-1: Reach Gangotri by end of the day. Get hooked to porters/guide as required. There are lot of shops on the way to the temple. You can enquire with anyone of them for a guide/porter.

Day-2: Acclimatisation. Go around the place. See Suryakund, Pandava Gufa, temple. You can have a puja at the ghats. There may be Pujaris at the ghat who will be more than willing to do the Puja for you.

Take an acclimatisation walk. Just behind the GMVN guest house, there is a route that goes to Kedartal. Its a well marked Mule trail. If you walk on this trail for 2 hours, you can easily gain 400m of height. Spend some time at the top and come back. You have had the required acclimatisation for the day.
There are lot of Ashrams along the Ghats on the other side of the temple. Visit those Ashrams and meet soem interesting Babas. That would be quite an experience. There is also Ashram of Swami Sundaranand who has published the book "Himalaya: Through the Lens of a Sadhu". There used to be a copy of this book in the GMVN office and the pics in the book are just mind blowing.

Day-3 (Gangotri- Bhojwasa): The trial starts with a series of step right behind the temple. You have to climb some 100 odd meters usign the steps which will leave you out of breath. It gives a good insight of things to follow. . You go another one km and you reach the Forest Check point.

At the Forest check point, you are expected to declare the team size, camera, polyethenes if any, number of days you plan to stay in the area. The Forest guys will calculate a tell you a tariff to be paid and issue you a receipt.

The trail now goes along the left bank of Bhagirathi. Your mobile might still work if you have a BSNL connection. The first set of dhabas come at 3 kms from the Check post.

to be continued.....

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1995 - 2000: Beas Kund, Triundh, Chudhar peak,Dodital.
2001-till date: Tapovan, Khatling,Mayali Pass(Unsuccessful), Rudranath, Chandrashila peak, Pin Parvati Pass, Kalindi Pass, Mt. Yunum(Aborted), Roopkund, Junargali pass, Ronti Saddle.

delhiwala

jyotipg,

Nice info all at one place, could have included some more things, which many people ask like staying options enroute etc.

I think it should become a sticky at Uttarakhand forum.

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Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone. - The Dhammapada

spicetrekker

great thread very informative..

[quote=jyotipg;833593]Hi,

Getting Permits:
Permits are issued from Uttarkashi and need Approval from the SDM and IB. Get a local guys who can do all ground work for you for the permits. You can reach Uttarkashi, show your face to SDM and IB and should get permit within two hours.

If you are done with the permit stuff, I would strongly recommend pushing off to Gangotri.

I WOULD STRONGLY ADVICE AGAINST SPENDING A NIGHT IN UTTARKASHI. SPENT IT IN GANGOTRI FOR A BETTER ACLLIMATISATION.
[quote=jyotipg;833593]


Do you think it is possible to reach gangotri the same day after stopping in uttarkashi for permits. I went to Tapovan in 2005 when permits were not required so I am not sure of the formalities or time taken

jyotipg

Yeah, why not. I did exactly the same when I did Kalindi Pass in 2007. I reached Uttarkashi by 11:30. By 1:30 - 2 we had the permits in our hands. We did a half kms trek to reach the road which goes to Gangotri. Hired a jeep and it took us to Gangotri in 4 hours inspite of bad road construction due to constructiom of soem dam that time.

ganeshs_16

Wonderful writeup Jyotipg. Looking forward for the subsequent parts. Thanks.

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jyotipg

Day-3 (Gangotri- Bhojwasa):
The trail starts with a series of step right behind the temple. You have to climb some 100 odd meters usign the steps which will leave you out of breath. It gives a good insight of things to follow. . You go another one km and you reach the Forest Check point.

At the Forest check point, you are expected to declare the team size, camera, polyethenes if any, number of days you plan to stay in the area. The Forest guys will calculate a tell you a tariff to be paid and issue you a receipt.

The trail now goes along the left bank of Bhagirathi. Your mobile might still work if you have a BSNL connection. The first set of dhabas come at 3 kms from the Check post.

The trails continues along the left back of the river and invloves some stream crossing. These streams may be covered with wooden planks. Sometime these planks are washed away by the rushing streams in the afternoon. In that case, you have to wade through water. Believe me, the water sends chill down the spine as you step on it. Pretty much because it probably melted from the glacier not more than 10 minutes ago. Somehow the water looks dirty and muddy due to high speed which pulls in lot of silt along. Its a gradual climb till you reach Chirbasa. Chirbase is abundant with Chir trees whose bark was used in earlier days for writting. Chirbasa also marks the end of the treeline.

Note: All the while, keep your eyes wide open. You are Gangantri wild life sanctuary and you might miss a group of Mountain groups (Bharal) on the rocky crags to your left if you are not attentive.

The last three kms before Bhojwasa are lined with towers of glacial morains which are several storeys high. There are rocks hanging precariously from those towers and looks as if they would roll down at a slightest push. The whole stretch may look scary. This is followed by a difficult climb to Bhojwasa which is due to a combination of low oxygen levels and a more steeper terrain comparedto what you have been following from Gangotri.

The whole stretch from Gangotri to Bhojwasa is dotted with small Dhabas which would serve you good tea and Maggi. I am not sure of accomodation in these dhabas.

Accomodation:
Camping in Tents: Bhojwasa has a small camping ground in the Valley next to Lal baba Ashram. There are also cabin of Indian Remore Sensing nearby.
Lal Baba Ashram: There is acco available in the valley.
GMVN: This is the best option in Bhojwasa. They have rooms and dormitories. Advance of Dormitories cant be done. So, plan to start early from Gangotri on a busy season so that you reach there before the dorms are full.
Dhabas:There are number of dhabas in Bhojwasa. They are not down in the valley and a good source of info and also right point to interact with locals and fellow trekkers. If you are heading to Tapovan, then you may find your guide cum porter in one of these dhabas. They provide you stay in Dhaba for around Rs 50/day.

Food:
All Dhabas provide you the staple diet of Maggi, Rice with Dal as a Thali, Paratha for food.

Warning:
- Carry your own sleeping bag or a bed sheet with you as the quilts served in the Dhabas may not be very clean.
- If you are the one looking for seclusion, then Dhabas may not be fit for you as there might be people constantly pouring in and lights may not be off before 9 PM.
- If you are staying in the valley and depending on the Dhaba for food, then it might be a good uphill climb for around half a kilometer to the Dhabas. Beleive me, its may not very enjoyable to do this mini trek for food.

jyotipg

Guys,
I found some time after so many days to complete the work which I started last month:

Day4: Bhojwasa to Tapovan

The day starts with a gentle climb from the valley to join the main trail. Its a gradual climb for next 3 kms. You may feel the affect of altitude on you now. Its a slow march to the source of mother Ganges. You may see small boards put by the forest departent saying "Careful, you in the glacier area". If you started early on a cold morning, you may find layer of ice deposited on the water deposited at some places on your path. The path gets more and more bouldery. On the way, dont miss the vital information on the big rocks along the river. One of them marks the position of the gaumukh glacier in the beginning of 20the century. There are some more such rock marking the snout position at different times. You would be surprised to see that glacier has receded by more than a kilometer in the last century.

Around half a kilometer before the glacier, you may see some makeshift temples made by sadhus. A few dhabas had come up there in 2007. Offlate, I have heard that the piligrims are allowed to go only till 500m before the snout. Gaumukh looks like a huge amphitheatre. If you were looking for white glaciers, then gaumukh might be quite a disappointment. You would find that the glacier made of dirty, bluish green ice which is tens of thousands years old. This glacier continuously keeps on breaking. You may see small pieces of ice floating in the river. If you hold of these pieces, just imagine that you are holding a piece of ice which was first formed may be more than a lac years back. Its a strange feeling to hold something which belong to an unimaginaly era back in time.
The river here is muddy due to the large amount of sediments from the glacier.

The Gangotri Glacial System
I am tempted to give a brief idea of the Gangotri glacier's catchment area. The gangotri glacier is fed by so many small glaciers which can be called the tributary glaciers. Each of these tributary glaciers may in turn be fed by many other small glacier coming from different mountains in that region.
If I draw an imaginary for Gangotri glacier,then whole area starting from Bhrigupanth parvat, the adjoining shivling, Kedar dome, kedarnath peak and the whole series of mountains running till the Chaukhambha(which marks the end of the glacier) and stretching towards chandra parvat, satopanth, arwa parvat, kalindi parvat, all of them contribute to the gangotri glacier. The line extends further towards Tibet from Kalindi but I have no idea of that area. I am not even heard of anyone who has been to that part of the glacier till now.

Once you cross Gaumukh, the route is towards the left side of the glacier. On this side, you can find a huge barren mountain which is gradually decomposing and keeps throwing stones down to the glacier. This can be scary if you are crossing this stretch later in the day. As the rocks heat up in the day, the rate at which stones come down from the mountain becomes faster. Its adviced to start early and cross thsi section early in the day.

Your target for the day, Tapovan lies on the true right of the gangotri glacier. You have to cross the glacier. It is all about boulder hopping for more than an hour. Cross this section carefully. There are no fixed path on thsi stretch. There are cairns laid out which might give you some guidance. The imaginary path along the cairns runs up and down and would leave you a bit tired. You would see the Raktavaran glacier(Red colour) towards your left. There used to be a glacier with a snout when I was there in 2004. When I was there again in 2007, the whole glacier had disappeared. All I could see was water flowing down. No snout in 2007. The whole raktavaran glacier had cracked. I was worried seeing the dangerous route to Mt. Thelu which goes along the dangerously cracked moraines of Raktavaran glacier.

Once you have almost the gangotri glacier, you might want to ask him "Where is Tapovan". Once he points me to the red flag higher up, the first thing that came to my mouth was "Oh No". It might look a bit intimidating at first. You have a nice steep climb of some 300 meters to do. There is a steep precarious path which would leave you running out of breath. Cover this stretch slowly. Take the help of your guide/porter wherever you feel scared. Tapovan is a beautiful grassy patch which is worth all the hard work.

Tapovan: Where to Stay??
Once you reach there, there are several options to stay.
1. Stay in the Ashram of Bangali Amma
2. Stay in the Mauni Baba's Ashram
3. Stay in your own tents.

Both Bangali Amma and Mauni Baba also provide you simple food. Some money expected for the service.

If you plan to pitch you own tent, then find a place near the Neel Ganga which flows through Tapovan.

What to do in Tapovan:
Depends on what you enjoy doing.
1. If you got a nice clear weather, you might want to spens hours sitting idle and watching the Shivling peak. Its just amazing. No doubts this is one of the most beautiful peaks in the himalayas.

2. You can take a short trip to Neel tal. This may take at max an hour to reach there. Its such a beautiful small lake formed by the stream coming from Bhrigupanth. If you have heard stories in childhood about fairies coming down to earth for dance along a lake on full moon night, then this must be the lake.
Many of the guides wont tell us about the Neel Tal, so ask them and force them to take you there.

3. Take a walk along the ridge running parallel to Gangotri glacier. This is a long walk of 5-6 along the glacier which takes you to Keerthi glacier passing through Sundarvan. Since you are around 400 meters above the glacier, you can get the best view of the long glacier. There may be small temporary green coloured lakes, caves along the glacier. Along the ridge you can see the whole range of peaks whose glacial flow contribute to the ganotri glacier.

travel joy

Reminded me of the walk I took along the grassy ridge four years back. Fascinating beauty and amazing geography.

The entire glacial system around both flanks of the Gangotri glacier is remarkable indeed.