5 Toughest Treks in Uttarakhand | India | Travel And Trekking

1) Kalindikhal Pass Trek (5970 meters)

Passing over high pass at close to 6000 mt , KalindiKhal trek route is one among the many extremely challenging expedition-style trekking route. It is in the northern part of the spectacular Himalayan ranges of the Garhwal region. This arduous trek is said to be not fit for the faint hearted and also not recommended for the first time trekkers. Of course !! crossing moraine fields, scree landscapes, jumping crevasse in the glaciers region and circumventing across many lakes and valleys to finally reach its destination village is not an easy task while trekking. But, the rewards are high. Be it the tough trekking conditions, experience of climbing on steep and strenuous stretches and last but not the least an out of the world experience of trekking in the remotest part of the world and through the dense fauna and flora of region at its very best sublime state. It presents the best, for the best.

Kalindi Khal Base camp

The Kalindikhal pass being a high altitude expedition is mostly cutoff from from rest of world for 8 months of the year. So preparation for this trek begins during the Summers months that last from mid of June to August. The trek begins from the holy land of Gangotri and ends at an another important pilgrimage site of Badrinath. The whole highlight of this route is that it offers you a chance to visit nearly half of all of Garhwal region, right from the River Bhagirathi valley to the valley of River Alaknanda. The journey en route Kalindi Khal unfolds views of some of the beautiful and the highest and the most majestic peaks of the Indian Himalayan ranges. Some of them being the famous Mt Meru (6,630 m), Mt Shivling (6,543 m), Mt Nilkantha (6,506 m), Mt Chandra Parvat (6,728 m), Mt Kedar Dome (6,808 m), Mt Kamet (7,756 m) and Mt Mana (7,272 m).

PC : Anuj Karkare

Map of the Kalindi Khal Trek route

Highest Altitude Reached : 5947 m / 19500 feet

Kalindikhal trek difficulty Grade : Challenging – Tough

Kalindikhal trek Duration : 20 Days

Best Season to do Kalindikhal Pass Trek : Mid June – July and August

2) Roopkund Lake Trek (5,029 metres)

Popularly known as the ‘Skeleton Lake’ trek, Roopkund Lake is an extremely popular trek in the Gharwal region. The trek is famous on account of the mystery surrounding the glacial lake where at an altitude of 14640 feets more than five hundred humans skeletons were found buried in the year of 1942 AD by park ranger, H K Madhwa. Many theories have came up in the coming years and many documentaries were filmed on this incidents. But each questions led to more questions being raised and many possible explanations were proposed, that further deepened its mystery. of the many explanatory theory proposed is that, these century old skeletal remains were of a group of pilgrims who got caught in an unfortunate blizzard and hailstrom at those heights and died near bank of the lake.

Roopkund Lake

The lake is midway placed on the pilgrimage to the Nanda Devi temple and is known to traverse through the mesmerizing grasslands fields of Bedni Bugyal and stunning snow-clad peaks, finally reaching the challenging terrain of Roopkund lake. The trekking trail to Roopkund lake also serves the common route for yet another challenging trek to Ronti Saddle pass. This challenging trek till the pass can only be reached after crossing the Roopkund lake, then crossing over the Junargali pass and reaching the Ronti Saddle Pass. Both of these treks are has its own awe for the trekkers and both being a challenging trek to complete this trail to roopkund lake is the busiest throughout the trekking season.

Roopkund lake trek begins from the small sleepy town of Lohajung. Then following uphills we reach the village of Didina, then the grasslands of Bedni bugiyal, Pathar Nachauni, then to the base camp of Bhaguwagasa and finally to Roopkund. It takes around seven to nine days to complete the whole trek where trekkers pass throughsome of the lushous deodar/pine tree forests,cascading streams of clean rivers, fields of snow filled mountains patches and see the whole of the Mt Trisul massif. It is an experience of its own which is highly recommended trek . READ MORE ON ROOPKUND LAKE TREK.

Highest Altitude Reached : 4463 m /14638 feet

Roopkund Lake trek difficulty Grade: Moderate to Challenging

Roopkund Lake trek Duration : 9 Days

Best Season to trek do Roopkund lake trek : May – June and September – October

3) Auden’s Col Trek (5490 meters)

Offering the finest multi-terrain challenge, Auden’s Col is a Holy Grail of the many trekking trails present in the Garhwal region in Uttarakhand. Lying at an altitude of 5,490 m, it is one among the toughest high altitude mountain passes. Auden’s Col got its name after a British Geographical Survey officer named John Bicknell Auden, who in the year of 1935 was the first to find an easy accessible path to reach it and then cross it.

Embarking on its trek is truly a fascinating experience. As a small depression the Auden’s Col is situated on the connecting ridge between the two mighty massifs of Jogin I (6465 m) and Gangotri III (6577 m). The expedition begins by driving up the Bhagirathi valley right till the end of the road at Gangotri village. From there the col is approached from the Rudugaira glacier side which descends through a thick ice falls and finally through the crevasses ridden Khatling glacier. The trek to the Khatling glacier is although strenuous but it is all worth because of the amazingly stunning views. From there the track goes south where you will need to abseil the mighty Khatling glacier. The descend of the Khatling glacier is quite tough and lot of patience and coordination with fellow team mates is necessary to reach its base. From there after camping at the zero Point camp site you will again need to climb the steep walls to reach the Mayali pass. Rappelling down the steep snow mountains after Mayali Pass the trek ends on a fun-note sliding down the mountains to the next campsite near Vasuki Tal. The trail after the beautiful Vasuki Tal ascends again on to the steep ridge finally descending on the snow y patch reaching the Kedarnath village. Kedarnath village serves as the final point of the trek.

The usual and the recommended route taken for the Auden Col’s pass trek is as follows Gangotri – Nala Camp – Rudragaira BC – Gangotri BC – Auden’s Col BC – Auden’s Col – Khatling Glacier – Waterfall Camp/Zero Point – Chowki – Masar Tal – Mayali Pass – Vasuki Tal – Kedarnath – Gaurikund .