My Kedarkantha Trek

Hi, today i will share my solo journey from the plains of India to the majestic kedarkantha peak.

Kedarkantha is a peak in the Himalayan ranges with an elevation of 12,500 ft. It was my first ever complete winter snow trek. I had no idea about trekking, so I started watching videos on youtube, and came up with great videos. I luckily had a rucksack, but that wasn't enough. i had to get really warm clothes like fleece jackets and windproof jackets. Also other things like trekking shoes, snow sticks and head torch, etc. But these things are quite expensive which is why i ended up renting most of the things. With all these things in background, the journey finally began. :)

The fresh morning and warm rays of sun welcomed me at the Dehradun airport. I enjoyed that day at my hotel using its pool and other facilities. The next morning I had to report at the railway station where I met the rest of team. I reached the railway station at 6 and met really joyful and full of life people. Surprisingly I was the youngest one in the group. From there we began our road journey from Dehradun to Sankri.

We all left for Sankri tha chilling morning. It was a tiring 8 hours road journey. But the views were breathtaking. We all were listening to music and talking to each other. It was a really diverse team with lawyers, entrepreneurs, corporate executives, food bloggers, IRS Officers, medical students and much more. We all were excited to reach the peak. And Sankri was just the beginning.

Sankri is a beautiful place, and a lot of treks starts from that village. It had decent shopping centers from where I rented my snow sticks and other equipment. I remember sitting in a cafe trying to call my mom. But unfortunately there was no network in Sankri and I did not know that, which really scared my parents because they could not contact me. I used that cafe's almost dead wifi and messaged them that i was okay and would not be able to contact them for a few days. The views from my window was wonderful. That night at shared room in Sankri literally gave me chills thinking about how to spend nights on the snowy mountains. It was so cold there that the temperature was nearing to zero. My mind almost gave up, but looking at the enthusiasm of the team the next morning, my spirit was back. Finally we left for Juda Ka Talab(Base1).

We started our hike and after trekking for about 5 kms, we saw Juda ka talab coming into our sight in the afternoon. The view was spectacular. There was this vast frozen lake with snowcapped mountains and pine trees on the backdrop. Our campsites were all set up and the trek leader introduced the campsite to us. There was a dining tent and two toilet tents. Our food was ready and after the tasty lunch, we rested for a while. Then we went to explore the region around the talab. All the pain felt worth it. I was just engrossed into the beauty of the region in the Himalayas.

In the evening, we were informed about the idea of acclimatization walks in the surrounding areas. It is essential to get acclimatized to higher altitudes to avoid any misadventure or AMS during the trek. When we reached the campsite, we were greeted with a pleasant surprise: hot delicious Momos on a chilly evening at 9600 feet.

The tents were on twin sharing basis, and we were provided sleeping bags for the night. The temperature hereon everyday after the sundown would be a lot below 0 degree. It was my first experience sleeping in a tent with a sleeping bag, and as expected, it was not a pleasing experience :p

Next day, the tiredness of my sleepless night went away when the snow trek began to the next destination- the base camp. The view throughout the trek was breathtaking. There were fallen trees on which inches of ice had formed a layer. There were pine trees with the snow capped on their branches, bright red rhododendron flowers with beautiful petals. The view was so amazing that this therapy to eyes relieved me out of all the pains. After trekking for about three-four hours, we reached the base camp. The views from the Kedarkantha Base camp were surreal.

This certainly is the most beautiful thing about treks. You have these stunning, sky-high mountains with alluring snowy peaks all around you—beautiful blue skies with clouds just a touch away. We spent the day witnessing the beautiful landscapes nature has to offer.

Glimpse of Kedarkantha peak from the base camp.

I sat alone for some time to behold the captivating sceneries around me. Mountains, I feel have a sense of permanence about them. They are unaffected by time and space. They teach you a great many things but the most important of them being humility. You realize your insignificance and your mental prowess at the same instant. They stand tall with all their grandeur yet are humble enough to let you conquer them. They teach you to be humble and kind.

Soon, the sun started hiding behind a mountain as if it was returning to its home somewhere in that faraway mountain. It was one of the most beautiful sunsets of my life. Slowly, the sky bustling with vibrant colors started smoothly fading away into deeper shades of night.

As it started getting cold outside, we went into the dining tent and started playing games eagerly waiting for our trek leaders to brief us about the summit day. We were told that we would be starting early at 2:30 am the next morning. In the night I woke up to the sound of rainfall, it was 12 am. For a moment I thought that we wouldn’t be able to summit and I slept again only to be woken up at 2:00 am by our neighboring tent mate.

Tea and breakfast were served exactly at 2 so that we can move by 2:30 as decided. I was both nervous and excited. It was my first summit trek, and the idea of witnessing the world from a mountain peak was exhilarating. The weather was clear, and we could see a lot of people from other groups starting on their way to the summit.

Trekking in the moonlight was an altogether different experience. With our head torches on, we set out on moonlit snow. The glittering rays from the moon fell on the shimmering snow, illuminating our path to the summit.

The trail expectedly wasn't easy with steep ascends. It got very narrow, allowing only one trekker to pass through. After trekking for 2 hours straight, we stopped at a tea stall for some refreshments. The tea stall seemed like an oasis in the middle of the desert. After some hot honey lemon ginger tea, we set out for the climax of our Himalayan summit quest.

The last few meters of the climb seemed very dangerous. It was dead deep on the sides. Finally we reached the summit and I was completely blank. I had been waiting for this very moment from the past 4 days, yet there I was standing with uncharacteristic calmness. I had tears in my eyes but wasn't crying. I never experienced such feeling. Watching the sunrise from that peak was worth everything. It was heavenly.

After capturing this mesmerizing view we started our descent which wasn't easy at first because of the wind and thick snow. After sometime our trek leader let us all have some. Can you imagine a snow slide? Yes, we not just imagined but experienced it. Sit on the slide path, lift your legs slightly from the ground, lift your arms up and hold the pole horizontally and slide! Whoooosh! I had never experienced anything like this before. Free fall slide for about 200 metres with a spectacular view ahead! We had two such slides to go. The snow would be atleast 4-5 feet deep, which makes it impossible to descent by walk, so sliding remains the only option.

Anyways, once we finished the slides, we had to walk down the steep mountain with heels first, bending the body backwards to maintain balance. On the way back, we witnessed some amazing sights more beautiful than the ones from the ascend.

After reaching the base camp the team decided to go directly to Sankri since nobody wanted to spent another night in -10 degrees. After resting for a bit we packed our stuff and left for Sankri. It took us about 7 hours to descend down to Sankri. But we did and it and were so happy to see a proper toilet after dayssssss. Finally the next morning we said goodbye to the beautiful kedarkantha and reached Dehradun with a heart full of memories.

I hope to go back there again one day!