A Winter Trek for All "Kedarkantha"

This winter my brother and I decided to explore our states distant places doing our favorite activity hiking or trekking. So we decided on Kedarkantha trek which is one of the must do winter trek in India Kedarkantha peak is at 12500 ft within Govind wildlife sanctuary . It is a moderate trek which is usually covered in 4 days excluding to and fro travel to Sankri by majority of trekking groups. The total distance of the trek is around 22 km which can be covered easily in two days in case you have time constraint like us. We booked our trek via euttaranchal (https://www.euttaranchal.com/) as they agreed to arrange trek for 2 people.

Day 1: The trek starts from a small village Sankri in Uttarkashi district which is around 200 km from Dehradun. Dehradun is well connected by air, rail and road from most of the places. We boarded our tempo traveler at around 7 am from Dehradun railway station. It takes around 8-9 hours to reach Sankri including breakfast and lunch stops. The route is very beautiful and my favorite part is pine tree forests once we reach higher altitudes. We reached Sankri around 5 PM, our stay was at MerakiTriangle home stay (https://www.merakitriangle.com/). It is a wooden house built with painting depicting Pahadi culture. The rooms here are spacious and provide a amazing view of mighty Himalayas. First day was all about reaching the starting point of trek which was completed with a simple and homely dinner.

Day 2 : We started for Kedarkantha base camp at around 10:30 AM . The route is steep right from start surrounded by Pine trees and majestic Himalayan mountain ranges. It was after months that we came out outdoors and i never imagined first few meters will make me breathless. I have done so many treks but the lock down and being indoors did take a toll on me. At one point i thought i should go back as there was still 6-7 km to trek, but then who wants to miss the ultimate view that we get from top. Though i was the slowest in my group which had 3 people including me but i was faster from everyone else. There are tea points at around 1-1.5 km distance throughout the trek .

Trek groups usually end there trek for first day at Juda Ka Talab which is 3 km from Sankri. Till December 3rd week you get to see snow after this point. We reached Juda Ka Talab 1:15 Pm and had our packed lunch besides the lake. At 2 Pm we started for the base camp and it gets cold, windy and slippery due to snow from this point onward. The first time i slipped was pretty scary as it was all snow and no support of trees or anything and on top of that i realized that i slipped when i was lying with my face almost buried in snow. After that i was extra careful on where to step. The speed with which i was walking i thought i will reach the camp after sunset but way before it . It took us 5.5 hours to reach base camp.

After reaching base camp we settled in our tents had tea and snacks. I watched the sunset and the colorful tents as far as i can see over the snow covered base camp . We ended our day at around 7 Pm after dinner as next morning we had to start our day at 4 Am for the summit.

Day 3 : We were up by 4 Am and had our breakfast in our tents. Other groups started between 2-3 Am but we started at 5 Am to avoid crowding and off course cold. When we started it was still dark and all i could see was moon ,star filled sky, torch which my brother was carrying and my shoes in the torch light which i was carrying. At this point i was thinking last day was easier than this, i was not able to see anything apart from the trail lighted by the torch and my feet were freezing even though i was wearing two layers of socks. I was literally walking like a penguin, but the star gazing helped me a lot as the breaks i took helped me to embrace the beauty of night sky. Around 6:30 AM we reached the last tea point before summit and rested there for few minutes while having tea.

Next part was around 1.5 km to the summit which was extremely steep and pleasing as you could see nothing but mountain peaks, snow and crack of dawn. We were around 600 meters from the peak during sunrise, i stood there for quite long to watch the sunrise and wrapped myself in the warmth of the rising sun. After this point every meter was extremely difficult, it took us around 1 hour to cover 600 meter. After reaching the summit we took photos from every place possible and then started the descent.

There were 2 ways to go down either you can walk in snow which was knee deep and struggle to reach or you can slide down. Sliding down was fun as it took few seconds to reach. For one of the slide i went in different direction while sliding and then i was hanging from the snow, luckily i was not the last person in my group to come down so my group member help me to get to the right path and saved me from major injury. The route down was all snow till the base camp and extremely beautiful, morning we were not able to see it as we were walking in dark. At 12 Pm we were at base camp, we rested for 1-2 hours after our lunch and then around 2 Pm we started for Sankri.

We took Hargaon route on which was a bit longer but it also offered breathtaking views . By 5:30 PM we were back at our home stay in Sankri and it felt like coming back to our home as we got the same room again .

Day 4 : On our last day at Sankri we got up early enjoyed the sunrise from our room balcony , had our breakfast and left for Dehradun at around 10 AM . For me return journey are always feels tedious as next day everything we will be back to the same 9 to 5 routine . But the hope of next trips always keeps me running.