Max. Elevation:- Roopkund-
4844 m
Time Taken :- 3- 3 ½
hours
I slowly opened my eyes and noticed that the
morning sunlight illuminated our tent. “I am still alive! I survived a icy-cold
night by literally slept over snow. It means we were not crushed by any
avalanche. It means we are alive and it’s summit day.” With these thoughts
running in my mind I opened up my Quechua water bottle to drink some water and
shockingly not even a single drop of water fells into my mouth. Holy crap!
Whole water got frozen. I peeped outside
and saw that the cooking staffs were still sleeping. They were the only source of
water here as they dug out snow and melt it to make it drinkable. Then I slept
again as icy winds were flowing outside. After some time we all woke up. Today
weather was clear which boost us even more as we had learnt that last week many
trekkers had to move back without doing summit due to the bad weather.
Me,
Prashant and Gaurav were all set for the summit today but seldom had any one of
us anticipated that we didn’t be able to find crampons at baghubasa. We had planned
to rent it from india hikes people but unfortunately they didn’t have any extra
pair and we need 3 that time. But by the blessings of god that he bestowed upon
me from the starting of my journey we luckily got crampons through an another
agency working there named TTH but that not happened until we paid a hefty
price for them. I mean 3000 bucks for 3
pairs of crampons and some meal. We were heavily
exploited but we didn’t have any choice at that time as one must need crampons
to climb on snow patches. A crampon is a traction device that is attached
to footwear to improve mobility on snow and ice during ice climbing.
I thought
the monster of greediness didn’t even spare these humble mountain men from its
tentacles. Trail to roopkund was just about 4-5 kms which starts with gradual
climbing and steep ascend at the end. Whole path was covered with snow patches.
There were certain points where one have to use all of his 4 limbs to move
forward and with gaining altitude amount of oxygen also becomes low in the air.
There was couple of moments when I was unable to move a single step forward due
to immense tiredness. After 3-4 hours I was at the roopkund. Finally after
fought all the intricacies of the trail, icy-chilled nights and defeated legs I
MADE IT. WE ALL MADE IT. Kudos to us!!
 |
| Finally at the top ( Behind Frozed Roopkund Lake) |
 |
| Roopkund Lake again ( source: internet) ....spot the difference |
 |
| Gaurav,Prashant,Me :) |
The view from roopkund was truly
mesmerizing and bewitching. I can feel the divine magical vibration in the
surrounding. Whole lake was frozen up so there was nothing to see any human
skeleton and the mystery of the skeleton lake remains a mystery for me. I was
celebrating roopkund, I was celebrating being alive. Coming down was the hardest
and most enjoyable part of the trek as snowy slopes becomes slippery and
dangerous. At multiple place I just slides and rolls down on the slopes which
was indeed an enthralling experience. After reaching bhaguabasa we went inside
our tent for some rest and fall asleep. I think india hikes people
intentionally left us every time as we were not the part of their group and
they did it again by left for pathar-naunchni without informing us. Never mind.
We quickly packed up our tents and stuff and headed back to pathar-nauchani
camp. Adding to our misery weather fluctuates and it started snow fall.
 |
| When we hit by a low intensity snow-strom |
Whole
surrounding became foggy and visibility dropped to meters. It was the most
dangerous part of our whole trek as there was nobody that we can follow now.
There were only 3 of us following each other in a line in the haunted and
gloomy environment. There was a moment when we got separated for a while due to
different walking speeds and zero visibility which was a terrifying experience
for every one of us. After reaching kalluvinayak weather showed some relief and
then cautiously we descends to reach pathar-nauchani. We took shelter at the
forest eco huts built just near the small shop and then spent the night inside
it.
 |
| Inside the fiber Hut |
You can easily locate these fiber huts near the campsite.
Click for previous Post :- DAY-3 <> BEDNI BUGYAL TO BHAGWABASA VIA PATHAR NACHAUNI
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