Trek to Roopkund - Part 1

God must have had a stroke of genius when he thought of the idea of mountains... and he must have been in a really good mood when he created the Himalayas. Every once in a while, I get this craving to be in the mountains. After last year's trek to Sar Pass, I had made a promise to myself that I would trek the Himalayas once every year. And this time there are two simple criteria - one: it had to be a place higher than Sar Pass... any thing lower would just not do, and two: it had to be really exciting.

One idle afternoon, I came across an article on Roopkund on wikipedia. It is a frozen lake in the Garhwal Himalayas, at an altitude of a little over 16500 feet above sea level. (Sar Pass was at 13000 feet - first criterion check.) In the year 1942, a forest ranger came across over 500 human skeletons strewn around this lake. Radio carbon dating showed that these bones were from 800 AD, and DNA traits showed that they were Kokanastha Brahmins, hailing from coastal Maharashtra. All of them were on some pilgrimage, when near Roopkund they were hit by hail stones as big as a cricket ball. Finding no shelter to save themselves, most of them died of fractured skulls. Owing to the perpetual snow in that area, even after 1200 years, their bones, and in some cases their flesh and hair, can be found near the lake. (This sounded exciting enough - second criterion check. :))

There are a few trek organizers who arrange treks to Roopkund. There was a thorough evaluation done for each of them on factors like cost, itinerary and dependability. And 'Trek The Himalayas' was the winner... :) Their web site told that they have a good strong organizing team, and their Roopkund trek was scheduled to be 8 days long - one more day than all others organizations. And we went by the principle "the more(days), the merrier".

Here is how I lived those 8 days:

Day 1 - 15th September

Kathgodam Railway Station

As I stand in front of the Kathgodam railway station at 6 in the morning, I sincerely hope that I don't meet the same fate as that of my ancestors on my trek to Roopkund. It is drizzling slightly. There are 11 of us waiting for the two taxis which would take us to Lohajung. Lohajung is about 250km from Kathgodam, and the road takes us through Bhimtal, Bhowali, Almora, Kausani, Baijnath and Gowldam, along the rivers Kosi, Gomti and Pindar. I have been looking forward to the drive through these scenic places. But I am not too lucky here. It is cloudy throughout the way, and the rains have damaged the road considerably. There are a few landslides along the way, which are being cleared out by cranes, and we make slow progress through the road. 

The unclear-able landslide

Just when we see a rainbow in the valley nearby and take it as an indication for smooth sailing ahead, we see another landslide. And the land is not done sliding. There is still an occasional spluttering of soil and rocks coming down the mountain. Luckily we are only 2km from Lohajung now, and can walk up to the base camp if required. But I am in no hurry to start the trek today itself. The thought of carrying our heavy backpacks up the mountain road in this rain is not very welcome at the back of an overnight train journey and a tiring road trip. After making a few phone calls, it is arranged for another taxi to come down from Lohajung and meet us just beyond the landslide. 

As we are waiting for the taxi, I see a guy making way towards our vehicle and ask the driver, "Bhaiya Patwal guest house ki gaadi hai?" And as soon as the driver nods, he looks at us and says, "Hi, I am Sandeep." Sweet relief... our trek leader is here. All of us cross the landslide on foot, and pile into the taxi which Sandeep had brought down with him. Its only a matter of minutes before we are at the Patwal guest house, our Base Camp. :)

Patwal Guest House

The Patwal guest house is a cosy little place, providing the minimum essentials for an overnight stay, and a mesmerising view of mountains and clouds. Here, there is an addition to our trek group of 11 - Vineeta has already reached Lohajung a couple of days back. Now our group size is a nice even 12. All of us have tea. Just before dinner, Sandeep briefs us about the trek, explains the do's and the don't's, talks about the use of diamox for better acclimatization and patiently answers all of our queries. There is a small round of introduction - and I find that there are people from many interesting professions. Priyanka and Anjali are pro photographers, Vineeta is a journalist, Vaishali and Kailash are into procurement, Alhad is a banker. The oldest... ahem.. youngest member of our group, Jagdish Sir, is a businessman. And then there is a bunch of jaded old software engineers -Rhushi, Rutika, Ravi, Dipesh and me. Sandeep also introduces us to his team - there is Mahesh bhai, the cook and Puna bhai, his helper. Mahesh bhai's cooking expertise is showcased as soon as a mouth watering dinner is served. The dessert of 'seviya ki kheer' is delicious.

View from the guest house

The trek is to begin tomorrow. There is a final sprint to the Lohajung market where I buy a woolen cap and a rain sheet. The rucksack is finally packed shut. I go to sleep with all kinds of what-if scenarios playing out in my mind. Hope we have a splendid trek.. :)