Higher Ground

At 18,046 feet, Kalindi Pass is one of the most difficult treks in the Himalayas. Parag Tokekar pushes the limits of his endurance and comes back triumphant…

The euphoria of having scaled Kalindi Pass, one of the highest trek routes in the Himalayas at 18,046 feet, kept me going as I trudged carefully, step by step, through knee deep snow struggling to peer through a white-out which restricted visibility to under 15 feet. It was like walking through a minefield blindfolded as the path to Raj Parva, our camping site across the pass was littered with crevasses, most of them invisible.

The day had begun bright and early on a buoyant note. We set off from Kalindi Base Camp at 6.30 a.m. towards our goal just 500 feet above. However, this short climb was a gruelling one due to its gradient and there was always the fear of an avalanche from one of the peaks. The climb was slow and laborious but steady against the ever increasing threat of a white out.

Finally after about one-and-a-half hour we made it. We were at the Pass, the highest point of our trek. A sense of accomplishment and the awe-inspiring beauty all around, left us speechless. After clicking pictures of our triumph, we began our descent towards Rajparva. The end of our trek was still three days away at Badrinath.

Rajparva was about four hours away and by around 3.00 p.m. we expected to be snug in our tents devouring a hot meal. However, the mountain range had other plans. Within an hour of our descent we were enveloped by a white out and the going was reduced to a snail's pace. Around 2 p.m. we came to a patch with soft snow and a series of crevasses. Considerable time was spent trying to locate a path around these huge gaping monsters. Quite exhausted we gave it all, digging into our reserves to overcome this new challenge. We plodded on stretching the limits of our endurance, patience and will. Around 4 p.m. we heard the gurgling sound of Arwa Nallah indicating that we are on the right track. It sounded like a symphony at that point. In another three hours we reached Rajparva. We had trekked for almost 13 hours, nearly encountering death at times. But from thereon and the next day onwards, it was a cakewalk to the Arwa Tal lake, Ghas Toli and Badrinath (where our trek ended).

Beginning Of The Ascent

All pics: A G Vaidya

The 21-day expedition, which included 13 days of trekking, led by AG Vaidya, head, CQNS Tata Honey Well Ltd, was one my most satisfying adventure experience. We had pitted ourselves and come out tops against the mighty Himalayas on one of its most dangerous and treacherous routes (nearly 85 per cent is over glaciers) filled with unexpected dangers like landslides, avalanches, sub-zero temperatures and wide crevasses. The trek was the second Himalayan expedition (the first being a trek to Pin Parbati Pass in Himachal Pradesh in 2003) organised and partly sponsored by the company's sports club. The team left Pune by air on July 30, 2004 for the rendezvous with the mountains. The day dawned bright and clear as we assembled at Rishikesh to start the first leg of our trek by road to Gangotri. The next day was spent acclimatising and preparing for the gruelling route that lay ahead of us.

Day four was when we actually commenced the trek. Our next camp was at Chidbasa - a five-hour walk taking us higher by around 850 feet. The route, however, was green, as we hadn't left the tree line yet. Beautiful waterfalls and some narrow makeshift log bridges across the streams made for some great adventure. We were to halt at Chidbasa at night and then go on to Gomukh the next day. The Ganges originates in Tibet, near the Mansarovar lake (as do the Yamuna and Brahmaputra) and flows underground to surface for the first time from inside a glacier, the opening said to look like the mouth of a cow, which explains the name Gomukh.

From Chidbasa to Gomukh was again a five-hour walk with the river keeping us company throughout. We gained a height of more than 1900 feet that day. Naturally then, the next day was meant for another round of acclimatisation. We trekked across the Gangotri glacier and climbed to reach Tapovan, a five-hour acclimatisation trek to return back to Gangotri base.

The next day dawned bright and clear - an ideal time to start our trek towards Nandanvan., a five-hour journey where we gained a height of over 1,200 feet. It is on the way to Nandanvan, that one can get a clear view of the Shivling Peak. Our ascent across giant boulders was becoming increasingly tiring even though we remained spell bound on seeing the monstrous meeting of Chaturangi glacier with the Gangotri making a wide and deep gorge. Climbing through at a steady pace, we reached Nandanvan in the late afternoon.

After an overnight stay at Nandanvan, we proceeded to the Vasuki Tal lake - a six hour trek over some more glaciers. The journey provided us with some nerve-racking moments as, at a point we had to cross the river and the only way to do that was by walking over some logs that were put across the banks as a bridge. However, on reaching close to Vasuki Tal, the panoramic view that we got of the Vasuki Parbat was one that gave us added vigour to reach Kalindi Khal (Pass), which was now just three more gruelling days away. Compared to some other lakes in the Himalayas, Vasuki Tal is merely a dent on the rock where water has accumulated but the beauty of the surroundings more than compensates the size of the lake.

We decided to take a halt here and acclimatise ourselves to the surroundings as we were now at a height of over 16,000 feet. It was now 10 days since we had left from Pune and the city seemed to be a far away memory as we began our onward journey towards Kalindi base from Vasuki Tal. Our next stop over for the night was to be at Khada Patthar. The trek to Khada Patthar takes about six hours of walking over a narrow ridge and across glaciers that dot the Himalayan landscape. Khada Patthar is named after the sheer rock face on the mountain slope. By the time we reached our destination, we were tired beyond doubt. However, we did look forward to the next leg, which was to take us to Sweta Glacier.

We were lucky to get a clear day when the time came to go ahead to Sweta, the reason being our crossing over the Suraloy Glacier. This part of the trek is dangerous and difficult. The route is an endless ice field with gaping glaciers breaking the monotony of the landscape. Satopanth and Chandra peaks can be seen en route. With good weather giving us company, we reached Sweta by late afternoon and set up our camp here. We were to start our trek to Kalindi base from here the next day. Our resolve only became stronger as we got our first view of the Kalindi and Avalanche peaks from this area. We not only accomplished our mission of conquering the Pass but came back richer from the experience of having stretched our endurance to the maximum individually and as a team. But above all it's not everyday that one gets to be on top of one of the highest trekking routes in the Himalayas.

(The author is deputy general manager, corporate strategy, Tata Honeywell Ltd)