My experience of the Winter Kuari Pass

This is a photolog and few details about the Winter Kuari trek I did in February

BHPian ant_vas recently shared this with other enthusiasts:

Back in 2023 when I went on Hampta Pass Trek I made couple of friends who I was in touch with on a fairly regular basis.

One of them (P) was going through a personal crisis in life and wanted to get away for a few days and the other (R) was quitting his job and going to study an executive MBA at IIM-Kolkata and wanted to do a trek before he gets busy with studies.

I was busy with work as my current organization was acquired and all associated work was keeping me busy, So one fine day in January when both my friends got on a conference call with me about going on a Himalayan Trek I was unusre if I would be able to make it. But they both kept asking me to some how make it.

while I was still undecided we started look at various trek options. I suggested Chopta Chandrashila Trek as It could be completed in 3 days, but it was rejected as the actual trek was only 1 day and remaining 2 days were for travel.

While exploring various Trek options with the operator Trek the Himalayas (TTH - I have no association with them, but have done all my previous trek's with them) we found Winter Kuari pass. The photo's just got us hooked.

Here's a glimpse:

I checked with my team at work and decided to take time off and go on this trek. R took it up on himself to do the Trek booking, we were to meet in Rishikesh on 21 Feb and do the trek from 22 - 27 Feb.

I quickly for my flights booked from Bangalore and was all set. As I have a regular fitness routine, I continued to focus on workouts which would keep me prepared during the trek.

Just a few days before the start of the Trek P had to drop out due to a brevement in the family. So it was only me and R to go on the trek. R got a Female colleague (M) from him work to join us on this trek so it would be 3 of us.

I reached Rishikesh on 21 evening and R and M joined in the night. We went to the famous Chotiwal restaurant at Raam Jhula for Dinner and visited the deserted ghat in the night and savoured freshly prepared Ginger team before crashing for the night at hostlier in Tapovan. We chose hostlier as it was close to our pick up point the next morning which was to be at 6 AM!

The trek group has 28 people and TTH has arranged 2 Tempo Travellers and a Ertiga for our travel to Pipalkoti which was to be our base camp for 1st night. We got on one of the TT and kinda got to know other members during the travel to Pipalkoti. The travel distance was about 200Km from Rishikesh to Pipalkoti and we stopped somewhere for some lunch. At pipalkoti we were taken to a government hospital for a medical test where our BP, Sugar, Pulse and SpO2 was measured and a doctor cleared us for the trek.

When it was turn to meet the doctor, she asked me if I was from Bangalore and spoke Kannada. Turns out she was also from Bangalore now married to a person from Uttarakhand and settled in Pipalkoti. Had a brief chat with her in Kannada and got my medical clearance for the trek.

TTH has a hotel on lease for their basecamp. We met our trek leaders at the base camp, had introductions with other members of the group. we had members as from 22 to 45 (yours truly). We were then briefed by the trek leaders about what to expect on the trek, layering for the trek during the hikes and for the night. We were then given sleeping bag liners which we had to carry with us for rest of the trek. We played UNO in our rooms post dinner and called it a night. While it was indeed cold outside, the rooms were well insulated and think blankets provided did help us get some good sleep.

The rooms had hot water for anyone who wanted to shower as there wont be any running water for the next few days. We were advised to shower in the night as avoid catching cold if we showered in the morning when we had an hour of travel and hike of some 3 Kms to Guiling top.

From Pipalkoti next morning we started around 9 AM and after an hours drive we were dropped at Tugasi village from where we started our hike toward Gulling top. I always offload my trek bag to the mules, as I dont want the weight of the bag to continuously play on my mind during the trek. We then started our trek to Gulling top which was uneventful and we made the distance in a good amount of time including almost an hour stop at upper Tugasi village for some tea and Maggi.

At Gulling top camp site which was at 8000 ft, we were shown how to pitch a tent and once the tents were pitched and allotted, we had hot lunch and had bit of time before a acclimatisation hike in the evening. There was some snow in the vicinity and the weather was getting colder as the sun was going down.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E1iymiARhBI

Few of us did enjoy snow ball fight around the camp site. After our evening tea we ventured for acclimatisation hike and we had more snow and now it was an full fledged snow ball fight between 2 teams including the trek leaders. We returned back to our tents for another briefing on layering cloths for the night and next days itinerary. We were provided with Microspikes and Gaitors which would be required for next few days. Our SpO2 was checked and we called it a day after some delicious dinner.

We had clear skies and the stars were in full glory in the night

It did get considerably cold in the night and I had somewhat broken sleep for few hours. Next morning it was challenge to brush and freshen up as the hands would go cold as soon as we touched water but some how managed it and hot water supplied by TTH for drinking purpose did help. we quickly packed our sleeping bags and dismantled the tents, had our breakfast before starting our hike towards Khullara camp site. This was to be around 5 kms of hike and we would reach an altitude of 11100 ft.

We kept gaining altitude as we made steady progress toward Khullara camp and after a KM, the entire trek route was covered in snow. We stopped to get our spikes on continued our hike eventually reaching the camp site in the afternoon which was completely covered in snow. The camp was already setup by support staff and the tents were pitched in snow. The wind wasnt helping with the cold and some of us braved the cold with layers of clothing while others rested inside their tents after a hot lunch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPwlOeVKThM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxorM-iSRDY

We were taken on another acclimatisation hike in the evening, we played some games to keep ourself warm as the temperatures kept going down. Once we returned to the camp site we had our evening soup and snacks followed by the briefing for next day and SpO2 check. As the weather was cold for almost everyone of us the SpO2 readings were not being read by the SpO2 meter. This inspite of keeping the gloves on and trying to warm our hands by rudding or holding glass with hot water.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYEV5HWsjRM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oyYm9ARER2E

Next day was to be the longest day of the hike as we had close to 12 km Hike to Kuari pass and back to the Khullara camp site.

During the briefing, we were asked by the trek leader if we want to stay back for the next night at Khullara or want to get down to Tugasi and then back to Pipalkoti. A lot of people were feeling the cold was too much for them after the night at Guiling top itself was not comfortable for them. After much deliberation the group decided to get down back to Pipalkoti once we were done with Kuari pass summit.

By 7.30 PM we were done with dinner and tucked in to our sleeping bags in our tents for the night. When in mountains your body never gets proper sleep. I slept soon and when I woke up felt I had good number of hours to only to see my phone and to realise it was only 10.30PM!

And when you are awake, your body all off a sudden wants to use the washroom which is an activity in itself. You have to get out of sleeping bag, open the tent (letting the cold air in), wear your shoes and venture out to the toilet tents which were few meters away in the dark. After getting back, remove the shoes, open the tent pack yourself in the sleeping bag and it would be sometime before you feel comfortable again.

Add to this the tents are 6 ft in length and while they are fairly insulated the legs would eventually touch the edge of the tent even from within the sleeping bags and fleece liner and you have the cold creeping in to your body which makes it really hard find any comfortable position to sleep and get proper rest in the night.

The night was very cold with the temperature going down low (probably around -6) as some of us in the morning found the water bottles inside the tents had frosting and even the tents too had frosting on them making it really challenging event to go out and answer the nature's call. This only made the decision to get back to pipalkoti next day after summit as the right decision for most of the group members. As I have been on few treks before and have stayed in cold temperatures I was ok to either stay or go back down, but I just went with the majority.

Since we had to get down to Pipalkoti, we started at 7 AM to the summit and with the complete track covered in snow and steady increase in the elevation the progress was at my own pace. There were few who were much slower than me and they took their own time. The hike to Kuari pass can be divided in to 2 parts: The first is hike to Jhandi top which had some good elevation gain. This is how it looked from up there:

From Jhandi top to Kuari pass its a steady walk on the ridge with gradual elevation gain. At places the walk on the ridge looked dangereous as the snow was deep at places and one wrong step would take us down the mountain. The final hike to Kuari pass is a bit difficult one as its good angle.

But once you reach the summit the views are breath taking all around and you see the surrounding mountain ranges as well.

We rested and then did some photo shoot inspite of the hands almost freezing as soon as we got them out of the gloves. Some photos and videos from the summit:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EYvuuz97mg

How can a Himalayan Trek be complete without a doggo accompanying us:

I tried my hand at flying my newly acquired DJi Neo drone, as you can see I still have some way to go before learning how to control the drone and get some great footage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OzScf7t8nI&t=2s

After spending around 40 mins, we started back to Khullara camp. With the wind increasing the cold bites in to the exposed part of the skin and it was getting difficult to stay for long. Plus there were other batches who were coming up (we were the first ones on the summit), so it would be challenge to give way for them as the path in the snow was narrow especially on the ridge it was really difficult since we couldnt guess the depth of the snow to make way for the folks coming up. While we did have gaitors some of us didnt wear them as the snow on the track wasn't that deep. But there was enough snow to cover the show which led to our feet feeling the cold.

Once we reached Jhandi top, we reseted for few minutes and few of us decided to slide down. The track to slide wasn't stable and not uniform so I gave it a pass and decided to walk down.

By around 1.30PM the entire group was back at the Khullara camp site. Few of us who got back early got extra time to rest and pack our stuff before heading back down to Gulling top and then to Tugasi.

We all made a line and made good progress downhill, but the effect of continuously walking down the hill started to show its effects on my knee and my left knee started to experience pain at every step. even the toes pressing against the shoe also make it difficult to walk continuously downhill. While I always wear knee cap to reduce the impact on the knee on this case it wasn't helping either. some how managed to get back down to Tugasi and by 5.30PM we were all loaded in to our vehicles and headed towards Pipalkoti.

By 7.30 we reached Pipalkoti after a nice hot shower we had debrefing followed by certificate distribution. We finished our sumptuous dinner and retired to our rooms. Some of us were too excited to fall asleep we had fun playing Uno late in to the night.

Next morning we were ready to start for Rishikesh by 9 and after saying our good byes to the guides we were on the way. Had couple of stops for breakfast and lunch before reaching Rishikesh around 5PM. Few of us had already booked hotels so we headed that way, others rented bikes and went in search of accommodation at hostels/ hotels. After freshening up we met for dinner, partied in to the night and did a jamming session before enjoying late night ice cream at Gyani's before getting back to our hotel rooms for some good sleep.

With extra day at hand, we had planned to go river rafting. We also learned that at the upper regions of Auli and Tugasi it was snowing heavily and the Kuari pass trek was suspended till the conditions improved. We kept receiving SMS from IMD about the sevear weather conditions and we counted ourself lucky that we escaped by deciding not to stay for a night at Khullara camp and coming down after the summit.

While the weather had taken a turn and it started to drizzle from early morning itself, it didn't dampen our enthusiasm and we enjoyed rafting for 16 KM in the river and it was fun experience. After rafting 3 of us went for Bungy jumping at Splash bungy which was 109 meters high! I just loved doing the bungy jump.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1S_8FyegvWE

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KJd9cHzr2qM

Here's me doing the bungy jump

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/DSskkDv6eDo

Evening we all went to Triveni sangam to experience the Ganga Aarti which was an experience in itself. Post Aarti we did some street shopping and had our dinner before retiring back to our rooms.

Next day we had people departing for their base location from mid morning itself, I had a flight back to Bangalore in the evening, so after a amazing lunch at Beetles cafe, I reached Dehradun to catch my flight and reached back home by 10 PM. Thus my 1 week Winter Himalayan adventure came to an end with lots of wonderful memories.

Thanks to some amazing friends I made on this trip: Ravi, Menaka, Manthan, Ruchi, Udit, Ishaan, Atif, Rhea, Arvind, Kumar.

All the photos and video's were clicked using our phones (iPhones, Pixels) and DJI Neo Drone. Thanks for my friends for sharing their awesome photos so I can share them in this travelogue.

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