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Trek date during WINTER TREK to PANGARCHULLA PEAK via KUARI PASS: 01st January 2016 (Friday)
Trek distance: Around 10 to 12 Kms.
Time taken: Around 5 to 6 hours.
Difficulty level: Easy to Moderate
Highlights during the trek:
- Dense forest with Pine and other type of himlayan trees at initial phase of the trek.
- Trails full of snow.
- Frozen Tali lake.
- Trek on narrow trails before reaching the Gorson Bugyal.
- Snowy fields of Gorson Bugyal.
- Slippery trails with snow turned into icy fields at some patches.
- Breathtaking & Jaw dropping views of mighty mountains including Mt. Nanda Devi, Mt. Dronagiri, Mt. Nanda Ghunti, Bethartoli Peak, Mukut Parbat, Hathi & Ghori Parbat, Palki Parbat, Mana 1 & 2, Mt. Neelkanth, Nara & Narayan Parbat, Kamal Parbat, Pindari Glacier, Pangarchulla Peak, Kauri Pass, etc…
- Enchanting & classic journey throughout the trek – Arguably best day of winter trek!!!
- World famous SKIing capital of India AULI.
- Rope-way journey from Auli to Joshimath.
- Visit to holy Narasingh Temple.
- Post trek success dinner at Birla house.
Challenges: Narrow trails before reaching snowy Gorson Bugyal. Icy fields at initial phase & while approaching Auli.
Altitude Meter: Please find altitude details for the day below:
- Our camp-site Tali comes around 3506 Mtr.
- Famous Gorson Bugyal comes around 3049 Mtr and beyond.
- Auli: It ranges from 2951 Mtr to 3019 Mtr.
- Joshimath comes around 1890 Mtr.
Day in brief:
Last day of the trek and formalities of completing the trek is in last stage. We had discussion on 4th day evening how to reach Joshimath from Auli (Had multiple options of Rope-way journey and Cab drive). Also there were couple of places to explore around Joshimath in the evening so decided to finish our trek by noon on 1st day of the year 2016. Guide informed us on previous day to pack our luggages early in the morning and briefed about early start will finish off our trek by noon. Since previous day was last day of 2015, all of us celebrated New year till midnight 12:30 AM. I slept around 12:30 AM as mentioned in previous day post. Got up around 4:45 AM, camp-fire was still live so added more woods to camp-fire and waited for fellow trek-mates to wake-up. Chilling morning as usual with temperature is below Zero degree Celsius. Slowly everyone woke-up in the morning. By the time 7:30 AM, I was freshen-up and waiting for dream walk to Auli.
Had breakfast at Tali camp-site and took farewell group photo of the winter expedition. Packed lunch was distributed to everyone.
Started our final walk of the winter trek towards Auli around 8:00 AM. Initial phase of the trek is through dense forest. We had around 2 Kms. of dense forest hike followed by easy descent on snowy terrain before reaching Tali lake. As we approaches Tali lake, field opens-up and we could see mighty himalayan mountains on right side of our path. Tali lake was frozen and surrounded by good amount of snow. Breathtaking & Jaw dropping views of mighty mountains including Mt. Nanda Devi, Mt. Dronagiri, Mt. Nanda Ghunti, Bethartoli Peak, Mukut Parbat, Hathi & Ghori Parbat, Palki Parbat, Mana 1 & 2, Mt. Neelkanth, Nara & Narayan Parbat, Kamal Parbat, Pindari Glacier, Pangarchulla Peak, Kauri Pass, etc… can be seen starting from this stretch till Auli. Spent some time at Tali lake and clicked memorable pics. Continued our journey towards Auli.
It was unforgettable trail before reaching Gorson Bugyal. Narrow trails along with jaw dropping views of himalayan mountains made our journey beautiful one till Auli. Walking on snow and making our own trails at Gorson Bugyal were experience of life time. It was long walk till Auli. Everyone enjoying the day to the core!!! Arguably one of beautiful days of our lives 🙂 🙂 🙂
Had lunch break around 11:15 AM. After half an hour of lunch break, continued our final journey to Auli.
Around 12:45 PM, we were nearing Auli and could see tourist enjoying vacations at Meadows. People were getting training on SKI and couple enjoying vacations were common sights at Auli. Trails were become icy fields (Slippery trails) with snow around valley was melted due to less snowfall in this session.
Reached rope-way point of Auli around 1:15 PM. As per previous day plan, our guides Dev Singh & Puran Sirji helped us to have rope-way journey to Joshimath without any problem.
Note: If there is heavy crowd at Auli, it is difficult to get rope-way experience early and we need to wait for our turn but local guides helped us to have quick departure to Joshimath.
Reached Joshimath around 2:15 PM and moved towards Birla House which was inaugurated by 1st President of Republic India Dr. Babu Rajendra Prasad.
Freshen-up at hotel and had post trek fresh bath. Me, Achintya, Zankar, Teena, Tarun and Sujitha started towards Narasingh Temple around 5:00 PM after evening snacks at hotel. It was 1 and half Kms. of walk to Narasingh Temple. Narasingh Temple is located in lower bazaar area of Joshimath.
Visited Narasingh Temple. Had darshana of Badrinath & Narsingh Idols.
Narasingh Temple – Winter home of Badrivishal: Narasingh Temple is a popular temple in Joshimath. Famous as a part of Sapt Badri, Narasingh Temple also called as Narasingh Badri Temple and a sacred place to visit in Joshimath. The deity of temple is fourth incarnation of Lord Vishnu (Narasimha Avatar), in the form of half Lion and half Man.
Narasingh Temple is the place where Badrivishal rest during winters. The idol of Badrinath temple is taken down to Narasingh Temple by the priests of Badrinath during winters. Badrinath idol is then placed along with Narasingh idol.
Information courtesy: Google
Note: Photography is not allowed inside Narasingh Temple so not able to take more pics at the temple.
Post darshana at Narasingh Temple, continued our walk towards upper bazaar area and tasted street foods including Pani Puri, Fried Momos, Steamed Momos, Spring Rool & Aloo Tikki chat. Returned back to hotel and had post trek success dinner. Rested for the day with 2 days of return journey to Bengaluru is in offering.
