Kuari Pass Winter Trek : Culmination

Continued from here. . .

As usual we got up by morning 7:30 am and Aravind ji greeted us with his smile and offered fresh tea. He provided warm water as well. Cook and helper decided to return with mules via Gulling and Dhak village. As our guide Sanjay ji expected more snow on the path towards Auli, it will be difficult for mules to commute. So we gave all our bags as well with cook and helper. Had breakfast and packed poori for the lunch. Left Tali top by 8:30 am, proceeded towards Gorson bugyal via Tali lake. It was a journey of 13 kms to Auli from Tali top which included steep accent and gradual descent in Gorson bugyal filled with snow. It took half an hour to reach the Tali lake from our camping area. Water in the lake was frozen and we could see the ice melting due to sunny weather in the morning. 

Towards Tali Lake

Tali Lake

Captured couple of pics near the pond. And now it's steep accent towards Gorson bugyal(meadow). As we gained high altitude, spotted Pangarchulla peak and Kuari Pass. It was a clear day and the blue sky with white snowy mountains looked like canvas papered for drawing.

Before Gorson Bugyal

Path from Tali to Gorson

When we got into other side of the mountain , Gorson bugyal looked amazing with open vista. Snow on the bugyal(meadow) made it look beautiful. Blazing sun on the snow appeared like white crystals shining. Altogether it was breath taking journey from Gorson to Auli. We spotted Dronagiri, Haathi Ghoda hills, Nandadevi en-route. Took 5-10 min of photo break before we start from Gorson to Auli.

Haathi Parvath

Gorson meadow, partially filled with snow 

Mighty Himalayan range in the backdrop

It was 12 pm when we got the view of awesome Auli. Auli is famous for skiing activities. We saw some of the army men practicing skiing near Auli. Many people were going towards Gorson bugyal to enjoy the snow. We had our lunch near one of the steams in Auli upper part. We reached Auli cable car facility by 1:30 pm. Our plan was to travel by cable car till Joshimath. But getting only single side journey was very difficult. Our guide Sanjay ji spoke to cable car operator and booked one side journey for us, but only after 4 pm. We had chai, coffee and snacks from nearby shop at Auli. Spent time at Auli till the arrival of our empty cable car. 

Temple at upper Auli

Auli, Uttarakhand

Auli cable car facility

Cable car ride

It was 4:30 pm when we reached Joshimath Eskimos office. And thus we concluded our Himalayan journey with great memories which we would cherish for the rest of our life. Four days, the view of colossal snowscape of Himalayan range made our journey more delightful. By the time we reach the office, our baggage arrived with helper Aravind ji. We bid adieu for our guide Sanjay ji and Aravind ji. Cook had already left for his village.

Next day our plan was to visit Hrishikesh and enjoy the white river rafting in Ganga. Fortunately Eskimos Manish Bhujwan spoke about his friend who operates a river side camp at Kodiyala, Hrishikesh and also offers rafting as well. So Manish booked rafting for us. We were very much thankful to him for providing such a nice facility for past 4 days and booking rafting for us. It was 5:30 pm in the evening and he suggested us to book the bus tickets for Hrishikesh as soon as bus arrives from Haridwar. We went to bus stand near Joshimath market and reserved our seats for next day journey to Kodiyala, Hrishikesh. Checked in to the same room which we had accommodated 4 days back. Had dinner at decent hotel and went to bed early, as our bus would leave Joshimath early morning 5:30 am.

Stay tuned for river side camping and rafting in Ganga....