Trekking VI: Khatling Glacier Revisited

            Days before the trek were hectic and preparations almost went upto last minute before boarding the train. From Delhi we reached Hardwar by train and covered the 160 kms distance from Haridwar to Ghuttu on SUVs. When we reached Ghuttu in the late afternoon, guide and our porters were waiting for us and immediately started for Reeh, our first night halt.

There has been little development in the nine years that have elapsed between my two treks. There has been no progress on road connecting Ghansyali with Ghuttu. Only perceivable development in the area is Tehri Dam and it has taken its own toll. The road from Tehri to Ghansyali has deteriorated, thanks to construction activities for the dam. It is barely motorable now. The bridge across Bhagirathi, near Old Tehri Town, is almost submerged in the lake created by the dam. Tehri town itself, had a deserted look waiting to be engulfed by the ever-rising water level of the Tehri Dam.

             Reeh is 10 kms from Ghuttu and is a gradual climb along the river Bhilangana. The first half of the route is mostly barren with few pine trees here and there. The second half is through the dense jungle dominated again by pine trees with rhododendrons and other trees inter-spread. One comes across few streams mostly fed by underground water. It took us four hours to cover the 10 kms to Reeh and it was almost 9:00 pm when we reached the guesthouse at Reeh.

            Reeh (2132m) is a small village with a rest house and few houses. These are perched on a ridge, overlooking river Bhilangana. A small glacier-fed stream flows behind the resthouse. People here are mostly engaged in agriculture.

            Next morning, we woke up early, repacked our rucksacks and started for the tough uphill climb to Gangi. Gangi is 10 kms from Reeh and first half upto village Nallan is tough uphill climb. Especially the initial part and the last part of the first five kms are steep. There is no water available before Nallan, hence water bottles should be filled in Reeh itself. The trek route is along the ridges with sloping meadows and few trees, mostly those of rhododendrons. It was a slow progress as bodies were yet to get accustomed to the load of rucksack on the back and the uphill climb.

            After Nallan, the trek route passes through dense forest, mainly dominated by rhododendrons. The trek passes number of snow fed streams hence water is available in abundance from hereon. Trek goes up and down, with cool breeze squeezing soothing the tired bodies, it is a lovely experience, every moment of which should be enjoyed. We reached Gangi around 2:00 pm, just in time to escape the afternoon rains.

            Gangi (2584 m) has a GMVN rest house where one can stay and cook meals. One has to make his own arrangement for meals here as there is no canteen. The rest house is at the other end of the village and provides a good view of Talli Top, Sahasra Tal route from Kalyani. One gets the first glimpse of snow-covered tops of Sahasra Tal and Jogin etc. It rained heavily in the afternnon, leaving us with no scope for exploring the village.

            Early next morning we started for Kharsoli, 16 kms from Gangi. Initial stretch is mostly downhill. The trek passes through the dense forests with lush green meadows in between. There are numerous snow-fed streams flowing down into the Bhilangana river. There is a small village of 5-6 houses called Deokhri, some 3 kms from Gangi. Enroute one has to cross two landslide zones, which become a bit dangerous after heavy rains. Rain loosens the soil, resulting in mud flow and heavy boulders rolling down the steep slope.

            Soon we crossed Kalyani (2683 m). Earlier, there use to be wooden bridge on river Bhilangana near Kalyani. It had been swept away in the floods few years back. By now we had descended to the river level. The trek occassionaly cuts through dense bamboo bushes and is dangerously slippery at number of places. It almost rains every afternoon in Bhilanagan valley thus making the trek slippery.

         Trek route beyond Kalyani is a gradual climb through dense forest constituting of Rhododendrons, Juniper, Bamboo etc. We took a long break at the banks of a stream that was coming from Sahasra Tal. Keeping our feet in ice-cold water of the stream was freshening. Chana-gurh, chocolates, orange drink etc gave us quick energy to continue on the long journey to Kharsoli.

            Our next break was at a place called Birodh (2744 m). Birodh is a beautiful meadow at a distance of 10 kms from Gangi. In my previous trip we had met Gujars here. They no longer visit this area after an accident few years back when river changed path and destroyed their camp, taking some of their members in its fast flowing water. Birodh is the kind of place where I would like to retire some day. It is heavenly abode.

              It was 3:00 pm when we reached Kharsoli (2896 m). Rain God had been kind to us and there was no rain that afternoon. While the guide and porters cooked the dinner, we explored the meadow and the forests around. Kharsoli used to be a beautiful meadow earlier. Now it has been bifurcated by the dried bed of a stream, full of boulders and rocks. Few years back, the stream just above the Kharsoli meadow had changed course and ran through the middle of the meadow leaving behind the reminder of its destructive power.

            It was first camping experience for almost all others. We had an eight men and a four men tent. One can use the firewood to cook food. There is a small stream at the lower end of the meadow. It provides drinking water. On the other end of the meadow, there is a shelter, which can be used for cooking food if it is raining.

            Next morning we started for Chowki. There are numerous glacier-fed streams flowing down on both sides of the river. On my previous visit, most of these streams were frozen. I was surprised to find that half of the streams had dried down and remaining had very little water. The impact of global warming is most visible in the area around Khatling glacier. Even evironmentalist rate it as the zone vulnerable to impact of global warming.

            Our side of the river had number of meadows and good tree cover; the other side had towering steep mountains with couple of streams falling down, making beautiful waterfalls. The trek passed through the meadows and the forests, went downhill to reach the river bed and again climbed uphill as the river cut deep gorge with towering mountain on one side and high ledge on the other. As we progressed on our trek, the tree cover gave way to bushes and then to barren mountains. We soon crossed the tree-line and reached a huge land-slide region. This boulder ridden area is to be negotiated to reach a place called Tamba-kund. This was our last camping point in my previous trip.

            From Tambakund we trekked another couple of kms before going down to reach the river level and cross the river using a makeshift bridge. In the absence of this makeshift bridge, one has to trek all the way to Khatling Glacier and then cross the river and return to Chowki. Crossing the bridge was some experience. It was barely supported on wooden logs connecting two rocks on each side of the river. The fast flowing river beneath the shaking bridge was frightening. The water seemed to be roaring under your feet, waiting to swallow you in its torrid flow.

            After crossing the river, we trekked another one and a half km to reach the other edge of the meadow called Chowki. It is overlooking the confluence of three rivers. One is Bhilangana which originates from Khatling Glacier. The second is a small river coming from base of Khating-Phating peak and overflows through a small water body called Bhim-tal, formed by the moraine from Khatling Glacier. Third river was flowing down from the mountains we were to scale on our way to Mayali Pass. It is called Doodh-Ganga. We had lot of time to explore the region and wanted to go to other side of Doodh-Ganga to reach Bhim Tal, but water level had risen and it was difficult to cross the river.

            Next morning we started our climb towards Masar Tal. The trek was uphill from here onwards. Our guide had planned for the next camp somewhere midway to Masar Tal. Climb was steep but distance to cover was not long hence we were moving at gradual pace. We could feel the low oxygen in the air and our lungs were experiencing the stress due to altitude. Still we were making a good progress. We would aim for a top and on reaching that top we would see another and so the climb continued. Every top added to our view of the peaks around and the Khatling valley. We could see the bluish-green glacial waters of Bhimtal down below. We were getting a good view of Doodhganga falling down from the glaciar above. As we progressed , we were able to get the top view of Khatling Glacier. Many more peaks were now visible as we crossed our planned camping place and decided to climb further close to Masartal.

            After negotiating a steep landslide zone of small rocks and reached our camping site at around 3:00 pm. It had started drizzling and that made the landslide still more dangerous. Looking down we could see the straight fall few thousands of feet down below. By the time we pitched our tents, it was pouring. Temperature had gone down and we simply huddled into our tents to keep us warm. It had been a tiring uphill climd and the cold increased our discomfort. The team members were complaining of headache and one of the team members looked in slightly bad shape. He was feeling sleepy, having severe headache and was showing loss of appetite.

            Once the rain stopped and clouds cleared we came out of the tents to enjoy the good view of peaks around. We were sitting very close to a small patch of snow and could see a huge glacier nearby, hanging at the edge of a top. It was the source of river Doodh-Ganga. Our guide told us that there are two streams that come out of this glacier. One is Doodh-Ganga which flows west into Bhilangana river and another is towards the southeast and flows into Mandakini.

            I asked everyone to fix their crampons and test them on snow so that they would know how comfortable they would be walking on snow the next day. Only few members of the team took the trouble of working on their crampons, rest were too tired to force themselves to come out of the warmth of the tent.

            Soon it was dinnertime. While others had a good dinner, Ashish was really looking sick and vomited whatever little he ate. I realized that Ashish has to be taken down immediately as he was showing strong symptoms of high altitude sickness. Now came the time to take the decision I had been dreading all along. A decision which I avoided taking at Chowki. My initial plan was to decide at Chowki if some members of the team have to be sent back. I did ponder over this when I was at Chowki but I felt that we all could make it to Kedarnath. Now the decision was to either to take the whole team back from here or to divide it into two. Keeping in consideration, the inexperience of the other members of the team, I immediately decided to take the whole team back. I decided that guide and myself will immediately take Ashish down to Chowki and rest of the team will come down the next morning.

            It was almost dark when our guide, Ashish and I started our journey back to Chowki. The ground was slippery and it was a dangerous downhill journey in dark. We were carrying two high beam torches that made the difference. It took us three hours to reach Chowki and Ashish had completely recovered by the time we reached Chowki.