KUANRI PASS

Kuanri Pass         October- 2009


It was October, the month of festivals in Kolkata. Just after Durga Puja our team of two headed towards Howrah, without a confirmed ticket of Upasana Express. There was little hope of getting seats in overcrowded train. But things gone alright- our tickets got confirmed at last moment and we got a side upper and lower. Next day we reached Haridwar and took a room in dharamshala near station so that we can catch the early bus.
        Our bus started at 5.30am, and destination is Nandaprayag, from where we have to change for Ghat. I must tell you people that we have chosen this route because of our guide Harish Singh Bisht. This man accompanied us to Roopkund and very good guy. When I talked with him over phone he said that "agar aap do admi aoge to hum akele apke sath jayenge, aur bartan , stove ka chinta mat karo hum gharse le ayenge". This way he saved our lot. He stays in Gwaldam- and we only have to pay his conveyance for coming to ghat.
We reached Ghat at about 2.30pm and at the bus stand which is very small my friend Partha located Harish. He had already arranged a room for us, so we took no time in freshening up. Evening was spent in doing some marketing for next couple of days.
Day 1

After breakfast at 7.30 with aloo parantha & chai we waited for long 3hours for jeep to Ramni. At last we get one and started for Ramni, but road is till lower Ramni and we have to trek for 3-4 kms to reach Upper Ramni. At 3 pm our first day camp was set up at just above the village of Ramni. Experienced the colour of sunset on shoulder of Trisul. From here distant view of villages are beautiful.
Day 2
Started early at 7.30 for Jhenji and it is long walk. Ups and downs though not much but it is long. Just a km obove our camping ground there is a beautiful bugyal 'Goni' one can see a portion of massive Choukhambha from here. Reached Jhenji at about 2 pm and stayed in local masterji's house.
Day 3
Destination Sartoli. Another long walk. Sartoli is a small bugyal but it is somewhere different from others. On one side of it path has gone down towards small river and beyond it the ridge which one has to cross for Kuanri. This ridge blocks the view. In Sartoli there are two shepherd hut which remains open and we opted to stay in one of it.
Day 4
From Sartoli we came down to a river bank and a small bridge was there but now only few pieces of logs shows it was there. We crossed it, not that dangerous as water was very less that time.Crossing the river we climbed another 300 ft and reached Dakwani. Today we will stay here in a cave so that we can start early next morning to see the sunrise from pass.
Day 5

Oh, it was really cold as we started early. Slowly we climbed towards the pass as morning light started to show up. As we reached the pass the view mesmerized us. We remained spellbound for few minutes and enjoyed the 180 degree view of Garwal  Himalaya. Neelkanth, Choukhamba, Hati, Ghori, Mana are among them. After spending about half an hour we started to get down. We will get down from Tapovan side. On the way Khullara bugyal is a beautiful one. We stopped just 2km before Tapovan , outside a village to enjoy the calmness of mountains for the last day.
Our trek comes to end and waiting starts for another  one year.