For the love of the Himalayas - A memorable trek to Roopkund (Mystery lake with skeletons) - Part - II

Hello there!

In my last post, I had taken you through first three days of my journey to Lake Roopkund. If you have missed reading the previous post, please click here.

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Yet to reach here, read on! 😉

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After light breakfast, we packed our rucksack and continued our voyage further. The views were getting better. It felt like with every step we could feel the mountains more and the snowcapped peaks were getting closer.

Flock of sheep with the lovely backdrop

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The path ahead, looks exciting?

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We enjoyed every step during this journey, it was just us, mountains and breathtaking views from here on. We walked hours through the meadows, mountain ridges to reach our campsite of Bhagawadbhasa, the last campsite before the summit climb to the Roopkund lake. Pictures below will tell more.

Panorama of Pathernachni

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Mount Trishul getting closer with time.

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Due to drastically changing weather, within minutes, mountains are covered by clouds.

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Lonely stone hut on the way.

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Break time for the mules.

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We reached our campsite by late afternoon and the weather did not look promising. The first thing we did was to pitch our tents as we smelt snow storm around the corner. In 15 minutes we were ready to embrace the storm. Luckily it did not last for more than half an hour and wind was not so strong to blow our tent away. Everything was intact and all were safe. Uff. We survived. That was one hell of an experience!

View of the aftermath. Time reads just after 16:00!

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Minutes later, the silver lining moment - light through the darkness

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That was it, the sunlight drove away from the darkness and it was such a wonderful sight. The evening colors were spreading out everywhere. A sigh of relief! 😊 We spent the evening watching the sunset over the snow-capped mountains and relaxing the night before the next big day, the summit climb to the lake Roopkund. By night, the skies were clear and I was amazed to look at stars in the sky. The sky never looked so beautiful. Because it was a sky full of stars! 😊 We generally don’t get to see this in the sky from a city or town due to the lights and the altitude. Here in the Himalayas, the absence of both made the sky look magnificent. I so wanted to capture them through my lens and gave it a shot in sub-freezing temperatures with my tripod out in the snow. Below are some 😉

Our tents lit up to the night sky and snow. How beautiful is it?

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One of my favorite capture! The lake Roopkund lies somewhere in the middle of First Mountain.

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After having dinner and with all the joy and excitement, it was time to call it a day and to get some good night’s rest.

Early rays of sun lighting up the mountains at far horizon

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After waking up early and getting ourselves packed, it was time for the summit climb. All the hard work until now boils down to this final moment and glory of being at the top. Our climb begins and on this day we start with snow and the way looks much tougher as it had snowed heavily previous evening as mentioned earlier. Nevertheless, we were on our way. It was a tough stretch but was worth every step.

Summit climb en route Lake Roopkund.

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After nearly 5 hours of the climb on snow, we finally reach to the mystery lake and we were welcomed by skeletons lying around. But not many are still remaining there.

Skeletons found near the Lake.

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The lake was almost frozen as it was late September and beginning of winter in this part of the world. December would be too hard to do a trek here as it would be too cold with meters of snow and even higher risk of avalanches due to heavy snow.

A full zoom-in of the Lake Roopkund.

It still amuses me about the whole mystery of skeletons found here. Scientists found out that these belong to around 15th century. It can be that during then the group of people were struck by an avalanche and were buried underneath that was discovered early 19th century. We relaxed for a while here enjoying the snow views in all direction before starting our last stretch to the peak of mountain ridge called Junargali. Roopkund lake is located at the base of this mountain. Although the peak is visible and is just couple of hundred meters uphill hike, it was one of the hardest I ever did in my life. Walking through 2 to 3 feets of snow was killing, every step was so hard and slippery. Nevertheless, the determination to make it to the top did not give up, we made it to the top after an hour of the arduous climb.
We were at the tip of the ridge with a steep valley in the middle and other majestic mountains opposite. The view was absolutely stunning! That moment I realized every second and hardship faced during the trek was totally worth it to be here. Our world is so beautiful and these experience make it memorable! 😊

Panorama from Junargali

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As it was too windy, we had to start our ascent down to the lake soon. Walking down was even harder than climbing up. This is always the case as our legs really take a big toll. But altogether taking careful and calculated steps, we were back at the lake Roopkund. After a final goodbye to the lake, we began our journey back.

Clouds and sun playing above the Bedni kund.

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The time was already late afternoon and the weather was perfect, with the sun out and cool wind the walk was enjoyable. Nearing the campsite it was already evening and the views were getting so dramatic.

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Bedni kund - Reflection of Mt.Trishul on bedni kund.

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We spent overnight at the campsite and the following morning started our way back to the base village of Lohajung. All the way descent through the same path we climbed. Took us a good 8 hours to reach the base village. Few photos below.

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Grown abundantly here. One of the best in the world! 😉

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Reaching base village in the evening we checked into a hostel to stay the night. Everyone freshened-up before we gathered for campfire and dinner together for one last time. Overall it was such a wonderful experience. We all met as strangers and left as friends for life. Every moment of the trek is still crisp in my mind, will be cherished forever!

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Chaithra Bhat