Day 6 of the Roopkund trek starts very early in the morning much before sunrise. It’s a gradual climb followed by a steep climb from 12500 feet (Bhagwabasa camp) to 15750 feet. Roopkund is at around 15500 feet. The image that you see on top is the Roopkund. The further climb will take you to Junargali Pass. Followed by this is the return back to Pathar Nachauni via Bhagwabhasa camp where you can camp for the day.
Hike to Bhagwabasa – Previous days
If you have not gone thru’ my previous 5 days of trekking at Roopkund, then check out these links:
? Day 1 – Jeep Ride to Lohajung
??♂️Day 2 – Lohajung to Didina village
??♂️Day 3 – Didina to Bedni Bugyal
??♂️Day 4 – Bedni Bugyal to Pathar Nachauni
??♂️Day 5 – Pathar Nachauni to Bhagwabhasa via Kalu Vinayak temple
Altitude sickness at Bhagwabasa
Bhagwabasa campsite which is at 14,029 feet, is one place where you need to get some rest and also to get acclimatized as this is the place few of them feel sick because of the high altitude. Some fall sick and few of them do get high altitude sickness. So, have healthy food and make sure you get enough rest and sleep before you trek further. The night before was very cold and even though the temperature meter displayed close to zero, the cold breeze makes you feel as though it was minus four degrees Celsius.
Trek Roopkund on day 6 starts very early in the morning much before sunrise at around 4:00 or 5:00 AM. We had to wake up early and have breakfast. Soon after this, we packed our day pack and were asked to wear crampons, and helmets and use headlamps. It’s better to start early much before sunrise as the snowflakes will be hard and it would be easy to walk on them.
The trail to Roopkund which is about 2.5 to 3 hours is a gradual climb followed by a steep climb. You cannot see Roopkund till you reach there as Roopkund is a pond which is at a bit lower altitude as shown above. As you climb don’t forget to turn around to see the beautiful landscape.
Why are there so many skeletons in Roopkund?
Once you reach Roopkund, check with your guide for the mysterious story of that place. You will find a lot of human skeletal remains here in this pond, but none when there is snow. There are a lot of theories behind the Roopkund skeletal remains and the latest theory says that the death of so many people was due to huge hailstones.
We discovered that the Roopkund skeletons are divided into three genetically diverse groups that were deposited over a period of about 1000 years. These discoveries contradict prior theories that the Roopkund Lake bones were deposited in a single tragic event.
Junargali Pass
Another 20-minute climb from Roopkund is the Junargali Pass. On the other side of Junargali Pass is Mt Trishul. You can see the entire stretch from the bottom to the top of Mt Trishul. To the right is the glacier and to the left is the very deep valley named Sheela Samudra. The trail here is dangerous and slippery. The trail continues to the advanced base camp all the way to Homkund and Ronti Saddle which is another 3 days of the trek. Our group did not go beyond Roopkund and we had to return back to the Bhagwabasa campsite. On the way, we got a chance to slide down the snow-covered slopes.
After a short break at the Bhagwabasa campsite, we continued our trek back to Pathar Nachauni via Kalu Vinayak temple. We were stuck for a while because of hailstorms and snowfall. The ideal place to visit this place would be after June and before Oct when there is not much snow. The landscape is awesome, with snow-covered mountains on one side and a deep valley on the other side. The weather is very much unpredictable. We camped at Pathar Nachauni and had an awesome evening at our campsite. Check out the video below.
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