Pangarchulla Climb

Fly in to the Jolly Grant Airport by 10AM. Board waiting vehicles to be driven straight to Pipalkoti (7 hrs drive). The drive takes one into the rugged countryside of the Garhwal along the Alaknanda River. Drive past a few holy confluences, and break for the night at a basic transit hotel in Pipalkoti.

Post breakfast drive 48kms to Auli, one gets to see a distinct profile of Nanda Devi at the head of
the sanctuary. The walk takes you through old forests of oak and rhododendron to reach the
picturesque meadows of Gorson. We camp at Gorson, and go for afternoon walk to explore the
vast meadows.

Have a relaxed start. Post breakfast carry on towards Tali. The trail climbs diagonally up on the
GorsonBugyal and then traverses down to the forest. We camp a little ahead of a small water
body at Tali.

Today the trail ascends the ridge above Tali and cairns mark our track. Just below the high point on the ridge, the trail leads through a large meadow affording spectacular views of the Himalayas. North of Joshimath is the Chaukhamba range, Nilkanth (6596m) and Narayan Parbat (5965m), while Mana peak (7272m),Kamet (7756m) and Abi Gamin (7355m) extend to the Tibetan border. In the middle foreground, the main Himalayan chain in the vicinity of the Bhyundar valley and Hem Kund includes Nilgiri Parbat (6474m), Rataban (6166m), Ghori Parbat (6708m) and Hathi Parbat (6727m). Dunagairi (7066m) dominates the peaks to the north of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary. Kuari pass (3690m) is by no means demanding – we have our lunch here, catch some patchy phone signal and then descent an hour to the base camp at Khulara.

Have an easy start. After breakfast get ready in your climbing gear and start plodding up towards the high camp. Most of the walk goes on a moderate gradient on the snow covered North face with great views of the high mountains. A short traverse will bring us to the advanced base camp.

Wake up early to be up on the summit to see the sunrise on a wide Himalayan panorama. The walk up to the summit at 4575m would take a couple of hours and we descend to be in time for hot lunch at base camp. Evening party!

The last day of the trip is a descent all the way down to Tapovan. It’s about a 3 hour drive from here to the comforts of the hotel in Pipalkoti.

After an early morning breakfast set out for the long 7 hr drive to reach Dehradun Airport in the evening. Trip ends!