My list of 5 most beautiful peaks in the Uttarakhand Himalayas

Soaring heights, steep jagged peaks, alpine glaciers, green meadows, unfathomable gorges, life giving rivers and beautiful valleys. The Himalayas, for thousands of years have held a great significance for the south Asians as their literature, mythology and religions have sprouted from its existence. The Himalayan range is home to Earth's highest and some of the most beautiful peaks. Here, as my tribute to these mighty mountains, is my list of 5 of the most beautiful peaks in Uttarakhand Himalayas of India.

1. Mt. Shivling (21,467 ft.), Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand

Mt. Shivling as seen from Tapovan

Europeans call it the 'Matterhorn of Asia' due to its striking resemblance with the Matterhorn Peak of Switzerland. For me, Mt. Shivling is one of the most stunning peak of the Garhwal region, purely because of its structure rising as a sheer pyramid above the snout of the Gangotri Glacier. Located in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand and 6 kms south to Gaumukh, its name refers to its status as a sacred symbol of the Lord Shiva's Linga.

Mt. Shivling is actually a twin-summit mountain with its north-east summit being slightly higher than the southwest summit, but appears as a single structure when seen from Gaumukh. A popular pilgrimage site since ancient times, Tapovan along with Nandanvan have now become a trekker's paradise due to the vast meadows and inspiring view of the Gangotri group of mountains.

2. Panchachuli (22,651 ft.), Kumaon Himalayas, Uttarakhand

Panchachuli-The five peaks

Located in the Kumaon Himalayas, Panchachuli massif is a group of five towering snow clad pointy peaks painted on the blue skies of the Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. The altitudes of the peaks ranges from 20,781 ft. to 22,651 ft. The highest of them, Panchachuli II stands tall at a height of 22,651 ft. above sea level. Legend has it that the five Pandavas cooked their last meal on these five peaks before ascending to heaven after the great war of Mahabharata. 'Pancha' means 'Five' in sanskrit and 'Chuli' means 'Peak', hence Panchachuli (Five Peaks). There is a trekking route through the villages of Darma Valley till Panchachuli Base Camp, which not many people know of. This place is very near to Tibet to the north and Nepal to the east. The trail runs through Dhauli Ganga River and an inner line permit needs to be taken from Dharchula, from where the trek starts.

3. Chaukhamba (23,419 ft.), Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand

Chaukhamba massif as seen from Deoria Taal, Uttarakhand

At the head of the Gangotri glacier in the Gangotri group of mountains of Garhwal Himalaya, lies a four pillared behemoth Chaukhamba, the beauty of which has left all the nature lovers, trekkers and expeditioners in love with it. 'Chau' means 'Four' and 'Khamba' means 'Pillar' in Hindi, hence the name Chaukhamba, the four pillared mountain. One of the most ultra-prominent peaks of Garhwal Himalayas, the elevation of the four summits on the massif ranges from 22,487 ft. to 23,419 ft. above sea level. The highest is Chaukhamba I (23,419 ft.). One can get a clear view of the massif from Deoria Taal in Uttarakhand which is an alpine lake on the Saari to Chandrashila Peak trek circuit. I have been lucky to once witness the grandeur of this peak during my trek to Chandrashila.

4. Nanda Devi (25,643 ft.), Kumaon Himalayas, Uttarakhand

Nanda Devi massif during sunset

In the mid 1950s when Tenzing Norgay Sherpa, of Everest fame, was asked which was the toughest climb he has ever attempted, he surprised everyone by saying Nanda Devi instead of Mt. Everest. Such is the grandeur of this insuperable peak!

For years mountaineers have been telling the tales of the tough climb to the peak and how it has taken many lives. Regarded as the patron Goddess of Uttarakhand Himalayas, its name means 'Bless Giving Goddess'. Due to its religious significance and very fragile ecosystem, the surrounding Nanda Devi National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1988. A two peaked massif, Nanda Devi-West and Nanda Devi-East, the western summit is higher standing at a height of 25,643 ft. above sea level as compared to eastern summit at 24,390 ft. Nanda Devi is the highest peak in the Indian Himalayas (totally inside the country borders). When first climbed in 1936, it was the highest peak conquered by man on earth until the ascent of Annapurna (26,545 ft.) peak of Nepal in 1950. The closest one can get to this majestic peak is by attempting Nanda Devi Base Camp Trek, which starts from Musiyari, a small village in Uttarakhand.

5. Changabang (22,520 ft.), Garhwal Himalayas, Uttarakhand

The famous western wall of the Changabang Peak

Deep in the Garhwal Himalayas of Uttarakhand, standing tall at a height of 22,520 ft. above sea level, lies the steep, fang shaped, Changabang Peak, the beauty of which has made poets out of many mountaineers. The peak is so steep that it is very hard for any great quantity of snow to remain on it, yet it shines white in the moonlight due to the white granite in its composition. Viewed from the south-west, Changabang looks invincible as it towers like a straight pillar but when viewed from North side, it looks less impressive. One can get a clear view of Changabang from the Bagini Glacier only if expeditions are allowed in Nanda Devi Sanctuary in Uttarakhand.

His Paradise

So on he fares, to meet the mountains

where the snow crowns the mighty peaks

On he fares, to the heavenly heights

beyond the shades of the mountain ranks.

Nearer is the steep wilderness

of which men sing songs forever

Nearer are the Cedar and Pine

and the sylvan scene unfurls.

Verdurous walls of the mother nature

expand to the greater miles

Smiles at them with joy in his eyes

In love with each other, mountains and him.

In the silver shadows of the loftiest mountains

spread is the carpet of greens

Clouds stand bespeak of the garden

where his paradise lies.

Winter Trek to Dayara Bugyal, Uttarakhand

Dayara Bugyal after first snowfall

I have always had a special corner for alpine meadows in my heart and one day while reading about them on the internet I came across a list of the most beautiful high altitude meadows in India and one in particular caught my attention. It was Dayara Bugyal in Uttarakhand. 'Bugyal' stands for 'Meadow' in local Uttarakhand language. For years Dayara Bugyal remained a place unheard of, but places like these never remain hidden. Soon explorers started attempting this trek and they came back with the stories of pristine beauty, virgin meadows and dream landscapes of Greater Himalayas. So I started looking for pictures, blogs, write ups about Dayara Bugyal over the internet. The pictures of unending greens spread out far and wide in the lap of greater Himalayan ranges, clear water bodies strewn across the green meadows and flowers peeking out of the green carpet of grass were mesmerising. It was the night of 23rd Dec'13 and right there and then I picked up my phone and called my dear friend Himanshu Sharma and said, "Dude start packing your bags, we're trekking to Dayara Bugyal this weekend." He had never heard me so excited and thought I was kidding him but once I shared the pictures and the stories of the Bugyal he was equally excited and texted me, "Let's do it."

The next thing I did was, told my wife about it and she was ready too, and the next thing she did was told our common friend Ankit Singh, who also wanted to join and this chain continued and the next thing I realised was that now we were 6 people who will trek to Dayara Bugyal. The next day we booked a cab, packed our bags & tents the following day and started waiting for Thursday the 26th Dec'13, the day we had to leave.

Finally the day arrived and we left Delhi in the evening around 8:30 pm. The route was simple: Delhi-Haridwar-Rishikesh-Uttarkashi-Barsu-Dayara Bugyal.

We reached Barsu, a small village in the Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand which is the base camp for the trek, around 4pm next day. We could have reached early but we took unnecessary breaks on our way. 

Barsu Village (the base camp for the trek)

We stopped at the Dayara Resort, one of the few places to stay in Barsu. It was a beautiful property with a beautiful view at the entrance of the village. We quickly ate whatever we had to eat since the lunch time was over at the resort. Being the off season and no guests at the resort, the rations were limited. All of us very tired of the long journey we quickly started to unpack our tents to camp up at the campsite inside the resort (for which one has to pay a small amount) and to our surprise we realised that we had forgotten the 'tent nails' back in Delhi. Finally, we spoke to the property manager and got ourselves the Dormitory at very reasonable rate. It was growing dark and cold so we moved our stuff inside, jumped to beds and off to sleep we all went.

Dayara Resort, Barsu (early morning)- pointy Mt. Shrikanth on the extreme left

Day 1: Barsu to Dayara Bugyal (6-7 kms, over 12,000 ft.)

I got up early the next morning to enjoy the Himalayan landscape from the dormitory and like always, Himalayas did not disappoint me. I woke everyone up, ordered for tea while they all freshened up, gobbled up whatever eatables we had, hired a mule and a porter for excess luggage and cooking and in next one hour we were all packed up and ready to roll. We walked along the a man-made pond in the village and started ascending, after continuously climbing for 45-50 mins. we were able to view Barsu down below with the greater Himalayan landscape at the background. We met few village ladies on the way up and gathered some info about the Bugyal. We were told that we were the first ones to go up since November. The next 3 kms of the trek we covered at a brisk pace munching our energy bars and dry fruits. Dry fruit like Almonds, Cashews and Raisins are a must during winter treks as almonds are rich in fat and since fat burns slowly in your body it gives you more and continuous energy while you trek, raisins are sweet and rich in fructose and glucose giving you instant energy. Anyway, lets go back to the trek again. Due to start of the winter season and temperature dipping down to as low as 4-5 degrees during the night there wasn't much greenery around but as we kept ascending the forest cover slowly started thickening. 3 hours into the trek with only one 10 mins break, our legs started to give up. So we decided to stop and take rest at Barnala, another lush green meadow used as a campsite with a small lake. About 20 mins before Barnala meadows the trail gently slopes down and runs flat for about 10mins and then 10 mins of steep climb takes you to the meadows of Barnala.

Approaching Barnala meadows

The steep climb just before reaching Barnala

Barnala meadows

The frozen Barnala Taal

Barnala is a tree lined meadow and when you enter the meadow to your left there is Barnala taal, a small perennial lake which is usually frozen during winters. We took a break  by the lake side for 20 mins and hit the trail again. Dayara Bugyal is on top of the ridge-line seen from Barnala. Once on the trail, you enter the tree line again and the climb gets steeper, but since its well laid out there would not be much difficulty keeping up the pace.

Back on the trail after break at Barnala meadows

Hour and a half of steep climb brings you to the end of the tree line and Dayara Bugyal begins to appear.

As we were approaching Dayara Bugyal, the weather took a turn, the clouds started to appear and it started to grow dark. Thinking of a shed to save ourselves from rain reminded me of the mule and the porter we had hired and we realised that we did not see him or the mule anywhere during the whole trek so far. Worried, we kept on ascending. Since we were not carrying tents, I recalled that the porter had told me if we're lucky enough we will be able to stay in one of the abandoned Gujjar huts. As all of this was going in my mind I saw a carcass lying about 20 mtrs away from me, scared for a moment I thought if this is a predator's kill then surely we are going to have company at the Bugyal, but as got closer I noticed that it was a wild goat's carcass which was absolutely dry and it looked like a predator's kill and a pretty clever one as it had very cleanly eaten up the insides of the goat and left the skin and the fur.

The carcass of a wild mountain Goat

I clicked a couple of picture and moved on only to find another kill lying around a few meters away, this time no flesh and fur, just the skeleton. I started to worry as I was ahead of the rest of the team and was praying that we don't encounter a Himalayan Brown Bear because it usually hunts and eats either before sunrise or later in the afternoons.

Skeleton of another kill

I shouted out to my friends and asked them to hurry up and suddenly I heard a bell ringing somewhere and as I walked for another couple of minutes, I saw a mule grazing and enter the porter we had hired. He was waiting for us by the abandoned Gujjar settlement where we were supposed to spend the night. I took a sigh of relief and started to chat with him until rest of the team came up. Soon they all joined and we started looking out for a clean and safe hut to stay overnight. This place was a cluster of about 7-8 huts all in good condition but dirty. So finally we got what we wanted, a clean hut with ample sleeping space for 7-8 people. We were at a height of around 11,000 ft. but still we could not see any mountains around due to clouds. It was growing cold so the next task was to make fire, so we all head out in different directions too look for dry wood.

Gathering dry wood to make fire

Soon we had enough wood and finally we made fire. Now huddled around it we thought its better to start preparing for dinner, but the only problem was we were short of drinking water and also water to cook food. So Nachiketa, Himanshu and me volunteered to go fetch water from a stream which was around 500 mtrs away from the settlement. Fortunately, the porter was carrying a big vessel to fill up water. While we were on our way it started snowing, so we hurried and soon we were back in the hut with enough water to drink, cook and wash the utensils. Everything was ready to cook when we were back, 30 mins more and the dinner was ready. Tadka Daal and Rice, ladies and gentlemen! We were so hungry that we could not wait and soon we all were hogging like Pigs.

Fetching water

Daal Tadka

Dinner Time

It was pitch dark outside and the temperature was falling by the minute, so we all slipped inside our sleeping bags and went off to sleep praying for clear and sunny weather next morning so that we can view the Himalayan landscape at its best.

I could not sleep properly in the night due to breathlessness and thirst. Could not drink water as it froze in the utensil itself due to low temperature and was too lazy too get up and boil the water. It was 4:00 am and I knew the first light is still an hour and a half away, so I closed my eyes once again and went back to sleep.

Day 2: Dayara Bugyal and back to Barsu

Finally morning arrived and I woke everyone up as I did not want to miss the sunrise. The moment we went out the view was amazing. Sun's first ray kissing the horizon and the mountain tops, the scattered rays in the dark morning sky giving it Orange colour. Looking at the weather which was clear due to the snowfall previous night, I knew that this is just the beginning and we are about to witness the magical spell of Garhwal Himalayas for rest of the day. After having quick tea and leftovers from last night as breakfast we were on the trail to Dayara.

The view from our hut at dawn.

Beautiful Bandarpoonch and Kaala Naag peaks as seen from our huts.

Morning chat with my wife

The game called 'Fetching Water' 

We had to break open the frozen layer and fill water

Pointy Mt. Shrikanth at the backdrop (middle)

Melting icicles

Shot at the right time!

Approaching Dayara Bugyal

After a 10-15 mins of mild ascend we reached Dayara Bugyal, the place we were dreaming of since past 5 days, the place which I had only seen in pictures, the place of which people never stopped explaining the beauty. Looking at the thin layer of snow on the trail I could make out that the snowfall previous night was first of the season. Once we reached the Bugyal, the view expanded to 180 degree, on one side we saw Bandarpoonch I, Bandarpoonch II, Kaala Naag, Draupadi ka Danda I-II, other peaks from Gangotri group and on the other Mt. Shrikanth and other unnamed peaks. We were all awestruck looking at the God's beautiful creation. The meadow had no green grass owing to the winter season and had white layer here and there because of the snowfall previous night. We roamed wide and far in the unending Bugyal but still could not have enough.

Bandarpoonch massif and hidden behind is Kaala Naag (Black Peak)

Mt. Shrikanth (extreme right) and other unnamed peaks of the Gangotri group of peaks

the 180 degree view of the Garhwal Himalayas from the bugyal.

Bandarpoonch-II peak 20,014 ft.(extreme left), Bandarpoonch-I peak 20,716 ft.(center) and Kaala Naag peak 20,950 ft. (little black peak on the right) 

the unending Bugyal

We stayed at the Bugyal for 2-3 hours, enchanted we did not realise that we had to descend too and leave the same day for Delhi. I reminded everyone of our time limit but nobody cared. I did not blame them as I myself did not want to leave. It felt like heaven to be at a place which was far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities, felt warm to meet people who are unaware of all the modernity and have no worries in their lives. As I was thinking this to myself my friends reminded me of leaving. Not wanting to leave I hurriedly took couple of pictures as I wanted to take back these beautiful landscapes with me to Delhi. Soon we were on the trail back to Barsu. This time the speeds were high as you feel less tired when you are descending. In an hour and a half we were at Barnala meadows and in another couple of hours were back at the Dayara Resort. We thanked our porter for all his help, guidance and his mule of course, paid him the monies. Tired, we ordered for cup of teas and omlettes, lazed around for a while, then in next 20mins we packed our bags and were inside our cab. The time had come to say goodbye to beautiful Garhwal, beautiful Dayara Bugyal and the enchanting Himalayan landscapes. Soon we reached Uttarkashi and after that I don't remember anything as I was deep in sleep most of the way dreaming about my next trek in the Himalayas.

My love for Himalayas

Picture blue skies, snow clad peaks, fresh air, elixir like water, unending greens and cotton clouds. Picture yourself standing under the god's light and staring right at the mighty Himalayan peaks, drinking water straight from the spring falls and eating straight from the branches, standing awe struck under the sky thinking what are you in front of these mighty mountains, what are you in front of these rivers, unending greens? What is your existence? What does your money mean to nature, what does your fame mean? NOTHING!

My love for the mountains is from the days when I was a 6-7 year old kid. While visiting my paternal home in a Himalayan village called 'Digaam' in Nepal with my parents, I used to run up and down the slopes like a mountain goat (that is what my mother used to call me) while my parents used to carefully walk and my mother used to get scared that either I'll slip and fall or I myself will jump off the cliff. I used to wake up early every morning and roam around the village on slippery terrains alone for hours picking and eating fruits from the trees as being a pleasant weather village during summers there used to be Litchi, plum, and peach trees all around.

I'm 27 today, been almost 20 years and my love for Himalayas is still growing. Nature has always fascinated me, especially mountains. There is something mysterious about them, something that keeps pulling me to them. Its like mountains call me every now and then as if wanting me to look for the hidden secrets inside them. I feel what if there were no boundaries created by humans, no religion, no creed, caste. What if you were to live and breathe under the blue skies on the green mountains. Life would have been less complicated and lot easier that ways. So i'll sum up my love for the Himalayas with few lines that I have written:

Oh! mighty Himalayas

Mysterious mighty Himalayas

Stand tall, never you move

Nobody to answer, nothing to prove.

Never you laugh, never you cry

Never you speak, why oh why?

Oh! mighty Himalayas

My love, mighty Himalayas!

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