Khimloga Pass

Our pick up point is Dehradun Railway station or ISBT, meet us there and then drive towards Sankri you can have your breakfast at Kempty Fall which is a famous picnic spot and is famous for a waterfall. Have your lunch in middle of your journey at Purola.

It’s a picturesque drive to Sankri, you will get fetching views from your window, and the drive will be through Dehradun, Mussoorie, Nainbagh, Damta, Newman, Purola, Mori, Netwar these are beautiful places in the Himalayas. Sankri lies in Govind Wildlife Sanctuary of Uttarkashi district, it is a village on the confluence of Tons and Supin with a mini market famous for wooden huts which serve delectable food. You will see apple orchards here and greenery all around.

Reach Sankri have a glace of snow covered mountains, this place is pollution free, enjoy the invigorating climate. We own a hotel there named “Swargarohini” Relax, have your meal and overnight stay in hotel.

After waking up early have your tea and breakfast then bid goodbye to this village and bow down to Someshwar Devta so that everything goes well. Now stert your trek through potato fields on other side of the Supin from this point Sural Dhar can be seen which comes from Chakuri Dhar.

The forest starts and you will find a variety of trees there i.e. Pine, Walnut and Deodar, walk under the shades for 1 km and it will lead to a wooden bridge over Supin. The area is now landslide prone and some paths are damaged due to it. Now the trek gets tough through boulder zone and ice bridges which take you to Surmola Thach which lies at an altitude of 3460 metres.

At Surmola Thach there are alluring green fields and the greenery looks soothing and you can see a Lake there named “Badasu” present at ridge top. The locals believe that this Lake is pious and serene. Pithch your tents at the field of this Thach and retire for the night.

Leave the grassy fields of Surmola Thach by following the right bank of Supin, trek through the landslide prone areas, it has damaged and washed away the routes so walk carefully. Start climbing the ridge, it gets tough to climb avoiding the landslides. When you reach the ridge top you come the grassy land which is a relief after a hard ascent.

From there enjoy the picturesque scenery, the multi colored flowers makes the green pstures look extremely beautiful like a HD wallpaper, towards North Khimlopga ice field is visible. Start descending to Supin and reach Vishkhopri at the confluence of Guggal Gad and Supin.

The campsite of Vishkhopri is one of the beautiful campsite as this wide place is carpeted in flowers, sight of the colourful flowers is a delight when you come from hard trails. Setup your tents here at Vishkhopri and have a relaxing stay in tents.

After a salubrious breakfast leave for Thangal Thach your destination for today. Walk along the boulder zone on right and Guggal gad can be seen coming down from Baslawatha. By following the Nala you can reach Devkiyara Ridge and then Baspa Valley.

Reach the ridge top and the spectacular panorama views of Khimloga glacier surprise you, they are spell binding. Look towards left and the magnificent peaks welcome you. This Khimloga glacier is divided in two parts – Front – main one and a part of the North glacier on left.

The main glacier is in semicircle, the altitude of peaks are (5187 m, 5877 m, 5480 m) The ridge merges with (5889 m and 5440 m) peaks and the ridge visible to the north of these peaks is Khimloga glacier. We are going to explore the North part. Now after having proper sight at the peaks move along Basalwa Thach.

Trek through boulder area and amongst patches to reach Nishani Thach which lies at 3,900 metres. Rest here for some time, here are boulders all around. One can go to Baspa valley through Pataki Dhar by following the Nala on left. The campsite “Thangal Thach” is 1 km away from here, reach this campsite and pitch your tents here at an altitude of (3,960 metres) and retire for night.

Today’s trek is through moraine area over snow, start your trek towards left moraine and ahead you will come across a glacier on right which has crevasses, these are very dangerous so you have to be very careful.

Start climbing the stiff moraine wall of 70 degree gradient and this will end at sharp top of the ridge. Now, the gigantic Khimloga glacier is now clear and the sights may frighten you because of its 180 degree radius. The rocks and snowfalls fall from above which can be scary but apply your skills and knowledge to overcome these challenges.

The North glacier looks scary because it is broken and there are boulders on glacier which makes the climb difficult. Crossing this moraine ridge gets tough because a slip can turn very risky so be attentive and do not make yourself nervous because these are the challenging parts which can be crossed.

Reach the sharpest top of the ridge rocks may fall down from there have a glimpse of Khimloga Pass which is at an altitude of 5,712 metres. Reach Khimloga camp 01, setup your tents, our team will go and look for the conditions of the route for a safe trek tomorrow. Have healthy dinner and comfortably sleep in your tents.

Start your trek early today, cross a river and descend traversing the right wall of moraine ridge, today you have to reach the snout of glacier by traversing boulder zone and be very careful while crossing this area because the rocks can fall anytime from above.

On right a black snout will be visible that is a hanging glacier which looks frightening. The route looks very steep but actually it’s not you have to cross ice ridges one after another and reach the top of last snow ridge and the sight of Semi Circular Khimloga glacier and Khimloga will mesmerise you.

Ahead is heavenly crevasses ice field, walk along the left side of glacier and reach a glacial pond, you can rest there and have your lunch. Packed lunch will be provided after having lunch and some rest start trekking through an ice field full of crevasses.

Reach your campsite Khimloga camp 02 and setup your tents. After some rest gather and discuss about tomorrow’s trek as it is going to be the main day and toughest. Pray from god to keep the weather conditions good and to keep everything safe then after having dinner retire for night.

Today is the main day of your expedition so wake up and leave early to be on time. Climb along the left ridge through snow field and the sight of Khimloga Pass becomes better and clearer. You will come across a rocky projection which divides the path.

Go towards right of that rocky projection because the path from left is too dangerous and risky. Trek through the right path and reach Khimloga Pass which is 10 feet wide. Standing at the top you will get an immense feeling of contentment, traversing the peak paths of which were lost somewhere and were unknown to people would be a great achievement .

Celebrate the moments and have a look at surroundings and feel the peaks very close to you. You will need ropes to descend and towards North-east is Nardun Khad glacier. Peaks which are on right ridge are at altitude of 5899 m and 4704 m. The route downwards is through Janspa Gad, descending is sharp and sliding down is required in some areas; use your proper trekking gears. Descend along Nardu Gad glacier and reach ice fields.

Reach your campsite Janspa Gad and this is your last camp of this expedition. Setup your camps and retire for the night in the joyous feeling of successfully conquering the pass.

Bid goodbye to your campsite and before leaving do capture the pictures with your team to cherish the unforgeable memories. Leave the ice fields and some to rock zone, when you cross these areas you will see flowers blooming, they will please you just by their presence, watching them after so long will make you happy.

As you go further Chitkul will be visible and it is the last village of Baspa Valley and it has green cultivated fields and wooden houses which looks picturesque together. Now reach a ridge full of Rhododendron trees and walk through beautiful pine forest under the shade of pine trees.

Reach Baspa’s bank and with help of a steel rope reach Chitkul. There have a glance at Nardu Khad which comes down from left ridge it looks ordinary but its head is Khimloga Pass.