Up we go !!! Juda to Base Camp... Day 3

I woke up early morning at 6.00am to breath fresh air. Dew drops had covered our entire tent, I guess little bit of fresh snow was sprinkled around the entire mountain.  We had our morning tea and breakfast and were ready with our trekking bags and pole. Our guides asked us to wear Crampons which we had carried from Sankri. As we had to trek on a step surface today with bright sun on our head, the trek was going to be bit challenging as the snow becomes more slippery. We had to go to the base camp of Kedarkantha Summit which was one of the most important part of our trek.

The trek was 2.5kms long but the climb was quite steep. We started climbing around 10.00 am and had many other group trekkers along with us. The path to climb was curvy and narrow, we all were confidently putting our steps Trekking poles also support you a lot especially when you are getting down of a mountain. This trek was amazing and with the Crampons your shoes get a better grip to walk on the snow. With a very small break in between we reached our base camp by around 11.30 am. Our guides were very impressed with our trekking speed. Unlike Juda ka Talab, here when we reached we found that the tents were already occupied with other trekkers and we were asked to keep our luggage outside on a tarpaulin till they vacate the tents. These trekkers had completed their Summit that day and had returned back to their tents to unwind and descend back to Hargaon which was 1.5 kms on the other side of the mountain. We were eager in knowing what was their experience during the Summit, were there any difficulties faced, total duration of the summit etc, etc. Finally I and Pratik started a communication with 2 female trekkers. They informed that the trek was too steep and tiresome, the last 200 mtrs climb which was too risky but can be managed. Luckily this group had got a clear sky and hence could complete their summit smoothly. We checked with them about the time taken to climb till peak and they mentioned 5 hours is the minimum time taken, if you are a average trekker. Soon they winded up and we were offered those tents to check-in.

Trek to Base camp

Surprisingly the base camp was having a sunny atmosphere and the sun had started hitting us. After we kept our languages we came out to see the scenic view of the base camp. The mountains were full of snow and we could see some peaks of other Himalayan ranges from this point, a superb panoramic view. We were at an altitude of 3400 mtrs above sea level and here there were relatively lesser trees.
I tried taking some rest in the tent but due to extreme sunlight, the temp inside the tent was hot. We all came out and decided to roam around and click some more pictures.

Base Camp location - Altitude 3400 mtrs above sea level

This being a base camp you can find many other trekkers groups tents, I guess around 4 to 5 groups of our size tries to attend summit everyday. As the day started to set-off, the clouds started gathering and we could feel that its gonna rain tonight. As per the protocol, if it rains or snows at the base camp, you have to abandon your summit and start to descend. Safety is always the priority and one cannot predict the weather, so we were praying that this doesn't happen.

Cloudy sky @ base camp

We all gathered in a place where Dev our guide was calmly warming himself with some wood fire. I asked Dev about the weather condition and Dev said nothing will happen, the winds are blowing to the opposite direction of our summit so even if it snows it will not have much of the effect on our track. This is what experience matters. Soon very small pieces of ice crystals started falling on our head. This was not snow but hail stones which were very beautiful looking crystals fallen all over the mountains. We spent some time warming ourselves at the wood fire discussing about other treks like Hampta pass, Chandrataal lake etc as Dev was originally from Manali. He asked us to keep in touch and plan our next trek in Manali. Soon it was dark and all our guides asked us to gather in our service tents to have dinner and a quick brief of Summit trek.

We all gathered anxiously in the tent with our head lights and after our dinner, Dev started his brief. He told us that we have to be ready with our bagpacks with bear minimum stuff to be carried till the summit. One good part is while you go on the top, you dont need to carry your entire trekking bag, those are kept in the tents and you need to carry only small bag with a water bottle and some energy bars or dry fruits thats it. A head torch is a must as we start to climb in midnight around 2.30 - 3.00 am. The reason behind starting so early is the snow is hard and settled so there is less chance to slip and the other big reason is while you reach the peak, you get to see the mesmerizing view of sunrise.  We were told to wear all our inner and extra protective layers while we sleep as in the morning we had very less time to prepare ourselves. We were also instructed how to slide during our return journey as the descend is too steep and one cannot come down walking from the snow mountains. It was freezing cold due to the hail storm and we all prepared ourselves and slipped in our sleeping beds with our alarms set for 2.00 am.