Dhumdhar Kandi Pass Trek

The Dhumdhar Kandi Pass trek is a challenging crossing from Sankri in the Tons valley to the Gangotri valley, over a 5,273 m pass. From Sankri you drive to Taluka and walk beside the Supin through forest and orchards to Seema, then climb past the Devsu Bugyal meadow and Rain Basera to Ruinsara Lake, with the Kalanag and Bandarpoonch peaks behind it. From the Devsu Bugyal meadow you can look across to the Har Ki Dun valley and back to the villages of Osla and Puani.

The trail goes on to Kiarkoti, the Kalanag base camp, where a full rest day is set aside, and then to Dharali Ki Odari, where a flexible reserve day sits in hand. A shorter climb brings you to the Kalanag high camp at 5,050 m. The pass day starts there: over the pass, across glacier ice, and down to a camp at the base of the pass on the far side. Kalanag, at 6,387 m, is the highest peak on the route, and the Swargarohini group stands among the mapped summits around it.

Two long descents follow, past Gantaro Nala and Dorangotto, to the road-head at Jhala. On the drive back to Dehradun we can stop at the hot springs at Gangnani.

• Days: 13 days, 12 nights, including a flexible reserve day. Camping from Seema onwards.
• Grade: challenging. Walking days are 3 to 7 hours; the pass day is about 7.
• Best months: May-June and September-October.
• Getting there: from Dehradun airport and back, pickup and drop included.

The pass day crosses snow and glacier ice. We provide microspikes or crampons, walking ice axes and helmets when conditions call for them, and a rest day and a reserve day are built in before the high camp.

Your group is private, usually 2 to 10. For a lower first look at the same valley, see Har Ki Dun and Ruinsara Tal.

• Dhumdhar Kandi Pass at 5,273 m: A standalone pass day from the Kalanag high camp, over the pass and across glacier ice to a camp at 4,700 m. The day that defines the trek.
• Tons valley to the Gangotri valley: You start beside the Supin at Sankri and finish at Jhala in the Gangotri valley, so you leave one river system and end in another.
• Taluka to Seema: The first walk follows the Supin through forest and orchards, with the Har Ki Dun valley to one side.
• Devsu Bugyal: A wide meadow on the way to Rain Basera, with Osla and Puani visible in the valley behind.
• Ruinsara Lake: A glacial lake in an opening of meadow and rhododendron, below Kalanag and Bandarpoonch.
• Kiarkoti and a rest day: The Kalanag base camp at 3,989 m, with a full day to acclimatise before the high ground.
• The Kalanag high camp at 5,050 m: You sleep close to the pass, so the crossing day starts high.
• A reserve day at Dharali Ki Odari: A flexible day at 4,670 m, below the high camp, where weather or a slow day can be absorbed.
• Gantaro Nala, Wodar and Dorangotto: The long descent on the Gangotri side, down to the road-head at Jhala.
• Hot springs at Gangnani: On the drive to Dehradun we can stop to bathe, an easy end to a hard crossing.

The Dhumdhar Kandi Pass trek crosses the pass at 5,273 m on one standalone day. We build the route so that the day starts high: the night before is at the Kalanag high camp, 5,050 m, reached by a shorter climb from Dharali Ki Odari. From the high camp you climb to the pass, then come down across glacier ice to the camp at 4,700 m, a day of about 7 hours.

The ground is the point. The route's terrain is rock, glacial moraine, snow field and hard ice, with glacier crossing. This is the part of the trek that asks for care, and it is why the pass day is a day on its own, with nothing else asked of you that morning.

The descent on the glacier is the part to respect. Move at the pace the guide sets and follow the line exactly.

Snow or open ice? Both seasons work, and they feel different.

• May and June: more snow cover on the approach and on the pass. Soft snow is tiring, but it can cover rough ground.
• September and October: less snow, more open moraine and ice, stable weather and clearer skies. Mornings and nights are colder.

We provide microspikes or crampons as the snow and ice need, walking ice axes and helmets where required, and we rope up where the ground calls for it. You do not bring any of it. We use a stretch of ground on the way up to Dharali Ki Odari as a short practice, so nobody meets the gear for the first time on the pass.

After the pass you sleep at 4,700 m, then drop past Gantaro Nala (4,200 m) and Wodar (4,102 m) to Kiarkoti (3,656 m) on the Gangotri side. Take the day's early start seriously: streams are lower in the morning, and legs tired from the pass do better on a long descent when they are not rushed.

If the weather is wrong, the reserve day at Dharali Ki Odari, one day below the high camp, is there for it. The decision to cross is taken on the day, by conditions and by how the group is, not by the calendar. Tell us your dates and how you walk at height and we will help you pick the season that suits you.

The trek reaches 5,273 m on day 10, so the first nine days are about sleeping height. Here is how the nights climb, and why the days are placed as they are.

• Days 2 to 4, short climbs: Seema, then Rain Basera at 3,000 m, then Ruinsara Lake at 3,350 m. Days 3 and 4 are short, 3 to 5 hours, and the afternoons are free.
• Day 5, Kiarkoti at 3,989 m: the Kalanag base camp, 5 hours from the lake.
• Day 6, a full rest day at Kiarkoti. You stay at 3,989 m, walk gently around camp and let the body settle before the bigger gains.
• Day 7, Dharali Ki Odari at 4,670 m: about 6 hours.
• Day 8, flexible reserve day at Dharali Ki Odari.
• Day 9, Kalanag high camp at 5,050 m: a shorter climb, about 5 hours, so that you sleep high before the pass.

Two of those gains, to Kiarkoti and to Dharali Ki Odari, are larger than the 300 to 500 m a day we like to keep above 3,000 m. This is what the route gives, so we soften it where we can: a rest day before the first and a reserve day after the second, and the trek leader checks how everyone is doing each day.

What to tell the leader. A headache, poor sleep, no appetite: say so at the evening meeting, not on the climb. Beyond Ruinsara the trail is remote, and a decision made at camp is always easier than one made on a slope. We would rather turn back with you than push on.

The lake is the last easy place before the ground gets rough. If you want to see the mountain itself first, the Kalanag Base Camp trek is the shorter way in.

The Dhumdhar Kandi Pass trek links two of Garhwal's river valleys. You start in the valley of the Supin, the river that forms where the Har Ki Dun Gad, the Ruinsara Gad and a stream from Dev Kyara meet. You end in the Gangotri valley, on the Bhagirathi. The pass between them is the high point of the walk.

The Supin side. From Taluka (1,800 m) the path runs beside the Supin through forest and orchards to Seema. The villages of this valley, Taluka, Gangaad, Dhatmir, Osla and Soud, are mapped around the route, and from the Devsu Bugyal meadow you can look across to the Har Ki Dun valley and back to Osla and Puani. At Seema the Har Ki Dun path continues straight; our route turns into the Ruinsara valley, towards Ruinsara Lake.

The glaciers. The Kalanag Glacier, the Bandarpoonch Glacier, Rahtia Bamak and Sian Bamak are all mapped on this route. For the walker, they mean moraine, glacier ground and the hard ice of the pass day.

The peaks. Several summits stand over the trek:

• Kalanag, 6,387 m, the highest of them, behind the lake.
• Bandarpoonch West (6,316 m) and Bandarpoonch East (6,045 m).
• Swargarohini, a group of five summits from 6,252 m down to 5,725 m, with Yellow Tooth (5,720 m) among the mapped peaks.

On the Gangotri side, the descent from Wodar and Dorangotto to Jhala brings you down to the road-head at Jhala. The drive to Dehradun passes through Uttarkashi, at about 1,160 m, and the hot springs at Gangnani lie on the way.

If you want to see the first valley without a pass, the Har Ki Dun and Ruinsara Tal trek covers it. If the peaks above Ruinsara have caught your eye, the Kalanag climbing expedition climbs the mountain behind the lake.

The Dhumdhar Kandi Pass trek is graded challenging. At 5,273 m, it is a step above Bali Pass at 4,850 m, the nearby crossing from the same valley. Walking days run 3 to 7 hours and the pass day about 7, with steep climbs and descents and a glacier to cross.

What makes this one harder.

• Height: you sleep at 4,670 m and again at 5,050 m before the pass.
• Terrain: glacier crossing, snow field and hard ice, on top of rock and moraine.
• Length: 13 days, with a rest day and a reserve day, and the walk out to Jhala is long.

What it asks of you. Good fitness, but more than that, familiarity with altitude: it helps a great deal if you have already slept above 4,000 m on an earlier trek. Regular cardio, stair or hill work and long walks with a loaded pack in the weeks before are the sound preparation. You do not need to have used crampons: we provide the gear and a short practice on the way.

The snow window. In this part of Uttarakhand the high passes open in May and June, and again from late September. Spring and early summer bring snow cover; autumn brings open moraine, stable weather and clearer skies. Both seasons work. Monsoon, roughly July to mid-September, is not a trekking season here.

A sensible order. If you have not yet walked at height, start lower. Har Ki Dun and Ruinsara Tal takes you to the same lake, and Bali Pass gives you a first pass crossing at a lower altitude. Dhumdhar Kandi is a good next step after one of them, or after a Himalayan trek that gave you nights above 4,000 m.

Tell us the treks you have done and how you walk at height, and we will say plainly whether this is the right crossing for you or whether another should come first.

The Dhumdhar Kandi Pass trek takes 13 days, 12 nights, including a flexible reserve day, from Dehradun airport and back, pickup and drop included. Here is why it is laid out as it is.

• Short early days. After the drive to Sankri, Days 2 to 4 take you up to Ruinsara Lake at 3,350 m in easy stages.
• A rest day at Kiarkoti. A full day at 3,989 m before the large gains to the high camps.
• A reserve day at Dharali Ki Odari. It sits below the 5,050 m camp, where waiting for weather is sensible and comfortable.
• A high camp the night before. It makes the pass day start close to the top.
• Two descent days and a road-head night. Kiarkoti, then Jhala, where you sleep in a hotel before the drive to Dehradun.

Camps. The first night is in a hotel at Sankri. From Seema to Kiarkoti on the Gangotri side we camp, and our camps are running camps: pitched fresh each day and never fixed. Waste is carried down. The camp at 5,050 m is a minimal alpine camp, kept simple on purpose.

Before you go. Sankri has no bank or ATM, and the last reliable one is at Purola, so draw cash in Dehradun or Mussoorie. There is no mobile signal on the trail after Taluka; it returns near the road-head at Jhala.

Getting home. Day 13 is a drive of about 7 hours to Dehradun, and the highway can be held up by landslides. Keep a spare day before an international flight.

The team. A local crew, paid fairly, and a trek leader who judges by conditions, not by the clock. Across our treks we have had zero fatalities and zero injuries since inception, kept by discipline and not by luck, and that discipline includes turning back when it is the right call.

Who it suits. Walkers who like an unhurried pace and a small private group, usually 2 to 10. If you want a fast schedule or a big social group, this is not that trek.

Tell us your dates, your trekking experience and how you walk at height, and we will shape the days around you.