Roopkund Trek With India Hikes - Day 5

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Today was the summit day. The day we had been waiting for. After a relatively easy trek in the last two days, we were all ready to reach Roopkund. 

Night Trek

We were all excited for the summit day. We got up early, really early. The night sky was clear and filled with stars. However visibility was rather low. There was snow everywhere. We started trekking by 4 am in the morning. The mountains looked beautiful covered in snow but it was slippery at certain places. Slowly visibility increases as the sun rises. It was amazing to see the 1.5 km board to reach Roopkund. After that there was a very steep climb. Then we see the board that says Roopkund is half a kilometer away and I couldn't wait to reach. 

Roopkund Finally

Finally I could see the Roopkund board. The Lake was entirely covered in snow. Bones were kept outside on a rock. The skeletons inside the lake were not visible. We had to climb down a bit to the frozen Lake. We walked on the Roopkund Lake. However we returned back from there when it felt it may give in. Had aloo paratha there.

There were a couple of stories that we heard there. 

Parvati was feeling thirsty. So Shiva used his Trishul to make this pond. She drank and took bath as well. so the name Roopkund.

Skeletons - Some kings army was going and they were killed when huge hails showered on them. There were a couple of Archaeologists with us who added that this king was supposed to be Mohammed Bin Tuglaq. However as no weapons were found this theory has been rejected. Also this was not the route for where he was supposed to go. 

Parvati was taking bath when some demons approached. So she killed them. The skeletons are theirs. 

The Archaeologists gave us more information . These skeletons are from 8-9 AD . They didn't have any weapons. Probably locals, or Raj Jat Yatra travelers. They just died because of hails. They have male, female and kids. The skeletons have clear signs of hails crushing bones . They were all from one clan. DNA studies shows they are close to Konkanastha Brahmins (Chitpavans) from Maharashtra.

Amazing View

The view from the top was awesome. it was getting sunny and soon we realized how important the mountaineering glasses were. 

Return

We wore microspikes. It really felt like we got some kind of super power. It gave an amazing grip on ice. I could get down really quick. We had to hurry as we had to go to the next camp the same day. We reached there in good time. There was chowmein and chilli sauce. It had been ages I had something spicy, so I pretty much drank chilli sauce that day. 

The next day had a long trek in store for us. We had to return back to Lohajung. This was a 12 km downhill trek.