"Chanderkhani" - The heaven on earth.

Level: - Easy to moderate.
Season: - April to June.
Route: - Seobagh- Malana Dam- Behali- Waching- Nagroni- Chanderkhani Pass- Nauyatapru.

Chanderkhani Pass, located in the Shivalik range of Kullu region at a height of 12,190 ft is the most beautiful pass I had ever trekked till date. This region is also well-known as the “Valley of Gods”. The pass is named as “Chanderkhani” as it resembles  the shape of a crescent moon .

                 I am a part of Youth Hostels Association of India, and this trek was a part of 10 Days program organized by YHAI. As the busy schedule of the program and working there as a program officer with YHAI my stay was mostly in  Seobagh, the base camp of the Chanderkhani Pass 2014. As time permitted me from the busy program schedule, I got a chance to hit the higher camps on the way to Chanderkhani Pass.

             And here my Journey begins to the Moon (the Crescent shaped chanderkhani Pass)

Day 1:-Seobagh – Malana Dam project 2 – Behali (Altitude - 8900 ft) – Waching (Altitude – 9300 ft) (6 km) (3-4 hrs)

On the very day we drove till Malana Dam project 2, the last motorable road head in that direction. The weather on the very day wasn’t in our favor.  It was raining heavily, so we had to stop and wait till it stops. After about half an hour I decided to leave the vehicle and to start my journey to the higher camps as I had to cover as much distance I can during that day light time. So I started on my own, at around 12:00 pm I reached the Behali camp site, I spent around one hour at Behali relaxed with a good cup of tea by the river side along with some tasty parathas. From there on I had take help in order to guide me through the route, so I asked one of the helper of the campsite to guide me till the next campsite, Waching. Then we decided to take the shortest route to reach the next camp site as soon as possible. 

After walking through the steep climbs for about one and half hour finally we meet the group who was trekking from Behali to Waching, at the lunch point. They were playing cricket at the small ground flat in surface in between those mountains  near the canteen, run by the local people of that area .Later , after an hour we started our journey to the next camp site- Waching.After reaching Waching we all rested and relaxed for a while and it were already time for dinner. After our meal, I sat down in the open area near the camp bounded by snow covered mountains and was enjoying the cold and the clear sky with stars glittering like diamonds.

Day 2:- Waching – Nagroni. (Altitude – 10000 ft) (5 km) (5-6 hrs)

 We started our journey after an energetic breakfast and lunched packed for the day. The path leading us to Nagroni is through a forest covered with trees like deodar, rhododendrons and pine trees with steep climb in between. As after few hours, we stopped for lunch on the way, it starts raining but after a while it stops. At around 4:30 pm we reached the camp site, people on the campsite were waiting to welcome us. After having a cup of tea I went to explore the nearby area but it started raining again so had to rush back to the camp site.

Day 3:- Nagroni – Chanderkhani Pass (Altitude- 12,190ft)– Nayatapru. (Altitude –   9000ft) (13Km) (8-9 Hrs)

  The next day we woke up at 5:00 am to start the trek as soon as possible but bad luck, we had to wait for a while as it was raining Around 6:00 am we decided to start our trek for the day. Due to continuous rain the path had become slippery and had made our trek tougher. After few hours it started to snow and it continued till we reached the pass. The guides and Sherpa had fixed ropes for the safety of the group in order to cross the danger point at the pass . The pass was covered with snow beautifully but  the danger  was there if someone slips in the slopes. Luckily everyone crossed the slopes safely. One of the participants started  facing  breathing  problem, after crossing the pass also due to his negligence in covering himself up with  proper warm clothes and his clothes were all wet , so we had asked him to change his cloth with dry ones . The guide shared  some warm clothes with him,  and helps the participants to take some  oxygen from the oxygen cylinders we had carried along.

                It’s always been fun to slide on snow. Now the fun part has started we had sliding points that leads us to the way towards the canteen run by local people. Once we reached the sliding point it started snowing again so we had to rush to cover as much distance as we can. We all were wet due to the rainfall and snowing during the trek. Finally we had  reached the canteen safe and sound and ordered some tea . Hands were shivering due to the freezing cold so we were not even able to grab the tea glasses properly. With one sip I could feel the hot liquid flowing inside my body.  While we were enjoying the tea and maggi it start snowing heavily and in a while the roof of the canteen was a half covered roof canteen due to the wind .However we manage to grab the sheet and put it back. The whole area turn white due to the fresh snow, after waiting for some time we started our trek to our next camp site ,Nayatapru. We reached the camp site at around 6:00 PM. I quickly changed my clothes to some warm and dry clothes to prevent from getting cold and grab a cup of tea in the kitchen.

Day 4:- Nayatapru – Rumsu – Nagar (Altitude- 6716 ft) - Seobagh.

The next day we headed towards Rumsu village, the route was covered with pine trees and the last few kms were rocky till we reached the village. Without wasting much time there at the village we headed towards Seobagh by bus ,to relax at the camp site as soon as possible.