Tungnath Chandrashila Trek, Uttarakhand

 
How far can one push themselves to experience the smugness of summiting this beautiful peak? 

This story is the answer to the question.

Chandrashila Peak

Standing tall at around 4000 meters, Chandrashila peak lies in the quaint little village of Chopta 30 kilometers ahead of Ukimath in Uttarakhand. My first acquaintance with this trek was when I read about it in Ruskin Bond's book 'All the roads lead to Ganga'. The write up describing the place and a quick google search was enough to set my mind on it. But I never thought it would take me three attempts to materialize it !

My first attempt was in February 2018 with my cousins. We reached the base village Chopta late at night around 10 pm after driving for 10 hours due to construction of all weather road. But to heavy snowfall that continued day and night, the whole area was wrapped in thick white layers of snow and the trek had to be cancelled. Never the less, Chopta looked beautiful.

The second attempt was in April 2020 (carefully choosen to avoid snowfall this time) but the pandemic cancelled all my plans I was very disappointed. My third attempt was this year March, 2022 and I was determined to make it this time or never attempt it again, but I had never thought I would have to navigate many obstacles this time also.

Before we embark on this adventurous journey, let's get acquainted with the route, terrain and logistics.

Base Village : Chopta

It is situated 230 kilometers from Haridwar and 200 kilometers from Rishikesh

How to Reach ?

Both Haridwar and Rishikesh can be reach via train. It is 5 hours approx. from Delhi.

The nearest airport is Jolly Grant International Airport in Dehradun which is approx. 30 minutes from Rishikesh.

How to reach Chopta from Haridwar/ Rishikesh ?

There isn't any direct transport from Haridwar/Rishikesh directly to Chopta.

One can hire a cab from Haridwar or Rishikesh to Chopta, hire a Bike/Burgman or use public transpot. In case of later, one can get share taxi from Haridwar railway station or from Rishikesh( near Natraj Chowk) that will take you to either Rudraprayag or Ukimath and then from there you need to reach Chopta via another bus or hire cab.

Main stops enroute for supplies

Haridwar -> Rishikesh -> Shivpuri -> Devprayag -> Srinagar -> Rudraprayag -> Augustmuni -> Ukimath -> Chopta

Srinagar is the biggest town in between Haridwar and Chopta and the last petrol pump lies between Rudraprayag and Agustmuni as of March 2022.The good mechanic shops would be till Tilwada, few kilometer ahead of Rudraprayag.

The road till Agustmuni is good , although there are some rough patches after Srinagar as these areas are prone to landslides. The terrain becomes steep from Agustmuni onwards with many hair pin bends and gradual increase in altutide till you reach Chopta which is highest and from there the descent starts towards Chamoli.

Lets embark on Journey now !

Me and my brother-in-law Ishan decided a week back to go for trek to Tungnath and Chandrashila but hardly got any anytime to workout of logistics to reach there because of busy office schedule. As I had been there once before and was familiar with the place is general we decided to make spontaneous plan logistics but it was going to be a real adventure with many surprises !

We boarded train train Hemkunt express from Jammu that goes till Rishikesh. Its an overnight journey and we got down in Haridwar to hire Burgman for travel onwards. After having brekfast buffet in Le Roi hotel and getting refreshed there it was time to fill the tank full for our long jounrey to Chopta. Coincidently it was also Holi festival this day and whole city was teeming with cheerfull and colourful crowd. The operator cheerfully prompted us that we were lucky as the petrol pump was closing because of Holi eve and wouldn't open till afternoon or evening in whole area. So there you go with first surprise !

Anyways, we took note of it and started our journey. As we reached Rishikesh ( 40 mins drive from Haridwar ) it was teeming with more vibrant crowd with all streets and roads enjoying Thandai and colour spray and water being splashed everywhere. We managed to navigate through it without being drenched in water or colour somehow and in few minutes we were on Kedarnath/ Badrinath highway.

On the way we came across small towns and villages but what surprised us was that all petrol pumps, shops, hotels and teas stalls were closed. As Burgman has small fuel tank it would definitely need second fill up to make it upto Chopta and back. We decided to make a call for further journey after reaching Rudraprayag. Thats the farthest we could go without refueling as the road from there onwards would be all uphill and fuel won't last.

After reaching Srinagar in the afternoon , we looked if petrol pumps are open but to our disappointment, they were still closed so we decided to conitnue onwards towards Rudraprayag with hope that by that time the petrol pumps would open and we would cover some more distance.Here comes second surprise ! In the middle of the road between Srinagar and Rudraprayag the tyre got puncture. Since no shops were open we decided Ishan would take lift till Rudraprayag and find a mechanic and I would drive the Burgman till there. Tired and flamised, we somehow managed to get the tyre puncture fixed but it got puncture again somewhere near Agastmuni and we had to replace the tyre itself.I still remember laying down under the cool shade of peepal tree on the concrete floor in Rudgraprayag desperately waiting for mechanic to arrive. I was tired and famished but the place was still soothing somehow.

After replacing the tyre, the Burgman was all set and now came the steep climb to Ukimath and Chopta. We didn't waste time and drove all the way till Ukimath and took a halt for tea break there. It was a small teashop on the narrow road. We sat on the terrace of the house opposite the tea shop over looking the snow clad Chopta from there and had our tea with some biscuits. It was serene and refreshing break after so many hurdles. It was getting pretty cold now and dark too. So I buckled up my jacked and gloves and without waiting further started the uphill ride to Chopta. The road resembled a big snake that has coiled the mountain with narrow roads, steep ascents and beautiful landscape. After reaching Chopta we got ourselves a small hotel, had our meal and slept to be ready for tomorrow's trek.

It's the Trek Day !

We woke to the views of  beautiful snow clad mountains all set for the trek

We had our breakfast and quickly headed to the starting point of the trek. A small stone gate with Temple bell beaconed the start of the trek. We started the treak at around 9.15 am. The path was steep from the start itself and as we would find out would remain like that till the end. No flat surface in between. As we started hiking, the snow that was like patches in the start was soon everywhere and we were dreding on the snow rather walking. The third suprise  ! Although we had expected some patches of snow but the whole moutain would be engulfed in it was a big suprise. As we were closing in on Tungnath we soon realised that we were underdressed for this trek and the whole mountain climb after this upto Chandrashila was to be a snow climb.

I took us 2 hours to reach the Tungnath temple. Even though the climb was steep all through the time and path was snow filled we managed to reach on time but we had to be quick and weather could chnage any time and we wanted to make it to Chandrashila which is another 1 hour hike from here but with the whole mountain covered in snow it could take much longer.

The Tungnath Temple. It is 3680 meters above sea level.

After taking some rest, few click and taking the divine blessings we started the climb for Chandrashila.

It was going to be an arduous climb as it was all snow terrain from here with very steep gradient. The absence of cramp ons and spike made it difficult as the snow was hardened thus maing it very slippery. As the sun reached the top in afternoon, the snow melted rapidly causing the little patch of soil to become muddy and very slippery which made it more difficult to hike.

    

The climb to Chandrshila peak. It is 3690 meters above sea level.

It took us almost one and a half hour to climb till Chandrashila but it was all worth it ! The view of  Kedarnath and Badrinath peaks form the summit were breathtaking. It was surreal and serene. One could just sit there for hours and contemplate its beauty to fix an epoch in your memroy that would be yours for the life time. We bowed to goddess Chandrshila for the divine blessings. We were very tired and flamished but we still had to climb down which was going to take alteast 3 hours and since it was all snow till the Tungnath we decided to sledge our way down ! Frankly , there just wasn't anyother option left to hike down. We couldn't descend without sledging because we didn't have cramp-ons for steady grip on snow.

 

It took us around 3 hours to descend down to Chopta. Our clothes were wet because of the snow sledging while descending from Chanddrashila to Tungnath and at few points after that. It was little scary to descend through sledging from such steep heights. But once we got acquainted with, it was fun and we did it couple of times more that which saved precious time.

We were back by 5.30 pm or so and on time to take some much anticipated refreshments of Tea and snacks at the base. Watching the sunset over the mountains which glistened the snow peaks in golden and sky in crimson color, the sun also descended like us for the day. We were filed with smugness of finally summiting the Tungnath and Chandrashila peak which took three attempts, 8 hours ride and tremendous spirit to go on in spite of all the challenges. May be this journey was all about learning the "going-on" in life no matter what we encounter because there is always a summit after a steep climb :-)

   

PS : Tungnath temple is the highest altitude Shiva temple in the world standing tall at 3680 meters above sea level. During winter months ( November to March end ) , the presiding deity is taken to Makkumath ( as of March 2022 ) and the temple in Tungnath is closed for visitors but the trek remains open.