Single Post

Kugti Pass at 16,600 feet is a ridge top with space for a few trekkers to stand. A small shrine with prayer flags is the only visible symbol of the pass. A collection of Trishuls and Sothus lie at the foot of the shrine – a gesture to the god from many shepherds for the successful crossing of the pass.

The view on the other side is of a stark and barren Lahaul, a complete contrast to the green that is on the side just climbed. Far below is the start of a moraine filled glacier that stretches in a northerly direction for many kilometers. The Kugti Pass is at the pinnacle of a large concave that marks the descent to the glacier, 1,500 feet below. If there is snow on the flanks of the Lahaul side of the pass, then a straight descent with ropes is the easiest way to get down.

On days with less snow, a trail is visible traversing down the side of the mountain slope to your left. Follow the dusty trail, which is sometimes over loose stone and scree and arrive at a switchback descent that rapidly loses altitude in an hour and a half to arrive at the top of the snow field before the start of the glacier.

The snowfield sharply at first eases out to a gradual descent to the moraine filled glacier. From your vantage point a clear trail is visible over the moraines. Strike a path over the snowfield that takes you to the start of the trail. Fill your bottle at the many clear water channels that run through the glacier before disappearing into the folds of the ice many feet under the moraine. There is no other water source until you get to Alyas many hours later.

The trek through the many folds of the moraines is tedious and tiring. The trail dips and rises every few meters and the toil is hard on the trekker. The moraines are a mixer of boulders and stones held together with loose soil and scree – often slippery with wet earth and at other times dusty and loose. Negotiating them is tedious and time consuming. Trekking a kilometer of trail takes about an hour. Frequent rock falls on the mountain slopes above the glacier resound through the silent valley.

Two hours later, an arm of the moraine forms a ridge that descends gradually over to the edge, after which is an emptiness of the horizon, signaling the end of the moraines. Walk along the ridge until you spot the first patch of greenery on a level ground about two hundred feet below the ridge to your right. Spot a few trails that run along the green parallel to the ridge. This is your signal to descend down to the green patch leaving the ridge to the left and above you.