I had been to Devariyatal — Chandrashila trek in November ‘16. New year was coming so was planning to celebrate in a different way and what better can it be than mountains and their evenings. One of my office colleague, Akash had shown interest to come along on a trek. Another colleague Shweta, was also interested in trekking in Himalayas. Shweta had done a trek with me before but Akash was new to this. I thought of trekking to Kuari pass, which offers a close view of Nanda Devi, Dunagiri and Hathi – Ghoda parbat and also its suitable for novice trekkers and many trekking organizations run batches along this route. So, we wouldn’t be alone if we couldn’t find any guide for us.
We started our journey from Delhi on Wednesday, 28th Dec, 2016 on train. Upon reaching Haridwar Railway Station, we took a Uttarakhand Roadways bus to Joshimath. Though trek starts from Auli, we figured that accommodation in Auli would cost us more due to increase in tourist influx around year end. We needed to see if we could get a guide in Joshimath. By evening of Thursday, 29th Dec, 2016, we reached Joshimath.
After this long journey we didn’t have much time left to get a guide and make arrangements of food on the trek. Our topmost priority was to get a guide which would help us with the trek route. We found one from a local tourist organization. Immediately after that, he helped us get all the forest permits needed for camping and trekking. With the consultation of our guide, we bought and packed all the ration needed for a seemingly 4 day long trek to Kuari Pass Trek from Auli.