Trekking in Kullu Valley and enetering into Spiti by spending a day at one of the most beautiful high altitude Himalayan Lakes, Chandratal- The Lake of Moon is the award of this trek. After Spiti, it moves deep under the Chandra Bhaga ranges and opnes at Baralacha La. Baralacha La is the origin of Bhaga River, it is the last mountain pass of Himachal towards Ladakh, it is the gateway to eneter in zanskar by trekking and it used to be the stoppage of royal weddings when Buddhism was florishing in Tibet, Ladakh & Spiti.
Route detail and general observation
The trek takes one from the lush green valleys and forests of Kullu valley to barren land of Spiti and then suddenly to the most beautiful lake of moon at Chandra Tal where one gets naturally rejuvenated. A night at our luxury camp may relax you at the maximum level at Sarchu and a journey to Ladakh will make your trek perfect.
This is one of the most popular treks in western Himalayas because of several reasons. It remains open for maximum period of the time, one can end it after Chandratal and go to Spiti valley and one is free to come back to Manali or go to Leh or trek further into Zanskar valley. Secondly, it is the combination of green area of Kullu Valley, challenging passes like Hamta and high altitudes of Topko Gogma with facing mountain peaks of CV ranges, beautiful Chandratal Lake and lot more.
- International airport to hotel in Delhi transfer by small coach/ medium or large cars as per the group size
- Sightseeing/ monument visits as per the itinerary
- Delhi to trek beginning point and back to Delhi transfers
- Transfer to international airport in Delhi after the trip
- Transportation of porters, cook, kitchen staff to trek beginning point and back to their places after the trekking
Accommodation – city hotels with breakfast & remaining on full board
- Hotels as per the program
- Trekking duration camps with all meals
- Gala dinner at Delhi with expedition mementoes/ souvenirs
Staff
- Porters for the trekking part
- Cook and kitchen helper (01)
- Trekking guide (01) from trek beginning point to trek end point
- Local sightseeing/ city/ monument guide
Equipment
- Trekking tents for the members
- Trekking tent for cook+ helper and trekking guide
- Ground mattresses
- Kitchen tent, chairs, tables, stools, utensils, crockery and cutlery
- Toilet tents and toiletries
- Medical kit
- Maps and directions
Administrative assistance to the expedition team
- Cargo Management for big groups
- Insurance of the staff and porters for trekking trips like Kangla Pass
- Inner Line permits/ restricted area permits
The cost doesn’t include
- Air tickets of the expedition members
- Any kind of insurance of the clients
- Personal expenditures of the clients
- Helicopter rescue
- Personal sleeping bags and sacs
- Cargo handling charges
Skiing supplement
- If you want to ski down from some point, you can write separately.
Day 01: Arrive at Delhi: On arrival at airport you will be transferred to hotel for O/N stay.
Day 02: Delhi to Manali- Morning train to Chandigarh and later drive to Manali./ Hotel
Day 03: Manali full day to relax, sightseeing and preparations. O/N stay at hotel.
Day 04: Manali to Sethan drive and trek to Chhika (3300m.) 4-5 hours: The place named Sethan has been used for the plantation of kut and other herbs (roots) useful for medicines. Over a period of time, it has become a place of a special Spitian tribe called Khampa. On the way, we can see the power project making electricity. The day is full of beautiful walks and the main attractions are wild flowers, caves and good rocks for climbing. Lot of time can be spent to climb upwards from the camp area to see mountain peaks like Indrasan, Deo Tibba (6100m) ranges and Inder Kila (the mystic mountain/ camp
Day 05: Chikka to Sera Garu (3600m), 4 hours/ 13 Kms: The days walk is a gradual movement on hills which keeps on offering a bird's eye view of the complete Kullu valley/ camp
Day 06: Sera Garu to Chhatru (3560m), over Hamta Pass, 5 hours: The day offers a noticeable difference in the vegetation and terrain of both sides of the Hamta pass. This valley is drained by the fast flowing stream fed with glacial melt from the glaciers such as Chota Shigri. Chatru is the first settlement on the way to Spiti from Lahoul/Manali areas/ camp
Day 07: Chhatru to Chhotadara (3690m), 4-5 hours/ 16 Km.: You pass through the barren landscapes but your camp is set in a small glade with tiny mountain flowers and drained by small stream. The river Chandra remains all times on the right side of the walk and front is overlooked by Bara Shigri glaciers/ camp
Day 08: Chhotadara to Batal (3960m), 4-5 hours/ 15 Km.: More we walk more closer we are to wilderness of Spiti, Chandra valley, and majestic and holy Kunzam La and Lake of moon. Some good views of the Shigri peak and glacier is also visible from here. Shigri stream emerges from iridescent ark way of solid ice; a never to forgotten sight/camp
Day 09: Batal to Chandra Tal Lake (4270m), 5-6 hours/ 14Km. : We start from Batal and trek towards Chandra Tal lake- the moon lake and which is one of the most beautiful lakes available in high Himalayas. The trek ends at the beautiful corner of Chandra Tal Lake/ camp
Day 10: Full day rest at Chandra Tal Lake.
Day 11: Chandra Tal Lake to Tokpo Yongma (4320m)/ 3-4 hours/ 12Km.
You cross the Chandra Lake in the north direction to Tokpo Yongma. We again have CB ranges in front of our morning. We prefer an early start following river Chandra upstream to Topko Yongma. This day a large stream is to be crossed/ camp
Day 12: Topko Yogma to Topko Gongma (4640m)/ 3-4 hour.: The stretch goes further to the river source of Chandra. The trek is on a gradual climb where the route offers some superb view of Mulkila and hanging glaciers/ camp
Day: 13 Topko Gongma to Base of Baralacha La (4830m)/ 4-5 hours. : Long back this was the route used by Spiti Kings to reach Zanskar and Ladakh and Ladakhis too, where the general occasion or motive was marriages among two areas and later the walks of monks are well known history to spread Tibetan Buddhism in Spiti. / camp
Day 14: Baralacha to Sarchu Transfer/ We walk to the road head from where the cars will pickp the group to Sarchu, a nice flat ground on the borders of Himachal and Ladakh. Remaining day is free to rest in our luxury camp.
Day 15: Sarchu to Leh drive for 8 hours / hotel
Day 16, 17: Leh sightseeing of important places including monasteries and market.
Day 18: Morning transfer to Leh airport to fly Delhi and later transfer to international airport to fly for onward journey.
Getting there: Your nearest international airport is Delhi where you will meet with our expedition manager. After essential visits to IMF and cargo (if required), you will be escotrted towards the initial point of your adventure as per the program details.
After the expedition/ adventure journey, you arrive back to Delhi. After de briefing (in case of expedition) and farewell ceremony, you will be driven to international airport to board flight back to your home.
Airtickets: We have our partners in almost every foreign countries, so if you need any assistance in your air tickets bookings, you are always welcome to speak to us to know about our partner close to you.
Cargo Management: We have strong tieups with the cargo management companies to get your consignments clear timely in Delhi. In maximum cases, you will only need to spend just 2 hours for getting your consignmwent delivery. Once you send the documents and the boxes details, we start locating them in India.
Insurance : It is a condition of joining our trips that you must be adequately insured. All persons are expected to arrange their own insurance. Polices should cover any potential risks involved in such adventure.
Our hotels and camps: We offer you best economy hotels in cities and towns and till base camp we provide you very comfirtable tents with maximim possible faciltiies in the mountains. For the trekking, Jeep Safaris, MTB and other adventure journeys, we provide the most luxurious camps fitted with dining areas and modren toilet facilities.
Adventure India briefing: We have excelent maps, images and movies of majoriety of our adventure expeditions/ joiurneys and sports. A short briefing in our offices is highly recommended so the team understands logistics, forecarst problems and know where the solutions would be. We stress on planning, planning and planning in any adventure expediton and till now we have remained successful in all of our expeditions just because of our planning. So we need you to be an active part of it.
Rescue and helicopter evacuation: if the expeditons are well planned, rescue operations can be avoided. In the history of 14 years, we didn’t encounter any seviour requireemtn of rescue but still we can tie up with the agencies to provide helicopter evacuation on your request and willingness to pay the charges.
Peak booking formalities: already mentioned in detail in our mountaineering formalities in India link. For necessary applications either you can check the website of IMF or speak to us.
Ground transportation: We provide the ground transportation compriseing of best available cars/ copaches in fine roads and rough trucks in remote areas of the Indian mountains.
Porters and ponies: We provide ponies till base camp and HAP/ LAPs as per the requirement of the expedition.
Fuel and gases: Fuel (aftwer BC) is not a part of cost included section, but we will manage Butane / Butane propane gases for you on your timely request.
Trek & BC food : We offer a mixture of Vegetarian and Non vegetarian food till BC including the several herbs we have individually discovered with the medicinal values and capacity to keep the body warm. We have cooks who make Korean, Japnese and Continental food along with Indian food.
Our guides & instructors: Our guides are basically trained till BC trekking and support to establish BC. But our instructors do have good experience of mountaineering who can join the expeditions to higher levels too.
Ground Support system: We have fantastic ground support system developed in collaboration with the local people of nearest villages, army camps, porters and local guides. We have re discovered the use of traditional communication system also along with the setellite phones to stay in touch with the groups after BC. Our BC staff is trained to keep information of the groups at ABC and between and act as per the situation.
Cost Includes & not: The cost includes all hotels, guest houses, camps till BC, food till BC, ponies, porters, LAP/ HAP, food & tents for the porters, cooks and staff at BC, insurance of our permanenet staff, food for LO, cargo management, all transportation, all sightseeing, liasioning and coordination, trekking guides and BC management. The cost doent include IMF fees and environment levies, State Government fees and environment levies, porters insurance, clients air fares, helicopter evacuation, extra porters requirement from the BC, extra days at or above BC and any expenditure on personal level including clients insurance/ visa etc.