Satopanth Glacier Trek – Get ready to hike to Satopanth Glacier, one of the popular glaciers of Uttarakhand. Satopanth, whose literal meaning is ‘Path of Truth’, is the origin glacier of the river Alaknanda. The Satopanth Expedition has all the thrill of a true adventure trek. That is why the journey is accompanied by professional experts and continued with proper acclimatization.

The journey begins with your arrival in Delhi. Find our representative and get transferred to your hotel for the day. Wake up to the delicious breakfast the following and head out for a Delhi tour. Later, visit the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF), Delhi office for a briefing session. After that, take a train to Haridwar.

Also See: Kedarnath Badrinath Package

The hiking part of the expedition begins in Haridwar. So, make a quick check if you have all the proper gears or not. In case, you are missing something, you can lend it from the Nehru Institute of Mountaineering, Uttarkashi. Travels across various Indian mythological sites including, Gaumukh (the origin point of Ganga), Vasuki Parvat, and many more.

The Satopanth Glacier itinerary crosses various glaciers, streams, and moraines, finally reaching an astonishing height of 23,212 ft. from sea level. Journey along several majestic peaks like Bhagirathi, Shivling, Bhrigu Parbat including Sudarshan, Thelu, and Kedar Dome. Finally arriving at the summit top.

The summit peak offers a great view of the Garhwal Himalayas on the south and the Tibetan plateau on the north. Once you are satisfied with the views, head back to the summit camp. Later, descend to reach Haridwar and take a train back to Delhi.

Thus, ending the Satopanth Glacier Expedition.

Who can do Satopanth Glacier Trek?

The expedition to Sathopanth Peak is a difficult journey designed for trekkers who have previous climbing expertise and desire to push themselves to their limits. You should only attempt this adventure if you have already finished a Basic Mountaineering Course and have climbed over 6000 meters. The reason behind this is the expedition’s challenges should not be underestimated. The climb to Satopanth Glacier should be strictly avoided if you are unable to acclimate to the high elevations. Expeditionary tactics, glacier trek knowledge, steeply angled snow slopes, and technical ridge experience were all required for the climb, which is a hard task. Furthermore, to finish this expedition, you must have a high level of physical endurance.

Difficulty Level at Satopanth Glacier Trek

The expedition is known for its unpredictable weather and difficult terrain while ascending on this journey. This is why the hikers must be exceptionally physically fit and have a high level of mental endurance. Many Indian mountaineers choose Satopanth Glacier height as a warm-up climb before attempting 8000m+ summits, including Mt. Everest. This adventure is the ideal way for a mountaineer to graduate from trekking to peaks to summit climbing.

Best time for Satopanth Glacier Trek

Mt. Satopanth is the second-highest mountain in Uttarakhand’s Gangotri chain of mountains. Whereas, the ideal months to make this hike are August and September. Mt. Satopanth is the ultimate challenge for mountaineers who have already conquered 6500m+ summits and want to push themselves even further.

In addition to the difficult hiking obstacle, the Satopanth Expedition is also distinguished with beautiful natural panoramas. Travel through the lush pine and cedar forests, which mix with the glaciated trails ahead. Most significantly, the terrains on this expedition behold some brilliant Flora and Fauna. With such stunning scenery along the trip, you want to make sure you have the decent camera equipment and additional batteries.

During the trek, the hikers need to have proper conditioning & training of the body. This can be achieved by proper acclimatization and making sure you have the right gear and equipment. Furthermore, hiking shoes are the most essential element of all trekking gear. Check out our things to carry section, to read the complete list of all the technical gears and hiking essentials for this extreme hike.

To know about this thrilling expedition, feel free to call us at +91 89291 00705.

Itinerary

Day 1: Arrive Delhi

Stay: Stay in a hotel on a sharing basis

Meal: Dinner

• Reach Delhi, meet our team representative and get transferred to your hotel.
• Take a market walk around your property and enjoy the vibe of Delhi city.
• In the evening head back to the hotel and have a hot meal and retire for the day.

Day 2: IMF briefing, transfers to Haridwar

Meal: Breakfast + Dinner

• Wake up to a fresh morning breakfast and get ready for a visit to the IMF.
• Visit the Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF) office in Delhi for a briefing session.
• In the evening, get transferred to Haridwar via train.

Day 3: Haridwar to Uttarkashi

Meal: Breakfast + Dinner

Stay: Stay in a guest house on a sharing basis

Transfer: 200 km

• Reach Haridwar early in the morning, board your cab to Uttarkashi.
• A long drive in the mountains and we have breakfast and lunch on the way to our guest house in Uttarkashi.
• Reach your guest house, freshen up and check for personal equipment from the NIM to rent it if anyone is short of.
• have your dinner at the guest house and retire for the night.

Day 4: Uttarkashi to Gangotri

Altitude: 10006 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Dinner

Stay: Stay in a guest house on a sharing basis

Transfer: 100 km

• Wake up in the morning, have your breakfast and board your cab to Gangotri.
• Reach holy town of Gangotri, inhabitat by many sadhus and pilgrims. Take a small tour of beautiful temples around.
• Arrive at your guest house and rest for the day.

Day 5: Gangotri (Acclimatisation day)

Altitude: 10006 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Dinner

Stay: Stay in a guest house on a sharing basis

• Wake up to a cozy morning, have your breakfast and enjoy your day at leisure.
• We will take a small acclimatisation walk around Gangotri to acclimatise and loosen our muscles a bit.
• Take proper rest and retire for the day at the guest house.

Day 6: Gangotri to Chirbasa

Altitude: 11646 ft

Trek: 9 km (6 hours)

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening Snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Wake up to an exciting morning and prepare for a trek to Chirbasa.
• Start your trek to Chirbasa, enjoy a decent gradual incline with many streams crossing your way.
• Upon reaching Chirbasa, set up your tents and prepare for the acclimatization night.

Day 7: Chirbasa to Bhojwasa

Trek: 5 km (3 hours)

Altitude: 12400 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on sharing basis

• Wake up to a chilly morning, have your breakfast and get ready for a trek to Bhojwasa.
• During the trek you will pass through Bhagirathi, Shivling, and Bhrigu Parbat peak views.
• Reach Bhojwasa, settle down in your camps and get acclimatized to the place.
• Post lunch, trek to Gaumukh and enjoy the views around. It is the origin of river Ganga.
• Head back to the campsite and post Dinner retire in the cozy tents.

Day 8: Bhojwasa to Nandanvan

Trek: 4 km (3 hours)

Altitude: 14229 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on sharing basis

• Wake up to a chilly morning, have your breakfast and start your trek to Nandanvan.
• The trail ascends and descends, and is adorned with glaciers, streams, and moraines.
• Reach Nandanvan and relish the vision that is the peaks of Shivling, Bhagirathi, Sudarshan, Thelu, and Kedar Dome.
• Set up your tents and rest with magical views.

Day 9: Acclimatization Day

Altitude: 14229 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Wake up to a cozy morning, have your breakfast and enjoy your day at leisure.
• Take a small serene walk around Nandanvan, gain some height and reach back to the campsite to enjoy a hot meal.
• Retire in tents for the night.

Day 10: Nandanvan to Vasuki Tal

Trek: 5 km (3 -4 hours)

Altitude: 16010 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on sharing basis

• Wake up to a chilly morning, have your breakfast and prepare for Vasuki tal.
• The trail mostly climbs upon the Chaturangi Glacier.
• You will cross the lake and the trek team will use ropes for proper safety.
• Upon arriving at the lake, take in the scenic sights of the place and come across other trekking teams scaling the nearby peaks.
• Pitch your tents and have a hot meal for the day.

Day 11: Acclimatization Day

Altitude: 16010 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Wake up to a cozy morning, have your breakfast and enjoy your day at leisure.
• In order to avoid HAPs we will take time to adapt to the environment and will try sidewalks from Vasuki tal.

Day 12: Nandanvan to Camp 1

Altitude: 16830 ft

Trek: 3 km

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Wake up to a serene morning, have breakfast and start your ridge walk.
• Walk over the narrow ridge with Chaturangi glacier on the left and Vasuki Parbat on the right.
• Descend to the Sunder glacier and post a long moraine walk, reach camp 1 and retire for the day.

Day 13: Acclimatization Day

Altitude: 16830 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Wake up to a cozy morning, have your breakfast and enjoy your day at leisure.
• The team will go ahead to fix the ropes while we go for a short height gain and return back to the campsite.

Day 14: Camp 1 to Camp 2

Altitude: 19028 ft

Trek: 3 km

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Have your breakfast and get ready for a technical climb day.
• After a short walk on the glacier for about an hour and half, we negotiated with a rock band and then an ice gully.
• We will be using ropes and ascenders for this section, pitch tents and retire for the day.

Day 15: Acclimatization Day

Altitude: 19028 ft

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• Post an easy start of the day, have your breakfast and go for a short height gain and return back to camp 2 before Lunch.
• Rest and acclimate at the campsite.

Day 16: Camp 2 to Camp 3 / Summit Camp

Altitude: 20341 ft

Trek: 3 km

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• After a short steep walk, we reach the infamous “knife ridge” with the help of ropes.
• Once we are through with the ridge, we are on the steep icy face of the mountain.
• We will set up tents on the camps just above the hanging glacier.

Day 17: Summit Camp to Summit and back to Summit Camp

Altitude: 23212 ft

Trek: 5 km

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis

• We normally start the summit attempt around midnight so we are up on the summit early enough. It depends a lot on the weather conditions on that day.
• All climbers will need to be well protected for the cold conditions on the summit night.
• We normally have fixed ropes only on certain sections on the summit day as the gradient is not very steep on the south face leading to the summit.
• The summit offers great views of the Garhwal Himalaya on the south and the Tibetan plateau on the north. Sometimes, the summit attempt is also made from C2.

Day 18: Camp 3 to Camp 1

Altitude: 16830 ft

Trek: 8 km

Meal: Breakfast + Lunch + Evening snacks + Dinner

Stay: Stay in tents on a sharing basis.

• Wake up to a chilly morning and retrace your way back till camp 1.
• Descend carefully and not get carried away by the euphoria accompanied by summit success.
• Reach camp 1 and retire for the day.

Day 19: Descend Camp 1 – Base Camp

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Day 20: Trek BC – Nandanvan

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Day 21: Trek Nandanvan – Chirbasa

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Day 22: Trek Chirbasa – Gangotri and drive to Uttarkashi

• We drive back to Uttarkashi and check into the guest house and spoil ourselves with a much deserved hot shower.

Day 23 – 25: Buffer/contingency days for bad weather

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Day 26: Drive Uttarkashi to Haridwar and board the evening train to Delhi

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Day 27: Debriefing at IMF, trip finishes!

The trek ends!!

Things To Carry

1. Shirts / T-shirts –5/6, Trekking Pants -5-6

2. Windproof jacket of decent quality preferably with a hood

3. Warm and thick Fleece / Full-sleeve Woollen sweater

4. Thermal inner wear (upper & lower), Scarf/muffler

5. Woollen cap, Woollen gloves, Woollen socks & regular socks (5-6 pairs)

6. Comfortable Trekking (Waterproof shoes with a thick sole are recommended)

7. Lightweight floaters/sandals/slippers

8. Raincoat / Poncho, Small quick dry towel

9. Water bottle (sturdy ones)

10. Cap / Hat to keep the strong sun away from your face

11. Sun glasses (polarized/UV Protected), Walking stick / Trekking pole

12. Sunscreen Lotion, Lip Balm, Torch / Flashlight (with extra batteries)

13. Medicines, if requiring any specific medication

14. Personal toiletries

15. Day pack/small bag in case if you are planning to offload your regular backpack

16. Hand Sanitizer

17. Extra face masks

18. Valid government ID proof (Passport)