As trail runners, we like to travel fast and light. Here are the 10 trail running gear essentials that I always carry to stay safe on the trails. Shop all the products featured here: kit.co/jeffpelletier5/my-10-essentials-for-trail-running
The 330 km TOR Des Geants is a race in the Italian Alps. The course heads counter-clockwise on the Alta Via 2 along the south side of the Aosta valley for the first half of the race, returning along the Alta Via 1 back to Courmayeur.
The 2018 TOR was my first 200 miler. What follows is just a brief look at my experience at the race, all the ups and the downs on my journey among the giants of the alps.
I’m an ultra-distance trail runner based in Vancouver, BC. From the mountain ranges of Canada and the USA, to the Alps, the Andes, and the Himalayas, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to pursue adventures around the world.
— With Italian subtitles
A film by George Aistov — a monk, a philosopher and a traveler. Its the first movie of the «Following in the footsteps of the Vedic civilization». and it was shot in the Himalayas. The main heroes are Monk (Swami Avadhut), Scientist (Sahadev Prabhu) and Pilgrim (Ajita Krishna Prabhu). Together with the shooting team they went through the Himalayas to speak with the sages and to visit such holy places as the sources of Ganges and Saraswati rivers. They also met teachers of different yoga systems. And its all intertwined with the Vedic stories about local Deities, personal talks of the search for the Truth as well as historical references and breathtaking mountain views.
Nowhere in the Alpine mountains are water, forest and rocks as precipitous, rock faces as vertical as in the Gesäuse National Park, Europe’s largest canyon. “Gesäuse” is a name derived from the rushing noise of the water, the soughing wind that echoes up to the peaks of the north faces of this unique region – home to the myth of the mountain. When the sun rises and ushers in a magnificent day, the Gesäuse projects a perfect image of a mountain. However, in bad weather, the Gesäuse’s walls reflect a scary phenomenon as the speed of the inflowing airmass multiplies. Adverse weather conditions can thus convert the Gesäuse into inferno. Michael Schlamberger, Austria’s most renowned nature filmmaker internationally, listened to the rushing whitewater of the river Enns and conquered the sheer rock walls, chasing eagles and chamois in passing.
North America’s National Parks are world famous and their breathtaking landscapes fascinate millions of visitors. This spectacular series will show you what happens beyond the lookouts.
Everglades National Park is an American national park that protects the southern twenty percent of the original Everglades in Florida. The park is the largest tropical wilderness in the United States, and the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River. An average of one million people visit the park each year. Everglades is the third-largest national park in the contiguous United States after Death Valley and Yellowstone. UNESCO declared the Everglades
Application for permit does not mean confirmation of travel on that day, you still need to visit the forest office day before or few days before the journey and get the day of travel confirmation done.
You can do this either at Uttarkashi or Gangotri.
Charge for permit: You don’t have to pay anything online — when you reach forest office entry gate at Gangotri, you have to pay charge of Rs 150 per person.
Charge for Pony service: Government approved rate is Rs 1800 per person from Gangotri Forest entry gate to Bhojbasa and back next day.
Though Rs 1800 rate is fixed by government but on an average this costs Rs 2500 because they will charge extra for luggage plus if you are little over over normal weight they will charge extra. Consider this about Rs 2500 per person.
Guide charge: We paid Rs 2500 to our guide, Ideally you should fix your guide day before the journey, if you want only porter you may get it at Rs 2000 for the complete journey.
In our case Guide demanded Rs 2500 for his service then Rs 1000 extra for his boarding and lodging — we paid Rs 3500 to him for this 2 day journey.
In this route most guides work as Guide cum porter but still you should clarify this with the guide.
Food availability: You can carry your own food or if you want to locally buy, you will get Maggie with tea at Chirbasa.
Food at Garhwal Mandal vikas Nigam Guest house Bhojbasa- They serve good and tasty food, though options are limited, only veg food available.
Dal, Bharta or Bhindi average one person serving costs Rs 170 to Rs 190.
Tea in morning — you can get it at 6 am in morning at Bhojbasa.
Places to stay between Gangotri to Gaumukh: Only place where you can stay is Bhojbasa, there are 2 options there GMVN, you need to do online booking. There is no place to stay at Gaumukh.
Per person stay cost Rs 350 excluding food.
Other option is there is a ashram near GMVN, you can stay there as well at cost of Rs 350 per person. This cost at Ashram includes food cost, they serve langar there.
Electricity at Bhojbasa — There is no electricity over there, GMVN guest house has a generator which they run every day evening for one and a half hour.
Mobile network: You will get mobile network only for 2 to 3 km during the start of the journey, then no network, even BSNL network was not there.
If there is some emergency, GMVN people liasons with the Army there and communicates wirelessly with Gangotri.
Things to carry: Enough woolens, raincoat, oxygen cylinder, you can get oxygen cylinder from gangotri medical shop by paying Rs 600 and if it is not used they will deduct Rs 100 or 200 and return the balance money.
Its not compulsory to carry oxygen cylinder but just on a safe side.
Should you have any other query, please read through frequently asked questions below.
FAQ — Can i travel from Gangotri to Gaumukh and then come back on the same day to Gangotri.
Answer — Yes you can do that, as i did the same 6 years back when i went there with my wife but you need high physical fitness and good stamina. Though it is not advisable, as by the time you reach back Gangotri it will be dark.
Can i start trek early morning at 4 am?
Answer -No, Forest department allows entry from the gate at 6 am, to reach Forest entry gate you should start from you hotel or guest house at Gangotri at 5.30 am or 5.15 am…
Can i travel to Gaumukh in winters?
Answer — No — You can go there during May to Oct period only, during winters Gangotri National park is closed.
Benefit of taking guide?
Answer — He can guide you about danger zone, and give you good company. They are not professional guides, they were porters at some point of time and now have graduated themselves to guide.
Best time to travel to Gaumukh?
Answer — Mid august to end september. May and October will be cold. Though you can travel any time between May to Oct but avoid Monsoon time between June to July.
Is travel on Pony safe?
Answer — To my mind it is not advisable, because if you slip from Pony, it may badly hurt you or there may be a casualty too because it is steep below and passage is also small…
Though the number of travelers per day is limited so there is no crowd there but i will still suggest try walking down and you will love the journey.
wwtrek.com ➤ World Wide Trekking offers our guests the opportunity to take an absolutely breathtaking scenic helicopter tour up the Khumbu Valley and around Mt. Everest. Seeing the topography of the land, and the stunning high Himalayan peaks from a high-altitude vantage point is a truly unforgettable experience. In order of appearance:
2:00 — Helicopter takes flight
2:30 — Dudh Koshi the worlds highest river
3:00 — Lobuche, Pumori, Khumbu Glacier
3:20 — Cho Oyu
3:45 — Ridgeline into China
4:10 — Lobuche Glacier
4:45 — Kala Patthar
5:15 — Khumbu Icefall
5:20-6:00 — Mt. Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse
*We offer many scenic helicopter flight options (departing from Pheriche on your way up the Khumbu Valley, departing from Pangboche on your way out of the Khumbu Valley to finish your trek, and more!)
*Special thanks to World Wide Trekking guest Dave Kurtz for his scenic helicopter flight footage!
This video has every detail about the Kedarnath ji ki Yatra. This is the 5th Jyotirlinga of Lord Shiva. This video is a summary of 2 day travel. We started the yatra from Sonprayag and went to Shri Kedarnath Dham and came back to Sonprayag. We did night stay near Triyuginarayan temple.
During my travel there in May 2019 — I noticed Vodafone and BSNL have network coverage at Kedarnath Dham.
Imp information:
There is a cloak room at Sonprayag, i showed that in previous episode Bhiri to Triyuginarayan.
Later on i realised walking on Galcier or snow was risky, i should have avoided, i will strongly suggest you to avoid walking at areas where there is a slope, just a slight miss and one will fall and this may be life threatening.
Following is the summary of distance to be traveled in this yatra.
Sonprayag to Gauri kund: 5 km, Rupees 20 per person on jeep.
Gauri Kund to Kedarnath ji: 16.5 km.
Base camp is 1 km short of Shri Kedarnath temple. Garhwal mandal vikas nigam has their Guest house and tent facility at Base camp.
While its not impossible to go and come back in a day to Sonprayag but difficulty level is high especially if you don’t have high energy level.
Services for travel to Kedarnath ji:
You can take helicopter services that cost around 6000, this can vary between 5000 to 8000 depending upon the distance from Sonprayag. Flight time from a place near Sonprayag to Kedarnath ji is 6 to 8 minutes.
Helipad is at a half a km from Shri Kedarnath Temple.
If you want to hire a porter or a person with a basket or if an old person wish someone to carry him on Doli, these facilities are readily available.
Pony: Yes you can travel on Pony too — charges Rs 2500 one side, if you decide to walk down and mid way feel that you need to take pony for this travel, then you can still get Pony for rest of the journey.
In my suggestion: It’s better to walk down, only thing you should be physically fit to do this trek of 17 km, as some places the trek is steep.
Best time to travel to Kedarnath ji — 15th August to 30th September.
Avoid travel in the month of May because its crowded.
Note: Try to book at Garhwal mandal guest house, there accomodation is neat and clean in comparison to other facilities available there. You can do the booking by visiting their website. gmvnl.in/newgmvn/index.aspx
We went there without any pre booking, it was May month we had to pay rs 4000 for double occupancy room, though that could accomodate 4 people as well. In fact demand for room in May month is much more than supply.
Things to carry: You can carry food, water bottle or just anything else you want to carry because food, water and everything else is expensive on the yatra route. For example a glass of Lemon water would cost Rs 20. A water bottle on the yatra route would cost Rs 50.
If you want to eat Maggi it would cost Rs 80 or so.
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Biometric registration: Initially i was wondering what is the need for Biometric registration when no body is actually checking it at the entry gate and exit gate.
My take on this: It helps Government know the names and addresses of people who were doing Yatra during a particular time of the month...At the time of registration they ask you about number of days for which you want to travel. There is no hard and fast rule that you should follow that only…
One reason of course is to keep information about people who are travelling and other resaon is that if there is a mishappening on the yatra route and government wants to give some compensation, they can use this database for reference purpose.
Though exact number of people travelling on yatra route cannot be ascertained but this can work as an indicator.
Hope you are enjoying watching our Uttarakhand Char Dham yatra series, if you have missed watching any episode, i will suggest you to look at the playlist.
Should you have any query about this yatra route, please feel free to write your query in comments below.
Night stay options for going to Shri Kedarnath Dham:
Sonprayag: Very crowded place, i will not recommend you to stay at this place.
Gaurikund: 5 km from Sonprayag, very crowded place, you should avoid staying here over night.
night stay option 5 or 10 km before Sonprayag: Yes there are many guest houses which are 5 or 10 km short of Sonprayag.
Triyuginarayan: Good option 13 km from Sonprayag, but you should do booking at GMVL at Triyuginarayan, there not not many guest houses at this place, i mean the neat and clean ones.
Varsana is the sacred home of Srimati Radharani where she lived with her parents during the early years of Her life. Along with Her gopi maidservants She would traverse the wooded forests of Varsana as they went to the market to sell their milk products — sometimes meeting Her beloved Krsna along the way. One of Her favorite forests still exists to this very day with ancient “desire trees” still dotting the landscape. Our parikrama party had the good fortune to visit Varsana along with the mystic forest, where we hugged the tress as per tradition and begged one day become. eternal servants of the divine couple.
It is said that Lord Caitanya’s secret weapon is prasadam, or vegetarian food offered to the Supreme Lord. It’s no longer a secret in Poland, however, as we distributed 160,000 plates of prasadam in Krsna’s Village of Peace at the recent Woodstock festival, now known as the Pol’and’Rock festival. We cooked, offered and distributed 160,000 full plates of prasadam in 5 days to the people attending the event. We prepared over 50 tons of foodstuffs! Two hundred devotees worked in shifts around the clock in 7 different large kitchens. Prasadam is tasty, nourishing and purifying. Our hearts were completely satisfied introducing the wonderful world of Krsna consciousness to the people in this way.