A Complete Guide to Kedarkantha Winter Trek

Mountains have always defined the Endurance , Confidence and Bravery in you. Mountains have always played an incredible role in anyone's life how to live with only basics. Kedarkantha Trek is one of the memorable trek that I had till date. Reaching the summit at 12500 feet gives you a immense taste of satisfaction which you will cherish throughout your life.
Let's start the beautiful story of Kedarkantha Trek from 14th of March to 19th March.
I stay in West Bengal , took a flight from Durgapur to Dehradun via Delhi on 13th morning and reached Dehradun in the evening. Next morning we had our pickup from the nearby places of railway station. So we booked a hotel called Hotel Galaxy very close the railway station. Trust me at a price of 600 INR per room per night, it's the best we got with excellent room and food from their kitchen is also fresh and delicious. I highly recommend you all to go for Hotel Galaxy if you in Dehradun.

Next morning at around 8:30 am we had our pickup from the hotel. We booked this trek through Muddy Trails which is a Bangalore based tour operator and probably they had contacts with local tour operator.
We were a group of 11 and the journey starts from Dehradun to Sankri . Sankri is the place from where your trek starts. From Dehradun to Sankri it's a 8-10 hrs drive and you will enjoy the scenery to the fullest , we stopped at some places for breakfast, lunch and also for photoshoots. Beautiful and smooth roads , with great friends is all you need to make a 8 hrs drive look 4 hrs drive. Finally we reached Sankri at around 5:30 pm and we had a guest room booked for us and the place is also very neat and clean.
Now for the trek you need lot of things specially the trekking shoes. We did a gamble and we didn't buy any trekking shoes from Decathlon or any other stores , after reaching Sankri we were very relaxed and happy to see that our gamble paid off and all the things you need for trekking are available either on rent or you can even buy it. Price details I will give at the end , but very reasonable. So we got our stuffs and had dinner and took rest to start with full energy for the next day.

Next day will start from Judaa ka Talab and will go to Kedarkantha base camp. In the month of March we expect some snow now. So everyone had their breakfast packed their bags. Mules will also carry your bags again from here.
Another thing to mention is the washroom here, it will be dry toilets and you need to carry tissue paper and all. Men and women will be have separate toilet tents and ya first time it may look bit tough..but soon you will get adapted to live with only the basics.
We march forward towards Kedarkantha base camp and it's a 2 hours trek uphill. We witnessed the 1st snow on the way and as we climb more and more you get to be mesmerized with the beaty of Himalayas. We reached to the Kedarkantha base camp at 12pm , after a while had our lunch and went ahead to explore a bit. Bon fires are not allowed here. After Lunch , Praveen sir explained the use of gaiters and spikes which will be required to climb the summit , so we practiced a bit how to wear them. We had our dinner early and then went to sleep as the journey to summit starts midnight the same day . Yes you heard it right we are going to climb through the snow at night !!

It was 1:30 am the next day and we got a wake up call from our trek leads. Here you can leave your backpacks in the tent and take a small bag with you and carry atleast 2 litre of water with you. Breakfast was given and we were ready to enjoy the thrill. We started at 2:30 am and we just kept walking and climbing and had no clue when we were going to reach. The more we were going up things started to become more challenging and exciting. We were just following the command and directions of our trek leads and I don't know how they know the route in the night with just head torch on. At around 5 am we reached a tea point and trust me at that altitude you get tea just for 30 INR. That is the last resting point you can get before the summit. So if anyone is feeling dizziness and feeling any health issue that's the point where you can stay but from this point it's more your mental confidence that physical fitness. We kept climbing and the beauty is unimaginable. When the first ray of sun falls it's just a remarkable picture that you can witness. Slowly we climbed through the snow and finally reached the summit at around 7:30 am.
I cannot explain the amount of satisfaction and happiness you can have when you reach the summit , it's like a dream and yes you can successfully achieved your goal to conquer Kedarkantha. One surprise you will get is from Sankri till now there is no mobile signal available for any network , but once you reach the summit you will have mobile signal for Jio , Vodafone and airtel , even you can do video call to your dear ones.
We spent sometime over there  , more than one hour as the weather was good, if the weather is bad you can  stay only for 15-20 minutes.
After an hour we decided to come down and climbing down was also a beautiful experience, you will find yourself lost in complete white sparkling snow all around. In few areas you can just slide down , but make sure you are wearing gloves to protect your palms. It was fun and while we were going down , I just realised how come we climbed all the way at night.
We returned to Kedarkantha base camp at around  12:30 pm , had our lunch and started for Judaa ka Talab camp for the overnight stay. I was bit tired so I gave my backpack to the mule for the down trek.
We reached Judaa ka talab camp at around 4 pm and again did some arrangements for the last bonfire for this trip to cherish the memories.
We had our dinner and that's it for this memorable day.