A three member team comprising Prasenjit Roy, Subhabrata Sen & me, had embarked on an trekking expedition from Kalpeshwar to Badrinath, through Kalpa Ganga valley.
After obtaining necessary forest permit from DFO Joshimath, the team started the trek on 4th Oct 2021 from Kalpeshwar at an altitude of 2093 M. The team went through the dense forest region of Kalpa Ganga valley for 4 days, during which they had to cross the Kalpa Ganga River for 5times. On its 5th day, they reached at the end of the Kalpa Ganga Valley and entered into Gimme Bank region ( from where the river Kalpa Ganga was emerging out ) , guarded by Vishnu garh Dhar in its North.
The team had taken the NE section of Gimme Bank, leaving Gimme Khal on its North. Through the NE section of the Gimme GL(4800 M) ., they continued jumaring for almost more than 200 M through the steep gradient and reached at a Col on Vishnu Garh Dhar on 12th Oct 2021at 10.30am, having coordinates — 30deg 38’10.40”N, 079deg 24’15.72″ E, at an altitude of 5081 M as real time read by GPS device.
After spending almost an hour on the Col, in a quite favorable weather they started descending towards North and moving down to Khirao Valley later and then had taken the course of Khirao Gad. After grudging through the untrodden dense forest chiefly of Rhododendron and Bhuj for 3 more days, the team reached Benakuli instead of Badrinath , and concluded the journey there.
During Aug1994, the septuagenarian mountaineer and author Sri Biman Bihari Kahali had undergone a journey from Badrinath to Kalpeswar through Matpatta khal on Vishnu Garh Dhar — Chaka– Kalpeshwar route. On 2021 Oct we had taken a little part of his route and rest of the part followed according to our own planning. We are indebted to Sri Kahali for his guidance, reports and maps.
The team has proposed a name of the stated unnamed Col at 5081 M as HIRANYAVATI COL / HIRNAVATI Col , in the name of principal river of Kalpa Ganga valley in its upper course.
For this venture, we had taken taken all the equipment support from Himalyan Mapple Adventures , Sankri. Along with the three member team, there was an excellent team of Support staffs viz Naresh Kumar of Manali, Adesh Singh Rana of Osla, Jagbir Panwar of Pauni, Nitin Rana of Osla. With the combined efforts of all the seven, the programe completed successfully by the blessings of the Himalaya.
Lastly, we are grateful to the Indian Mountaineering Foundation New Delhi, DFO Joshimath, Sri Biman Bihari Kahali and Mr Martin Moran for his report on Vishnu Killa Pk expedition report on Vishnu Garh ridge. We also pay our tribute to Sri Kahali, who was the pioneer in finding a route from Badrinath to Kalpeshwar through Nilkantha khal and Matpatta khal in 1994. His journey made a firm base for us which succeeded us to cross Vishnu Garh Dhar through a new Col ( HIRANYABATI COL as we proposed).
Regards, Debasish Acharyya, On behalf of Kalpeshwar – Badrinath Trekking Expedition team.