Hampta pass trek connects two beautiful valleys named; Kullu and Lahaul, where one gets to see various ever changing Landscapes.There are only few treks which can offer almost everything that one wishes to see on an Himalayan trek. Incredible views of glacial valleys, thick pine forest, open meadows, adrenaline pumping waterways, and an adventurous crossing of a high altitude pass. Like an icing on the cake, we have added an exciting day long trip for camping at Chandratal; a high altitude alpine lake & a camper's paradise. The return road journey is over the Rohtang pass. It is a moderate grade trek and recommended for experienced as well as beginners.
| 1 | Region | Himachal Pradesh |
| 2 | Difficulty Level | Moderate |
| 3 | Maximum altitude | 4200 M Approx. |
| 4 | Total Trekking distance | 35 Kms Approx. |
| 5 | Accomodation type | Camps |
| 6 | Food | Nutritious food suited for trekking / 3 meals a day |
| 7 | Trek Starts from | Manali |
| 8 | Trek Ends in | Manali |
| 9 | What is included in the fee | Veg Food (Day 1 Lunch till Day 5 Breakfast).Three Meals a day Forest Permits/Camping Charges , if any (Upto the amount charged for Indian nationals) Tents, Sleeping bags, mats Safety Equipment Trek guide, cook, helpers. Porters or mules for carrying common luggage Services of a Trek Leader Transportation from Manali to Manali |
| 10 | What is not included in the fee | Meals during road journeys Any kind of Insurance Any expense of personal nature Any expense not specified in the inclusion list. |
| 11 | Max. Group Size | 15 |
GST @ 5% is applicable on the fee.
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Hampta Pass is a moderate level trek i.e. it requires more strength and endurance than easy level treks. It is recommended that you first gain an experience of trekking to altitudes higher than 3000 meters, and then move one level up with this trek. However, if you are a beginner but committed to preparing well, then you need at least 2-3 months to prepare physically & mentally for this trek. For details on trek difficulty level, please read on Bikat Rating Scale
Here is your checklist for this trek. Make sure you pack all these items for a comfortable trekking experience.
The base site for Hampta Pass Trek is Jobra. The trek begins from Allain Ghugal Hydel Project Site. Jobra is one & a half hour drive away from Manali (20 Kms)
Manali is well connected to Delhi with through road and air. There are no direct trains from Delhi though.
By Road
The road distance from Delhi to Manali is 536 km. There are overnight HPRTC buses and Volvos available from ISBT Kashmere Gate, Delhi for Manali. It is a 14-hour journey by bus. You can book your bus tickets online through hrtchp.com or any other bus services available. You can also hire a private taxi or an outstation cab from Delhi.
By Rail
To reach by train, take a direct train from Delhi to Pathankot. Some of the trains that run on this route are Delhi-Pathankot Express, Jammu Tawi Express, Delhi-Dhauladhar Express. You can then take a bus from Pathankot to Manali. Or you can take a connecting train from Pathankot to Joginder Nagar which is the nearest station to Manali. There are buses running frequently between Joginder Nagar and Manali.
By Air
The nearest airport is Bhuntar airport which is located 50 km from Manali. There are taxis available at the airport which will take you to Manali. You can also take local buses that keep running from Bhuntar to Manali at a regular frequency. Buses are decent and very cheap compared to a taxi that can cost you around INR 2000 to 2500 depending upon the season.
Manali is the gateway to Solang Valley where you can participate in adventure activities like paragliding, and zorbing in the summer months when the snow melts. Visit the ancient Hadimba Devi Temple which has an interesting mythological tale associated with it. Walk through the charming lanes of Old Manali. Visit the bazaar to buy some souvenirs. Jogini Fall and Vashisht Temple are other famous attractions in Manali. You can also visit Rohtang pass while you are in Manali.
We arrived at Dehradun early in the morning. Deciding to eat light for the hilly journey ahead, we had a cup of chai and biscuits and hired cabs to take our group from the town of Dehradun to the starting point of our trek- Dhaula. During the eight hour journey on the hills, we enjoyed the picturesque views Uttarakhand had to offer, stopping to grab some lunch on the way. We entered the Govind Pashu Vihar National Park and Sanctuary and proceeded to Dhaula late in the evening, where we camped for the night next to the lovely Rupin river. The noise of the gushing river water had a surprisingly calming influence and the moon light gave us a glimpse of all that nature was going to offer us on this trek. We retired early for the night taking a long night’s sleep to prepare us for the first day of the trek ahead of us.
Day 1 : Balu ka Ghera : We started at 08:00 AM sharp from Jobri nala. The trek is pretty straight forward, just walk along the nala on the right bank towards north. After 1 hour of walk we reached a small wooden bridge and within an hour from the bridge we were at Chikka which was supposed to be our camping site for yesterday had we not been sitting in that bus for extra 10 hours. Chikka is a beautiful camping site with large camping ground with a large waterfall towards the west of it, towards north-east you can see snow covered mountains which makes you believe that it is the Hampta Pass but it is not. We stopped for a small break at Chikka may be around ½ hr. We started from Chikka at 10:30. The trails takes a turn to south-east from north after 30 minutes of walk. There is a steep climb after Chikka till you reach the river crossing after around 2 hours of trek. It was bright and sunny and the valley looked so amazing, you could actually see the sun reflecting from the raindrops on the grass. Only down side is the 2 hours of relentless climb and you are always gasping for breath instead of enjoying the beauty of the valley. We reached the river crossing around 12:45 PM and the last member arrived at 2:45 PM. Steep climbs separates the experienced trekkers from novices like wheat is separated from chaff. Its not that the new trekkers lack stamina, its the technique. Whenever you face steep climbs keep walk slow down doesn’t matter but keep on walking, focus on the next step instead of looking at the highest point and cursing yourself why you signed up for this. We crossed the river by holding each other’s hand (human chain they call it), water was pretty cold and knee high. We had our lunch there at around 3:15. After the crossing the valley opens up and you can see couples of miles up the valley. After 1 hour of almost flat walk there is again as steep climb of around 45 minutes to reach Balu ka Ghera. Balu ka Ghera got its name from the river sand that Hampta Nala brings along with it. Hampta Nala breaks into 4-5 smaller streams at this place and you actually camp on this sand. Elevation is 11000 ft and scenery is again amazing.
Day 2 : Hampta Pass : Today we started at 08:30 AM and after an hour of mild ascent we reached second Balu ka Ghera, it is also a beautiful camping site, so if you camp on Chikka on your first day this is the actual camping site you should target. From here there is a continuous steep climb till the pass. Terrain is rocky and climb is difficult. After an hour of climb from the second Balu Ka Ghera you hit the snow but the climb is easier than on the rocks. It takes around 1-2 hours to negotiate these glaciers. First of our batch reached the top at around 12:00 and the last at around 3:00. As far as pass is concerned the view is not that great as the view is blocked by mountains on all the sides. But there is majestic Indra-aasan and Deo Tibba towards the south. Also you can see the natural rock formation which looks like a castle known as Indra-Quila towards north from the pass. Once you cross the pass entire trek is north east till Sha-Guru the next camping site. The decent is pretty steep and it took some members of our group around 4-5 hours to reach Sha-Guru, but a good trekker can reach Sha-Guru in about 2 hours once pass is crossed. Sha-Guru is a river bed, lush green and with some of the most amazing views. We were in Spiti, though it was barren and rock but it has its own charm.
Day 3: Chattru- Chandertaal. : We started at 08:30 from Sha-Guru. Today we were supposed to get down to Chattru and from there to Chandra-Taal. It is mild descent till Chattru in the valley, we crossed the river and took a right flank of the river. After about an 1 and ½ of walk the trail descents sharply to the bed of Chandra River. Once you are at the river bed there is another hour of trek till Chattru. Entire trail is on the left bank of Chandra River. Today was the day of photography. Couple of guys in the group had those heavy DSLRs and along with those big lenses and they could not take those out as all those climbs sucked all their energy but today it was much more relaxed and everybody was a photographer today. Moreover Spiti is photographer’s paradise. First of the batch reached Chattru aroud 12:00 and the last reached at around 2:00. Our taxis were waiting, after having something at the Dhaba in Chattru we started off to Chanrataal. It was a two-three hour drive from Chattru to Chandrataal. We took a small stop at Batal, here there are couple of Dhabas and a satellite phone. Entire road is non-metalled/gravel/jeepable whatever you call it and one vehicle can pass at a time. We reached our camping site which is 15 minutes before Chanrataal. We dumped our camping equipment there and started off to lake, didn’t want to miss the sun-set there. After 15 minutes of drive we reached the base of Chandrataal. There is a 10 minute walk from here till the shore of the lake. Blue water of Chandrataal (13000 ft) looked spectacular under the backdrop of those brown mountains. It took our breath away. There couldn’t be a better culmination of a 3-days (which was supposed to be 4 days) arduous trek at those dizzying heights. After a group photo, I took a walk around the circumference of the lake, it took us 2 hours but was a heavenly experience. We reached our camps at around 09:00 in the night and by this time winds had died down but it was cold as hell. Although you can hire a cab directly from Manali to Chandrataal but the way we did, took all the pain and sweat to reach there, it was lot sweeter than had we chosen the earlier option.
Day 4: Now came the last and final day when everybody was planning to go home and join their respective offices next day. Day started with a bang, one of our vehicles broke down in the morning and it took us 02 hours to get it working. I wasn’t bothered as I knew we had time in hand. Finally we started at 10:00 AM from our camping site and reached Batal around 10:45 AM. Everything was looking great, scenery was amazing with Chandra flowing along the road and you could easily think that you are on your way to Leh. But fate took turn for worse, when we were 15 kms from Chattru at 01:00 PM one of our vehicle got punctured and it took us another 30 mins to start again. We had hardly covered 2 kms we saw a truck parked in the middle of the road. We honked and hoped for the truck driver to respond but nothing happened. After waiting for 15 minutes we got down to have a look. As we reached the truck we saw key still inside and driver nowhere in-sight. Keys inside the vehicle and no sign of the driver its is unbelievable on the plains but in mountains you can believe it. You leave a thing on the road and you can pick it up the next day. We walked 100 mts further down the road and saw a truck has broken down and the truck in the middle of the road was giving cover fire to that truck. We enquired about the condition of the vehicle and came to know that it’s not gonna be mobile as axel is broken. In circumstances like this you take a chill pill and wait for this to happen. Its quite natural in mountains to wait for things to happen as nature has it there not humans. But we decided to take up this challenge and build a road around that truck so that our vehicles could pass. It took us another 2 hours to build that small patch and we started again at around 3:30 from there. Everybody thought its gonna be an easy day, we will reach Manali sleeping in the taxi. But in the mountains you don’t decide anything but mountains themselves decided everything, probably that’s why people in hills are so calm and have a laid back attitude. We finally reached Manali at around 07:00 PM. At the end of everyday on a trek you feel a sense of accomplishment after completing the day’s trek. On that day there was no target for the day and we were just supposed to relax sitting on our arses but nature gave us our target for the day, there is a patch of road in Spiti which we built together and all of us were so proud of it.
Suggested Reading
Solitude ki maa ki aankh - hampta pass trek
List Of Essential Items For Trekking
How You Can Prepare Yourself For A Hiking Trip
5 Surprises You Should Expect On A Trek
How To Select A Rucksack
From : Shagun Parashar
Hampta Pass Trek - 2014
"The sole reason I wanted to do the Hampta pass trek was to see Chandra Tal lake (read the Fairy Chandra kahani behind the lake and maybe to see this lake will also be on your travel list), I had dreamed of seeing this lake since April 2012 and the dream finally came true in September 2014. The D-days arrived and I took the first step (board the bus to manali).Little did I know that the world beyond Rohtang had way too much in store for me, more than what I could have dreamed or expected."
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From : Piyush Das
Hampta Pass Trek - 2014
"I prefer solitary treks. I prefer walking alone. That being said I prefer company of likeminded people who do understand that. The hampta-pass trek kind of underlines the fact that no matter how weird you are..there are likeminded weirdos."
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From : Himangi Singh
Hampta Pass Trek - 2016
"I was planning a trek to the Valley of flowers with Bikat adventure this Monsoon. But due to bad weather condition in Uttarakhand I decided to post pone it for another month. I contacted Mr. Girish for another option as I had already applied for my leaves. He suggested me Hampta pass trek."
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From : Archie Jain
Hampta Pass Trek - 2016
"This was my first expedition with Bikat Adventures and surely is not going to be the last as well. Hampta Pass being my second trek turned out to be a tough one. Frankly breaking all the myths around the much hyped online reviews about this trek being called easy, you guys need to give it a second though."
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