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A 8-day Trek to Satopanth Lake (via Badrinath and Mana) and to Swargarohini Icefall steps on Mt. Choukhamba in Uttarakhand
Mt Choulkhamba and Swargarohini Icefall - View from the last ridge above Satopanth Lake
Background
In Sept 2017, this trekking friend my old trekking friend Sadanand Kamath (SK).
Not planning to post details of this blog trek as SK has already posted great pictures and a very detailed story of the trek.
A brief summary of the trek: Its a easy trek of 6-7 days with some significant scenic snow-speak views.
However, the terrain of the trail is mostly along and across glaciers and hence very stony and boulder ridden.
The other significant aspect is that every campsite has some Mahabharata's Pandava significance as this is their mythical route Swargarohini that is "Steps to Heaven". The Satoopanth Taal (Lake) has religious significance for local people of Mana.
For a detailed day-to-day report of our Trek please see SK's blog links given below.
And read his blog: SK's Satopanth Blog Part-1
and part-2 here: SK's Sataopanth Blog Part-2
Our travel itinerary is in SK's blog Part-1 above
But you can see all the awesome pics of this trek at SK's album site. SK's Satopanth Album
My camera Pics of the Flickr Collection: Satopanth Trek Pics
Our Campsite at Chamtoli (click to image to enlarge)
A wildflower on the trek route
Satopanth Lake
Mt Neelkanth from Satopanth Lk Ridge
Mt. Balakun and a glacier flowing down from it
The Choukhamba Col & Icefall steps .. named Swargarohini
Background story by SK for my FB post with above Video:
In the Footsteps of the Pandavas
After winning the Kurukshetra war and subsequently a successful reign, Pandavas abdicated the kingdom and embraced sanyas. They undertook their last journey to the Himalayas which is called a journey of penance for killing so many of their relatives in the Kurukshetra war. Their final journey was to take them to heaven crossing Swargarohini (path to heaven) via Satopanth (path to the truth). The Swargarohini is in fact Satopanth glacier.
Pandavas and Draupadi started their final journey from Bheem Pul (which is a natural rock bridge over Saraswati River in Mana village) to reach Swargarohini. When they were passing through Mata Murti temple (3 kms from Badrinath), Draupadi lost her life near the temple. The reason for Draupadi not able to make it to heaven was that she committed a sin by showing more affection towards Arjun compared to other Pandavas.
At Laxmivan, Nakul lost his life because he was too proud of his vanity. Sahadeva died in the region of Sahastra Dhara as he was proud of his wisdom. Arjun lost his life at Chakrateerth because of his pride of archery and jealousy. Bheem died while he was at the edge of Satopanth Lake due to his sin of gluttony.
After taking a holy dip in the water of Satopanth lake, Yudhisthira embarked upon his last part of the treacherous journey to reach heaven through Swargarohini. With him was a dog which accompanied Pandavas throughout their Himalayan journey. When he reached the top of Swargarohini, Lord Indra came to receive and take him personally to heaven. But Lord Indra refused to take the dog. Yudhisthira insisted that he would accompany him to heaven only if the dog is allowed. The dog was in fact an incarnation of Dharma which Yudhisthira had followed in his life. Lord Indra agreed.
There is also a story behind why pilgrims trek to Satopanth Lake. It is said that taking a dip in the water of Satopanth Lake washes away the sins committed by the pilgrims. It is said that on Ekadashi days, the trinity of Gods - Brahma, Vishnu and Mahesh visit Satopanth Lake to take a holy dip in the water of the lake. So, most of the pilgrims prefer to reach Satopanth lake on Ekadashi days to take a holy dip in the water of Satopanth lake.
Read a detailed story on Pandavas Last Journey in Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahaprasthanika_Parva
Read a detailed version of this trek in SK's blog:
http://sadanandsafar.blogspot.com/2017/09/trek-to-satopanth-lake-in-pandavas-foot.html
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