Chandrashila Peak
Yesterday in Banswara we had decided to stay in the guest house and rest for the night. Our final travel destination for today was Chandrashila Peak at 4000 meters. Before which is Tungnath Temple which is the highest temple of Lord Shiva in the world. Which is situated at 3,680 m (12,073 ft).
From Banswara where we stayed for rest for the night, we had to go to Chopta. Chandrani Peak starts from Chopta itself. After waking up in the morning and having breakfast, we went to fill petrol in the scooter and we started our journey.
Chopta is about 40 kilometers from Banswara. As we reached near Chopta, the cold was increasing. Sometimes there was sunshine in between and sometimes there was such a dense forest that not even a single ray of sunlight was reaching the earth and such a place was very cold. As we approached Chopta, we realised that the roads were slippery due to the snowfall last night and we saw some people's bikes lying on the road.
5 kms before Chopta, there was an area where there was a camping area and homestays. Here, the taxi drivers told us that a jeep had fallen ahead after slipping in the snow along with the passengers. We decided to park our scooter here and from there travelled 5 kms in a local jeep. The driver puts iron chains on the tyres of the jeep so that it does not slip in the snow. The jeep driver charged Rs. 300 from each passenger and we finally reached Chopta from where the trek to Tungnath Temple and Chandrashila Peak starts.
I rented shoes and microspikes so that I don't fall in the snow and a stick for trekking. We kept all our stuff in the same shop from where we rented shoes, with two oranges and a bottle of water, I and @himalayanavmb started our trekking to Chandrashila. There was a lot of snowfall on the entire track due to which many people were playing in the snow and some were continuing their trekking journey.
Because @himalayanavmb had a camera, while trekking some people stopped us and requested us to take photos with the camera and went ahead asking us to share our numbers and promise to send the photos. Many people were struggling a lot. Then we found a group who walked with us for a long distance and they talked to us a lot.
The distance from Chopta to Tungnath Temple is three and a half kilometers and its height is 12,073 ft. The journey and darshan from Chopta to Tungnath temple was quite fun. Although the doors of the temple were closed but touching this holy place is quite peaceful. I wanted to come to Tungnath for a long time but now after so many years, finally reaching here, another journey was successful.
Tungnath Temple Gate
After stopping at Tungnath temple and drinking some water, we proceeded for Chandrachandrashila Peak Summit, the climb that started now is quite steep and we proceeded slowly due to a lot of snow. Reaching Chandrashila is in itself a blessing of God, mountains and nature, because not everyone's journey starts and many people leave the journey midway and go back.
Chandrashila
Looking down from Chandrashila Peak was quite thrilling, it is scary at dusk, I tried to keep myself alone by closing my eyes for 5 minutes here because there were many people on the peak, some people were taking photos and some people were making reels. Some people had brought speakers and some wanted to smoke cigarettes. To keep all this away from my eyes, I closed my eyes and captured the picture of this place forever.
Since it was sunny today, we had an idea that the snow on the road would be melting due to the sun and as soon as the sun sets, the road will be covered with frost, so we decided to descend the trek quickly. We descended the trek very fast and reached Chota. On reaching Chopta, we boarded a local jeep and reached the 5 km place where we had parked our scooter. From here, without wasting any time, we left for home and travelled till Rudraprayag which is 35 km. After reaching here, we ate food, found a guest house, rested and the next day, after waking up and having breakfast, we left directly for our home in Dehradun.
About 15 kms before home, our scooter stopped picking up speed and due to some technical issue, we got the scooter fixed at the mechanic where we wasted an hour. Finally we reached home. These were the last few days of 2024 which we enjoyed by summiting a beautiful peak in a road trip.
I hope 2025 gives you all lots of happiness, lots of travel and lots of success.
This post is written in Hindi using Google Transliterator, all the photos are taken from my phone OnePlus, and the thumbnail is made in Photoshop.
[//]:# (!worldmappin 30.48627 lat 79.22124 long Wheels on the Himalayas : Chandrashila Summit (13000 ft)- Part III d3scr)