Sar Pass
The epic high altitude crossover of snow laden mountains

Difficulty

Moderate

Duration

5 days

Max Altitude

13779 ft

Starting Point

Kasol

End Point

Barshaini

Distance

8 KM

Best Time to Visit

May-October

Camping sites

The travel through mystic valley
The Sar Pass is a trek in the Parvati Valley that fulfills the thrill quotient one would expect from a trek. Starting from the hippie town of Kasol the trek ends at the sleepy village hamlet of Pulga through the mountains dominating the sky line in that area. The trek moves along with a water stream on the first day and passes through lush green coniferous forests to the remote hamlet of Grahan in parvati valley.
Sar-pass-trek-hikesdaddy (3)
The meadows enroute to the Sar pass trek
Adrenaline on the edge
One gets to witness the surrounding snow covered mountain peaks while the trail snakes through narrow sections. The trek offers all different kinds of settings starting from forests, river crossings, steep rock sections, narrow ridgelines to snow covered high altitude mountain tops. This trek is truly one of a kind in this area and offers you a feeling to be among the dominant mountains with relative ease. Since comparable treks are high on the difficulty quotient.
Sar-pass-trek-hikesdaddy (9)
Snow covered mountain tops

Short Itinerary

Brief Itinerary
Day 1 : Kasol to Grahan ; 10Km ; 4 to 5 hours
Day 2 : Grahan to Min Thach ; 7Km ; 4 to 5 hours
Day 3 : Min Thach to Nagaru ; 8Km ; 4 to 6 hours
Day 4 : Nagaru Campsite to Sar pass to Biskeri Thach ; 14Km ; 6 to 8 hours
Day 5 : Biskeri Thach to Barshaini ; 10Km ; 4 to 5 hours

Hikesdaddy Itinerary

Trek from:
Kasol to Grahan
Trek gradient:
Easy.The gradient is easy in this stertch.Forests,stream crossings.
Water Sources:
Multiple streams on the trail.
The route to Grahan starts from the Hippie town of Kasol and it is advisable to arrive a prior in Kasol.Kasol offers a wide variety of culinary experiences owing to it’s highly multi-cultural crowd one can cut out on the shopping spree as you can always shop after finishing the trek while returning from Pulga. The trail to Grahan lies towards the right side of the bridge near the Kasol bus stand if you were to come from Bhuntar to Kasol. There is one Nallah joining the Parvati river at this point the trail pretty much travels along with it. Read a very detailed guide on how to reach Grahan village.
An evening in the Grahan village
Trek from:
Grahan to Min Thach
Trek gradient:
Mederate.Level trail followed by increase in gradient.Forests, river crossings.
Water Sources:
Streams on the trail.
The campsite has a tap as the water source.Just in case the tap isn’t working you can fill your bottle from the nearby streams. The route to Min Thach from Grahan is rather easy.The trail goes down from the Grahan village into a forest area. Theere are sections where there are small open sections though. The trail goes towards the Grahan Nallah which you had followed to reach Grahan. After the descent from Grahan to the Nallah you will have to cross it and move forward on the trail which will now start gaining altitude, it will move through the forest and small clearings can be seen once in a while the trail also moves up and down for a few times before reaching a clearing on the ridgeline which is the Min Thach. It is somewhat a small meadow surrounded by alpine forests on all sides and the campsite of Nagaru is also visible from here on the mountain cliff face on the east side of the Min Thach campsite. The trail is also visible at certain places.
The lush green landscape.
Trek from:
Min Thach to Nagaru
Trek gradient:
Moderate.Steep increase in gradient.Trail is narrow and passes along a drop.
Water Sources:
Carry water from Min Thach.There is a tap at campsite but functionality is questionable.
The trail from Min Thach to Nagaru in the Sar Pass trek is perhaps the part which deserves the most attention due to certain steep sections in it. The trail moves down from the Min thach campsite , into the forest towards the Grahan Nallah below.After having crossed the Nallah and moving to the other side of it. You will come across a ridge. The trail moves through a small clearing and into the forest after overcoming this ridge you will come across another ridge.The Nagaru campsite is atop this ridge. The trail now moves on the cliff side of the ridge with a straight drop to the valley below. This is the section where a lot of attention has to be paid to avoid any mishaps. If this section has snow things can get a bit tricky as the trail becomes hard to spot owing to the snow. The sections which have a steep face require combination of Ice axe and good footwork to navigate. Steps have to be cut out if there is excess snow to create a trail. The foot has to shoved into the snow from the outer edge to cut steps and get a firm grip. A trekking pole comes in handy if this region is snow bound. After traversing through the ridge you will come across a forest stretch and at it’s end lies Nagaru Campsite
The trail moving through the mountain
Trek from:
Nagaru Campsite to Sar pass to Biskeri Thach
Trek gradient:
Difficult.Steep incline trough a ridgeline.Followed by snow section then gradual descent into the forest.
Water Sources:
streams on the trail.Besides one near the cam
The trail form the Nagaru Campsite is a steep one, the gradient of the trail rises along the slope and ziz zags it’s way towards the ridge above. The trail is narrow and requires you to be fully alert. After traversing the distance up to the ridge, you will find yourself on a ledge where the ridge extends forward. You can rest here for a while before you start your journey through the ridgeline. If there is snow present on the ridge, you will get a full mountaineering kind of feel. Nevertheless the ridge is narrow at certain points and you should traverse it carefully. From here the path is downward through the snow plain area with massive peaks surrounding you. The Tosh valley peaks are also visible at this point. You will be able to see the Sar Pass at this point and when you see it you will know this is the Sar pass, where will be no ambiguity. The josh will be high as you will traverse through snow covered terrain and traversing through snow if not very hard in this section. You might very well take your own time here and enjoy the scenic beauty of this place. After crossing the Sar Pass you will be going downhill through the mountain slope. In a while you find a slope through which you can slide (depends on the snow) this will help you cover a large distance of about a kilometer. Few things to keep in mind while sliding is that you should have no loose items on you (camera, googles etc.), the slide is totally harmless. After this stretch you will come across another elevated feature which is less steeper than the first. After overcoming this part you can slide again and cover a fair bit of distance (again everything depends on the snow). The third elevated feature appears and can be covered downhill by sliding (depending on snow) this is about a kilometer. In all you would have covers a distance of three kilometers by sliding alone if you had success on all three slides. The trek now is easy owing to the downhill feature. You will be able to see the tree line in a bit and you will enter a snowy forest you will be able to see the meadows of Biskeri Thach on your left. The villages of Tosh, Pulga, Tulga, Nakthan are visible from this point in the valley below. The Buni Buni grassland lies nearby. There is a waterfall here in the backdrop that is the prime source of water here along with the nearby streams.
Trail blazing through snow.
Trek from:
Biskeri Thach to Barshaini
Trek gradient:
Easy. Downhill traverse through forwest floor.Stream crossings.
Water Sources:
Carry atleat 2 liters of water from Biskeri Thach campsite.
From the Biskeri Thach the route to Barshaini is downhill yet a bit challenging.The trail from the thach moves through the forest a towards the left of the stream and in a while cross thej stream and you will come across a patch of land with a fencing on it. Keep travelling downwards towards the direction of the river and you will come across a lot of different trails in this region and all of them go to one village or the other. You will land up at either Kalga, Pulga or Tulga by taking these trails and there is nothing much to worry about till the trail is descending downwards. Read more about : Kalga, Pulga, Tulga All three are sister villages. You can stay the night in one of these villages and relax. From here you will be able to see the dam on the Parvati river which has to be crossed to reach the other side towards Barshaini. From Barshaini you will get buses to Kasol and Bhuntar if there is no major landslide on the route. Otherwise you will get cabs and taxis till Bhuntar.
Viewa from the campsite.image search

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  • Parvati Valley
    ▼
    • Kasol
    • Chalal
    • Kheerganga
    • Grahan
    • Katagla
    • Kalga
    • Malana
    • Kutla
    • Rasol
    • Lapas
    • Nakthan
    • Pulga
    • Shila
  • Spiti Valley
    ▼
    • Chandratal
    • Kunzum La
    • Tabo
    • Kaza
    • Key Monastery
    • Dhankar
    • Hikkim
    • Chicham
    • Langza
    • Kibber
    • Komic
    • Demul
    • Gete
    • Lhalung