Auli- Defining glory of nature.

I wasn’t in mood for a holiday, so I was pushing the plans. I got conference call from a couple of friends and they insisted me to go and I couldn’t deny, hence the trip started. My childhood friends were cute enough to book the tickets, collect the details and pack my bag too while I was in office. So I reached straight from the office to the railway station.

We had our train around 22:40 which departed on time. We had our seats so we made ourselves quite comfortable in our respective seats. One thing you must have notice in sleeper class is that people  are always in rush unlike other class. Busy finding seats, busy teaching/instructing kids, busy running for last minutes snacks/water, busy staring co passengers etc. Also almost every compartment will have a guru age may vary, a person,  who knows all the routes, timings, whether forecast, every junction en-route etc, so you don't have to worry if you are new to some route. Anyways we were quite tired hence were lost in dreams as soon as we finished our home made dinner. Next thing I remember was Katgodam, it is the last station on its Indian Railways line. From Katgodam we had to hire cab in order to reach Auli which was around 314 Km from Katgodam. There weren’t much people at the station, I believe only around 30. It was a cramped, isolated  but clean place. As soon as we came out of station there were many drivers and cars. I never felt like a celebrity before. They surrounded us like paparazzi while pushing each other real hard. They wanted us to hire them and started throwing their prices. My friend booked a Travera for around INR 7000 return fare included. Thinking of 4 people with 5 bags, long 315 km journey and enough space for everyone, sounded like a good deal to us. So we began our road trip after a little refreshment at the station.

Weather was quite pleasant, bright and sunny with about 10-12 degree temperature. From Kathgodam, mountain roads lead to tourist destinations like Nainital, Bhimtal, Sattal, Mukteshwar, Ranikhet, Naukuchiyatal and Almora. The route was quite picturesque. We were crossing long foot hills of Himalaya, surprised by the twist and turns of road which was  also a reason for one of our fellow friend to puke at every 10 miles, last we counted 7 times. We used to get down in every couple of hours to have nice tea, snacks and to breathe a little fresh air.

We came across quite famous religious places karn prayag ,Adh Badri etc. In the hilly areas sun sets quite beautifully and early so around 6 it was dawn. The color of sky was vivid and graphic. We had to reach Auli before night, as night time was quite risky because of the sudden change in  landscape . We were excited to reach there and praying hard to snow a lot, as we had never seen snow besides, movies and inside the freezer of a refrigerator. As soon as we crossed Joshimath it started to rain.

Auli is 14 km from Joshimath however the road gets steeper and makes an angle of around 45 degree, quite scary. As prayed and god listened, it started snowing. We were lively and chirpy. However happiness didn’t last for a long time. Only after 5 km we realized how it is to drive on roads like that. That road can be a nightmare to drivers with less experience. Our driver was pretty brave and patient. He was trying to move forward however as much as he tried, our car was skating back to the right side on the edge of the road and we were around 3000 meters (3 km) above sea level. Soon we came out of car as we were hell scared. We thought that if  we clean the snow and remove the thin layer of snowflakes it might not skit. As expected, it didn't work out well. Few other cars crossed us by and suggested us to return as the road above was not clear and its was more snow up above. We were hesitant to ride. We were struggling for 20 minutes but couldn't move more than 20 meters. We took out some good amount air from all the tires too thinking it might stop the tires from skating but it made the task loftier as then it was getting hard to move the steering. The snow fall was still on and it started covering the car roof and windows. We sat on the back seat and tried to move it up but no luck. We were adamant to go up so we took out of cab carrying our bags and got ready to go on our own leaving the car behind. But as soon as we turned off the lights of car we realized we can’t see anything but the snow. Snow was everywhere. The surrounding was camouflage with snow. Driver insisted us to get back in the car as there was fear of wild animals around. That moment was scary as we could hear nothing at the same time we could feel the wind blowing and snow fall which was spine chilling. Hence we stopped being audacious and got back to our cab. We ourselves made the task severe by taking out air from the wheels. It took a lot of time getting back downhill towards Joshimath.

It was raining back here with temp. of 2 degree, freezing and market was closed only around 9 pm. We were finding it hard to find hotels as most of them were close or charging too high as we were somewhat vulnerable. Most of the roads were blocked or closed. In the mean time we arranged food from a decent and only open restaurant. We also heard stories of how wild animal attacked locals recently. Somehow we booked a hotel our only option. We were hell tired still had food, little vodka and lots of laughs. We didn't realize when we dozed off. Next day we woke up early and excited. View outside the hotel was unreal. Joshimath market where we were staying is covered with snowy mountains and various trees, well maintained. Houses nearby are unorganized and low network zone. Things are hard to find but you will get basics anyway. Post tea and breakfast we resumed our climb to Auli. Only after few miles we had to stop as again cab was not moving up and it was really hard to drive. So we decided to start trekking there onward.

We found a shortcut to climb up as it was around 5 km from our starting point. Trekking was absolute play of adrenalin  as A) we knew nothing about it and B) thoughts of bears and leopard was haunting us. After a little struggle on up slope we managed to reach AULI.

About Auli- I would say this place is more than just a  beauty, nature mountains or just another holiday spot. We took out our camera, started shooting and posing like stars and celebrities. We couldn't get enough of the beauty. We couldn't thank ourselves for our decision of coming here. We couldn't have asked for more.

We refilled ourselves with some snacks and tea. There after we went to the highest point of Auli with the help of a cable car. All that I remember on the cable car was movie Frozen. Beauty around was gorgeous and magnificent. There was a small shop for tea and snacks too, but price for everything was double (well deserving for the effort). We stayed there for a while. No wonder if yogis, hermit or sannyasi used to meditate in places like this, infinite tranquility. You just don’t see or feel snow fall you literally hear snow falling on ground. I was in love with this place however it was hard to stay there for long time because our feet were cold and half of body was numb, temp only about – 7. So we decided to move back to our hotel.

We had to walk all the way till our cab so we hurried up as it was around 4.30 tending to dawn. While coming back there was an event manager who accompanied us along with another couple. He was suggesting us to move away from the place as there were wild animals around. We too literally saw blood spots on the snow and believe me it was spooky enough for us to almost double our speed. Nevertheless we reached before it’s too dark. We took our cab from midway, it was waiting there. As soon we returned to our hotel we changed and had our dinner and after a little blah blah we went off to sleep.

Next day morning we woke up pretty early in order to get our train to Delhi from Joshimath. We saw couple of places while coming back, Karnprayag and Ranikhet. It was getting cold back here too. We reached to the station on time however all on my head was a long silence and the beauty captured on our head. It was an amazing trip with the people I know and love so much. It just ended perfectly.


I believe you can capture million pictures or have some recording to give an idea about the place you visited however you can never make someone feel what you have been through, how amazing your experience was. This always remains exclusive for you.