Also known as Pindari Kanda, the Traill’s Pass stands at an elevation of 5, 312 m and is not the highest of mountain passes among the other giants of the Himalayan Mountain Range. Nonetheless, the pass has its own challenges and even though the Pindari glacier is frequently visited, the Traill’s Pass which is at its top still remains an elusive goal.

Location of Traill’s Pass
The Traill’s Pass is located between the western shoulder of Nanda Kot peak and the southern shoulder of Nanda Devi, which is the second highest mountain in India, in the Indian state of Uttarakhand in the districts of Bhageshwar and Pithoragarh.

History of Taill’s Pass
For a long time the people from the Johar and Pindari valley had attempted to cross the Traill’s Pass for trade. And almost a century later, in the year 1830, the first man to cross the Traill’s Pass was Budha Malek Singh of the Supi village from the Bhageshwar district in the state of Uttarakhand. Later in the same year, G.W. Traill, the first British Deputy Commissioner of Kumaon division attempted to cross the pass but in vain.

Since then, the pass has been named as Traill’s Pass, when earlier it used to be known as the Pindari Kanda. After that almost a century later, the pass was again crossed in the year 1926 by Hugh Ruttledge, he had led the 1933 and 1936 expeditions to Mount Everest.

Overview of Traill’s Pass
The Traill’s Pass is a high altitude pass named after a famous explorer and is on the head of Pindari glacier which is one of the most accessible glaciers that lies on the outer ring of the Nanda Devi Sanctuary in the Kumaon Himalaya. The Pindari Glacier forms the snout of the Pindar River which forms the main tributary of the Alaknanda Riverwhich further joins the Bhagirathi River to form the Ganga at Devprayag. The Traill’s Pass links the Pindari valley with the Lawan Gad, also known as the Johar Valley, which lies to the east of the pass with its catchment being the Gori Ganga Valley.

Traill’s Pass Trek
The Traill’s Pass is a popular trekking destination, and since 1830, Traill’s Pass has been attempted by more than 90 teams, till now only 17 teams are known to have attained success. In the year 2013, a team named Himalpinist crossed the pass with a group of 3 people and became the first ever smallest team to do so. And 4 years later, in 2017, Sanket Patil of the same group became the youngest man alive to have crossed the Traill’s Pass.