
Also known as Pindari Kanda, the Traills 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 Traills Pass which is at its top still remains an elusive goal.
Location of Traills Pass
The Traills 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 Taills Pass
For a long time the people from the
Johar and Pindari valley had attempted to cross the Traills Pass for trade. And almost a century later, in the year 1830, the first man to cross the Traills 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 Traills 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 Traills Pass
The Traills 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 Traills 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.
Traills Pass Trek
The Traills Pass is a popular
trekking destination, and since 1830, Traills 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 Traills Pass.
(Last Updated on : 18/03/2019)