Kangan to Aru Traverse

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Tarsar lake  Photo by © Muhammad Zahid

Sindh valley to Lidder river valley 
traverse via Sanamus pass.


Sindh and Lidder valleys are two most beautiful side valleys of Kashmir and got their names from the rivers flowing through these valleys( Sindh & Lidder river)
Sindh valley is long, narrow opening up in North Western side of the Vale of Kashmir while the lidder valley opens into the North Eastern corner of the valley. These valleys are separated by a long mountain range that runs from East to West forming the southern side of Sindh valley. The end of this range forms the line of mountains behind the Shalimar garden, throwing spurs from other branches form successively the half circles that enclose Dal lake, khonmoh & valley of Tral.
Sanamus pass & mountain ranges 

The range has so many summits and mountain passes that connects these valleys. Some of these passes are Lakhath/Kolahoi pass, Basmai pass, Gumbar Pass,Yamhar pass Sanamus pass etc.

Date 5th june 2022, Sunday
I along with my friends planned a one day traverse from sindh to lidder river valley via Sanamus pass(3900m). We started our hike from Sur Pharao Kangan at about 6am in the morning following the course of the stream towards the Sanamus valley just below the Sanamus pass. Sur Pharao is a village in Sindh valley on the left bank of sindh river. The lower slopes towards north are thickly covered with forest. We reached the valley after 4 hours of hiking through the dense forest cover.
Sanamus valley, hikers moving towards the sanamus pass

Sanamūs is a alpine valley above the tree line surrounded by 4000m rocky peaks. The valley is the perfect spot for spending your time in the mountains. After taking some rest in the valley and when everyone reached we proceeded further to climb the rocky sanamus pass(3900m).
Climbing towards Sanamūs pass

It was around 500m climb towards the pass traversing the moraines and small glacier patches in gullies which made it difficult to cross them. So far upto the top of the pass, it was around 12 kms with an elevation gain of 2000 meters. It took me 5 hours 30 mins to traverse this much of distance. 


Traversing the snow gully below the pass 

I along with my two friends Mohsin and Ishfaq were the first ones to reach there and rest of the team were still climbing. So we decided to further explore the area. In the vicinity of the pass towards south lies a Hoksar lake and a water body. The lakes drains in the Sindh catchment and is walk of around 30minutes.

Frozen Hoksar lake

We now had traversed the slopes on the sindh side, crossed the Sanamus pass. On the other side of pass, lies an elevated grassy valley situated amid the lofty mountains. This valley is known as Zajmarg. We traversed the valley by the stream which escapes from the Chanda sar (Tchen’der sar) and forms one of the head waters of lidder river.
Zajmarg valley & Deo masjid peak in backdrop 

At Chanda sar, we had our lunch & halted for a while. We had plans to attempt the Marsar lake as well but the slope was covered with snow and it was not easy to climb that. So we abandoned that plan and descended down towards the Tarsar lake.
Chanda sar
Saddle in the snowy slope in backdrop is the way towards Marsar lake.

Zajmarg and Tarsar lake is separated by a 4000m spur and the top of it offers the best view of the Tarsar lake. From Zajmarg, it is a 200m climb. The slope towards Zajmarg is north facing and was covered with snow. From bottom it seemed easy but in actual it was more difficult than expected. 
Snowy slope facing north towards Zajmarg 

As Tarsar marsar is one of the commercial treks of Kashmir. There is a proper trail of this pass but it was under the snow. We got so much exhausted in climbing this ridge. It was the second 4000m pass of the day which we climbed. Once we reached to top, we saw the picturesque view of the almond shaped Tarsar lying between the lofty mountains. All of our tiredness faded away with that view and I think it is the best view of Tarsar lake that i have seen.

Tarsar lake

It was 3:28pm and so far we have hiked a distance of 19kms, crossed two 4000m passes and gained a total elevation of 2800m. Now only thing left was to descend down to Aru. From top we descended down to Tarsar valley followed the course of the tarsar stream. It joins the Zajmarg stream at Dandabari.
Dandabari

Further following the trail that runs along the course of the stream we reached to Lidderwat at 7:30pm. But on way near Hamwas, the bridge over the stream was taken away by the avalanche and water currents were strong, so crossing the stream was not possible. There was a group of nomads on the same side of stream. We went  to them, asked them about how they crossed the stream. They told us that down near the lidderwat, there is a snow bridge over the stream and showed us the way. 

Crossing the snow bridge near Lidderwat

It was still dangerous to cross the bridge but thanks to Allah, everyone crossed safely. At 7:30pm we were at Lidderwat. There was local guy who was selling tea, biscuits, and cold drinks. We had a cup of tea and some snaks there and left the place at 8pm. The sun had already set and from lidderwat we reached to Aru in moonlight even though we had the headlights but didn’t use them except in the forest area. And finally we reached back to Aru at 10pm thus completed our traverse of Kangan to Aru. 

Find my activity on Strava by clicking here
FATMAP Route here
Download gpx file here
Analysis;
Total distance: 43kms
Moving time : 11 hours
Elapsed time: 16 hours
Total elevation gain: 2820m
Max elevation: 3993m



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Location: Tarsar Lake, 191202

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