My blogs

31st July 2022  I stayed for the night with bakerwals at Achhan  and it was raining all night. At about 8am in the morning i left the tent after having some noodles and tea. I moved towards Saranjan and crossed a 3850m pass North of Didum peak(Hoen Heng), SW of Chakiali gali which connects Mahu Banihal with Kandimarg Kulgam.  View SE from Saranjan I descended down 200m into Sikwas Nala valley and climbed again to the main ridgeline of Pir Panjal range, NW of Gagarmandu peak(4000m). The top ridgeline separates Kashmir and Jammu division. I then followed the 3900m contour and traversed the ridgeline upto Nikkan gali where I descended 150m down to Nikkan. Top ridgeline of Pir Panjal range On way to Nikkan gali, i explored Mang nar valley, traversed Nunkhul gali which connects Kulgam and Gulabgarh. It was a cloudy weather and as soon I reached Nikkan, it started to rain and i took shelter at Shepherds camp. After 15min the weather got cleared and i left  and entered back into Kashmir vall

Pir Panjal is a basaltic mountain range that bounds the Kashmir valley from South. In the December of 2021, while mapping the peaks, passes, nomadic dwellings and hiking routes on this range in OSM, i planned to traverse the entire range from Banihal To Tangmarg in a single continuous stretch  but unfortunately i had to end it at Aharbal Kulgam.  30th July 2022 - Day1 I took a first train from Srinagar to Banihal at 8:07am and it almost takes two hours to reach there.  I had to reach Mahu valley where from the journey begins. I took a cab from the main market to Mahu and due to bad condition of road and landslides, it took about 3 hours from Banihal to Mahu valley.  This place is really a hidden gem and has a lot of potential for hiking and adventure tourism. Enroute to Mahu valley. At about 2pm, after having lunch and praying Zuhr at my friends home, i left for my journey. On way towards Achhan, there is an army camp about 1.5kms from the village. I proved my identity there and then