We all know Kedarkantha. In fact in Winters, it is the busiest trek in India with thousands of trekkers hitting the trail.

You'd think we already know whatever there is to know about it. We thought so too. 

But, then, while working on our Deep Dive Page, we stumbled upon Harish Kapadia's article on Kedarkantha. If you know Harish Kapadia, you'd know that he is one of the most celebrated mountaineers of our time. With numerous first ascents under his belt, Kapadia has documented and mapped some of the most remote and difficult treks across the Himalayas. He even served as the Editor of the esteemed Journal of the Himalayan Club for a long time.

You wouldn't really imagine someone like him on the Kedarkantha Trek. But, as unbelievable as it may sound, in the autumn of 2012 Harish Kapadia trekked to Kedarkantha.

This was just two years after we, at Indiahikes, had begun exploring Kedarkantha’s potential as a winter trek. But Kapadia’s reason for being here had little to do with all of that.

So what brought Kapadia to a seemingly easy trek like Kedarkantha ? 

When we read his article, we realised that it stemmed from his observation that Kedarkantha appeared on almost every Himalayan map Kapadia studied regardless of how old it was.

This was odd. Standing at 12,500 ft above sea-level, Kedarkantha isn’t particularly high. The climb isn’t technical or difficult either. Many higher peaks don’t even make it onto regional maps.

So why Kedarkantha ?

The answer came from standing on top of this peak. Kedarkantha is not an isolated summit. It is the onset of a long ridge. At Indiahikes, we have explored this ridge as well. Today, it is known as the Phulara Ridge. We love it for big mountain views, wildflowers and the meadows and forests on either side of it.

But what makes this ridge important for early mapmakers, is the vantage it offered. 

From this single ridge, seven major river valleys were visible. 

Each of them belonged to a significant river system of Western Garhwal and Eastern Himachal, stretching from the Yamuna Basin all the way to the Satluj Watershed.

To the East, you’d see Ruinsara valley, with the famous Ruinsara Lake tucked beneath the Bandarpunch and Kalanag peaks. The Ruinsara Gad drains this valley and soon joins the Tons, one of the major tributaries of Yamuna.

Next to it was the Obra Gad, draining a valley bordered by peaks like Dhodu, Ranglana and the Jairai. The famous Devkyari meadow lies at its heart. Obra meets the Supin River which in turn, is joined by the Rupin River at Netwar.

All these rivers — Ruinsara, Obra, Supin, Rupin, and the Tons — eventually contribute to River Yamuna in the plains.

Far in the distance, Kapadia could also trace the ridge of Chanshil Ghati, marking the head of the Pabar Valley. Beyond it rose the Hansbeshan Peak and a cluster of similarly high peaks of Himachal. They formed the divide with the Satluj Basin.

To the South-Southwest, the land tilted into the lower hills of Mussoorie. This is where the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India had once begun mapping the Himalaya.

Standing at this vantage, the reason why Kedarkantha was a surveyors’ favourite becomes unmistakable. At a time when mapping terrains through satellites was still a distant dream, Kedarkantha offered surveyors a single, accessible observation point from which multiple river systems, watersheds and mountain divides could be studied at once.

Long before it became a trekking destination, Kedarkantha had served as a keyreference for charting the region. That is why it kept appearing on maps. Not because it was the highest or the most striking peak. But because it helped make sense of the world around it.

Today, Kedarkantha is known for its winter snow, its forests, and its ease of access.

Many trekkers come here for their first summit, their first taste of the Himalayan Winters. And that is not a small thing.

But isn’t it fascinating that long before all of that, this quaint hill was being frequented by surveyors to map the Himalayas ?

And Kedarkantha is not alone in this. Many other trek routes we know today are layered with incredible history.

Some were born out of extraordinary exploration. Others served as gateways to discoveries that reshaped our understanding of the remote Himalayan interiors.

One such route is the Dharansi Pass, tucked close to the well-known Kuari Pass Trek. It was through this pass that humans first entered the Nanda Devi Inner Sanctuary.

In October 2025, a team from the Indiahikes Trekking Club set out to retrace this historic route.

If this article intrigued you, I’m sure you’ll find the story of the Dharansi Pass even more fascinating.

Do you know of more backstories and history of any famous Himalayan Trek ? Write to me at [email protected] and we'll definitely run a story on it.

Acknowledgement: The history of Kedarkantha, referred to here, have been sourced from the article, “An Autumn Walk to Kedar Kantha” by Harish Kapadia which appeared in the Himalayan Journal [Issue 68, 2013]