Rupin Pass Trek

The trail out of Jiskun climbs immediately. Within the first hour, through dense deodar and walnut forest. The forest is shadowy in the early hours, filled with birdsong and, somewhere below, the sound of the Rupin River. Bawta, a small cluster of homes and tea stalls,  arrives as a welcome mid-climb stop. Refill water here. The trail steepens from Bawta onward.

Jhaka is the landmark of the day. This is the famous Hanging Village of the Rupin Pass Trek, a settlement of traditional Kath-Kuni wooden houses built on a narrow mountain spur in a way that makes the entire village appear suspended when viewed from the valley below. Jhaka follows Satsang traditions and is meat-free. There’s a quietness about it that altitude alone doesn’t explain. This is the last inhabited village on the route. Hire a porter here if needed. Buy anything from a local shop you may have forgotten. Beyond Jhaka, there is nothing but trail. Campsites are set on open ground just above the village, with valley views in every direction.

This is the day the trek stops feeling like a forest walk and starts feeling like a Himalayan expedition. Above Jhaka, the treeline ends. Wide alpine meadows, sweeping, sun-drenched, disproportionately vast – open in front of you. The Rupin River is now far below in the valley. You’ll hear it all day. Saruwas Thatch is a broad plateau meadow that most groups use as a lunch point. In June, wildflowers cover every slope. In October, the grass has turned amber and the ridgelines are crystalline against a blue sky.

From Saruwas Thatch, the trail continues climbing to Dandreyash Thatch at 3,556 m, your home for the next two nights. The campsite sits inside a wide glacial bowl, ringed by ridgelines, with the Kinner Kailash Range visible on clear evenings. Your first proper view of distant snow happens somewhere along this stretch. Nights here are genuinely cold – 0°C to 5°C. Layer up early, drink plenty of fluids, eat well.

This day is not optional. It is the most important day on the itinerary. At 3,556 metres you are already at altitude. In two days you will be at 4,650 metres. Today exists to give your bloodstream, your lungs, and your red cell count the time they need to adapt before that push. The protocol is simple: wake up, eat, take a short 2–3 km uphill walk, return to camp, rest, hydrate (3–4 litres), eat, sleep early. The “climb high, sleep low” principle at its most basic.

Avoid alcohol entirely. Eat even if your appetite has decreased – appetite suppression is normal at altitude, but your body needs the calories. If a headache develops and doesn’t improve with rest and hydration after two hours, tell your trek leader immediately.

Use this day to check your summit kit: down jacket, gloves, balaclava, headtorch with fresh batteries, trekking poles, microspikes, 2 litres of water in an insulated sleeve (water freezes near the pass in cold months). Tomorrow is a short day. The day after starts before 4 AM.

AMS Symptoms to watch for: Persistent headache, nausea, loss of appetite, dizziness, breathlessness at rest. 

The shortest day by distance but not the easiest. The trail climbs toward the Rupin Waterfall- one of the most dramatic natural sights on any Himalayan trekking route. You hear it before you see it. Three cascading stages dropping nearly 500 metres down a sheer cliff face into a glacial U-shaped valley. No photograph captures the scale. In May and June, fed by snowmelt, the waterfall roars and its mist reaches the trail. In September the flow is gentler, but a 500-metre white streak against black rock needs no amplification. Beyond the lower falls, snow patches become frequent. By the time you reach Upper Waterfall Camp at 4,060 m, the terrain is different entirely – vast, exposed, white on three sides, the summit ridge visible for the first time from directly below.

This is the day you trained for. You leave camp in darkness. Head torch on, breath visible in cold air, snowfield catching the light all around. The first section climbs steeply through the Rupin Gully, a narrow, snow-filled corridor that rises at a punishing gradient toward the pass. This is the most physically demanding section of the entire trek. Because it requires every step to be deliberate, every breath to be steady, and every trekker to trust their pace and their team. Above the gully, the gradient eases. You enter Rati Pheri – a wide snowfield that serves as the final rest point before the summit. The views are already extraordinary before you reach the top: ridgelines stacked in all directions, the sky turning from deep blue to pale gold as the sun rises.

The final climb to Rupin Pass at 4,650 metres is steep but short. Prayer flags and cairns mark the summit. When you step up onto the pass, the full sweep of the Kinner Kailash Range opens to the south. Uttarakhand’s high wilderness stretches ahead. The valley you’ve spent six days walking through lies below in complete silence. Stay long enough to feel it. Then begin the descent. The descent into Ronti Gad drops nearly 1,500 metres over 6-7 km. Tired knees will feel every metre of it. Use your poles hard, plant your heels, and take it slowly. Ronti Gad campsite sits in a wide, quiet valley, peaceful after the intensity of the day.

The last day is long in hours but gentle in effort. The morning trail from Ronti Gad descends through terrain that softens with every kilometre – snowfield to alpine scrub, scrub to conifer forest, forest to the terraced orchards and stone villages that signal Sangla Valley. As altitude drops, the air thickens, the temperature rises, the colours return. Sangla is one of Himachal Pradesh’s most beautiful valley settlements. The Baspa River runs through it, green and cold. After a week of campsites, the sight of a proper village with a tea shop and a paved road feels like re-entering a world you’d nearly forgotten.

After lunch in Sangla, board your vehicle for the long drive back to Shimla. Arrive late at night – typically between 11 PM and 1 AM. Book your onward travel from Shimla accordingly.