Author : Wahid Ahmad
We’re talking about the difficulty level of the Kashmir Great Lakes trek. If you ask me, this is one of the most misunderstood treks you'll ever do because Kashmir great lakes is one of the most beautiful treks you'll ever do. You walk through vast meadows where you can’t see the end of the meadows You trekked to around six beautiful alpine lakes You have pretty campsites So this is where the problem lies Most people look at these photos and think that I’m walking in meadows or I’m taking pictures beside a lake. They heavily underestimate the difficulty of this check so I’m going to give you a reality check of how difficult the Kashmir eight lakes trek is and how you must prepare for it we marked the Kashmir great lakes trek as a moderately difficult trek and there are mainly 3 reasons for this.
The first is that the days of trekking are very, very long on this trek This is something most trekkers miss out on because every day of the trek you’re covering over 10 kilometers and there’s not a single day when you’re covering less than 9 kilometers let’s say there are days when you’re covering even 16 kilometers at a single stretch and these days are not just long flat walks; you have ups and downs or senses and descents within this 10-kilometer walk every day So many trekkers think I can walk 10 kilometers but when once you get there, you are actually walking on mountainous terrain It is not as easy as it looks so you must really put in serious preparation for this trek.
The second thing that makes it challenging is that you are crossingthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 orthree high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 or three high mountain passes on this trek. On most treks, you are crossing one pass maximum, and very few times you cross two passes, like the tarsal muscle check, but on this check, you are crossing three high mountain passes, all of them planning above 13,000 feet, and you're doing this within two days of your trip, so almost every alternate day you are crossing a high mountain pass, and whether you like it or not, climbing to a mountain pass requires a lot of effort. It is a steep ascent of usually 2 or 3 thousand feet, and you have a steep descent after that as well, so over here you're doing that three times, and that requires a lot of endurance Requires a lot of endurance.
The third thing that makes it difficult or challenging is that you’re climbing to very high altitudes very quickly on this trek whether you do it from the Sonmarg side or naranaag side you’re within 11,000 feet almost on your second day of the trek and this is a very high altitude you can’t even do much to acclimatize at a lower altitude or something because you only have so many days to check on such a long trek so you are climbing to very high altitudes very quickly which is why on the Kashmir great lake trek we very regularly see lots of trekkers suffering from AMS (acute mountain sickness) and showing altitude sickness symptoms so this is something you must be very careful about you can’t really help it too much but preparation does help.
So how do you prepare for the trek for a moderate difficult trek like Kashmir great lakes we recommend preparing for at least 2 to 3 months before the trek if you have longer time if you already decided in March that you’re going in October then start your preparation right then what we recommend is running and targeting five kilometers covering that in 32 minutes this is a number we have come arrived at after a lot of trial and error of what works and what doesn’t basically running works on the same muscles that you use while trekking your glutes and calves your hamstrings all of those muscles get strengthened second thing that happens is you’re building your lung capacity while running so both of these happen simultaneously when you’re running so definitely take that seriously and start running 2nd thing I would also recommend including some 10K walks or slow jogs in between on some days ideally if you can do that 10K within 65 minutes that would be a very good benchmark it will show you where you stand and it will show you whether you can cover the Kashmir great lakes that comfortably. So alongside this of course work on strengthening your muscles include some squats some planks all of these exercises as well in your fitness schedule but please take fitness very seriously for a trek like Kashmir Great Lakes it is no joke it’s an extremely beautiful trek but all those lakes all those meadows come after a very hard earned climb so don’t underestimate the preparation required for it.
Just one final thing I want to add is that many trekkers ask me if it’s going to be raining on this particular trek and if that will make their trip more challenging or hamper their Because it is done in July August September which is a monsoon season in our country but the good news is that Kashmir is in the rain shadow region of our country or a big chunk of it is in the rain shadow region of our country so you will definitely not see as much rain as you see in Uttarakhand or himachal it’s a lot lesser and very very rarely almost never has it affected the trek so much that you’ve had to stop the trek so you can expect a few light showers especially in the 2nd half of the day so make sure you carry your rain gear with you but it is not something that is going to add on too much challenge to your trip if you’re fit enough to tackle the long distances the mountain passes and the high altitudes you will be able to tackle the rain as well not much of a problem.
Kashmir Great Lakes Trek is a moderate-difficult trek, often misunderstood due to its beauty. Days of trekking are very long, covering over 10 kilometers with ups and downs, not just flat walks. Three high mountain passes above 13,000 feet are crossed which is quite hard on anyone. Height gain is rapid resulting in altitude sickness and many trekkers suffer from AMS. One must be well prepared running should include 5 kilometers in 32 minutes. It will also help to include some 10 kilometer walks or slow jogs during training apart from strengthening muscles through exercises like squats and planks. Take your fitness level seriously as this walk isn’t a joke.
Fitness needed for long journeys, mountain passes and high altitudes. Monsoon season does bring some rain but Kashmir lies in the rain shadow area that sees little rainfall annually compared to other parts of the Himalaya Range and other parts of India at large. Still it is advisable to carry rain gear for possible light showers especially in the latter half of the day. This might assist but people need to have enough stamina to deal with these vast distances, mountain passes, and high altitudes. It’s a beautiful Kashmir Great Lakes trek but all those lakes and meadows come after an arduous climb on steep slopes. Do not undervalue what it takes to get ready for it