How to actually survive the Kedarnath trek

The Gaurikund–Kedarnath trail is 16 kilometres long and climbs about 1,500 metres. It is not technical. What defeats people is the altitude, the pace they set in the first hour, and the shoes they chose.

Sleep at middle altitude first. A night at Guptkashi or Sonprayag, around 1,300–1,500 metres, gives your body a head start that no amount of fitness substitutes for. Itineraries that drive you from Haridwar to Gaurikund and put you on the trail the same day are selling you a shorter holiday, not a better one.

Start before six. The trail is cooler, emptier and the pony traffic is lighter. You also give yourself the whole day, which matters because the single biggest mistake is rushing the first four kilometres and then having nothing left for the last six, which are the steep ones.

Wear trail shoes with grip, broken in. Not new boots, not sneakers. The path is paved in stretches and loose gravel in others, and it is used by several thousand ponies a day, which does to a paved path exactly what you would expect.

Drink more than you want to. Altitude dehydrates you faster than the cold lets you notice. Carry a bottle you can refill — there are taps and shops the whole way — and take glucose or ORS rather than fizzy drinks.

Book the pony or palki in advance if you think you might need it, because the rates at Gaurikund on the morning are whatever the market will bear. And take the descent as seriously as the climb: more people hurt their knees going down than their lungs going up.