An associate professor at Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research in Mysuru, Shivanand was among the group of 19 trekkers and support staff stranded in snow-hit Kalindi Khal region of Uttarakhand for nearly three days before the authorities rescued them on Monday.

Dr. Shivanand and four other doctors from Bengaluru, who were part of the trekking group, had set out from Gangotri for Badrinath on September 18. However, heavy snowfall in the Kalindi Khal area of Uttarkashi district from the morning of September 25 brought their onward journey to a halt.

“We were supposed to reach Badrinath on September 28, but the snowfall, which began early on September 25, forced us to stop the trek. The snowfall continued for the next 60 to 70 hours,” Dr. Shivanand told over the phone from Dehradun.

The trekkers and their support staff remained stranded at an altitude of around 18,500 feet above sea level in the Kalindi Khal region. They survived on limited food supplies and melted snow for drinking water during the three days.

“We were also running short of LPG, which we were using to melt the snow for water,” he said.

Airlifted to Harsil

The stranded trekkers and support staff, including porters, were airlifted from the Kalindi Khal region to Harsil in Uttarkashi district on Tuesday in a joint rescue operation involving the Indian Army, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Uttarakhand Police and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).

The authorities launched the rescue operation at the high-altitude locations after a brief respite in the harsh weather conditions and carried out multiple sorties to evacuate the stranded trekkers.

“There were no mules on our route and none were used to carry our luggage during the trek,” Dr. Shivanand clarified.

Besides the trekking groups on the Kalindi Khal route, several trekkers were also stranded on the Auden’s Col route in the region. Most of them have been rescued, said Dr. Shivanand, who was on his way to Dehradun on Tuesday evening.