“The best view comes after the hardest climb”. This adage holds good for ‘Peak Prose Group’, a group of trekkers, who continue to explore high altitude glacial lakes in Jammu and Kashmir.
Over the last few years, especially after the CoVID-19 pandemic, the interest in trekking among the young Kashmir people has been growing. A lot of new trekking groups have come up in the past few years who are organising treks.
In 2013, there were only trekking clubs – Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineering and Hiking Club (JKMHC), and Alpine Adventures, but now there are over two dozen such clubs across Kashmir.
“There are so many alpine lakes which are still not even known to the common people”, Peak Prose Group (PPG) member Bilal Ahmad Pampori said.
Pampori claimed that the seven-member PPG group remained the luckiest one that could reach these untouched places and lakes to have first hand appraisal of nature.
Narrating how the group started their mountain trekking journey, Pampori said, “We started our journey of trekking as a pleasure trip during the 2017-18 and after visiting a few places we fell in love with the nature”.
He said the PPG group, headed by Dr Owias, was formed to explore the places and peaks of the Jammu and Kashmir before the world.
“There are so many lakes including Gumsar lake, Naganunder Lake, Chandan sar lake, Nandan sar lake, Dakiar sar lake, Nichia Lakes, Khallan Nag Lake, Zanbisht and Patalwan lakes falling across the Kashmir valley which are yet to be added to the visiting itinerary of the Jammu and Kashmir tourism chart”, Pampori claimed.
Asked about the one of the best trekking journeys in his life, Pampori said “almost every journey is absolutely amazing but a few remain always in the memories”. He said “the one which the group undertook was to scale the “Baraf Sar” in the Sonamarg peaks. He said that the PPG team had reached the third peak of the ‘Baraf Sar’, which is about 43000 feet above the sea level where hardly anybody had reached so far”.
He said the people have reached the second peak of the “Baraf Sar’.
“One of the amazing trekking we undertook last year from Gurez valley in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district and reached-Naranag Gangabal lake in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district”, Pampore said and added “the place used for the travel 40 years ago by the people”.
He said, “The trip was one of the best, toughest and memorable trekking for the group”. The permission to visit this place was provided by the Additional Director General of J&K Police Vijay Kumar, the group expressed their gratitude for his help.
The group had also trekked from Pahalgam in south Kashmir to Harwan in Srinagar. Besides, the group had also visited mountains of Poonch in Jammu region and Mughal road heights.
Asked that Jammu and Kashmir Tourism department often claim that new destinations have been put through for the tourists, Pampori said, “There are hundreds of places where the nature’s attraction is that much one could not want to leave these places after visiting”.
“There is a lot more to do to explore and publicize the places which could boost tourism in Jammu and Kashmir to be the best in the world”, he said.
He claimed that there are lakes in Jammu and Kashmir which even one could not find in the Google map and those have been visited by the group.
“Our aim is just to contribute and explore the places and peaks of our state before the world to see Jammu and Kashmir become the best tourist place globally”, he added.
