Kuari Pass: the Lord Curzon Trail
The Kuari Pass sits at around 3,800 metres on a high ridge in Chamoli district, separating the Dhauliganga and the Alaknanda drainages. The route to it is often called the Lord Curzon Trail, after the Viceroy who had part of it built for a planned tour in 1905, and later the Nehru Trail. It was one of the first Himalayan treks recommended to visitors in the early twentieth century, for a simple reason: for most of its length you walk within clear sight of Nanda Devi, the highest mountain entirely within India, along with Dronagiri, Kamet, Mana and the Chaukhamba group.
The trek runs over six days from Joshimath and Auli, climbing through forest onto open meadow and along the ridge to the pass and back. It is graded easy to moderate and is one of the best first Himalayan treks available, as well as a classic winter snow trek. For more background see our Kuari Pass trek guide, and the wider picture is in our Uttarakhand trekking guide.
Why do this trek
Kuari Pass is chosen for its views more than for the pass itself. Few treks in the Indian Himalaya keep a mountain of Nanda Devi's stature in frame for so much of the walk. The trail also has a gentler shape than most: it shares its first section with our Auli Alpine Trek, climbing through the Gorson meadow, then follows a high, rolling ridge rather than grinding up a single valley to a summit. That makes it forgiving on the legs and easy to pace, while still reaching a genuine 3,800-metre high point. It starts, unusually, with a cable-car ride: the Auli ropeway from Joshimath is one of the longest in Asia and lifts you most of the way to the trailhead.
It also serves as a natural step up from a first easy trek toward longer routes, and as good acclimatisation before a bigger Chamoli-region trip such as the Valley of Flowers.
Best time for the Kuari Pass trek
The trek runs across three seasons. Mid-March to April is late winter here: firm old snow on the ridge and the pass, bare forest below, cold clear days and very cold nights. Late April to June is the green season, with rhododendron in bloom, mild days, comfortable camping and the meadows greening up. The monsoon, July to mid-September, brings landslide risk on the drive, a slippery trail and cloud that hides the whole point of the trek, so it is avoided. Mid-September to November is the other prime window: the clearest, most haze-free air of the year, golden meadows, and sharp views of Nanda Devi, with progressively colder nights. December to February is full winter, when Kuari Pass becomes one of the most popular snow treks in the country, with deep snow on the ridge, a trail broken by the guides, and camps well below freezing.
For the mountain views, autumn and late winter are unbeatable. For the most comfortable trek, May, June, September and October. Our guide to snow destinations near Dehradun covers the winter season, and the Auli winter guide is relevant because the trek starts there.
How hard is Kuari Pass?
Easy to moderate. The trail is well established and involves no scrambling, exposure or technical sections on the standard route. The daily distances are short, around six kilometres, but they are spent gaining and holding altitude on a ridge, and summit day to the pass and back is a longer effort of six to eight hours with a climb to 3,800 metres. Altitude is a mild consideration: you sleep around 3,400 metres for two or three nights, so hydrate well, walk slowly, and report headaches or nausea to your guide. Winter departures are noticeably harder because of the snow underfoot, the cold, and shorter daylight, though still not technical.
A prepared beginner can do this trek. You should be able to walk uphill for four to six hours with a daypack, and two to four weeks of regular walking, jogging or cardio beforehand will make it comfortable. It is a common choice for a first Himalayan trek precisely because the reward-to-difficulty ratio is so high.
Who this trek suits
Kuari Pass is one of the best first Himalayan treks, and it is chosen by a wide range of people: prepared beginners wanting a genuine 3,800-metre high point, families with fit teenagers, photographers after the Nanda Devi panorama, and trekkers who want a winter snow trek without the difficulty of a summit climb. It also works as an acclimatisation trek before a bigger Chamoli-region route. It is less suited to trekkers who specifically want long trail days and physical challenge, since the daily distances are short, or to anyone looking for solitude on a winter weekend, when the trail is busy. Those trekkers should look at Har Ki Dun or the routes in our Uttarakhand trekking guide.
Fitness and how to prepare
Two to four weeks of preparation is enough for a reasonably active person, and four to six weeks if you are starting from a low base. Focus on aerobic fitness: build up to a comfortable jog of three to five kilometres, or an hour of brisk uphill walking with a loaded daypack, three or four times a week. Stair climbing and hill repeats train the specific effort of the ridge climbs and the summit-day push to the pass. If you are doing the winter version, add some cold-weather walks so you learn how your body and your kit handle low temperatures. Break in your boots beforehand, and arrive rested rather than straight off the long drive.
The Auli cable car and the Curzon Trail
The trek's start is unusual: rather than walking out of a village, you ride the Auli ropeway from Joshimath, a cable car that climbs around 500 metres of vertical over roughly four kilometres and is among the longest in Asia. On a clear day the views from the cabins are a preview of the ridge to come. The trail itself is a fragment of the route the British had improved for Lord Curzon's planned 1905 tour of the frontier; Curzon turned back before completing it, reportedly troubled by wasps on the descent, but the name stuck, and the path was later walked and popularised by Jawaharlal Nehru, which is why some maps label it the Nehru Trail. Knowing the history gives the ridge walk a bit more weight than a viewpoint alone.
Photography on the trek
This is a trek built for a camera, because Nanda Devi and its neighbours stay in frame for days rather than minutes. The strongest light is the first hour after sunrise and the last before sunset, which is an argument for the higher camps at Tali and Khullara over rushing the trek. From the pass itself, a wide lens or phone panorama captures the full arc from Chaukhamba to Dronagiri; a longer lens picks out the individual summits and the fluted ice of Nanda Devi. In winter the snow simplifies the foreground and the light off it is intense, so carry a polariser and spare batteries, which the cold drains fast.
The route in detail
Joshimath and Auli to Tali
From Joshimath at about 1,900 metres, the cable car or road takes you up to Auli at around 2,900 metres. The trek climbs through the Gorson Bugyal meadow and into oak and conifer forest, with the first open views of Nanda Devi and Dunagiri, to a camp at Gulling or Tali Tal.
Tali to Khullara
A traverse along the ridge through alternating forest and clearing to the Khullara or Chitrakantha area, with the Kuari ridge and the full sweep of the Nanda Devi group ahead. This is the highest camp.
Summit day to Kuari Pass
An early start for the climb to the pass at 3,800 metres, a steady ascent on open ground, snow-covered in winter. From the top the panorama runs from Chaukhamba and Nilkanth in the west across Mana, Kamet and Abi Gamin to Nanda Devi, Dronagiri and the peaks of the sanctuary rim. Then back down to camp.
The descent to Dhak
Rather than retrace the whole route, most itineraries descend the far side through the villages of Tugasi and Dhak to the Joshimath road, a knee-testing drop of well over a kilometre of altitude through forest and terraced fields. It is the hardest single descent of the trek and where trekking poles earn their place, before the drive back to Joshimath and out to the plains the following day.
Food and daily life on the trek
The trek crew cooks fresh, simple, mostly vegetarian food throughout — porridge, eggs, paratha and tea to start the day, a packed or hot lunch on the trail, and soup, dal, rice, roti and a vegetable in the evening, served in a dining tent. Nights are in tents at the Tali and Khullara camps, with a toilet tent alongside. Because the daily distances are short, you often reach camp by early afternoon, which leaves time to sit out with the Nanda Devi view, though in winter the cold drives everyone into the dining tent and then their sleeping bags soon after dark. Bring a power bank and a book; there is no mobile signal once you leave Joshimath, so leave the operator's number with family.
Getting to Joshimath
Joshimath is about 250 kilometres from both Rishikesh and Dehradun, a drive of nine to eleven hours along the Alaknanda and the Char Dham highway through Devprayag, Rudraprayag and Chamoli. The nearest airport is Dehradun's Jolly Grant; the nearest large railheads are Rishikesh and Haridwar. The road is busy in the pilgrimage season and slow in the monsoon. Most treks include a night in Joshimath at the start and end. If you have spare days near the plains, see our guide to adventure activities around Dehradun.
Where you stay and daily life
The first and last nights are in a guesthouse or hotel at Joshimath; the trail nights are in tents at Gulling or Tali and at Khullara, two or three trekkers to a tent with sleeping bags and mats, with a dining tent and a toilet tent. Food is simple, hot and vegetarian, cooked by the crew — porridge and eggs for breakfast, a packed or hot lunch, dal, rice, roti and vegetables in the evening, and tea throughout. Days are short, especially in winter, so you reach camp in the early afternoon with time only to rest, eat and keep warm. Bring a book and a power bank; there is no phone signal above Joshimath.
What to pack
Pack for cold camps in every season. The core kit is waterproof, broken-in trekking boots, a 45 to 55 litre pack with a rain cover, thermal base layers, a fleece, a light down jacket, a windproof and waterproof shell and trousers, a warm hat, gloves and thick socks. Add sunglasses, sunscreen and lip balm, a headtorch with spares, a one-litre bottle with a purification method, quick-dry trousers, a personal medical kit and trekking poles. Winter departures need gaiters, heavier insulation, and micro-spikes for the snow if the operator does not provide them. Keep water, snacks and warm and waterproof layers in a daypack even when a mule carries the main bag.
Combining Kuari Pass with other treks
The trek shares its opening section with our Auli Alpine Trek, so the two-day meadow walk is a shorter alternative if you have less time. From the same Joshimath base you can add the Valley of Flowers in the monsoon, or the private extended Valley of Flowers departure. For a first snow summit rather than a pass, Kedarkantha and Brahmatal are the standard choices, and Dayara Bugyal is a gentler meadow trek elsewhere in Garhwal. The full range is on our treks page.
Permits, safety and responsible trekking
The route passes through reserve forest near the Nanda Devi Biosphere Reserve, so forest permits, a registered guide and camping fees are required, arranged by the operator, and foreign nationals face extra checks near the inner line. Kuari Pass is a busy trek in winter, and the meadows along the way have suffered from the volume of camping and litter, so responsible practice matters: carry out all waste including food scraps and tissue, camp only at designated sites, never light open fires, stick to the trodden path across the meadows, and keep groups small. Choose your operator on their safety and environmental record — our guide on choosing a trekking operator in Uttarakhand explains what to check — and take trekking travel insurance that covers evacuation, as covered in our travel insurance guide.
