Love hiking and camping on cold mountains at night? For adventure junkies, a trek to Sandakphu can be a 11,930-feet-tall thrill, courtesy Tata Steel Adventure Foundation, which is offering a golden opportunity to high climbers.
The adventure foundation or TSAF will conduct the trek from November 23 to 29 to what is billed as the highest peak in Bengal. It is a peak from where one can see four others - Mt Everest, Mt Makalu, the Kanchenjunga and Lhotse. Everester Premlata Agarwal will lead the team to the Sandakphu summit.
The premier adventure outfit is charging Rs 10,000 per person for the expedition to be supervised by a team of experienced instructors. The charges include to and fro trek from Darjeeling.
"We'll be giving accommodation to the participants. Charges include forest entry fee and registered guides. Participants will be reporting at the base camp in Darjeeling on day 1 (November 23)," TSAF secretary P. P. Kapadia told The Telegraph.
Besides trekking, other activities for the week-long exercise include home stays and fun games. Shedding light on the trek highlights, Kapadia added that participants would experience nature at its best when full moon falls during the period. Sandakphu, on a cloudless full moon night, when the peaks glitter in moonlight, is an unforgettable experience.
According to the itinerary, stitched out by the TSAF, participants will be transferred to Dhotrey (November 24) and trek to Tumling for night halt.
"They will trek to Kalipokhri the next day ( November 25) for an overnight stay while day 4 (November 26) include the climb to Sandakphu. The participants will descend by touching Gurdum (November 27), Rimbick ( November 28). After a night halt at Rimbick, the participants will depart for Darjeeling base camp and check out after lunch the next day.
Registrations can be done both online ( www.tsafindia.org/registration) and also by visiting the TSAF office at JRD Tata Sports Complex in Jamshedpur between 9am to 5pm (weekdays) or mail tsaf@tatasteel.com. Children above 10 years are eligible for the trek.
TSAF is conducting the trek to Sandakphu on its own for the first time.
Earlier, it used to hire agencies for the programme. Tata Steel adventure programmes chief, and legendary climber, Bachendri Pal and Premlata had been to Sandakphu for a recce, earlier this month. Both took stock of the logistics involved in organising the trek.





