Tapovan — the alpine meadow above the Gangotri glacier snout.
Day-trip pilgrims to Gangotri stop at the 1810s shrine and turn back; almost none walk the 18km route past Gomukh glacier snout to the Tapovan high-meadow that ascetic-photographer Swami Sundaranand documented across 50 years.WHY NOBODY KNOWS
Tapovan (4463m) is a flat alpine plateau directly above the Gomukh source of the Ganga, ringed by Shivling 6543m and Meru 6660m peaks. Sadhus and a small ashram have summered here since the 1950s — Swami Sundaranand's photographic Gangotri-glacier diary 1948-2008 (now archived at IIM Bangalore, donated by his estate) documented the snout's roughly 2km retreat across his lifetime, making Tapovan a climate-witness pilgrimage as much as a Hindu one. Permits via Uttarkashi DFO (Gomukh Wildlife Sanctuary); max 150 trekkers/day post-2014 NGT order. Trekking season May-Oct only. Camp at Bhojwasa GMVN at 3792m or with sadhus at Tapovan.
