Enthusiastic about the reopening of the Amarnath cave shrine for the pilgrimage after a gap of three years, hundreds of pilgrims made their way up to the cave from the twin routes of Sonamarg and Pahalgam on Day 1 of the yatra on Thursday.
At the first light, hundreds of pilgrims, including sadhus and women, queued up and left the Baltal base camp located at an altitude of 2,743 metres and trekked to an altitude of 3,657 metres to perform darshan at the shrine in central Kashmir.
Many batches of pilgrims opted for the toughest route in south Kashmir’s Pahalgam where they trekked more than 30 km and climbed the highest peak of the Mahagunas Pass located at an altitude of 4,276 metres to reach the shrine. It was the traditional route to the shrine.
