Amarnath Yatra to Begin From June 25

The annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine of Lord Shiva in the Himalayas of south Kashmir will start on June 25, 2012. It will last till August 2, according to a spokesman of the Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB) that manages the pilgrimage.

The logic behind having the pilgrimage for 39 days was the hostile weather conditions, which resulted in 107 deaths last year, when the pilgrimage commenced on June 28 and lasted till Aug. 13, 2011.

The cave shrine is situated at a height of 3,888 meters above sea level and has two routes leading to it, one from Pahalgam, about 100 km from Srinagar, and another from Baltal, 110 km from Srinagar.

More than 630,000 pilgrims visited the shrine in 2011.