If there were no Himalaya's I wonder what my hobby would have been!! Maybe, collecting rock’s. Sounds crazy huh.. now you know why I became a geologist. Think again. I am a geologist by mistake, but definitely happy and content, I think. But hey, I don't have to worry about collecting rocks because we do have the mighty Himalayas and I do trek there often.
A trek had been, due for long, since I dint do a single trek in 2011. So when time finally arrived I was faced with two things to do.
Option 1. A road trip in a friends Gypsy from Delhi-Manali-Leh-Nubra-Leh-Kargil-Drass-Srinagar-Delhi
Option 2. A trek in Ladakh. Well that was if Option1 did not work out, and hell it didn't. Glad it didn't.
There is this very well said thought that "Everything that happens it happens for Good," and I truly believe in it. Why? Because it works all the time. All you got to do is take the positives out of the worst things happen to you and move on with life. Wait a minute, this is not what I am trying to tell you, so let's get on with the story.
Sometime ago, back in the months of March and April 2011, an inspired group in my office wanted to do the all famous, road trip from Delhi-Leh-Srinagr-Delhi. No one can blame them, since it is rated as one of the Top10 roads to travel in the WORLD. Gents were so darn excited that we had an head count of about 15-20 people and 4 SUV's. I was excited, yet was having a laugh within my head. I guess, you guessed it why? Anyways, I must tell you. After the initial excitement, the numbers started dropping and by the month of June, we were left with 6 people and 2 SUV's. A Safari and a Gypsy. A month down the line, I was left with 2 more and a Gypsy. 2 weeks before, the "The Day" I was left all by myself and no Gypsy.
AS USUAL..
Luckily for me Dr. Mondal, entered the scene. Ahhh!! Let's not start with who Dr Mondal and stuff, I have a whole blog dedicated to him, to tell you all you need to know of him, well almost everything. By the way Dr. Monda/Somak accompanied me to Patalsu Peak last year. And was about to accompany me for a trek in Leh. So both of us chatted over the phone and booked our flights immediately. All set, the only issue was, where to trek and whom to approach for it.
Initially, we were keen to do the most famous Markha Valley trek. Contacted a few agencies in Leh and rejected the trek.
Why?
a) Too expensive and
b) too long. We dint have enough leave to do a 8 day long trek.
Then we started looking at the Nubra Valley trek. The one that begins at Sabu and ends at Khalstar (in Nubra Valley) via the Dingar La pass. Again rejected.
Why? a) too expensive and
b) lack of trek days, apart from acclimatization.
One has to come to terms that, if you plan to trek in Ladakh and fly into Leh, you need to give yourself enough time to acclimatize, so plan accordingly. Finally after enough haggling and a bit of a bargaining, we decided to take the rather unusual route from Stoke-Chilling. Contacted Sky High Treks and struck a deal with Tsering Norboo. And trust me, he never gave us a chance to be disappointed. He makes sure that your trek is organized hassle free, and all you got to worry about is yourself and your personal needs. Personally, I highly recommend trekking with Tsering.
CONTACT:
TSERING NORBOO
SKY HIGH TREK TOUR
hemis complex ship no :-20
upper tukcha road, zangsti, leh
contact no:-09906996007 or 09419187764
All set with a week's time in hand, me and Somak took the first flight to Leh on the independence day. Our flight was interesting, filled with even more interesting people. There was this very proud and arrogant expression on many people's face, all along the flight as if they were about to summit the Everest peak. Damn!! For some stupid reason the pilot, once after landing announces "The outside temperature is 26°C." As soon as the pilot announces the temperature, Mr. Wise-man of probably a Gujrati family, boasts"aree Leh toh Delhi se bhi garam hai.. huh!" And takes off all his jackets and warm clothing. In English, he meant that Leh was hotter than Delhi. To be honest, me and Somak were quite surprised rather astonished to hear what pilot said. Simply because Leh stands at 3524m AMSL where as Delhi is about ~215m AMLS and give same atmospheric conditions Leh would any given day be cooler than Delhi, especially at 6:00am.
Its was quite funny when they got off the flight, it was their time to be surprised, since it was definitely much cooler that 26°C and to add on to it, there was enough wind chill. Typically of us tourist, mind you, I call myself a trekker, I hate to be a tourist. Now you would ask me define a tourist.
1). As soon as the wise-men/women get off the flight, they started clicking pictures as if there is no tomorrow. A trekker/traveler would never do that.
2). Picture composition etc is the last thing on a tourists mind. His/her reason to take picture is to show it to the world that they were there. Whereas, a trekker/traveller would take pictures for their memories.
3). Look at their luggage. A traveler or a trekker generally has a backpack and that's it. You know what to expect from a tourist.
Here are some shots of Leh from top of Tsemo Castle...
Anyways, enough said about travelers, trekkers and tourists, time to get on with the story. Talking about story, we need to talk about the characters in the story too… Well two most important characters without which the story won’t be complete are, me and Dr. Mondal (Somak). Don’t need to tell you much about me, nor do I need to tell you much about Dr. Mondal… You want to know? What!! Wasn’t the whole blog dedicated to him enough?
Tenzing: The guide. Tenzing a tiny looking fellow, many a times seemed like a confused fellow. He use to forget what lied ahead along the route.. but hey not his fault he was trekking here after quite long time. His expertise of trekking is the Lamayuru area and the Chaddar Trek. But without a doubt a super cook. Kept us chomping us on his wonderful recipes throughout the trek.
Regzin: The assistant Guide. The nicest, quietest, most hardworking and the most humble fellow in the whole group. He got married at the age of 17 and already has 2 kids. Did all the work, when at the campsite, apart from cooking.
Tenzing; The Horse-man. A very young fellow, defied the levels of fitness. He use to keep running after the horses after reaching the campsites, crossing mountains and passes, as if it was child’s play. One morning his horses ran-off to Rumbak, so he ran all the was from base camp, crossing Stok La to Rumbak and back again. Wow, left us amazed, even now.
And apart from them there was special appearance, Tsering Norboo, our trek organizer; then Mayur, a fellow trekker staying in the same guest house, was again trekking with Tsering. He was doing an expedition to some peak, I don’t remember, close to Pangong So.
the TEAM
Now lets get on to day by day description of events.
15th August, 2011
We arrived at Leh with clear weather, so tired, since we dint sleep all night before travel. Tsering had arranged a guest house for us, 10 mins away from the main market of Leh. Surrounded by fields on onside, on-looking at the Tsemo castle, Nubrak Guest house, is run by a local Ladakhi family. Almost like a home stay, staying here you could enjoy the local Ladakhi delicacies and also have a peaceful stay. Here we met another fellow trekker Mayur, who was about to head for an expedition to some peak near Pangong So. Turns out he belongs to Bombay too, infact from a place called Chembur in Bombay, where I stay too. Also, we met 2 more biker who rode from Delhi to Srinagar to Leh and were next heading to Nubra Valley.
Me and Somak decided to have a quick nap and get up as and when we get up. After some heavy breakfast, we were off to sleep. By the time we woke up it was 4pm and was raining. But we still decided to head out as we still had to meet Tsering. We took a little de-tour and climbed up to the Tsemo castle on the little hillock, overlooking the whole of Leh town. Views were awesome, but since it was raining we dint take our cameras out. Then via the old Leh town, we headed straight to meet Tsering. Tsering came across as a very humble, down to earth fellow, whose probably never learnt to say no.
After a cup of coffee, we sat down to discuss the plan and trek itinerary, and here it is:
Day 1: Stok village to Base camp Stok La.
Day2: Base camp to Stok La to Rumbak
Day3: Rumbak to Yuruytse to Base Camp Ganda La
Day4: Base camp to Ganda La to Shingho
Day5: Shingho to Skiu to Kaya to Chilling to Leh
5 Day Trek Route
All set we decided to head back to Guest house and prepare for the trek next morning. A sumptuous dinner with rest of the guest, interesting chats about different experiences, followed by some boring re-packing for trek and a good night sleep. All set we fell into the deep slumber.
16th August, 2011
Early morning there is an excitement and enthusiasm in the air. But what did weather have to say? It rained all night and was still raining in Leh. Me and Somak were waiting for the Tsering to come and he finally appears on our door. With a very sad face, he says “We cant begin the trek today!” On asking why, he says, the horse man (Tenzing) who was waiting for us at Stok village informed him that due to the rains all night, the water level in river has gone up drastically and horses cant cross the river. And along normal trek route there are some very narrow and steep portions which horses cant cross with all luggage on them.
Since our first day of trek is through very narrow river valley, there was no chance we could take any risk. 2hours of heavy rain can cause flash floods, and I definitely don’t wanna die young! So Tsering offered us a complimentary Leh tourism trip. Damn we were finally like tourist, for one day. But hey something is better than nothing. A trip to the oldest monastery Alchi, Likhir monastery via magnetic hill was organized for us to see in one day.
Before we got on with the trip we had an unfinished business to do. We picked our camera and headed straight up to Tsemo castle for some photo shoot. Again via the old Leh town we went straight to Tserings place. In the mean while though, the weather was clearing up. An Suv was arranged for us and we headed straight to Alchi Monastery.
Alchi monastery: is the oldest one in the Leh region and apparently administered by the Likir monastery which lies close by. The monastery complex was built between 958 to 1055 AD. Unlike most of the other monasteries, which are placed on top of a hillock, this one lies more in a valley. Some how it did not appeal much to us, so we decided to head back quick. Somak ended up buying a huge mask out here.
Likir monastery: A few kilometers before Alchi a diversion into the valley takes you to Likir monastery. This monastery was established in 1065 AD. it’s a beautiful structure over looking the green valley, and in the shadow of snow clad mountain range. Very colorful this monastery boasts a massive statue of Gautama Buddha. After spending enough time at this place it was time for us to head back to Leh.
Magnetic Hill: On the way back, on Leh-Kargil-Srinagar highway, there lies the very very famous Magnetic hill. The hill is said to have enough magnetic force to pull cars against gravity. What happens in actual is that, when you park your car in neutral, the car starts moving in up-hill direction automatically. Strange isn’t it! But in reality it is just an effect of optical illusion and there is no magnetic disturbance in area at all.
There is an explanation, refer : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_hill
Once back at Leh, we jumped into World garden café on Chanspa road, in Leh for some snacks. Trust me the food will not disappoint you here. Especially the barbeque chicken with humus and their fresh wood smoked Pizza’s. A return to guest house after that and light dinner brought us to the closure of the day.
17th August, 2011
Finally the “The Day” had arrived. The news was good. It wasn’t the sunniest of the days but good enough for trekking. Early morning we took the car and headed to Tserings place. We met Tenzing our guide and Regzin our assistant guide at his place. All the required stuff was loaded on the car and we all headed to Stok village. At the base, Tenzing our young vibrant, horse-man was waiting for us. In the mean time, while all our stuff was getting loaded on the horses, me, Somak and Tenzing headed straight to mountains.
Trek Route- Day 1: Stok Village to Base Camp Stok La
The first day of our trek partially enters into the Hemis national park, so we were quite excited that we might spot some wildlife. But honestly we were left a bit disappointed. But that doesn’t take away the excitement of first day trekking. The first half of first day trek is a gradual climb, along the river bed. But once you cross the mid point of the first day trek, where the route diverts, one to Stok La and one to Stok Kangri base camp, the trail starts climbing very rapidly. We leave the main river and take a right, the trail gets steeper and valley gets narrower.
We carried packed lunch for the day. And the toughest part begins right after the lunch. Walking up with a full tummy !!! Along the way we found a wild chicken family. Don’t know what to call that bird, but they were just like chicken. I am sure they must be tasting yummy. Tenzing actually ran after these birds and managed to catch a baby chick. We took some pictures and let it go. The trek was tiring but the views were rewarding. We maintained a constant rhythm while climbing. Slow but continuous.
We came to a point, where the narrow valley seemed to open up. We spotted a heard of Ladkakhi goats/blue sheep. Its quite amazing how they manage to keep balance on such steep slope. At this point I asked Tenzing how far is the camp and he said another two hours. At the moment all I could say was “What the F#@K.” We had been trekking for past 4 hours and quite a distance. As promised by Tenzing, we should have reached campsite by now and yet we were 2hours away!! Darn it! We thought to ourselves, how hopeless we were.
Turning back was never an option, so we kept moving, a little frustrated but we moved on. The first turn we take, I see a campsite and that was it. Tenzing was just fooling around with us. With a sigh of relief we ran to the campsite. A sigh of relief, a cup of hot tea and some snacks, we enjoyed the beauty of the campsite. Soon we headed to a ridge above the campsite and settled there up to almost Sunset. From up there, we could see portion of Leh town and the trail that we took to reach to our campsite.
Back to the campsite, followed by the soup was a wonderful dinner. Soon we called it a day and jumped into our sleeping bags, for a well deserved goodnight sleep. Oh btw, it poured all night, luckily the tent held the water off.
18th August, 2011
Today we had to cross the pass, and reach Rumbak by afternoon. We woke up a bit late today, so we had to hurry up our morning activities. Had porridge for breakfast, along with some lovely pan cakes, yes you heard it right… Pancakes!!! Apparently, that morning the horses had gone of to Rumbak. So Tenzing 2(horse man) practically covered 2wice the trek distance we had to cover today in about 3 hours. Once we were done with our breakfast and our other morning activities, behind the rocks in open, we hit the trail.
Trek Route- Day 2: Base Camp Stok La - Stok La - Rumbak
It was overcast and once we started our trek to the pass it started raining. We were a bit upset, because any chances of spotting the Stok Kangri peak would be zero, because of the clouds. Things got from bad to worst! By the time we reached top of the ridge it started snowing. Hey I kind of liked it but, was missing the sunshine. Once on top of the ridge, the main Stok Kangri ridge was visible, but there were no signs of the peak. Funny thing was on the other side of the ridge there was no signs of rain, but overcast yes. A short walk across on to opposite ridge followed by a very steep climb up takes you to Stok La pass (~5000m AMSL). The pass is windy, and characterized by change in Geological formations (very visibly).
After spending much time on the Stok La and enjoying the view, we head down straight to Rumbak village. The village from up the pass looks as if its very close by, but that my friend is an optical illusion!!! The initial part of the descend is very very steep, and slippery, so one got to be very careful. A stick always helps you to balance. After about 2.5 to 3 hours of continuous descend we reached our campsite, just above Rumbak village. We had a freshly prepared lunch today. Followed by some rest and we were up by evening. We spent into our evening, enjoying the tea, shooting the awesome landscape and the colorful sky. After having the dinner, we sat back relaxing enjoying the sky full of stars, talking stories of old days. Soon it was time to sleep. By the time we had reached Rumbak we had already said bye to rain clouds and said hi to the bright shinning sunshine.
19th August, 2011
Morning was early today, but sleep was fantastic. Why? Because we dint get disturbed by rain. Porridge with bread and egg scramble, made for our break fast. Apparently the walk today wasn’t very long about 8-10km, with very gradual climb initially followed by a last stretch of moderate climb to reach the base camp Ganda La. Once done with our breakfast, me and Somak once again hit the trail before everyone.
Trek Route- Day 3: Rumbak - Yurutse - Base Camp Ganda La
Rumbak is the only village along the route where they have a satellite phone facility, and trust me damn cheap it costs. I made a call back home. In the mean time Somak and Tenzing 1 headed ahead. Once the call was done, I hit the path to catch up with the rest, and so I did. They were chatting up at a point looking over a very close herd of Ladakhi goats. As soon as I reached, we took some shots and moved on.
We guys we so damn well acclimatized walking was now a cake walk for us. Height dint matter. Soon I found myself at a one house and few fields village called Yurutse. Keep walking for a while and keep looking to your left and soon appears the mighty STOK KANGRI peak. At a small eatery, we had our packed lunch, enjoying the views of Stok Kangri. Oh did I tell you what we use to have for packed lunch? Nope. I don’t think so. So here we go; Sandwich, cheese cubes, a fruit, a fruit drink, boiled egg and a boiled potato. Not once did I get bored of it!!
After lunch we began our climb to the base camp. The final climb for the day. Fantastically, while climbing we spotted our first Marmot’s. What are marmots? Here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmot help yourself. They are so damn cute, we dint even realized when we reached our campsite, while clicking them. Today’s campsite was probably the worst of the lot, I mean cleanliness wise. We had nice Maggie, to fill our tummies up, and soon headed to the ridge, behind our campsite. Why? To get better shots of the Stok Kangri peak and also the valley below us. There were many groups camping today, except us, all of them were heading to Markha valley.
All we wanted was clear sky in the back drop of the peak. Unfortunately, the clouds never went, yet the sun shined bright all evening long. Took some shots and headed back to the campsite. We had nice Khichdi for dinner today, off-course that after the soup and pop corn. Once again, it was time to hit the sack. Talking to each other about the good old glory days, we dint even realize, when we went off to sleep.
20th August, 2011
Tenzing told us, we got to reach first to the next campsite to get the bragging rights of the best camping site. To our surprise, by the time we woke up we say the other group of Indian guys, a bit elder to us, were up, and seemed to hit the road first. By the way, we overtook them yesterday, even though they started much before us. We had our breakfast, did our daily morning activities behind the rocks and were surprised to see, no one had started for the pass yet.
Trek Route- Day 4: Base Camp Ganda La - Ganda La - Shingho
Well it dint take much long for me and Somak to hit the path. Along the way we so more Marmots, but more fat ones, and a rare Himalayan hare(Rabbit), who ran away as soon as we spotted him. Again, our acclimatization was so damn good, even the climb seemed pretty easy. The gradient was moderate, and it looked as if the pass would be reached in 30mins or so. But hey, it was just another OPTICAL ILLUSION. It took us more than an hour to reach the pass.
Once at the pass, it was extremely windy and once again Shingho was within sights on the other side of valley. After spending the much inspired time on the pass, and a little brunch, we headed down to the village. This time we promised to ourselves, we wont fall for the optical illusion and will reach only when we reach the campsite.
The trail down was gentle, but the sun was right over our head, it wasn’t even 11 and it was damn hot already. Soon we reached Shingho. Shingo came across as a very ancient, rugged, colorless village. It seemed as if the life must have been extremely difficult out here, but hey don’t be mistaken, these people here, infect every village in mountains are generally very self sufficient people. They grow their own crop and make their own clothes and are very satisfied with their lives.
Remember, I told you all about Tenzing the guide being confused, here’s why I say that. As soon as we entered Shingho, there was this berry plant. Tenzing wasn’t sure what they were, but said that kids have them very often. I tasted them and they were quite bitter. Enter Somak, Okay, for this thing that he did, we must once again refer to him as Dr. Mondal. Enter Dr. Mondal, he looks at these berries and gets excited. The relatively raw ones were orange and ripe berries were black. So our genius Dr. Mondal, tastes these ripe berries, and shouts “Damn nice, Damn Sweet” and chomps on to 10-15 of them on one go. I wondered to myself, I did taste them, but hell they weren’t so sweet. But then I thought, I might have tasted the wrong ones, so even I followed Dr Mondal and chomped a few berries. Initially they tasted a bit sweet, but then bitter again. I spit them all out. Few moments later, everything was burning, from the throat to the stomach. Only after drinking 2 bottles of water, we felt little better.
After reaching campsite, Regzin laughed at us, saying those were wild berries and you are not suppose to eat them. Not even horses eat them. Damn we made an ass out of ourselves. But anyways that dint take of any of the charm of the beautiful campsite we set ourselves in. Off-course, we reached here first and hence had the bragging rights to pitch the tent at the best locations. We had Maggie with egg for lunch, followed by a session of cricket in the hot sun. A stick was out bat and a stone was our ball. After that tiring session we retied into our tent for a well deserved rest.
After the evening tea and chat with co camp mates, it was time for our final dinner with the group. After dinner we had the cake that Tenzing had brought for all of us. My tummy wasn’t the best that day, so dinner wasn’t the most enjoying even for me, but hey, with one day to go, what more could I ask for. There’s this sense of accomplishment we had tonight when we went off to sleep. We had more belief and were almost ready to take up bigger challenges in life. With these heavy thoughts, its better we rather go off to sleep.
21st August, 2011
Today was the longest day of the whole trek. Distance to be covered was 22km. Knowing that, and the hot day ahead, I once again took heavy breakfast. As usual me and Somak left the camp early. Everyday even though we left before the horses, they overtook us and reached the campsite before us. Today we had to beat them. Tenzing said we would take at least 6-7 hrs to reach Chilling. We were up to the challenge to beat that time. Soon walking through the narrow valley, crossing the tiny stream million times we arrived to the tiny village of Skiu. Adjacent to Skiu was Kaya village. Both villages had their own monasteries. Kaya was the largest village en-route. Lush green field, tons of houses. Within few years there would be a road that would come upto Skiu village and that’s the time when I would return back to do the Markha valley trek. Why? Because the trek route from Kaya to Chilling is boring, real boring!! That’s why.
Trek Route- Day 5: Shingho - Skiu - Kaya - Chilling
Kaya village had shrubs full of Leh berries and these were the actual Leh berries. Had a mouth full of them and kept walking. Soon we came across the apricot tree. Had a mouthful of them too, and my tummy was full. With extra energy in reserve, we were ready to take on the final tiny pass that leads to chilling. The sun was hot, scenery was monotonous and the route was boring. Finally a few shortcuts and we reached Chilling.
But the most exciting and the scary part of the trek was yet to happen. We had to cross Zanskar to reach the other side, where our car was waiting for our pick up. Wondering how did we cross the river? Simple a hand pulled trolley, hanging on a single wire. If it breaks, or if you loose your balance of the trolley, you fall into the wild Zanskar. God bless you then. Anyways, we finally crossed the river safe and sound.
We bid adieu to Tenzing the horseman, since he belonged to Rumbak, he had to go back. Our ride back to Leh was the same route we took on the second day. Remember the tourism day? Yeah, once again through the great Magnetic hill. Our car dropped us in our guest house and that was the last time we saw Tenzing and Regzin. We were suppose to meet them in evening, but they were no where to be seen around Tserings place.
Our guest house lady was shocked to see us. She say “When you guys went you were so fair and no so black black, cant even recognize you.” We asked for hot water since our geezer wasn’t working. We waited and waited, but the hot water never came. It was ibe of those days, where we needed a bath so desperately, that we dint care how cold the water was. Both of us had a nice cold water bath and headed straight to World Garden café for some snacks. We had a wood smoked Pizza, Barbeque Chicken with humus and Chicken sizzler. Tell you, none disappointed us. If that wasn’t enough, we had more Kebabs on the main bazar road.
We went to Tserings shop but he was missing. So we headed straight back to the guest house. Tsering came to guest house later that evening, and gifted us a Tee, for completion of trek. A lovely gesture much appreciated. Next morning Tsering sent us the car at promised time. With matter of time we were in the flight back to Delhi and whisker of moment we landed in Delhi.
Once again an accomplished trek, we came back with tons of memories and loads of experience. Hope you enjoyed the blog and the photos, hoping I dint bore you much. Looking forward to my next trek now. Where? Kedartal, Roopkund, Stok Kangri peak, Nubra Valley trek or you never know the Everest Base Camp. God knows, don’t know where destiny takes us. So lets live for the day and forget what life has in store for our future.
Happy Trekking
Tanzeem Patankar
