Trip to Ladakh: Part 2 (Scaling Stok Kangri)

Day 1( Stok village to Mankarmo)

We got up early in the morning with a lot of excitement about the great trek we were going to embark up on. The ladies of the firdaus guesthouse were kind enough to give us some dried apricots which they believed would relieve any breathing problems caused by AMS.

Suhas and Shailesh spent the morning session giving pep talks to improve the morale of the troops.

Suhas Giving a pep talk

Shailesh reprimanding Suru for something.

 We had our breakfast in small punjabi dhaba near the guesthouse and reached tenzins sama's shop were some of us offloaded a great part of our luggage and consolidated the essentials in a few back packs.

After a hour long journey from leh we reached the stok village which was supposed to be our starting point. The view was simply mesmerizing with  a quiet stream flowing alongside the beautiful mountains in the background. We were greeted with tea at the entrance and spent some time chatting with the foreigners who were celebrating their success.

While the foreigners were well equipped with good trekking gear, our gear was pretty rudimentary consisting of sticks, shivajinagar gloves  and thermals.The only thing we invested in was the Quechua trekking shoes which earned our respect for it's toughness during the trek.

The customary Before Trek Photo

After some time our trek guides dropped a bombshell on us that one of the pony owners didn't show up and we did not have sufficient number of ponies to carry all of our luggage and some of us would have to carry their backpacks during the trek. Suhas and JN volunteered to take up their luggage, me and Yashank followed the suit.A visibly embarrassed  Tenzin Sama who had arrived there to see us off cursed the pony owner and vowed to ban him for life. After the customary photo-ops we  started on the trail along with guides,cooks and the ponies.

Pep Talk from Tenzin Sama

Beginning of the trek along the stream.

The Trail beginning to get steep 

Beautiful View of the Valleys in the Background.

The route was pretty flat until we encountered our first climb which was a very steep pass. Normally i would have climbed it without much of a problem but probably the altitude and the weight of the backpack made it a very laborious process which left most of us breathless by the time we reached the top. Our guides were smiling and informed us that this was nothing compared to what was yet to come.

Boys Approaching the steep pass

Cool down after the climb

After trekking for about an hour we reached a nice spot which was definitely worth taking a picture of. Suddenly a thoroughly exhausted Suru who was at some distance behind started running towards us as if he had got an adrenaline shot. Nothing motivates Suru more than his burning desire to get the perfect profile pic or gatecrash a group photo.

Suru Running towards the Camera man as if his life depends on it.

By noon we managed to spot the first Mitra cafe along the trail. As i would notice later during the journey, these cafes are present at every major checkpoint along the trail. We replenished our water supplies and had lunch near the stream.Boiled duck eggs in the lunch pack was quiet the surprise.

It's Lunch time

After our lunch we started walking along side the river bed. There were many instances where we had to cross the river and it was quiet an adventure doing it. Suru apparently slipped during one of the crossings and shrieked very loudly, bringing the entire valley to a standstill. We all rushed to the spot to rescue him but it turned out that he was rather unharmed. After resting there for a brief while we headed towards the mankarmo campsite.

JN demonstrating how it is done.

Pandey keeping tabs on competition

As expected pandey was leading the pack.But while nearing the base camp he spotted a group of mules who joined us from some shortcut and we were getting in their way.All of us made way but not pandey. His eyes locked with one of the Mules and he telepathically communicated "Challenge Accepted" to it. Pandey never shy's from a challenge no matter what it is.

Mules giving tough competition to pandey

The Battle lines were drawn. It was either pandey or the mules.The race was a  fiercely contested one where it was difficult to ascertain the winner until the very last minute. But Pandey held his nerve and finally emerged victorious.I am not sure if this will be good tale for him to narrate to his grand kids when he would describe his adventures in ladakh someday.

  

We finally reached Mankarmo at  8.30 PM and it was baffling to see that we had plenty of daylight even at this time. The camp was located on a pleasant site along side the river stream.There were several tents pitched by several trekkers who had come from various countries. The only Indians present there were us and the locals.The trekkers were having a merry time playing board games near the Mitra Cafe.

Camp Mankarmo

Fellow trekkers playing cards

 We quickly got down to the business of setting up our tents which was quite exciting as some of us were doing it for the first time. While others got busy with phots ops at the camp,An unwell JN silently started building a stone Stupa .The reason why he built the Stupa and for whom is still unclear.

JN Constructing his Stupa

The entire camp got pitch black after the sunset and the only thing we could see was the fire lit by the cooks who very busy preparing delicious meals. Locating the toilet which slightly away from the camp was quiet an adventure. The toilets available there were quiet rudimentary but got the job done. Considering that we were on some hill in a remote location i must say it was a great one.

We had a quiet candle light dinner in one of the tents pitched by our guides. We were pleasantly surprised with the delicious 4 course meal prepared by our cook. We had soup for appetizer, popcorn and salads for starters, chapatti/Rice & dal for main course and fruit salad for dessert. The meal was clearly much more than what we were expecting , hell even the salad was cut and presented nicely as if we were in some star hotel.But unfortunately all of us were suffering from a loss of appetite and could not eat much which was a contrast considering how exhausting the trek was and how delicious  the food looked.

The Sumptuous Dinner.

Some us even started to suffer from nose bleeds. Also the temperature dipped significantly as the night progressed. It felt as if the universe was saying something to us like "This is high altitude Bitch!! You didn't think it was going to be that easy. Did you?" . I didn't catch a lot of sleep in the night as I got woken up by the horse neighs and the cold temperature. Also that fact I was using a sleeping bag for the first time didn’t help either.

Day 2 (Mankarmo to Base Camp)

We were grudgingly woken up at 6.00 AM in the morning by Shailesh in the same ruthless manner that he used to do in our college days . The Sun may not rise on time, even the famous dabba-wallahs of Mumbai  may not deliver food on time but once Shailesh commits to wake you up in the morning he will complete the task no matter what. When his credibility is on the line, shailesh doesn't cut any corners.

We picked the empty bottles nearby to gather the water from the stream for our morning ablutions.The cold water of the stream sent down some chills down the spine.The part where we had to brush our teeth was fine, but the gargling process was quite icy. As for other ablutions it is best not described here.

We had a fine breakfast of oats,honey,bread,jam and omlets. We started off to the Base camp at 9.00 after dismantling our tents. The route was steep at many places but we were moving at a steady pace as we had a lot of time to cover the trail. There were some special plants we were asked to stay clear off. We were told that a small cut from them might lead to paralysis. (I am not sure if it was really true but we didn't take any chance). There were some ice sheets on the way and some of us had fun sliding on them.  

We managed to reach the Base camp in about 2 hours. There was some problem with getting up our tents as our mules had not arrived on the advanced camp. So we chose to hangout at the Mitra camp tent till then. We were having some animated conversation in kannada about our situation and were also making fun of the locals.Then suddenly the Mitra cafe manager tells us in kannada that he knows the language. It was one of those deeply embarrassing  moments. However the host was cool guy and began talking about kannada movies,how he loved the state and the time he met upendra during a film shoot. We had a great time taking to him. Also being kannadigas got us a lot of special privileges in the tent.

We also met some Israeli couple who had just finished serving their time in the army and were exploring the world. Also the guy was planning to propose to his girlfriend on the top of the summit and was asking for our suggestions.It was a different matter that all of us were single, but he didn't have to know that.Then we also met some thick bearded american nicknamed Guruji who had been living in the Himalayas for years and was very well respected by everyone around the base camp,

The Advanced Base camp

While some of us spent the afternoon sleeping, others were busy playing board games. In the evening me,pandey and yashank decided to climb up the nearest hill to get a better view for taking photographs. The climb was tiring but he scenery on offer more than made up for it. Suru who was initially reluctant to come up the hill, decided to follow us once he learnt that we were going to take some photos on top.

The Mitra Tent in its full glory

JN tried to cross the stream and get some drinking water from a tap on the other side of the stream. But he go his shoes entirely wet in the process,making it unsuitable for the next days trek.But since we were kannadiga's,the Mitra cafe manager offered an alternate pair to us for free. He also offered some head torches and other useful things in case we required them. 

We were told that the climb to the summit would begin at 12 in the night and we would have to come back by 2pm in the afternoon if we wanted to avoid the dangers of the slippery melting ice. We had a hearty meal  which mainly consisted of this  unique ladakhi cuisine called thupka which is a kind of Noodle soup. Most of just loved it and it went on to become the most ordered food item for the rest of the trip.

Having Dinner with Guruji and the Israeli couple

We all decided to catch some sleep before we would start the trek to the summit. But the temperature was so low that even wearing a thermal suit under 3 layers of clothing and jacket seemed useless for our situation. I somehow managed to sleep for 2 hours after which we were promptly woken up at around 12 pm by shailesh. It was freezing cold and i really didnt like the conditions outside. We quickly had some oats but our appetite was at its worst at this point.

Day 3 (Base camp to Summit and Back to Mankarmo)

Finally we started the last leg of the trek by climbing the nearby hill which some of us had ascended the day before.But it somehow seemed harder in the freezing temperature.We all moved in a single file accompanied by three patient guides. Since night was pitch black we could not exactly see the trail in which we were walking nor could we ascertain how much distance we were supposed to cover. Only while coming back would it dawn on us the amount of distance we had covered under the cover of the night. It was good in a way as we had very short term goals of reaching from one point to other. We would keep talking some random stuff to keep up our spirits and stay awake. The breaks were the moments we cherished the most and i would often doze of to sleep even when i was standing at certain times.

After trekking for about 2 hours i lost the sensation  on my face and my fingers. It was a strange feeling as i could not feel my fingers or my cheeks. Also my fingers refused to move a lot and it felt as if they were glued to the stick. We also had to cross the river stream at certain places and it got tricky because the stream was partially frozen and we had to carefully walk on the slippery ice.

By the time the sun started rising we had covered a great deal of distance and our group had clearly split into three. I was in the second group which was being was led by Shailesh. The First group was not that far ahead actually but the terrain was pretty steep and also the high altitude made taking every single step forward a pretty laborious task. We all decided to take a small break and observe the icy mountains behind us. After some time we had to cross a frozen river stream on our path and that was probably the most riskiest part of the trek. One mistake and we would sliding down the hill in no time. Some use did slip a little but we did manage to recover immediately and complete the crossing.

The Struggle to climb up the hill

After some point i thought i t would be a better idea to just sprint and cover as much distance as i can in a breath instead of slowly walking up the hill. The idea turned in to a nightmare for me as i got completely exhausted and breathless after that. This was probably the turning point in the trek for me where things just went from bad to worse after this.Being slow and steady is the winning mantra for high altitude trekking. Shailesh slowly managed to reach the top of the hill and was waiting for us.Bk followed him soon. I was in a really bad shape, my head was aching , I was feeling breathless and nauseous.But i was determined to reach the top of the hill at any cost.By the time i reached the hill, shailesh had already started off for the summit, but BK was waiting for suru. Rajesh also reached the top of the hill in some time. Suru was the only one remaining behind. The fact that he made it up till here without zero preparation was a testament to his sheer will power. It also a part of his personality trait where he always says that he will fail in a particular task before starting it but will always perform with flying colors when it comes down to business. Throughout the Trek Suru just had one Goal, where BK goes he goes as well.So keeping BK ('s feat) in mind he literally forced himself on the top. It was inspiring to see him climb the last 20 meters or so. His feet and lungs had probably given up but his mind didn't give in. He was lying flat on ground and was crawling his way up with every ounce of his remaining strength.The joy of accomplishment on his silent face once he reached to BK ('s position) on top was worth a million words even-though he was too exhausted to speak.

We all decided to have a quick nap first  for half an hour and decide the future course of action later.After the nap, we were assessing our options as we had already climbed to an altitude of about 6000 m. There was about 150 m more to go for the summit which was a adjacent mountain. Our main guide had gone ahead with others and we had completely depleted our energy reserves.We didnt have tookish  genes like shailesh to go alone towards the summit. Also a wise JN had once said to us "Reaching the Summit is Optional but returning Back was Mandatory ". In between all this i had a violent bout of nausea and got the distinction of puking from top of cliff at 6000m. This may not be a record but the guys decreed that it was so. It may be something like I might be first guy from so and so place who did this in the month August at this opportune time... blah blah blah, you can make something up just like cricket statistics.After some time our third guide reached our spot with Neil. We discussed our situation with him and he suggested that we simply head back as too much time had passed already and our journey back might get dangerous due to melting ice if we try to head for the summit.All of us were deeply disappointed (and secretly relieved :-) ) on hearing his assessment

The first group comprising of JN,Suhas,Pandey and Yashank made it to the summit in time. Shailesh joined them after 15min. But from what they told us, they were like half dead by the time reached there.A delusional JN was inquiring if there would be a Helicopter to take them back.

The Summit

The Beautiful view from the summit

The Victors

Climbing down the hill was not that physically demanding, but was extremely risky.We slided down the  sandy ramps,climbed down the rocks,slipped on the frozen ice,fell on the stones and what not.This was the part of the trek where our Quechua Shoe took a lot of abuse and yet emerged unscathed. At this point i would definitely pay my respects to the "Quechua"for making these awesome shoes.

By the time we reached the Base of the Hill, we  were basically Zombie walking. Even the Guys who had reached the summit, found it pretty hard to come back as they came through a more dangerous route which was apparently supposed to be a shortcut. Suhas literally sleepwalked the entire climbdown.There were many times where suhas had fallen asleep at the edge of the cliff.It was a miracle that he returned unharmed.

Suru had recovered his strength when we are at the base of the hill and was leading the pack determined to reach the camp first. We reached the Base camp at around 12 in the afternoon and dozed of in the tent. After some time we were told by the guides that we could not stay in the advanced base camp due to some logistical problems and had to go down to Mankarmo camp for the night.While this was an unpleasant development we had no choice.After some brief photo-ops we left for Mankarmo and reached in about an hour.Our guides took upon most of our luggage and other items.Some of them even made two trips to complete the job.We had a sumptuous victory dinner and dozed off in the night to a well deserved sleep.

Day 4 (Mankarmo to Stok Village)

Next Morning some of us woke up with bleeding noses. Rapid change of Altitude might have been the cause of it but we are not totally sure about this theory as Rajesh got the nose bleeds when we returned to Bangalore after a week. We set out for the Stok Village in the morning and completed the journey in about 4 hrs as it was mostly down hill. We had a quick Photo session with our guides and bid adieu to them.We had great adventures with them throughout the trek and will always cherish the memories of the time spent with them.

Theme of the Trek

Once we were back in Leh we had to attend to business of finding accommodation for 10 people. Suru and JN being the veterans in this field , shouldered this responsibility no questions asked.We spent the evening exploring the Shanti Stupa. The 500 steps we needed to climb to reach the top of the stupa seemed quite paltry after what we had been through. The View of the City from the top during the sunset was simply breathtaking.

Climb up to the Shanti Stupa

Beautiful view of Leh city from the Top 

We had our dinner at some strange hotel on changspa street. Firstly there were no customers there. There was one waiter who was quite nervous and we played a lot of pranks on him. The way in which he was suggesting that we take the GodFather "Juice" along with the food was quite funny. It was one of those crazy nights that you don't forget.

Trip to Ladakh :Part 1(Journey to Leh)

Photo Credits: Yashank,me,Rajesh,Sha

After months of planning and 2-3 months of hard work in the GYM the day had come to embark up on what turned out to be a trip of a life time for me and my friends.I was very excited since this  trip had many firsts for me. First trip to North India,first visit to an airport,first Flight, first trek in the Himalayas.

Even though i was not very happy about getting up at 4 AM and leaving to the airport the excitement for the trip kept my grumpiness at bay. I was very amazed to see how big the Bangalore International Airport was.

I had always imagined what it would be like to travel in a plane and here i was in front of the spice jet flight.

The flight turned out be rather ordinary except during the times of take off and landing. But the view from the window was nothing short of spectacular.

On seeing Delhi from the aeroplane window, JN in excited state gave the following Quote:

"Dude Look at the land Below!! It looks like a Analog circuit Layout"

People with kindles ,Nooks and books had found a way to pass time, but for others like me the only way to pass time was to sleep or read the Spice route magazine over and over again.I was so excited about the flight that i had not thought about what i would do during the flight.

Lesson Learnt:

"While on a domestic flight, food does not come for free, but boredom does"

The always excited yashank on seeing a kashmiri passenger: 

"Dude he looks like Ross from Friends, I desperately want to take his pic." 

The Srinagar airport was nothing like the Bangalore airport and understandably had a lot security personnel.We took a bus from the airport to the tourist reception center.The moment we stepped down at the TRC we were engulfed with hawkers who were ready to do anything from guiding us to a restaurant or booking a  hotel  or arranging a vehicle. One such guy made us walk about a km saying that the vegetarian restaurant was just around the corner.After many offers,counter-offers and negotiations, we managed to hire a budget  Tempo Traveler from Srinagar which would take us to Leh overnight. We had our lunch in a little known Vaishnodevi Dhaba and hit the road in noon.

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The TT driver Imtiaz was a very enthusiastic local Kashmiri. We quizzed him on a lot of things from local culture, cuisine, family , the secret behind the very fair complexion of Kashmiri girls etc etc  and he was very excited to chit chat with us.

The greenery on the highway was nothing like i had seen down south. The view which mainly consisted of beautiful  houses in between the lush green fields with green mountains in the background and an occasional river on the side made me think that i was in some sort of paradise.

We had actually planned to have an overnight journey to leh, But we had to halt at Sonmarg since the landslide that had occurred on the previous day was still being cleared and the route was still being cleared.We checked in to a normal hotel and  had a sumptuous dinner.

J N tried his hands at purchasing apples in a local shop and we were quite surprised that it cost only 40 bucks for a kg of apples. Later we were also suprised by the fact that the apple was bitter sweet and not the usual sweet apple we get in bangalore. Suru tried be over-smart and fed the bitter apples to a grazing horse nearby and had a showdown with the horse as a result.

The Bath room of the hotel was little weird as the Mirror inside doubled up as a see- through glass from outside the bathroom.This along with the decoration and ambiance of the room made us suspect that the room might be used for some other “special” purposes.   

Next Morning we woke up to the radiant sun rising in between the mountains and a nice cold wind blowing in the midst. we also spotted a couple of Shepards driving their herds along the valley.

Yep apples can be bitter Too……..

We started off towards Drass early in the morning with aim of having our breakfast there. The view on either side of the road was amazing with beautiful valleys having rivers flowing through them.

On reaching Drass we learned that it was the worlds second coldest inhabited place and as expected there were many profile pic requests with the board shown below.

We had a hearty breakfast at the Ali Dhaba.

Pav with butter and  local version of Mc Egg topped the charts.

   

We had to halt in between for about an hour as the landslide that occurred on the previous day was still being cleared

Later we stopped at a petrol bunk and boys found some innovative ways to pass time. The best one was where we would throw stones on the two poles at the other end of the road in order to see whose aim was best.

The Target

JN and BK seem to taking the contest very seriously. You can see the sparks flying.

The landscape started turning from green  to brown and rocky indicating that we were leaving Kashmir behind and entering Ladakh.

The view on the road was simply awe inspiring.There is not a single moment where you will get bored. One really needs to salute BRO(Border Roads Organisation) for building these smooth and beautiful roads in this mountainous terrain.

There was this interesting place called the Magnetic hill a few Km before Leh arrived. The legend here is that if you get your vehicle to the designated spot and switch of the engines , the car will be automatically pulled up the hill. We got to experience this feat first hand.

Finally we reached the city of Leh in the evening.As usual the boys played the “We are students.We don’t have much money” card and enlisted the services of our driver to find cheap accommodation at Firdos Guesthouse.

We spent the evening roaming around the bazaar and looking for a trekking company. After asking around we were directed to the iconic Changspa street.It is probably the most important place in leh. The number of trekking companies lined up next to each other is simply mind boggling.  

We finally decided to enlist the services of Himalayan voyages trekking agency run by Tenzin. Before embarking on the trip, our group was clearly divided in four.

1)The Supremely fit Royalty who would scale the Majestic Stok Kangri in the harshest conditions possible.(JN,Suhas,Sha,Yashank and Niel).

2) The Not so fit Commoners who would do an easy trek elsewhere.(me,suru,BK, Rajesh). 

3) Pandey the Joker who was slightly conflicted on which option to take.

4) The cool trio from sandisk who had come to tour ladakh.

But an impassioned speech by Tenzin Sama changed everything. The gist of the speech was something like Stok Kangri is a very easy trek, people aged around 50 and even kids aged around 15 have easily completed it before. The effect of the speech was so profound that everyone decided to do the Stok Kangri trek. The U-turn by the not so fit people was surprising considering that they had rejected the idea of trekking stok for months prior to the trip and even made fun of the supremely fit people for thinking about attempting it.

JN applying the final touches to the brainwashing session we had inside.

Now that the Decision was made, Boys played the “I am a student” card again to extract some discount.The not so fit commoners and the cool trio would realize the full implications  of their decision only during the trek which would unfold a lot adventures for the entire group.