LADAKH 2000 |
Trekking in Little Tibet |
This is a write up of of four weeks we spent in Ladakh, India. Basing ourselves in Leh we did the two-day Likir to Temisgam trek, followed by the classic nine-day Markha valley trek.
Ladakh is up in the top north west of India. Kashmir is just down the Indus valley to the west, but Ladakh is almost untouched by the troubles there. Not far to the North is China. Over the mountains to the South is the greenery of Himachal Pradesh. But Ladakh itself is a dry high altitude desert
Delhi
Happiness is arriving at Delhi airport at one in the morning and finding a man holding a card with your name on it. For a first timer, Delhi is a culture shock that hits you in a blast of warm humid air the minute you step out of the arrivals hall. We were very pleased to be sheperded out of the airport by our driver to a venerable Ambassador taxi for the drive to our Hotel. We sat in the back dripping sweat and soaking up the smell and sights of Delhi at night.Delhi is a tough city on the first time visitor. It's hot and humid and overflowing with humanity. In the morning we walked down to Indian Airlines office to confirm our flights to Leh. En route we discovered that the warnings about the shoeshine men are true - they really do flick shit on to you shoes if you refuse to have then polished.
Leh
Next day we were at the domestic terminal at 6.00 for our flight to Leh. As Leh is just up the road from Kashmir and the line of control, security for the flight is very tight. We were searched three times before we were let near the plane. It must be one of the classic flights, across the brown scorched plain, over the green foothills then on up to the high Himalaya with views to Everest in the far distance. The airfield at Leh appeared as a tiny scrap of tarmac far below us in the wide vee of the Indus valley. The plane descended in a tight spiral, did a sharp turn near one of the rocky walls of the valley before coasting in across the river and screaming to a halt just after touch down. When we stepped out, the sky was clear and blue and the air wonderfully cool.We took a taxi up through Leh and installed ourselves in the Hotel Himalaya set in an orchard at the foot of Namgyal Peak. Unlike Delhi, it is very easy to get to like Leh. It has a frontier mountain town feel to it, made all the more exotic by a large tibetan community. From behind our hotel, a path wandered up the hillside, across tumbling streams, past traditional houses, pocket handkerchief sized fields of barley, chortens and prayer wheels to the tranquil Sankur Gompa. Walking down the steep hill into town we passed small smoke filled bakeries where nan-bread and hard buns were being baked in traditional tandors.
| Yangtang |
Likir to Temisgam
After a couple days in Leh, we set out to do a two-day warm-up trek. We caught an overflowing local bus to the small village of Likir, about an hour's drive down the grey, dry Indus valley. That evening we camped in the garden of the pretty Norboo Guest House. In the morning we left half our gear at the guesthouse and set out on the path for Yantang. It was a good, relaxed walk over the Pobe La pass, a long descent down to the village of Sumdo, then a climb over the Charatse La and a final a descent to Yangtang. At Yangtang they were busy getting the harvest in. The men were singing to the Yaks as they drove them round in circles over the barley to loosen the grains from the stalks.| Winnowing wheat at Yangtang - they were gracious enough to let me join in. |
| Three very fast walkers |
| At the top of the Lago La 3,750m |
| Prayer wheel on the path to Temisgam |
| Tikse |
We had a couple of days in hand before our trek to the Markha valley, so we hired a taxi (a venerable Ambassador) and went to see the monastery at Tikse.
| Inside the monastery | The Budha at Tikse |
Markha Valley Trek
Day 1
We met our ponyman and his three ponies at Spituk bridge. After loading up our gear we crossed the Indus and followed a long dry dusty jeep track west. A few kilometres downstream we turned off and headed up the Jingcham Gorge. We camped amongst the trees at Jingcham.
| Crossing the Indus at the start of the trek |
| Heading towards Jingcham |
Day 2
For the first part of the day we followed the pretty valley of the Jingcham Nala, crossing and re-crossing the stream. At Rumbak the naroow valley opened out onto wider pastures and we headed off right towards Yurutse. From Yurutse it was a long hard climb to Gonda La Base Camp. The camp was already occupied by a Czech wildlife cameraman and his team. They saw us comming and when we entered the camp we were immediately handed cups of hot sweet tea.
| Traditional Ladakhi house at Yurutse |
Day 3
The day started with a long, hard breathless climb to the summit of the Ganda La (4,850m). Ot was extremely cold at the summit, but there were wonderful views into the jagged mountain wilderness of Zanskar. The rest of the day was a long down hill tramp. past the settlement at Shingo and on down to a rather grubby campsite at Skiu on the Markha river.
| Summit of the Gonda La (4,850m) looking into Zanskar |
Day 4
This was very enjoyable walk up the valley to Markha itself. We walked past little fields of golden corn, lots of big white chortens and mani walls. There was the occassional river crossing for added interest and a couple of Ladakhi dogs that scared us sh*tless - luckily they were on chains. We camped in a very picturesque site near the river and overlooked by the Gompa.
| Chortens in the Markha Valley |
| Dodgy bridge Valley |
| Markha Gompa |
| The mad monk of Markha | |
A rest day at Markha.
From our campsite we walked up the hill to visit the Gompa. It was inhabited by a solitary monk. He was a very charming, very funny, slightly bonkers man who invited us in for a cup of tea before showing us the Gompa.
| Inside the Gompa at Markha |
| Above Nimaling, heading towards the Gongmaru La" | |
During the morning we continued along the Markha valley past several small settlements and some impressive rock formation. Then we turned left up the Nimaling gorge and camped at Tahungste. This site best illustrated the impact that heavy trekking is having on the valley. There was a hell of a lot of rubbish left behind by previous parties,
Day 7
We continued a long steady climb up the Nimaling Chu. In the late morning, had a welcome break at a tea tent run by some Yak herders. We took the opportunity to change into our thermals then set out on the steep, exhausting climb to the Gongmaru La. There was a fair amount of snow on the north face of the pass and we had to be careful on the descent. We camped on small patch of ground about 500m below the pass, sharing the limited flat ground with a fully supported party of 4 french.
| Rowena at the summit of the Gongmaru La 5,100m |
| A cold campsite below the Gongmaru La |
When we woke there was a light covering of snow on the ground. Our ponyman told us there was some steep ground ahead and he was worried that it might be impassable. He asked us to wait until the sun reached the valley, while he went on ahead with a frying pan to scrape the snow off the path. Eventually, the sun reached us and we were able to descend the steep gorge. down to the pretty campsite at Chogdo.
| Descending the Shang Valley towards Chogdo |
This was the day we returned to civilisation. From Chogdo a good jeep track led down the valley unitil we reached the Indus again at Karu. At Karu, we paid off our kind, gentle ponyman and then carried our rucksacks up to the main road. We thought it would be easy to catch a bus from Karu to Leh, but this turned out not to be the case. After a three hour wait, we spotted a taxis and were able to persuade the driver to take us back to Leh.
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| © All text and photos copyright Tim Barnes 2004 |