Ladakh DAY 4 – August 07, 2007 Tue
Ladakh 5. DAY 4 – August 07, 2007 Tue
Marhi – Rohtang La – Koksar – Tandi – Keylong – Stringi – [Udaipur] – Jispa – Darcha – Patsio – Zingzingbar – Baralacha Pass – Bharatpur City
By 6am, it is bright and sunny, which is a phenomenon common across all high-altitude mountain areas. The memories of the wet, dark and chilly night is behind us. Baddy has gone back from this place as he has to reach Delhi in a couple of days. We pack and start off. We have miles to go before we sleep today.
The climb to Rohtang La looks like cakewalk in the fresh morning Sun. Most of the snow has melted and the road is manageable, albeit curvy and bumpy in parts. We reach Rohtang top in good time, and celebrate our first pass with some cake I have packed from back home.
We start climbing down the other side towards Koksar. The road has great surface and is largely downhill. So we switch off the engines and roll down, giving tough competition to the bicycle gang. We see a plaque for Spiti valley towards the right.
At Koksar, we take our first halt, eat some terrible momos (dumplings) and have chai. Koksar is in a valley. So on both sides you see high rises of mountains, streams and waterfalls. Some army camps too. It is quite beautiful, yet a pain to ride because the road surface is broken in most places. In one part, the road is completely washed by the river and we have to practically push our bikes through ice-cold water for about half a kilometer.
As we are drying our boots, we see an elderly foreigner on a racing bike – returning from a ‘rooky’ for the upcoming Himalayan Ralley. He stops by, chats with us, tells us that the road ahead is ‘good’, but not as good as the last year, and then rides on.
At Tandi, we fill up fuel tanks, as well as four jerry cans of 5 litre each. This is the last fuel pump on the way. The next one is 365km away, directly at Leh. We reach Keylong by afternoon 1pm. This is a quaint little town, with mountains on the left and a beautiful valley on the right. It has quite a few hotels and resorts and is a favorite tourist destination, for those who want slightly more quite and calm than Manali. We have food at a restaurant-cum-grocery store. This is the last place on the road where one can call the eatery a ‘restaurant’. What you get after this, if at all, are tents that serve you Maggie and Daal-Rice.
The route after Keylong to Darcha is scenic, but rough. We cross the Himachal Tourism hotel at the outskirts of Keylong called ‘Chandrabhaga’. Looks like a good place to stay in case needed. There is a second water crossing just after Keylong, but it is not as difficult as the earlier one near Koksar.
The road climbs to Stringi, a large army base of Road Construction Company RCC 111. The road is good near the camp, however it is narrow and rough when you cross the little villages on the way. There is a left turn to Udaipur, which is a large town in the area. However, for Leh, you need not take this route, but go straight ahead.
The road leads to Jispa – which is a famous camping and adventure tourism destination. The entry to this part is picturesque, with tree foliage covering most of the road and riverbed on one side. Jispa is not even a town. All you see are orchids and camps. There is one 4-storey hotel called Hotel IBEX – which is a famous overnight rest place enroute Leh. Even Vivek, a seasoned rider, has recommended this to me when I was gathering data for the ride. However, it is only early afternoon when we reach it, and so we decide to carry on. Darcha is only 6km from here.
At Darcha, we are halted by a police post. It is 4pm now and Sarchu is about 75km. We hope that we will be able to make it to the camps in Sarchu for the night. At Darcha, they enter names of non-Indian visitors in a register here. So Tim goes into the tent and shows his passport etc. We see the group of Italian riders again, chat with them, have some lemon tea and move on.
Darcha is the base of Baralacha – the second pass on the road to Leh after Rohtang La. From here on, you climb steep into Patsio, which is an army post. The road from here on gets rough. The next in the line is Zingzingbar – from where the actual climb to Baralacha begins. This climb resembles a wall, with the road zigzagging to the top. The climb is quite maddening, with steep incline, rough road, gravel and zigzag. Adding to the complexity are batteries of trucks climbing down. It is almost like a video game – to quote Rini. Every turn you take, the level of difficulty increases. So does the number of trucks attacking you.
The last leg of this climb is stunningly beautiful. Even the road is freshly made, and so quite smooth. We cross Baralacha by around 5:30pm. We are in a hurry, since the Sun is hurrying down. The road gets a little bumpy, and cold sets in. Baralacha is famous for AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). We also feel a slight throbbing in the skull, but not enough to affect the ride. What would give us a major head-throbbing is waiting for us about 18km from here at a place– called ‘Bharatput City’, and we reach it without having a slightest clue.
That must be a brave man who named this nomadic camping site with about half a dozen permanent tents a ‘City’. A kilometer after this, there is a bridge crossing the river. Normally one would cross the bridge and go down in the Sarchu valley. However, there is a surprise waiting for us at the bridge – a huge truck that had taken out some of the planks of the bridge. The truck is stuck on the bridge, and is holding the route to ransom. Damn!
We see vehicles lined up on both sides. Some brave souls are trying their luck – rather pushing it – by trying to cross the river water. We see one Qualis badly stuck in the middle of the riverbed, even when it is tied with a rope to a jeep outside and getting pulled. The sight fills us with a chill. The locals tell us to stay back and not attempt the river crossing at this time, but rather do it early morning – say 6am. They tell us that at night, the glaciers freeze, and so the flow of water is much less in the morning. We have no way to see if they are telling us the truth or if it is a gimmick to get some customers for the tents, but we are anyway too tired and the sight of river-crossing is pretty horrific. We thus take a call and return to the camp area.
The tents are put up by locals who stay there during the ‘season time’ – 4 months of June through September. These people go back to lower altitudes – say Manali, Keylong etc. – during winters. The tents are made of some parachute-like clothes. Each of these has around 10 beds – made by arranging damp mattresses on rock-beds. The entrance has a stall and a kitchen. You can pay Rs. 50 to 70 per head to stay in these tents. Dinner – Maggie, Daal-Rice, Omelets – costs extra.
Without prejudice, this is one of the worst nights in the whole expedition. The tent only stops the wind. It is still as cold inside as it is outside. There are rats roaming around in the tent – who later in the night finish off some of our packed food. The tent is filled with kerosene smell from the kitchen. There are no lights, only candles and a couple of interesting LED lamps powered by batteries – that can be used as torches. The Daal-rice is soggy, and I have to resort to some omelets and Maggie for survival.
As we open our sleeping bags and slide inside multiple layers of warm clothing after the devastating dinner, sleep is difficult to come by. It is freezing cold, even inside the multiple layers of warm clothing, and even if you manage to bring sleep in, you tend to wake up after every half an hour – due to rarified oxygen. One of the most uncomfortable nights in the recent times.
I am filled with chill even as I write this, so I am going to stop here.
- Shreekant
Marhi – Rohtang La – Koksar – Tandi – Keylong – Stringi – [Udaipur] – Jispa – Darcha – Patsio – Zingzingbar – Baralacha Pass – Bharatpur City
By 6am, it is bright and sunny, which is a phenomenon common across all high-altitude mountain areas. The memories of the wet, dark and chilly night is behind us. Baddy has gone back from this place as he has to reach Delhi in a couple of days. We pack and start off. We have miles to go before we sleep today.
The climb to Rohtang La looks like cakewalk in the fresh morning Sun. Most of the snow has melted and the road is manageable, albeit curvy and bumpy in parts. We reach Rohtang top in good time, and celebrate our first pass with some cake I have packed from back home.
We start climbing down the other side towards Koksar. The road has great surface and is largely downhill. So we switch off the engines and roll down, giving tough competition to the bicycle gang. We see a plaque for Spiti valley towards the right.
At Koksar, we take our first halt, eat some terrible momos (dumplings) and have chai. Koksar is in a valley. So on both sides you see high rises of mountains, streams and waterfalls. Some army camps too. It is quite beautiful, yet a pain to ride because the road surface is broken in most places. In one part, the road is completely washed by the river and we have to practically push our bikes through ice-cold water for about half a kilometer.
As we are drying our boots, we see an elderly foreigner on a racing bike – returning from a ‘rooky’ for the upcoming Himalayan Ralley. He stops by, chats with us, tells us that the road ahead is ‘good’, but not as good as the last year, and then rides on.
At Tandi, we fill up fuel tanks, as well as four jerry cans of 5 litre each. This is the last fuel pump on the way. The next one is 365km away, directly at Leh. We reach Keylong by afternoon 1pm. This is a quaint little town, with mountains on the left and a beautiful valley on the right. It has quite a few hotels and resorts and is a favorite tourist destination, for those who want slightly more quite and calm than Manali. We have food at a restaurant-cum-grocery store. This is the last place on the road where one can call the eatery a ‘restaurant’. What you get after this, if at all, are tents that serve you Maggie and Daal-Rice.
The route after Keylong to Darcha is scenic, but rough. We cross the Himachal Tourism hotel at the outskirts of Keylong called ‘Chandrabhaga’. Looks like a good place to stay in case needed. There is a second water crossing just after Keylong, but it is not as difficult as the earlier one near Koksar.
The road climbs to Stringi, a large army base of Road Construction Company RCC 111. The road is good near the camp, however it is narrow and rough when you cross the little villages on the way. There is a left turn to Udaipur, which is a large town in the area. However, for Leh, you need not take this route, but go straight ahead.
The road leads to Jispa – which is a famous camping and adventure tourism destination. The entry to this part is picturesque, with tree foliage covering most of the road and riverbed on one side. Jispa is not even a town. All you see are orchids and camps. There is one 4-storey hotel called Hotel IBEX – which is a famous overnight rest place enroute Leh. Even Vivek, a seasoned rider, has recommended this to me when I was gathering data for the ride. However, it is only early afternoon when we reach it, and so we decide to carry on. Darcha is only 6km from here.
At Darcha, we are halted by a police post. It is 4pm now and Sarchu is about 75km. We hope that we will be able to make it to the camps in Sarchu for the night. At Darcha, they enter names of non-Indian visitors in a register here. So Tim goes into the tent and shows his passport etc. We see the group of Italian riders again, chat with them, have some lemon tea and move on.
Darcha is the base of Baralacha – the second pass on the road to Leh after Rohtang La. From here on, you climb steep into Patsio, which is an army post. The road from here on gets rough. The next in the line is Zingzingbar – from where the actual climb to Baralacha begins. This climb resembles a wall, with the road zigzagging to the top. The climb is quite maddening, with steep incline, rough road, gravel and zigzag. Adding to the complexity are batteries of trucks climbing down. It is almost like a video game – to quote Rini. Every turn you take, the level of difficulty increases. So does the number of trucks attacking you.
The last leg of this climb is stunningly beautiful. Even the road is freshly made, and so quite smooth. We cross Baralacha by around 5:30pm. We are in a hurry, since the Sun is hurrying down. The road gets a little bumpy, and cold sets in. Baralacha is famous for AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness). We also feel a slight throbbing in the skull, but not enough to affect the ride. What would give us a major head-throbbing is waiting for us about 18km from here at a place– called ‘Bharatput City’, and we reach it without having a slightest clue.
That must be a brave man who named this nomadic camping site with about half a dozen permanent tents a ‘City’. A kilometer after this, there is a bridge crossing the river. Normally one would cross the bridge and go down in the Sarchu valley. However, there is a surprise waiting for us at the bridge – a huge truck that had taken out some of the planks of the bridge. The truck is stuck on the bridge, and is holding the route to ransom. Damn!
We see vehicles lined up on both sides. Some brave souls are trying their luck – rather pushing it – by trying to cross the river water. We see one Qualis badly stuck in the middle of the riverbed, even when it is tied with a rope to a jeep outside and getting pulled. The sight fills us with a chill. The locals tell us to stay back and not attempt the river crossing at this time, but rather do it early morning – say 6am. They tell us that at night, the glaciers freeze, and so the flow of water is much less in the morning. We have no way to see if they are telling us the truth or if it is a gimmick to get some customers for the tents, but we are anyway too tired and the sight of river-crossing is pretty horrific. We thus take a call and return to the camp area.
The tents are put up by locals who stay there during the ‘season time’ – 4 months of June through September. These people go back to lower altitudes – say Manali, Keylong etc. – during winters. The tents are made of some parachute-like clothes. Each of these has around 10 beds – made by arranging damp mattresses on rock-beds. The entrance has a stall and a kitchen. You can pay Rs. 50 to 70 per head to stay in these tents. Dinner – Maggie, Daal-Rice, Omelets – costs extra.
Without prejudice, this is one of the worst nights in the whole expedition. The tent only stops the wind. It is still as cold inside as it is outside. There are rats roaming around in the tent – who later in the night finish off some of our packed food. The tent is filled with kerosene smell from the kitchen. There are no lights, only candles and a couple of interesting LED lamps powered by batteries – that can be used as torches. The Daal-rice is soggy, and I have to resort to some omelets and Maggie for survival.
As we open our sleeping bags and slide inside multiple layers of warm clothing after the devastating dinner, sleep is difficult to come by. It is freezing cold, even inside the multiple layers of warm clothing, and even if you manage to bring sleep in, you tend to wake up after every half an hour – due to rarified oxygen. One of the most uncomfortable nights in the recent times.
I am filled with chill even as I write this, so I am going to stop here.
- Shreekant
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