Mission Ladakh Zanskar Siachen 2007 - Day ZERO
Last One Year
Planning – Planning & More Planning!
As a newbie on Ladakh (but quite knowledgeable on Kinnaur – Lahaul – Spiti), my first original plan was to take a right turn from Shimla towards Kinnaur and meet the Manali-Leh Highway back at Gramphoo and go on till Leh (and cover Khardung La) and come back via Manali. And then I discovered BCMTouring!
Salil, the famous BCMTouring videographer, opened entirely new vistas for me.
Why cover Spiti whereas that can be covered anytime later in a week’s time when there is so much more to see in Ladakh? Climb via Manali and come back via Jammu – that’ll save time, energy and you can cover Kashmir also. And his list seemed endless…
Addition # 1: Pangong Tso – The largest brackish lake in Asia (two-thirds lying in China)
1-day, 2-day, even 3-day trip is possible. Taken!
Addition # 2: Zanskar – Go on till Drang Drung Glacier, stay at Rangdum and come back. Just 2 days extra off Kargil. Taken!
And then I got reading some excellent blogs of Yogesh Sarkar & Sumit Bajaj.
Addition # 3: Nubra Valley – Go on till Diskit (but stay at Hunder unlike Yogesh, as suggested by Yogesh). Taken!
And just when I was about to finalize the trip as:
Delhi – Manali – Leh – Pangong – Leh – Hunder – Leh – Kargil – Rangdum – Kargil – Srinagar – Jammu – Delhi
Salil (not again) posted his pictures of his last Tso Kar & Tso Moriri trip.
And since both these lakes lie on the route from Leh to Manali, as the history unfolded, I planned to climb via Kashmir and descend through Manali but the hiccups came in the form of militancy risk in Kashmir (as I would have to stay in Kashmir Valley for at least one night).
After days (probably weeks) of pondering, I decided to pass through Manali both while climbing and descending. Everything was turning out to be fine. I had got a good deal from my local Cab Agent @ 3,000 per day.
And then came the shock – non J&K Cabs are not allowed in Restricted Areas (Pangong Tso, Nubra Valley & Tso Moriri). After much thought, I decided that it won’t be a problem if I take my Uncle’s Car but then it seemed doubtful whether at the actual time, will we be allowed to move forward comfortably? And what about the various RTO’s standing on the Highways? And of course, what about the chances of our Driver getting AMS?
I can’t explain how grueling that time was – Trip was on the verge of getting cancelled when I got the breath of the month. I got a good deal from a Leh based Travel Agent, who was a close friend of my friend. Conveyance costs went up but overall risk factor went down. Local Drivers and Cars – both would be well trained for that terrain :-)
And when it was decided that we would take the bus from Delhi to Manali, I got on to find out about the options. Soon, I found out that the options were far less than other places and almost all the buses were booked! I ran from one place to other and finally, I got 2 options – Raj Volvo at 6.30 PM and HRTC Volvo at 8.30 PM. Since Hari’s scheduled arrival time was afternoon, I chose HRTC.
Planning – Planning & More Planning!
As a newbie on Ladakh (but quite knowledgeable on Kinnaur – Lahaul – Spiti), my first original plan was to take a right turn from Shimla towards Kinnaur and meet the Manali-Leh Highway back at Gramphoo and go on till Leh (and cover Khardung La) and come back via Manali. And then I discovered BCMTouring!
Salil, the famous BCMTouring videographer, opened entirely new vistas for me.
Why cover Spiti whereas that can be covered anytime later in a week’s time when there is so much more to see in Ladakh? Climb via Manali and come back via Jammu – that’ll save time, energy and you can cover Kashmir also. And his list seemed endless…
Addition # 1: Pangong Tso – The largest brackish lake in Asia (two-thirds lying in China)
1-day, 2-day, even 3-day trip is possible. Taken!
Addition # 2: Zanskar – Go on till Drang Drung Glacier, stay at Rangdum and come back. Just 2 days extra off Kargil. Taken!
And then I got reading some excellent blogs of Yogesh Sarkar & Sumit Bajaj.
Addition # 3: Nubra Valley – Go on till Diskit (but stay at Hunder unlike Yogesh, as suggested by Yogesh). Taken!
And just when I was about to finalize the trip as:
Delhi – Manali – Leh – Pangong – Leh – Hunder – Leh – Kargil – Rangdum – Kargil – Srinagar – Jammu – Delhi
Salil (not again) posted his pictures of his last Tso Kar & Tso Moriri trip.
And since both these lakes lie on the route from Leh to Manali, as the history unfolded, I planned to climb via Kashmir and descend through Manali but the hiccups came in the form of militancy risk in Kashmir (as I would have to stay in Kashmir Valley for at least one night).
After days (probably weeks) of pondering, I decided to pass through Manali both while climbing and descending. Everything was turning out to be fine. I had got a good deal from my local Cab Agent @ 3,000 per day.
And then came the shock – non J&K Cabs are not allowed in Restricted Areas (Pangong Tso, Nubra Valley & Tso Moriri). After much thought, I decided that it won’t be a problem if I take my Uncle’s Car but then it seemed doubtful whether at the actual time, will we be allowed to move forward comfortably? And what about the various RTO’s standing on the Highways? And of course, what about the chances of our Driver getting AMS?
I can’t explain how grueling that time was – Trip was on the verge of getting cancelled when I got the breath of the month. I got a good deal from a Leh based Travel Agent, who was a close friend of my friend. Conveyance costs went up but overall risk factor went down. Local Drivers and Cars – both would be well trained for that terrain :-)
And when it was decided that we would take the bus from Delhi to Manali, I got on to find out about the options. Soon, I found out that the options were far less than other places and almost all the buses were booked! I ran from one place to other and finally, I got 2 options – Raj Volvo at 6.30 PM and HRTC Volvo at 8.30 PM. Since Hari’s scheduled arrival time was afternoon, I chose HRTC.
