Ladakh is a high altitude cold desert which falls under the Trans Himalayan region of the state of Jammu and Kashmir and it is a beautiful place with many great mountain passes as the name Ladakh reminds. It is quite unique with narrow zigzag mountain paths, extreme climatic conditions, rich fauna and flora in which many are endemic and rare, huge high altitude lakes, the wide landscapes, where the view extends till the horizon unlike in other Himalayan regions where the vision is always obstructed by the hills and tree lines. It could be an excellent place for a wildlife lover, photographer, mountaineer, or for anyone who likes to be lost in nature.
Nature’s display of colors: on Manali- Leh Highway
Mountain peaks in Ladakh is considered to be very challenging climbing destinations in the Himalayas for its extreme climatic conditions, non availability of topographical map from Survey of India, due its sensitive geographical situation, acute acclimatization problems because of low tree line etc. This year, Nature oriented Venturous association (NOVA) organized an expedition to a renowned peak in eastern Ladakh, Chamser Kangri (6622 m), and the expedition was approved by Indian Mountaineering Foundation (IMF). It was dream coming true for me to get selected, as a team member of the expedition, which gave me the opportunity to explore this region.
Chamser Kangri lies in the south bank of Tso moriri, a high altitude remnant lake. The route plan was like Kolkata- Chandigarh- Manali- Leh -Tso moriri and return through the same way. To reach Tso moriri, there is a short cut via Manali - Parang La - Norbu Sumdo- Tso moriri. We could not opt this way since we were supposed to visit the office of ministry of Defense in Leh for completing the formalities of permission for expedition and also to make local permit. The area being sensitive, any expedition entering this region, need to take clearance from the Intelligence Department of Ministry of Defense. We were supposed to be eight in numbers among which five of them are trained and qualified mountaineers from Nehru institute of mountaineering and three novices. But unfortunately two of the trained members could not join the program. Our team, lead by Mr Parthasarathi Dutta an experienced and qualified mountaineer, consisted 6 members from Kolkata and one Garhwali friend who joined us in Chandigarh.
It took three days to reach Manali by train and road. After reaching Manali, we took rest for one day and, our journey continued to Leh by road. A 10 seated vehicle was hired from Manali. Some stretches of the road were really bad and we realized taking tougher vehicles like Scorpio or Innova would have been beneficial. Otherwise the journey through scenic, 470 km long Manali- Leh highway was a pleasure. On the way we crossed Rohtang Pass, Taglang La (17,469 feet, second highest motorable road on earth, first highest one is also there in Ladakh), and these were all just felt like a dream. At some point along the high passes a few members felt head ache and tiredness. This was quite natural as we move fast in the vehicle along the ups and down through the mountain and therefore
A beautiful view from Manali- Leh Highway
there were no enough time for proper acclimatization and as time passed all got well adjusted. Lots of rare high altitude birds were seen those are very endemic, like Fire fronted Serin, Chough, Oriented Turtle doves, many red starts, black billed magpie etc along the high way. There were not enough food stopovers along the road and we had to manage with available snacks and fruits. After 17 hours of tiring but thrilling journey we reached Leh, all exhausted. One day was kept for rest and another day for official works at Leh and for local purchases of food items, hiring climbing equipments and making local permit of the entire members etc. As expected, Leh was quite beautiful and calm place, crowded mostly by national and international tourist, mountaineers and their service providers. Market in Leh was found to be very interesting which displays a wide variety of items like woolen cloths to Kashmiri handicrafts, Pizza to Momo, mountaineering equipments to gift items or mementos …
Our tour agent at Leh, Rashid, a mountaineer himself and who claimed to be a friend of famous mountaineer, author and photographer Shankar Sridhar, arranged a vehicle for us for the journey to Tso moriri. Journey from Leh to Tso moriri was along Indus and it was just amazing and unforgettable one.
White wagtail sitting on the banks of Indus River
Indus, 3200 km long river originates in Tibet, and in Ladakh the river bed hosts a green patch where we got to see many rare birds and animals. Among the winged friends we saw pied kingfisher, partridges, a few unidentified ducks, snipes, etc. And marmots, Yak, Tibetan ass, wild horse, fox, rabbits, were among the four legged ones. Just on the approach of Tso Moriri, at the traditional transit camp, our old friends of HNAF of Siliguri greeted us with hot refreshing tea. They had a successful program in the same peak. After taking some necessary information of the higher camps we started moving for our Base Camp. First view of Tso moriri was very impressive surrounded by mountains from all sides, multi shaded, and huge lake. Once, the lake was well connected with other lakes through the narrow passes of mountains. But now it got isolated from other lakes and the only water source of the lake is thin streams of water dropping off from ice melts of mountains. On the other bank of Tso moriri, we saw Korzok Village which is the second highest village in the world having electricity and the first one being the village just behind Korzok. Korzok has around 100 families among which majority of them are Ladakhi nomads called Changpa.
Yak gazing on Indus valley
Our trek days started from the bank of Tso moriri. We established our base camp at a height of 15860 Feet. Base camp was really beautiful with one side Tso moriri showing reflections of Mentok Kangri and ridges all around. A very narrow stream served as the source for water. Selection of camping spot in this region is very critical since the availability of water is always doubtful. While returning to base camp we saw that the same stream in the base camp is dried out!! In the base camp we spend time in making tents, cooking, and refreshments. We also learned how to make hut with bolder. That we used as kitchen. In the night we could see light from Korzok which situates kilometers away. Chill wind blown throughout the night piercing the bones through. Next day was a rest day and for proper acclimatization we did Recci to some altitude and then returned. Rest of the day went in experimenting some climbing techniques and practicing them. On the third day, Lamaji, a Changpa from Korzok joined us with his three horses arranged by Rashidji. Two of the horses were used for carrying our tents, food items, kitchen vessels etc and one as standby. Early morning itself, we started off to Camp-1. At some points we could see both Chamser Kangri and Lumser Kangri. This length of journey was quite soothing, and we walked along Tso moriri carrying our rucksack. Stay at Camp-1 too was comfortable. Here the Lamaji gave his tent, locally called as chattri, for using as kitchen because the chattri was easy to handle than plastic. This is an example that people at mountain are always very humble and helpful by nature. He did not even bother about his comfort; he spent the whole night under the open sky. May be he is used to with this, but we were feeling uncomfortable and mostly all of us requested him, one by one, to come inside our tent. The next morning we found that the aged person had better sleep than us.
Before leaving base camp team praying for safe and successful expedition
Many small birds which could not be identified and a few kites were seen at Camp-1. Many lizards and small flying things like dragon flies were also seen. Surprising thing was that life here is very well camouflaged with nature. This is an adaptation technique peculiar for deserts where the living beings do not have much hiding place for escaping from its hunters. Third day was the most strenuous one; we had to walk 7 hours without food and water through very rough terrain filled with coarse gravel to reach Camp-2 (18860 ft). That time wind speed was around 100 Km/Hr. It was quite steep ascend with hardly any place to stay away from the cold wind. We put on extra cloths to escape from wind but of no much use. Many of us had head ache and problem of breathing because of rarified air at that altitude. The people who belonged to mountain like the Garhwali friend and Lamaji showed their caliber to withstand the extreme weather. We could see Lamaji and his three horses far ahead touching the horizon and reaching them felt almost impossible. Many of us were about to collapse. But the feeling
Nature’s trick of camouflaging: White winged redstart
that we need to reach camp-2 before sunset and before weather worsens, pushed us ahead. We walked ahead in small steps and posing for a while before another few more tiring steps. At last we reached Camp-2 in the late evening. Hot soup made by the Garhwali friend welcomed us. We slept too early that day. Next day was supposed to be a summit attempt. But that plan was called off since all the members were exhausted and badly we needed some rest. Water point at this site was too far and any sort of work at this altitude felt like really a ‘Himalayan task’. Temperature went down to -13 degrees at
Tso moriri and Mentok Kangri as viewed along the trek to camp-2
times and must be much below this during midnight. We spend an unforgettable day at camp-2 all shivering and covered with woolen clothing. Two of the team members were assigned for summit climbing. Next day they got ready at early morning 4 ‘o’ clock for a summit attempt. Rests of us spend the day waiting for them, wishing good success and praying for them. A second day at camp-2 was more exhausting. Over this, anxiety to know the status of the climbers added more gravity to the situation. In the evening, the music of good news spread camp-2 that NOVA had a successful summit attempt to Chamser Kangri.
