Ladakh to Zangskar

July 2014

Kanji – Yogma la – Nigutse la – Sir sir la – Photoksar – Senge la – Yulchun – Nerak la – Zangla

My very first independent trek was with my sister’s girl friend (now wife actually) to see Mount Everest in december 2013. My first off the beaten track would be the next summer (july and august 2014) in Himchal Pradesh India. I say trek, but it was actually more a collection of 4 treks begging around Leh and taking us all the way down to the foothills of the Dhauladar near Dharmsala.

I was excited. I had planned this 2 month trip for a year and I could not wait to see and experience the remote Himalayan valleys. I planned the trek from north to south to get a real feel of changing landscapes. We would move from the dry and arid valleys in Ladakh to the more classic Himalaya scenery in Lahul and end up in the foothills of the hidden Chamba valley.

Dennis a friend from my study and Ava a rowing friend of my sister and now also a friend of mine joined in. I liked the idea of being with three as it would make it both easier, safer and a lot more fun. It was their first trek so we were all equally excited of what we would encounter on the remote and faint trails in this far western corner of the Himalaya.

This report is about the first part of this very long distance trek through Himchal Pradesh. I’m writing this in November 2020 so already many years later. Despite of the time I still have a vivid memory of this adventure and can remember this trip day by day.

To my dismay our memory card with photos broke on the way so I have no photos of this stage of the trek. When I found out that we had lost our photos I was devastated. Only now many years later I can write about losing these photos without crying a little from within.

Luckily we still had some of our photos of Gotunde la and all our photos in Himchal Pradesh as they were on another SD.

Our trek was a variation on the classic Lamayuru to Darcha trek. I split the report into two halves This one is about the trek from Ladakh to the Zangskar valley.

Instead of starting from Lamayuru we made Kanji our starting point. We also went via Yulchun, Nerak and the bear valley instead of following the more standard Lingshed route. We did this both to avoid the road that was being constructed along the Lamayuru to Darcha trek as well as to make the trek a bit more adventurous.

Day 1

To put it mildly. Delhi hadn’t made a great impression. We got scammed by a taxi driver, as you do and had to fight off countless street hawkers. It was also hot and damp everywhere. The night before our flight to Leh would depart I was actually worrying to miss it as that would mean we needed to stay longer in this bloody city.

Luckily however we did not miss it and we took of early in the morning jus as planned. The fligth to Leh only took an hour and a half, but it made a great impression on us. We could see the countless peaks and enormous glaciers below us. Unbelievable that we would need to traverse all this in the coming two months. The terain seemed way steeper and icier than you would expect based on satellite imagery and maps. Once we got close to Leh the glaciers made way for the brown rugged landscapes that Ladakh is famous for.

When we landed in Leh it was a welcome contrast to Delhi. Clean air, clear skies and reserved but friendly people. We took a taxi to our hotel and went for a nap. We had landed at 3400 meters and new we had to take it slow to prevent any altitude issues.

Day 2, 3 and 4

As it was one of my first trips we were a bit over cautious. We would stay 3 more day in Leh in order to acclimatize well. My grand mother who was on holiday in Ladakh as well was ending her trip in Leh. We met up over lunch. Funny to meet family on a spot like this.

While walking through town I had lost my way back to the hotel a bit. A cab driver drove by in a small van. He looked at me, but since Delhi had made me distrust cab drivers I did not want to make use of a taxi if it was not absolutely needed. When he drove past I was however so relieved by him not pressuring, that I immediately changed my mind. I waved at him and asked if he could drive me back.

On the way to the hotel I found a price list in the taxi. There was a fixed price for all destinations around Leh. I was a fan, knowing what you would pay before hand. I was even such a fan that I agreed with him that he would drive us around in the coming days.

The first place we went was the Hemis festival. I had been looking foreward to seeing this Buddhist festival, even though we had missed the first, more important day. We drove there and with our cab driver we looked at the masked monks dancing.

The whole festival was a bit anticlimax. It’s probably best summed up by the fact that the tourists Ladakhi ratio was about 4:1 and by a fat monk that was dancing effortlessly. Even our cab driver who was gentle and serious young man could not help but be sarcastic about the whole thing.

The next day our cab driver drove us to his favorite spot a monastery and village about 40 kilometers west of Leh. He liked it because of the greenery, but once there I was not all too impressed by the 10 and a half trees that stood there. I guess that if you live in these arid waste lands, you appreciate every green leaf there is. The old monastery was however quite interesting to see.

On the way back we had really gotten befriended with our driver and decided to let him drive us to the start of our trek, Kanji as well. At first we had planned to go there by bus, with 3 people paying the taxi was actually quite affordable. Another advantage of taking the taxi was that we could go directly to Kanji instead of us needing to hike about 20 kilometers off the main road to reach there.

The drive to Kanji took quite long. Several hours if I remember correctly. We had to stop once or twice to write down our names and contact details at a police station. For whatever reason needless paperwork is engrinded in most places around the Himalaya and Ladakh was no exception.

We had gotten used to the surrounding so we just casually saw the landscape pass us by. However once we left the main road we were really in awe by the view around. The road to Kanji followed the buttom of a narrow gorge. The colors of the rock were stunning and it felt like some secret pathway to a hidden village.

Once in Kanji our cab driver helped us to pitch our tent. Something that we would be doing a lot in the coming weeks. We took a photo with him and said our goodyes. His standard phrases like ‘yesh my friend’ would stick with us for the rest of the holiday and way beyond that actually.

The village of Kanji was quite beautiful. There was a large french group and an independent trekker with two Ladakhi porters in the village as well. We would be sharing the trail tomorrow.

In the evening we enjoyed our first trekking meal looking at the full moon rising. Dennis remarked that it was unbelievable we would witness a second full moon that holiday. It was a great feeling. We finally stood at the start of our long trek. I was excited that tomorrow we could finally start. The views from our first campsite already were promising. Dennis said that many of these rock formations would have had names had they been located in Europe and not a far corner in the Himalaya.

Day 5

Our first day of hiking! Backpacks on and onward! It would be a short day of only two to three hours to the base of Yogma la. It was easy going with good views and good weather the large french group had about the same itinerary as we did. So we could look in amazement at the elaborate gear they brought. From pizzas to toilet tents and actual chairs.

We reached our campsite for that day in just two anda half hours. We were a bit dissapointed. We would have loved to go further, but our aclimatization schema forced us to stay put. The Yogma la was about 4800 meters and the Gniugutse la would even be 5200 meters. We simply needed the acclimatization days to cross them safely.

We became friends with the independent french teacher and his two rather worthless Ladakhi porters. We camped next to one another and discussed our plans. He was really in a hurry as he did not have a lot of time due to some issues he had had at the start of his trip. He and his porters were scaring us about the bear valley, it would remote, difficult and most of all full of aggressive bears. Now there is many thing I heard in live, but someone getting killed in the Himalaya due to a black bear is not one of them. So we decided to take that route anyway.

Day 6

The first day of real hiking. We crossed the Yogma la from where we could enjoy our first view over the colorful mountains. East of us we could already see tomorrows pass, the Nigutse la towering above us.

After the Yogma la the trail went down for a short while after which it diverted south and kept altitude. I had not expected this as the route on the map clearly indicated that we should descent all the way down to the river and make our way back up from there. The trail was however so pronounced and to my knowledge no major destination lay south of us that we just decided to follow the main trail.

The trail kept heading south, but after a while it rounded the canyon and bend back north again. We guessed right!

Later in the afternoon we came to the main camping spot where we again met up with the french teacher. We had to pay some local shepherds for the camping spot, which made Dennis wonder exactly what nearness to their camp was deemed no longer free.

Day 7

It was just a few hours to the top op Nigutse la. 5100m, the highest that Ava and Dennis had ever been and only the second time I had ever been on 5000m. We could see far towards the east over the smaller sir sir la.

Unfortunately we could also see the road that is being constructed and will one day connect lamayuru and Padum killing this iconic trek. Once we climbed down we decided to push all the way to Photoksar. A long way, but the base of Nigutse la near the road was not a very appealing spot so pushing to the more picturesque village Photoksar was more appealing.

We climbed 400 meters up the Sirsir la and made the long stretch all the way to Photoksar where we could set up camp.

Day 8

Today we would leave the main trekking route and take the less frequented bear valley route. We therefore bought some supplies in the village to last us for around 5 days, enough to reach Honia in the Zanskar valley.

We had lunch in the tea tent before Sennge la and after that climbed the pass without too much difficulty. The Sennge la was easily the most scenic pass till that point. You had a wide view in almost all directions. Especially the view to the east into the canyon of the Zanskar river was very impressive.

On the way down we diverted from the main route and hiked down the canyon towards Yulchun. After an hour or so we got to a spot where the trail had been swapped away by a major landslide. We considered our options carefully. The valley side was steep and a fall would be fatal. We had a rope with us, but no way to fix it in a way that would actually break the fall in a meaningful way.

In the end we decided to chance it. I went across without a backpack first. It went alright and went back to collect my backpack. We then made it across one by one. Hopefully this would be the only nasty surprise till the village.

About 2 hours later we reached Yulchun. A small quiet village surrounded by green fields. It was an amazing sight. Especially after making past the landslide it felt like we reached some hidden paradise. We arranged a home stay with a nice younger man who spoke reasonable English. The man told us that there were very few people in the villages right now because most of them went to Leh to see the Dalai Lama speak.

Day 9

To make it to the bear valley we would need to descend all the way to the Zanskar river at around 3300m and climb back up all the way to Nerak la at around 5000m. A long hike up that we did not intend to do in a single day.

The first step was to cross to small passes behind Yulchun and descend down to the river. This was a steep drop. The river down in the canyon roared and looked extremely violent in the narrow gorge. It was hard to imagine that you could hike from Ladakh to Zanskar over the frozen river in winter…

The bridge remained out of sight right until the last moment, making us seriously concerned over how to get across this enormous obstacle for a moment.

Once on the east bank of the river we climbed a little up to reach Nerak. The village the Nerak la is named after. Though less beautiful then Yulchun, Nerak was very appealing as well. We however did not spent much time in the village and kept climbing up towards Nerak la.

At this point the trail became more difficult to find, or more accurately, just was not really there. It was a broad and gentle slope so we could just use our GPS to guide us toward the pass.

We hiked till the early evening once we felt the pass was only 1 or 2 hours further. We setup camp and got to enjoy the wonderful view back towards Sennge la and the Nerak and Yulchun village. It was at this point that our trek in Zanskar was already feeling like a great success and I felt privileged to be on this trip.

Day 10

It was an easy climb to the pass itself. The pass made a bit of a corner and lay between two steep rock faces so I did not expect to get a good view. The weather was for the first time that holiday also very misty, so even if there was a view we would not have seen it.

After the pass we hiked into the unknown bear valley. This uninhabited valley had a wild feeling over it, the mist gave a further sense of mystique. We saw some blue sheep in the mist, but for the rest everything looked deserted. As we hiked further and further down the mist started to alleviate. Luck was on our side as even a trail started to form. As opposed to the other side of Nerak la this slope was not a broad slope but a narrow and steep gully making it easier for a trail to form.

In the evening we made the mother of all fires to keep any bears well at bay. Small mosquitoes getting within 1 meter of the fire just flat out died.

Day 11

We followed the narrow gully all the way down to the main river. Sometimes we had to hike across the stream itself in some narrow sections. Once down at the main valley the river looked quite powerful. There would be no bridges here and wading through did not look tempting. I however read on sources on the internet that early in the season you could often use snow bridges to cross the river. With that in mind we followed the river eastward to await our chance.

And indeed, after an hour or 2 we got the chance to get across. The last hinderniss would now be the Hanuma la after which we could descend into the great Zanskar valley.

As we were climbing up Ava got sick. We took over her backpack, but the going was very tough for her. We decided that it was best to finish the trek so that we could sleep the night in a hotel so that she could recover.

Unfortunately or Ava Honia was at least another 4 hours. In the end she however made it and we could rest in a nice hotel in Padum in the Zanskar valley.

The Zanskar valley itself is rather spectacular. As if by magic the mountains all of a sudden give way to form a large broad plain. This valley forms the heartland of Zanskar and is where all the major ‘towns’ and most of the cultural heritage can be found.