Stok Kangri - July 2012

Reporting from Shang @ 12000ft

We started from the Shanti Guest House after a nice breakfast and another briefing by Brahma. There are 2 routes to go to Stok Kangri. One via Stok Village which is shorter one and the other via Shang village which is longer one. IndiaHikes had chosen this longer route  so that it would help us acclimatize better and of course, show us some beauty of Ladakh’s landscape.

We took the Manali highway and went upto Karu (abt 35 kms from Leh). Road bifurcates here or trifurcate if that is a correct word. You take left and it goes to Chang La, the 3^rd highest motorable pass and then to Pangong Tso & China border, you go straight and you reach Tanglang La the 2^nd highest motorable pass and then onwards to Manali, you take right and the road goes to Hemis monastery. We chose the right one (literally too J) and went further. Here too there is a bifurcation, the left road goes to Hemis and the right one takes you to Shang village. We got down about 2.5 kms earlier and started our walk towards the campsite.

This was more of an acclimatization walk. And it was badly needed. But I don’t know why, everybody was in a rush and were walking faster. Nobody stopped to click any photographs and soon I was the last guy walking, stopping in between and clicking merrily. But then I started wondering whether I was that slow. Anyhow, the walk was for about 30 min or so and we reached a stream where on the other bank was our camp. I crossed the stream barefoot and OMG….. the water was chilled….!!

On our way to Shang village

Door Gagan ki chhaon mein

The camp was located at a lovely place. We had beautiful, yellow “Sarso” field right in front. It was looking majestic on that barren background. And to the left, on the mountain was Shang monastery in the distance. 

The ideal setting..... light should have been better though....

After our lunch, Daal-Roti & Chawal, we took a quiet nap and then set off for our acclimatization climb. The Monsatery looked good and Kamal & gang had already started. Raghav, Hrishikesh & I followed them, crossed the stream and slowly we climbed the hillock. From the top, the view was amazing. It was so quiet there. No wonder all these monasteries are located at such isolated places. The calmness there makes the mind stay still.

The Shang Monastery

Our Camp site - View from the top

Returning back, we decided to walk through the river bed. We walked a while and then realized that the stream was quite wide and the flow was faster than when we crossed it first. So we had to abandon that way, we did not want to exert on the very 1^st day. We came back, had a nice cup of tea and then whiled away our time getting to know more about our new acquaintances. We also had a formal intro session with the IndiaHikes staff as well as among us once again.

As soon as the sun set, the temperature began to dip and it was pretty cold out there. But Brahma was to issue our sleeping bags only after dinner. Brahma had also advised us not to wear warm clothes as far as possible so that we get used to the cold. So we stayed out, getting used to the cold. That was a good idea and I found that out later on the summit day.

So there we were, hale & hearty…… having dinner…… later we had a brief session for the day after’s climb and it was time to go to bed.