[parsh]

Originally Posted by urban_legend

Thanks Parsh. Great help. Couple of questions:

(i) is it worth really heading to Zanskar only for darang durang?

(ii) Morriri - Jispa - is easily doable? because don't want to unnecessarily push and end up driving in the night. That is something i want to avoid.

(iii) How far is Kullu from Manali (in terms of time)? As you mentioned might as well stay the night at Kullu rather than Manali. Any good hotels would recommend?

Also is Jispa - Kullu is doable in one day? Again the idea is to take it slow in the hills and avoid night driving.

(i) If you take only my view point, I wouldn't miss it, it is that fab I found, not necessary to go to Padum. The experience at Darang Durung is way beyond words, altogether different from anything that one sees in Ladakh. But you have to be careful of the stinging icy winds at that location, we got the hang of it and few children got affected at that point.

(ii) My guesstimate is it should be possible. However, rely more on wizards like TSK, HVK on that, they have experience, I had only speculated on doing it but could not do it. We finally did Leh-Jispa in a day but due to late start from Leh and lax driving, reached quite late at Jispa. No hotel was available as it has primarily 3 main hotels only. If you check my earlier post, there is a PWD GH and Mountaineering Instt GH there which can be availed cheap.

(iii) I haven't yet compiled my logs but should be about 45ish and about 1-1.5 hours. There are plenty of guest houses on the outskirt of Kullu which seem to be easily available even at late nights. We stayed at one called Ashoka GH there which was decent at 1600/- for 2 double bed rooms.

[urban_legend]

Originally Posted by akp

You can possibly push a little bit and think of staying in Mulbeck or Lamayuru, though I do not have any idea about the stay options in those places. Kargil seemed a very congested place to me.




The distance from Kargil to Leh would be about 240 km, not 340.




Both Pangong to Moriri (taking the route you mentioned) and Moriri to Jispa are doable in a day. You have to leave Pangong early; there are now roadwork going on at several places on the Upshi-Chumathang route, in some places they are blasting rocks to make the road wider and straighter - there might me a few stoppages in this stretch. Other than the patches where road work is going on, it is a beautiful drive going alongside a river.

Also, a note of caution about using the phrase `doable in a day' in those regions: normally you estimate the duration of travel looking at the distance and nature of the road surface, steepness etc. But what one does not take into account are the surrounding landscapes. You would feel like stopping every few meters (well, almost) and all your calculations of durations would go for a toss.

Would not push Morriri to Jispa. You are right on what is doable in a day. I would not like the drive to be just a dash to the finish line. In the hills would have to factor the stops and if i need to push to Jispa then probably can take a call at Sarchu. heard about altitude sickness and given an option would like to stay at Jispa rather than Sarchu.

My question is that how much time does it take from Sarchu to Jispa?

[akp]

Originally Posted by urban_legend

Would not push Morriri to Jispa. You are right on what is doable in a day. I would not like the drive to be just a dash to the finish line. In the hills would have to factor the stops and if i need to push to Jispa then probably can take a call at Sarchu. heard about altitude sickness and given an option would like to stay at Jispa rather than Sarchu.

My question is that how much time does it take from Sarchu to Jispa?

Sarchu to Jispa would be about three hours.

About AMS in Sarchu, once you have stayed in Pangong or Tso Moriri, Sarchu should not be a problem. Sarchu is more of a problem for people going from Manali and taking their first halt there.

[urban_legend]

Need some help on this route here:

Option 1: Diskit/Hunder - Pangong Tso (Is Wari La route advisable or via Shyok (is this open yet), Darbuk) - is there additional permits needed for any of this route.

Option 2: Diskit/Hunder - Leh – Shey – Karu – Shakti – Chang La – Durbuk – Tanksey – Lukung – Spangmik (Pangong Tso) - this means i would have go back through Khardung la right? wondering would this be efficient. Any idea on the number of hours to do this.

Infact, was thinking might as well shelve the Diskit/Hunder and directly head to Pangong from Leh or from Khardung la. Any thoughts?

[parsh]

Originally Posted by urban_legend

Need some help on this route here:

Option 1: Diskit/Hunder - Pangong Tso (Is Wari La route advisable or via Shyok (is this open yet), Darbuk) - is there additional permits needed for any of this route.

Option 2: Diskit/Hunder - Leh – Shey – Karu – Shakti – Chang La – Durbuk – Tanksey – Lukung – Spangmik (Pangong Tso) - this means i would have go back through Khardung la right? wondering would this be efficient. Any idea on the number of hours to do this.

Infact, was thinking might as well shelve the Diskit/Hunder and directly head to Pangong from Leh or from Khardung la. Any thoughts?

This is what is ALSO possible if you want to do:
1. Leh-Hunder-Leh in a day without Diskit monastery - would suggest don't skip Hunder as well. As such each place in Ladakh is unique but Nubra valley is also a unique Himalayan dessert and lovely spread of sand dunes in the valley of Nubra and Shyok rivers, their confluence etc. Will definitely be worthwhile. This saves you one day.

2. Then you can plan Leh-Karu-Pangong Tso...onwards easily as thought.

3. Agham-Shyok route is still doubtful, better not take chances though it is very tempting with the shortening of the distance and time. Should not be a problem upto Agham but not sure after that.

[guptavis]

will be going to leh in a group of about 12 people. around mid august. anyone else going around same time?

I was under the impression that it would be slightly chilly to very cold at the various places. I like to travel light, so was planning to take only few sets of warm clothing. But a friend told me that it gets quite warm and you need half sleeve t-shirts during the day time.
Any ideas on what kind of clothes to pack for a 10 day trip around that time?

Also we would have about 6 days in leh. 2 nights in leh to acclamitise and 2 days nubra valley. we have two days remaining so we have an option of pangong TSO or TSO moriri.
Which would be a better destination out of the two?

Also what are the approx charges for taxi (2 innova or a 12 seater) from leh to these places?

[John]

We are visiting Ladakh during the second week of August - by Volvo bus to Manali and onwards by Innova. Just a quick question on AMS. We had visited Sikkim - Zuluk/Nathu La, last year and none of us experienced any problem with AMS. Would Ladakh be different in terms of AMS? We are spending one day at Manali and one day at Jispa before driving to Leh. Two nights at Leh and then to Pangong Tso. Should this itinerary be ok as far as acclimatization is concerned?

[guptavis]

Originally Posted by John

We are visiting Ladakh during the second week of August - by Volvo bus to Manali and onwards by Innova. Just a quick question on AMS. We had visited Sikkim - Zuluk/Nathu La, last year and none of us experienced any problem with AMS. Would Ladakh be different in terms of AMS? We are spending one day at Manali and one day at Jispa before driving to Leh. Two nights at Leh and then to Pangong Tso. Should this itinerary be ok as far as acclimatization is concerned?

I think the itinerary is good wrt acclimatization. But with the recent news about chinese trespassing i am worried of what areas we'll be able to visit.

[Soumik Ghosh]

Is there any information regarding the new route from Keylong to Padum. It will be a great help if somebody can provide any information as I am driving in August.

[SS-Traveller]

No such road exists. The only approach to Padum by road is via Kargil.

[Soumik Ghosh]

Hello SS, this route appears in Google map.

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by guptavis

will be going to leh in a group of about 12 people. around mid august. anyone else going around same time?

I was under the impression that it would be slightly chilly to very cold at the various places. I like to travel light, so was planning to take only few sets of warm clothing. But a friend told me that it gets quite warm and you need half sleeve t-shirts during the day time.
Any ideas on what kind of clothes to pack for a 10 day trip around that time?

Also we would have about 6 days in leh. 2 nights in leh to acclamitise and 2 days nubra valley. we have two days remaining so we have an option of pangong TSO or TSO moriri.
Which would be a better destination out of the two?

Also what are the approx charges for taxi (2 innova or a 12 seater) from leh to these places?

Dont know about august but I just went to leh a couple of weeks ago found it to be quite warm and you will need t shirts at leh. you may find it chilly at various places so be sure to pack in lots of warm clothes.
I personally prefer pangong TSO to TSO moriri.
Are you driving to leh or going to board a flight. If youre going by road I dont think you need 2 days to accalamatize. we paid 14500 for a mahindra xylo for 3 days
day 1 leh sightseeing
day 2 leh-nubra-leh
day 3 leh-pangong-leh

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by John

We are visiting Ladakh during the second week of August - by Volvo bus to Manali and onwards by Innova. Just a quick question on AMS. We had visited Sikkim - Zuluk/Nathu La, last year and none of us experienced any problem with AMS. Would Ladakh be different in terms of AMS? We are spending one day at Manali and one day at Jispa before driving to Leh. Two nights at Leh and then to Pangong Tso. Should this itinerary be ok as far as acclimatization is concerned?

This itenerary is fine. I dont think you will face any AMS issues. WHen I went there most of my group had issues because we stayed at sarchu when going from manali to leh. One of us got AMS. Jispa is much lower than sarchu its a much better choice.

[parsh]

Originally Posted by Soumik Ghosh

Hello SS, this route appears in Google map.

Guess the word from the ardent travelers is not good enough

Are you seriously looking at this road? Google maps may show the route but take cognizance of what SST said. Google maps also does not show it as a concrete/major road.

There exist kachcha roads from Padum (1) joining on Manali-Leh highway (which you have shown) as well as (2) joining on Srinagar-Leh highway. These look like prospective roads. But presently they are not at all advised. Maybe not even for bikers. Although I haven't done even upto Padum, the people at Rangdum were surely telling similar things.

Forget that there exists such a road as of now. Especially, considering how the road to Rangdum itself is at present and to Padum then onwards, these 2 are not to be trusted until there is any concrete news.

Additionally, what made you think that there is sense in going to Padum from this end. The value of this travel lies from Kargil end to Padum which is mostly the major glaciers zone especially Darang Durung, Parkachik etc. And it will be akin to taking your hand around your head to touch your face.

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by Soumik Ghosh

Hello SS, this route appears in Google map.

This is a secret google route. If you wear google glass, it will automatically send pass phrases to the mountains, and they will move out of the way