[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Thanks for a detailed account of the drive from Spangimik to Chushul. Great moral boost that 2WD cars can also do it.

Yes - looking at the road conditions at first hand is the best way to assess if one can make it through or not - and I hope this thread serves that purpose.

Did they check your permits at Spangimik also or only at Chushul?

Merak, Chushul, Tsaga and Mahey - four places.

I guess teh entire drive from Spangimik to Chushul was more or less on plains?

Not quite. I think, a look at the GPS track from Spangmik to Korzok showing the elevations would give you a good idea of the ups and downs.

Any stay facilities at Man, Merak or Chushul?

Noticed homestay boards at Merak, but not at Man. Chushul has plenty of accommodation apparently, did notice boards about rooms available, but I didn't note any details.

Do you think you can freely camp out anywhere en route? Or there are restrictions?

No idea about this, but the zone between Spangmik and Merak should be fine - after Merak there are a lot of bunkers on the hilltops all along, so I would think the area is sensitive. Best to ask before setting up camp.

Homestays in Spangimik - I suppose there are many and one can walk in and get room?

Only a few homestays, most are tented accommodation. Tariffs are high, around 3000-4000 INR per tent. Cheaper to pre-book from Leh.

No photos of the night sky at Pangong?

On a moonlit night?

[SS-Traveller]

A series of photographs showing the excellent road from Tsaga to Mahey, and the not-so-good road from Mahey to Tso Kiagar (on the way to Korzok/Tso Moriri).







Dogs chasing cars - the nomadic folks' herds of sheep were under threat by the passing car, and 3 dogs chased us for quite a long distance!














Miles of fencing, and the road runs right beside it. No idea what it's protecting!






Some of these road surfaces actually have brown, red, green and purple colouration, probably due to the mineral content of the rocks used to build them!






Monastery at Mahey - keep on the left fork to carry on to the junction for turning towards Korzok


















Tso Kiagar in the distance








End of metalled road after Tso Kiagar

[hvkumar]

This is probably becoming the best photologue-TL on Ladakh - whatever a motorist needs to see and understand! After seeing these photos, no one should have any surprises on what to expect!

Can you tell us what timings you took on the Spangimik-Chushul-Mahe sector?

And what was the refuelling sequence - when did you use up your extra fuel to replenish the tank? Maybe you can also mention how many kilometres you had to drive without a petrol pump?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

This is probably becoming the best photologue-TL on Ladakh - whatever a motorist needs to see and understand! After seeing these photos, no one should have any surprises on what to expect!

Thank you!

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Can you tell us what timings you took on the Spangimik-Chushul-Mahe sector?

Departure Spangmik 5:49 am, arrival Mahe 1:04 pm. Those times are based on the time stamps on the photographs.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

And what was the refuelling sequence - when did you use up your extra fuel to replenish the tank? Maybe you can also mention how many kilometres you had to drive without a petrol pump?

Have to check the fuel logs, but from memory, we carried approx. 30 litres in cans, and bought approx. 11 litres at Korzok for 500INR. Having replenished the tank from this stock, we managed Karu > Spangmik > Korzok > Tso Kar > Jispa > Manali without any fuel stop at any pump, and filled about 34 litres after approx. 670 km IIRC, at Manali. Could have picked up diesel from the ITBP HC at Tsaga, but did not. Fuel pump at Tandi was operational, but did not fill.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Thank you!

Departure Spangmik 5:49 am, arrival Mahe 1:04 pm. Those times are based on the time stamps on the photographs.

Have to check the fuel logs, but from memory, we carried approx. 30 litres in cans, and bought approx. 11 litres at Korzok for 500INR. Having replenished the tank from this stock, we managed Karu > Spangmik > Korzok > Tso Kar > Jispa > Manali without any fuel stop at any pump, and filled about 34 litres after approx. 670 km IIRC, at Manali. Could have picked up diesel from the ITBP HC at Tsaga, but did not. Fuel pump at Tandi was operational, but did not fill.

They sell in the black in Karzok? Any tips on who to approach?
During our forthcoming trip, we are doing a circuit that will take us around 1,000 kms without a fuel pump, so we are all looking to carry more stocks and/ or source it in black from known definitive places.

Any info on where all you can get diesel in black?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

They sell in the black in Karzok? Any tips on who to approach?
Any info on where all you can get diesel in black?

I asked the manager of the resort where we stayed at Korzok, and he said he'll get it - in fact, he could have given me a 20-litre jerrycan full to the brim - around 22-23 litres, but I didn't want so much.

At Tsaga, I asked the ITBP HC whether we may be able to procure diesel, and he said it can be done, he just had to ask his boss. But since we were not low on fuel then, we didn't want to take the time out to pick up more diesel than we required.

I believe one can get diesel in cans at the Sarchu / Pang tents, if one asks the manager.

[SS-Traveller]

Tso-and-tso: From Kiagar to Moriri - around 40 km, it took us over 2 hours to cover this distance. Not that we were in any hurry, and there were no metalled roads anyway. Here are the photographs from that road.


No camping other than at Korzok!






Sheep grazing dot kom








First view of Tso Moriri (no, they didn't put up a marker here!)

















Where we stayed for the night


Mega-sized flask of tea + view of Tso Moriri = BLISS

[SS-Traveller]

Here is where we stayed at Korzok - in the building, not in the tents.


Contact details:
Nomadic Life Camp (Tso Moriri)
PO Box 133, Leh, Ladakh-194101
Phones: 0198 - 22 - 67 - 321 ; 0941 - 91 - 789 - 84 ; 0941 - 9341 - 687
Email: nomadic dot life at yahoo dot com ; gdorjey at yahoo dot com

The manager (L) and the fellow who procured diesel for me - the latter's village is Chumur, and he informed us that a new road was in the process of being constructed along the western bank of Tso Moriri from Korzok to Chumur, at a cost of some 480 cr. INR.


More pics from the hotel porch. Notice the little square structure to the right of the frame - that is the 'viewpoint' to get a better view of the lake. Didn't want to put in the effort to climb up there - at 15,000 ft I wasn't risking too much physical activity.

More camps nearby


Korzok village - plenty of homestays here, with more new constructions coming up at a rapid pace



View of lake from Korzok village


More pics of the surroundings - the light and shade effect is mind-boggling, and my (in)competence with the camera didn't allow me to capture what the eye saw
















Moonlight photography and a silver Moriri

[hvkumar]

I stayed at Nomadic Life Camps too in 2009, good place. But looks like they have now concrete buildings too, not just tents. How much do they charge?
Could you walk in, or had prior bookings?
How cold was Tso Moriri?
Any starting trouble for the Scorpio?

The new road to Chumur is interesting news - will it also go past Kyon Tso?

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

How much do they charge?

3k for a 3-bedded room where we squeezed in and accommodated all 4 of us, including dinner and breakfast for 4. Had to bargain.

Could you walk in, or had prior bookings?

Did not have prior bookings - just liked the place and walked in.

How cold was Tso Moriri?
Any starting trouble for the Scorpio?

Cross-posting here to answer your question:

Originally Posted by SS-Traveller

Highest altitude where the Scorpio mHawk engine was started by me, was at Korzok (Tso Moriri) on 15 June 2011 - altitude close to 15,000 feet. Engine started at 6 AM after overnight parking in open (no precautions or blankets etc.). The minimum temperature readout on the thermometer inside the car showed (+)1.5*C. No diesel gelling had occurred - stored cans of diesel in the back of the car were quite fluid. Diesel in the tank was treated with BG247 additive @1ml/litre approximately.

Starting results: Engine fired with one long 5-to-7-second crank, emitted one puff of light smoke, and settled into normal idling.

The new road to Chumur is interesting news - will it also go past Kyon Tso?

No idea.

[rkbharat]

fantastic pics Doc

BTW that fence on the way to Mahe is basically protecting the Shooting Practice range for army.

[SS-Traveller]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

...Shooting Practice range for army.

Thank you for that information - that fence goes on for a long way - more than 15 km IIRC.

================================================== ===================

June 16, 2011

Time to move out from Korzok. This day, we were scheduled to travel from here to Jispa. The plan was for Rideon to travel from Leh, while we would travel via Sumdo & Tso Kar to join the Leh-Manali highway at Morey Plains. Since both Rideon's Airtel and my BSNL + Airtel phones were reduced to toys to play games on (oh, and mine worked as a GPS tracker too), we would not have been able to communicate, and needed to pre-decide on where we would stay for the night.

The initial plan was to stay at Sarchu, but the idea of staying in tents with a cold wind blowing did not appeal to anyone. Here I must acknowledge the help of BHPian airwolf9211, whom we bothered via prolonged and repeated phone calls from Leh earlier on, for suggestions on the best options to stay on this road. Thank you, Sir, for your patience and advice.

On airwolf9211's advice, it was decided that we would stop for the night at Jispa, at a hotel that he highly recommended and knew the owner personally. But we are talking of a time 13 hours after our departure from Korzok, and shall discuss that in good time!

5:15 am at Tso Moriri - a bright, chilly and sunny day ahead


Had our tea in the dining room...


...asked the manager to pack our breakfast (bread, butter and boiled eggs), and we were rolling at 6 am


Photo-stops


Korzok village in the background














Finally, a bird species that I could identify (apart from crows and sparrows!) These are Brahminy ducks (also known as: Ruddy Shelduck - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)


This kid came running at us from one of the many nomad tents seen on the way from Tso Moriri to Tso Kiagar. Wasn't too happy when we handed him some toffees (looked like he would have preferred money, but it would be bad practice to indulge him, we thought), and apparently doesn't understand Hindi

[swiftnfurious]

Beautiful thread & wonderful Pics ! Quite informative too. Am sure this will serve as a bible for Leh trip when I plan mine.

[SS-Traveller]

Visuals of the sandy track on our way back from Korzok to Tso Kiagar, and a stopover at the Namashang La.

[Fauji]

Hey Doc,

I have only one word to express on the TL. FantasticI second HVK when he say, this is the best TL with so much details on Raod conditions. Yours along with Tanveer's should become a bible for anyone venturing into the region.

When we did the trip last year we cancelled Leh - Srinagar due to security situation there - remember the famous stone throwing months of June - July - and your TL jus compensated for that miss.

Tso Moriri looks fabulous. Looking forward to remaining parts of TL.

Only one question - How come you missed the best armed forces museum in the country which is in Leh? Even Delhi does not have one.