Ladakh Range Favorites

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Fondest memory: "We got stuck on Baralacha-la at 4800 meters heavy snow on the pass stranded for 4 nights with more snow coming evry day it was fun getting the hell out of there finally i managed to walk over the pass with my bro from Crdiff who had come to see the mountains saw a truck on the pass with a family inside stranded from past 5 days incredible effort of escape we damn opened the higway.

Favorite thing: Use these guys good service
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Thank you

3 more images

Favorite thing: A sight that could seem almost surreal... At an altitude of over 18000 feet, these migrant workers are doing a routine repair job on one of the highest motorable roads in the world...
The task of maintaining the roads is given to the BRO- or the Border roads organisation, a division of the Indian Army.

Favorite thing: Don't go to Ladakh without some knowledge of place, culture and history. Janet Rizvi's book is a definitie on the subject, and can be highly recommended for everybody going there or who have come back from there and wish to dwell on the memories and images and develop theri insight.

(more later when I get a photo)

Fondest memory: Together with a friend who was past 70 (I was 25 at the time) I had a week's time for a hike in the Zanskar Range. Quite casually we hiked around here, camping in a small tent, cooking on a gas stove, visiting yak and sheep herders and hiking into the alpine valleys. With camera and binoculars at the campsites we enjoyed watching the marmots and eagles playing hide-and-seek. At night wolves were howling and the creeks froze over, and at very high altiude (5800+) there was the odd snow shower. This was early August, so summer was at its best, and the Himalayan flowers were out in force.
A mountain I went up to (my old friend watching from below) hadn't been climbed before, so the tourist office people afterwards joked about Olav Kangri (6050). But it was all calm, cozy, slowly and such an interesting week high up on the yak grazing slopes.
I would like to revisit this area...

Favorite thing: If there's a less interesting side in Ladakh, this is it's main town: Leh. The main streets are lined with stores trying to sell you everything and anything - in many cases possibly fakes. There's also quite a lot of pollution at dusk: some from cars but mostly from the nasty, noisy generators that keep the lights up in most shops.

Fondest memory: The backstreets, however, are quite a different story: calm lanes, less pretentious shops where local people go buy things, and right above town an impressive fortress, Leh Palace. OK, it's basically a beautiful empty shell, but the views from there are terrific

Favorite thing: The Indu valley, the one stretching away from Leh, is the most populated and visited of all the Ladakhi valleys: it's full of monasteries built on top of barren mountains, and in summer there are several religious festivals with dances that one can attend. Then again, population is still very sparse.

Fondest memory: Whereas the upper Indu valley is the most visited and photographed, I left my heart in the lower Indu Valley... much quieter, even less populated, with less spectacularr monasteries but with more interesting people and ceremonies.

Favorite thing: The Nubra Valley is the "green" valley - nubra in fact means green. Coming down from the Khardun La mountain pass it's the valley you encounter. it's slightly in a sensitive area, so you need a red tape permit to get there - and even once there the places that you can visit are restricted. Green valley becuase it's much greener than the Indu Valley... and it's really easy to notice this... and as soon as you start to believe it... the scenery changes and you're surrounded with sand dunes... a sudden desert... and then green again: grass and orchards and trees.

Fondest memory: Definitely seeing the high altitude desert - and rolling in the sand - soft and warm... if you close your eyes, you really can feel you're in the tropics... then you open your eyes and "magic": snow-capped peaks are all around you