Wednesday 1 August, 2007

Lamayuru to Chilling




Trek to the Land of the Lamas did begin on the 20th of July, but the planning took place nearly 3 months before. After a through search we setlled for the trek from Lamayuru to Chilling. We met several times clarifying the doubts which arised since all were first time to the mighty himalayas. Finally we left bangalore on the 13th. Reached manali on the 15th and left for Leh by 2 vehicles on the next day. The road from Manali to Leh was horrible. We halted at Bharatpur for the night. This was at 14000ft. Every one was feeling tired and some signs of altitude sickness.



We reached LEH on the 17th evening. Mr Namgyal had already booked us a Guest House. Next day was an acclimatisation walk. We went around Leh palace and some monastries on the way. Sign of altitude sickness at bharatpur had gone and everyone was well acclimatised.

19th First day of the programme. Drive from Leh to Lamayuru.This is on the highway from leh to srinagar. surprisingly the road was good except in a few places. We reached Lamayuru by 6.00 pm via Alchi. The supporting staff had pitched the tents at the camping site and we selected our tents. After a cup of tea, we went to see the monastry, which is an ancient monastry, supposed to be 10th century.

20th First day of the trek. Everyone was geared up for the trek. The first day’s trek was up to Phanjila crossing over Prinkti la (3750m). The trail for the first 45 min was along the stream and then the climb to Prinkti La starts. We reached the pass after 2 hrs trek. After descending for 3 hrs we reached Wanla. It was very hot and everyone was tired. From Wanla to Phanjila is around 10 kms trek on Tar road. We halted for lunch at a camp site near wanla, rested there till sunset and walked on the road to reach Phanjila at 4.45pm.




21st We started trekking on the jeep track for 1 hr before entering the forest along the stream, crossing it many times. It’s a gradual ascent till Hinju village. Here Mr Hemanth backed out because of sickness. He and his wife Soumya was sent back along with one porter and the rest of the team started trekking towards our campsite. It’s a steep climb for 2 hrs. We reached Base of Konzki La by evening. It started raining at around 8.00 pm and went on for whole of the night.

22nd It was raining till 8.30 in the morning. We started the trek along the stream for 2 hrs and then the climb to Konzki la (4950m) begins. It’s a long winding path and took us 4 hrs to reach the top from the base of konzki la. After taking some pictures we descended to Sumdo Doksha in 2 hrs. Descend to the camp site was an easy one crossing many streams.





23rd Weather was very clear and everyone was well acclimatized. It was an easy trail traversing for 3 hrs before climbing 500 mts to Lanak La. Climb to Lanak La is strenuous. From the top of Lanak La to Base of Dung Dung Chan La took only 15 minutes.


24th We left early for the climb to Dung Dung Chan La at 7.40 which was a gradual ascent reaching the top at 9.30. This was the last day of the trek. We left the top at 10.00 towards chilling. Descend was a very tiring trek. It was a steep descent and it took us 4 hrs to reach chilling. Mr Hemanth and Soumya greeted us at chilling. We reached Leh by vehicle and after visiting Pangong Lake and river rafting we reached Bangalore on the 28th.

1 comment:

Rajshekar Patil said...

hi
my friends and i are planning to do lamayuru to chilling in juky. could u give me some info.. did u need a permit to do this trek. is yes, did u get it in leh and how long did it take to get it? is the trek too easy, and did u get to see amazing vistas? thanks!