Extend your Ladakh Circuit to Siachen Base Camp

After the thrilling ride of last night we slept dead on those semi soft beds which we got in the camp. We woke up at around 8 and the view outside was worth giving a long watch. The ride which was so haunting brought us to this beautiful place called Kogzar. This is the first hault for the Ladakh riders. And these small road side dhabhas provide good shelter plus the food. We had our breakfast and planned to cover the rest of the journey to leh today. So we shifted the required stuff in one bag and kept the other here only. It was 10:00AM when we left from Kogzar and started riding towards Leh, the weather was sunny so it was so comfortable riding and within 2 hours we reached Keylong. Keylong is another known destination on this route , this falls under the lahaul and Spiti district. It reminded me of my journey to Spiti valley in June 2018. We took a halt , had tea and just sat there for a while to gaze the view around. We could find a lot of riders riding but they all were riding in groups unlike us who were riding alone. Soon we realized why it is important to ride in groups when just after crossing Jispa , ahead of the Indian Army transit camp our tyre broke down. The tools worked and we could remove the tyre but couldn't remove the tube. Though we were carrying the extra tube and pump along with the tools, but we gave up after putting an hour trying to remove the tube. The best thing about this ride was, though we were riding alone but throughout we didn't feel that because there are so many riders and every rider is a savior. We got some 6-7 riders who stopped to help us but we finally decided to take the tyre back to Jispa and get it repaired. So Amar took a lifetime and went back to Jispa along with the tyre while I stayed back there with the bike. It was 3PM and I lay down on the road and didn't realize that I had slept for 3 hours. Next thing I saw was not so bright and sunny day, rather it was little dark and wind was too freezy, I got tensed as now it was almost 3 hours and Amar still didn't come. The cellular network stops at Kogzar only and you barely get some on the way and at least there was no hope, so I walked to the army transit camp and explained them the situation and asked for help. Seeing me they first offered me food and I couldn't deny. I had the fresh served food in their canteen, the food was so good that at once I literally forgot why I came to them but then Amar was important too 😬 so I rushed back to the officer and he asked me to wait for a while. It was 7:30 and the sky turned all dark , the temperature dropped to 1-2° and the frozen wind was doing the rest. Finally I saw a truck stopping by and here he was, he got the tyre repaired and brought the truck drivers who would help us fixing the tyre but since it was too dark, even after putting another hour to it we couldn't fix the tyre. Now it was 9:00PM and we were standing there alone. There were no riders passing by, as it was Baralacha la just after around 18KM. This pass is famous for it's HUGE ice walls and frozen path so no rider crosses it at night. Now we had no choice but to get back to the transit camp and seek for help. So we somehow manged to reach there and ask them for help and again they proved to be our saviors. Again we got the food and they fixed up the tyre but they denied us for the stay. They asked us to stay at zingzingbar for the night which was around 15km far from that place, but we were more scared of Baralacha la which was at around the same distance. We had no option and we started riding. It was 11:00PM and now it started raining too. Twice in a row, we were riding through the same situation but this time we were scared too, as till now we had heard enough of Baralacha la and we didn't want to get into a risk, so we were keeping our eyes open but no hope. Leave a dhaba, there was no single human around. For once we thought, maybe, we should get back to the transit camp, but after riding for almost 17KM, just after the sharp cut, what we saw was better than anything for that moment. Few road side dhabas were there and I stopped at the first one and we rushed inside. This time we would have been ready to pay anything for the shelter but the best thing about these people is, they don't just do business they actually serve you when you need the most. This guy gave us garlic water, lots of tea and then food and charged pennies for the stay. And then he explained us the journey ahead and about all the passes which we will be riding through. The destination was far and everyday the ride was getting tougher but it was the charm of the destination only which was boosting us to move further.

The view next morning was ironical as it was amazingly beautiful around while we were badly terrified by the same place last night. We got up early as now we had no choice but to reach Leh today and the distance was still too long to cover. We got some extended feel of road trip as there were no washrooms with these dhabas this time and you know some calls can't be ignored. Well we had breakfast and we started at 8AM. We knew we had one of the toughest pass ahead and the stories turned to reality in another half hour. There were too huge ice walls both the sides and it was all white till where we could see. The roads were slippery, so I was riding with extra care and then the nalas (huge potholes) on the way made it more risky. We were wearing gum boots today, thanks to the guy at the dhaba, he got us those boots for the ride ahead. I could feel the ride through sela pass again while riding through Baralacha la. It was the same feel, the roads, the mountains, the sky, the weather everything was same. By 11AM we crossed Baralacha and got 4 more riders added and now we became a group of 6 riders riding together. After Baralacha it was Sarchu and another two  passes - Nakeela la &  Lachulang la. It was 2PM and we were riding continuously since 8AM with very small haults as we had to reach leh today. The journey was going smooth with broad roads and then a pass which makes you ride to the highest level and then ride back to the base. Now we were heading towards Pang. But this stretch of this route was the worst one with almost no roads to ride. Muddy, Rocky , slippery stones were all we were riding on and another biggest pass was waiting for us for today - Tanglang La (17582Ft). We were tired but we were boosted enough to ride till we reach leh, so we kept riding and crossed Tanglang La. There was heavy snowfall while we were crossing Tanglang La since it was one of the highest passes. The weather there was way too different than at the other passes. At 6PM we took a hault at Upshi. Now leh was just 55KM but it turned dark and we decided to ride ahead. It was a moment of relief when we finally saw a petrol pump after almost 365KM and we got our tanks and storage filled. It was around 10PM when we finally entered leh. We were all tired but reaching here and completing this ride was a moment of relief too. We went to Ladakh Scout where we had our stay. It was an army guest house, all thanks to one of the riders among those 4, because right now all we needed was a reserved place to stay rather than looking for something. We had amazing food and we don't know when we fell asleep talking about the ride.

We got up early as today we had to leave for the Pangong lake and on the way we were supposed to cross another biggest pass - Chang La. We started at 9AM and first got our permits for Leh, Pangong and Hunder. Also the bikes were to be changed here as only J&K registered numbers move beyond Leh. So we took another set of bullets on rent from there and started riding to Pangong. The route was too bad, again it was either rocky or muddy, as the construction was going on to build the roads. We took 2 halts before we could reach Chang La. But reaching Chang La  was a proud moment. Temperature was touching the lowest to the negatives and snow fall was at it's best but still there was an army man standing there and serving tea to the riders. Every ride brings me closer to them, so selflessly they serve to the nation. And I rightly read somewhere - a life time adventure for you is a routine for us. The route from Changla to Pangong was no way better, first rocky then sand. As we were approaching closer to Pangong the roads were started turning to be covered with sand and it was getting risky to ride as chances of getting slipped there were higher. It was around 6PM when we finally reached Pangong, one of the most beautiful lake around this circuit. The weather turned bit freezing and the wind around the lake was too heavy, we sat there for a while around the lake with some light music and when it turned dark and difficult to even stand there, we got ourselves a stay beside the lake. The ride was long even today but the view of that beautiful lake and being there for a while was worth it all. We had our dinner and one of the best sleep that night.

Our ride with those 4 riders came to an end as they decided to go back to Leh while for two of us the real destination was still far. We woke up too early as we had to ride to Hunder today, plus, who wants to miss out on sitting aside the lake early morning. We had our breakfast sitting out there and we shared lot of thoughts as these small gaps that we get out of the ride is what we ride for. Every new place carries thousands of thoughts and with every another ride we learn alot. I believe travelling is still the most intense way of learning. We started at 9AM as suggested by one of the major with whom we were in touch with, as we had to report to him at Pratap Pur Base Camp to get our permits for the Siachen Base Camp. We started riding and the route was the same as we had to go back to a point, from there we took the route to the beautiful Nioma Valley. We had to ride some 250KM with no pass on the way, so we planned to reach around 3PM so we could enjoy the famous double humped camel ride at Hunder. After riding for 3 hours, we stopped by the side of the Zanskar river. Another one of the beautiful rivers which turns into the famous Chaddar trek in winters. We sat there for a while and then started again. After another 2 hours of ride, we started getting heavy sand on the road sides and soon on the roads, this was a hint that Hunder is close. At once, the wind was so heavy that the entire sand was flowing with it and it became difficult to maintain the balance while riding. Roads, water, ice, mud, rocks and now sand. All of these we had seen and rode through on this journey till now. One of the best thing about this circuit is, you get to read a lot of good quotes written by BRO(Border road organization) at the road side, out of which one hit me really hard - "Jobs fill your pocket, adventure fill your soul". So hard and real it was. After a while we could see us approaching to one of the biggest monasteries of Nubra Valley - Diksit Monastery. With a 106Ft buddha statue this monastery becomes visible from very far. With that giant Buddha statue outside, this monastery had even more beautiful interior. We had our lunch at the monastery restaurant. If you really like Thupka then you must have it in one of the monastery canteen, they really make it so good. We started riding again and reached Hunder at around 4PM. We decided to treat ourselves good as tomorrow was going to be a big day for us, so we got us one of the best resorts this small village had. This small village had a lot of camp based resorts, but we needed a proper room this time as we had done enough camping on this ride. We freshen up and went out for the camel ride, it was bumpy but then we were anyways riding since 5 days so we barely could feel the bumps🤣.
Then we went to meet the Major and got our permits to enter to the highest battle feild of world - Siachen Base Camp. As a child it was one of my dream, if I could ever get to Siachen. I read about it as a kid somewhere in history and watched a documentary on Operation Meghdoot. The permit to Siachen base camp was through lot of special requests, but the best part is, now Siachen is open for civilians and this part can be avoided.
We came back to the resort and they really served us what we needed - great food, we literally ate alot and as per the schedule we had to leave at morning 4AM for the base camp, plus, the excitement of being there already took all of our sleep. With all our alarms being set we slept for a while.

Some Clicks from the Journey :

3:30AM and I woke up. This time I didn't let the alarm ring, the eyes were waiting to get open and I was all excited to cover this part of this Circuit.
We got ready and as planned we got our car at our resort at 4AM with one of the soldiers who was supposed to take us to the base camp.
We started at 4AM and at 6AM we crossed the first TCP (Traffic Control Post) from where further movement of civilians isn't allowed (but now the Siachen has got open up for tourism). The officers there already had our names in record, so they checked our IDs and took the original ID cards of our driver as a security measure. We moved further and as we were moving ahead, we were moving more closer to the Siachen glaciers. Since this area is limited to the army access, we got see lot of aircrafts, parts of artilleries, etc. By 8AM we reached to the last TCP where two new officers joined us to take us to the base camp. And at around 8:30AM we entered to the world's most highest battle field - Siachen Base Camp. We went to the display huts where one of the officers accompanied us and explained us about the life cycle of Siachen posting. About all the posts of our soldiers range from 13k ft to 22k ft. They later showed us all the supplies and tools they use there. It was one of the biggest learning of our lives to know about a place which haunts us with its name, but our soldiers are sitting there 24*7 protecting us. They also explained us about the threats from the borders around the glaciers. After the display camps we were taken to the Siachen War Memorial, where all the names of the martyred soldiers were engraved on the walls around the memorial and it was painful to see 1800+ names there. Officers there explained us about the reasons of the casualties and the loss of lives there at the post or even after coming back from there. A soldier gets posted to Siachen Glacier for a term of 90 days apart from his commute time. They walk to the glaciers and then walk back which also takes 15-20 days. Hence, the total time one soldier spends at that extreme altitude and weather condition is around 100-110 days which gives them a lot of health issues like weight loss, memory loss, water blockage etc. We all have seen the video where the soldiers were boiling the packed juice as it was frozen. This is what we actually saw there. Survival there is a fight with the weather every single moment. Then we were taken to the O.P Baba Shrine, a sarv dharam sthal(all religions' abode) , where the soldiers worship before they move to their posts. This place had all the religions under one shelter, what a great message they were trying to give. From there we were taken to the training camps, where we got to see the live training of soldiers. Seeing this was one of the best moment of this ride. Around 12PM we started heading back to the Hunder and this way we became one of the riders who extended the Ladakh circuit to Siachen Base Camp.
We reached Hunder at around 3:30 PM and from there we started our ride back to Leh crossing Khardung La, the highest pass at 17,982 ft and from Leh to Manali via same route. One can also opt for Sri Nagar highway to cover Kargil and Dras sector. For us this ride got all what it needed so we decided to get back to Manali.

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Keep riding, keep exploring, keep moving.
The Mountain Riders.