One of the claims to fame that Ley has is that it is the gateway to the Nubra Valley and at the base of the mammoth drivable pass of Khardung La (5602M or 18,380ft). Since it was Schwinn affiliated, and I am not one to pass up a “in the world” type option, I figured it would be a fun challenge to take the Schwinn to the top for some nice photos and of course the “been there, done that”, check off.
Since I arrived into Ladakh quite early for the season and Global warming has had only a medium effect, the weather did hamper things for a few days. A more pressing issue came when I went to find out about the permit required to travel to the Nubra Valley on the other side, as well as just to go to the top. The travel agents who process the permit stated that the permits were only sold with a minimum of four people. If I wanted a permit by myself I would have to purchase all four permits and find three other passport copies in which to submit. Crappola. Luckily, while heading to one of my lunch places in town I ran into a guy fixing his Enfield in front of a hotel. He was one of four Israelis who came up from Manali. I was pleasantly shocked to get first hand knowledge that the road was passable and it was possible by motorcycle. The word that I had gotten from the jeep drivers was that it would be at least a couple more weeks. I learned that he and his wife came on one bike and another couple whom they had met up with came on another. We got to talking and I learned that they too were looking to do the climb up the pass, so I let him know the requirements and the predicament that I was in and he was more than happy to let me join their group. Happy days.
The next few days passed on without a permit as one day was Sunday, the next was a holiday, and the third it stormed and we would have been unable to get the permit back the same day anyway. We ended up hanging out the few days taking short runs here and there and doing shopping for the return ride back to Manali as they were ill prepared for the cold and wet conditions coming from Manali. It was nice to hang out with like minded people as I have gotten kind of snobbish in whom I associate with. Now that I am a biker, there is no way that I am going to hang out with those crazy bastards that like to walk all over the place. They were a fun bunch as well so it made the time pass by quickly.
Finally, the day arrived and we took off from Ley. The weather was looking fair with only some light transparent clouds. Since I had already done two-thirds of the climb when I went to the check point, it went fairly quickly as they were pedal to the metal types. We did the check point registration and then started the climb up the surprisingly good roads. The first half up from the check point was still semi-paved with the following quarter being fairly smooth dirt road. Only the top quarter when you hit the snow line at around 4500M did things get a bit rough. Even then, the Schwinn with minimal weight zipped right up without a hiccup. I was passing the tourist Jeeps and the military convoys like they were standing still. Since I was riding light, I could keep my speed up and basically float over all the water traps and rocks obstacles. I was surprised at how short it actually was up to the top.
When we got to the top, it was pretty damn cold. The altitude didn’t affect me as I have been above 3000M for the last three weeks. Edithe on the other hand wasn’t feeling all that great at Ley 3500M, so when we stopped at the top for photos and a chai, she went down hill fast. We decided it was best to start heading down so we did the back half which was exactly the opposite of the Ley side.
I did run into some problems when my throttle cable broke and stuck the accelerator at three quarter throttle. Going up it would have been fine, but when you are going down a steep incline, throttle is not what you need. I ended up riding down a lot of the way with the motor off and in neutral. It worked for quite a long time until we hit an uprise and I had to pull over. Both the guys were motorcyclists back in Israel so they jumped in and switched out the cable and we were on the road in less than half an hour.
Using my guidebook we decided on stopping in the second to the last village of Diskit. Unfortunately most of the guest houses were still closed as we were really early. Nissan went off solo and found a great place which was just built. The rooms were spic and span and since we were getting three rooms we even got a slashed price. Since Michel and Edith were limited as their Visas expired in three weeks, they decided it would be best if they only stayed the one night and then headed back to Ley so they could prepare for the run back to Manali. We made the best of the evening by visiting the local sand dunes and the big Monastery on the top of the hill. Since I was not in quite a rush and since we pretty much zipped through the whole run without stopping (no photos), I elected to stay another couple of days even though that would mean I would be on my own again.
The next day they took off and we planned on meeting again in Nepal. The next couple of days I toured around the valley which is unique in that it really is a high altitude dry desert surrounded by the Himalayas. The valley is usually closed off for seven months out of the year when winter comes, so the people are all self-sufficient for those times and crazily busy farming and handling the tourist influx for the other five months. The place is just an amazing scenic location with a unique culture thrown in. It was so interesting; I am thinking that it would be quite an adventure living through a winter there.
After a few days of sight seeing, I took a look at the weather (which was perfect not a cloud in the sky), and headed back up the pass. Luckily, the town had a petrol pump as I thing gunning it down the mountains used up a lot more fuel that I expected. The ride up was extremely nice as the sun was out and I was able to make it up to the snow line before having to don my cold weather gear. The only scary moment of the whole up and down came when I hit about the only real sketchy area of the pass. On one of the bends, it makes a sharp turn and the run-off seemed to collect there combining with all the heavy vehicles cutting the turn, it caused a huge deep pool of muddy water surrounded by a high snow bank. I came up on the turn a little fast and was met by an oncoming lorry, which was half way through the pool. He couldn’t stop, as he would have gotten stuck which in turn would have shut down the mountain. I ended up sliding right up to the edge and using the snow bank to come to a stop. Luckily it was fairly level and I was able to yank my bike back out of the corner so the truck had enough room to pass. One second earlier or later and it would have been a big bad adventure all the way around.
The ride back down to Ley was pretty uneventful but I looked forward to a hot shower, some Scrubs, and some good old chow. I had done the big bad road and mission accomplished.
Unfortunately I still can’t upload photos, so it will still have to wait.
