To Stok-La and Back

"La" means pass (as in moutain pass) in Tibetan. Stok is a village located in a fertile valley that is home to the Ladakhi royal family. The trek we began 4 days ago began about 65 kilometers to the Northeast of Stok, which is several valleys away from Leh, Ladakh. We knew that the trek up to Stok-La was going to be challenging at best and possibly even miserable at times.



The cause--altitude. Just going from Manali, at 8000 ft, to Leh, 12500, was trying, with periods of dizziness and some nausea throughout the trip. Even during the first two days in Leh, itself, Paul and I had to deal with mild symptoms of altitude sickness. So naturally, we were concerned about moving up to 15500 ft. The trek began as we were driven out of Leh, to a cluster of small villages called Spitok. We met up with our guide, Thundup, his son, Thupten and Sonam, the horseman. Yes, horseman. We had 5 pack horses to carry all the camping equipment. The first day began rather uneventfully. While Sonam and Thupten packed up the horses we started off with Thundop across a 12 kilometer stretch on a rocky desert plain. The high desert in Ladakh is comprised of primarily narrow valleys, with streams at the bottom that have hollowed out the rock and created canyons. The first day of our trek was to be the last sight of the rocky open plain that was split by the Indus river. After about 2 hours of walking out in the open, we met up with the horses and hiked side by side with them up a fairly steep incline into the moutains that would take us up to Stok La. The horses carried 50 kilos with little effort urged on by Sonam with an occasional "Ooch" ("go") or a sound that was somewhere between a whistle and a whisper. The air was clear, exceptionally dry, the sky was the typical summer Ladakhi bright blue with a few cumulus clouds drifting lazily. The path we were climbing was about 10 ft wide, giving the horses and us ample room to criss-cross back and forth. Knowing that this first leg of the journey would be the simplest, and that I would tire as the hours and days went on, I began asking Thundup a slew of questions about Ladakhi culture, Ladakhi views about Buddhism and the history of the caravan in Ladakhi and geography. Although he was basically a barley farmer who worked as a guide in his spare time, his English was impeccable and his knowledge of and pride in local customs and history was impressive. He and his son were exceedingly goodnatured and we passed the next few hours ascending into the towering heaps of sand and rock in leisurely conversation. Sonam and Thupten pushed on ahead while Paul, Thundup and I took our time on the last segment of the trail for the first day. By the time we arrived at camp, to our surprise, the tents were set up and dinner was already going. It was three in the afternoon and the dusty brown of the high desert moutain valley trail gave way to an oasis of green fed by a glacial stream.