Shang La and Matho La Pass

This trek is in the memory of our dear friend Satya.

Hiking is a bit like life: The journey only requires you to put one foot in front of the other…again and again and again. And if you allow yourself the opportunity to be present throughout the entirety of the trek, you will witness beauty every step of the way, not just at the summit – Unknown

On fine evening Sandeep and I got on chatting with friends and started discussing about  Khardungla Challenge and the Ladakh Marathon. Little did I realize then, that what started as a flippant conversation, would turn out to be a beautiful trek in the Stok region in Ladakh. Both these races demand good acclimatization and that’s how the search for an easy trek which allows for good acclimatization began.  I checked with Ved, and he recommended that we could do the twin pass trek of Shang La and Matho La.

The idea of a Himalayan trek before the marathon was floated and not surprisingly a few our friends were immediately on board. We were a mixed bunch in terms of experience. It was a first time Himalayan trek for few guys, but in terms of fitness levels all of them were above par.  The only factor in this trek that I really was concerned about was the altitude. Both the passes are at around 5000 mts.

We hopped on to a couple of flights to reach Leh.  Delhi-Leh is one of the best sectors to fly and like me, if you get a window seat, on a clear day you will see the great Himalayan range with the majestic mountains peeking beyond the clouds. 

We were met by Chris at the Leh airport. She was joining us from Sweden for the trip. We were ten of us and I realized that this was one of the biggest groups that I  had trekked with.

Leh is one of my favorite towns in the Himalayas. It never fails to disappoint. The place where we were put up by Ved had apple and apricot trees which were in season. 

We spent the day relaxing munching on freshly plucked apples and apricots. In the evening, we all went for a short walk towards the Shanti Stupa. I realized that I as equally excited about the trek as I was for the Khardungla challenge. In fact, a few of us were more excited about the upcoming trek than the run.  It was a good time for bonding.

The next day, all of us went up till Shang Sumdo, a three hour drive from Leh.  The trek eventually started from Shang Sumdo. I am always very anxious on the first day of the trek. Anxiety is mostly about what lies ahead, safety of the group, about the general discomfort, missing  my bed, but I am also at my happiest when I am in wilderness.

As we started walking on a dry river bed, the valley opened up. The Stok ranges could be seen in the distance. We were all walking easy as it was the first day, however walking on the river bed with loose stones and pebbles was not all that easy.  It was almost midday and we had to stop and wait as our mules had not arrived yet.  It had also started drizzling by now and all of us took out our rain gear.

Across the river, we suddenly saw some rocks tumbling from the mountain side. On closer look, we saw that there was a herd of Bharal ( Blue sheep ) that were running down the slope, causing the rock fall. 

It took the team some time as they loaded the mules and it was more than a couple of hours before the team joined us with the mules. The rain too had subsided by now, but the sun was still not out.  We were getting a little hungry by then and our contingency food of dry fruits and bars, came out immediately. 

We resumed our walk and soon realized that the trail had been washed away due to landslide. These were some tricky sections on the first day. However with the help of our support team, we managed to cross all these hurdles. 

We resumed our easy walk along the river bed. The valley around was stark and truly breathtaking. We were way above tree line but we did encounter some over grown juniper bushes along the way. We were slowly gaining altitude as we walked towards the campsite. Finally after walking for a few hours, we reached Shang Dkhosa our camp for the day. which is at an altitude of 4340mts.  This campsite site is used by shepherds who bring their flock of sheep nearby for grazing. 

Since we gained quite some altitude from Leh and it was just the second day of our trip, a few team members started having mild headache and little bit of discomfort with cold. The spirits were high though, and that made everyone cheerful and relaxed.  A few people went for an acclimatization walk to a near by hill.  

As the evening progressed, it started getting cold, and the jackets and woolen caps all came out.  The night sky was awesome. Santanu brought out his DSLR and tripod and tried to capture some pictures of the night sky, but the cold was now getting quite unbearable. After dinner, we talked for a while and then retired to our respective tents.

The next day we got ready for the climb to the pass. We were all checking on each other as most of us had a sleepless night because of a persistent headache. Anyways, it was all good and the spirits were still high. From Shang Dhoksa, the Shang-La is not visible, so we did not know how the climb was going to be. 

We started our ascent along the true left of another small stream. The trail was very well marked and quite broad at most of the sections. The climb was gradual and not that difficult. We did take our customary breaks all throughout and soaked in the scenery.

I was mildly surprised to see green meadows, as I had thought that the landscape would be barren.  The walk till the pass was around 3 to 4hrs negotiating a well marked trail in a beautiful valley. Sandeep and I have traversed many passes in the Himalayas, and I must say the climb to this pass is comparatively quite straight forward. After a while, as all of us walked comfortably towards the top, we could see the prayer flags on top of the pass. Every individual gets different emotions at the top including a feeling of content, remembering loved ones, ecstasy. I was feeling very content and I remembered our friend Satya how he would have felt proud of us .

The pass is at an altitude of around 4890mts. 

The top was very windy and it was cooler than what I was expecting. After spending some time at the pass, it was now time to descent on the other side. Typically, the descent from the pass is also sometime tricky and requires caution. We were all very cautious as we carefully negotiated the trail climbing down the pass. After a while, we got down near a small meadow alongside a fast flowing river. 
The campsite was another couple of hours walk from here so we decided to have our packed lunch and relax for sometime at this beautiful place
 

We began walking towards the campsite and reached it much before the

two hours time. The campsite was at around 4400mts and it was on a gently sloping meadow. The sun was out and was it was blazing as we reached the camp. After a while about a million sheep came to pay us a visit at the camp. 

We were all acclimatized by now or that is what I thought. How wrong was I. As the sunset and the cold set in, a few of us started getting a mild headache.  It began to get progressively colder as we  had our dinner in the kitchen tent. We decided to retire for the night. 

Trekkers who just want to do the “Shang La” can finish the trek in a near by village but since we had decided to do the “Matho La” as well, we had planned to walk till the base of the camp next day.

We got ready for the day and the plan was to walk till Matho Dhoksa, another of these shepherd pasture. I must say it was the most beautiful day of the trek. Unlike broad and well marked trails, we were walking along an undulating ridge.

The trail was still well marked though. It was like hopping from one ridge another, some we had to climb and others we had to descent. The surrounding  was stark mountains with varied colors. And to add to all this, we were joined by a very beautiful dog today. We named here Julee.

It was easy walking till we reached the big meadow of Matho Dhoksa. We stopped here for a while. But soon, it started to drizzle and we had to get our rain gear out. Thankfully, it was only a light drizzle and there was no thunderstorm.  A thunderstorm would have been very bad, since we were totally exposed and had no where to take shelter. Since everybody was feeling great, we decided to walk further till the base of the Matho La.

 

We reached relatively early at the campsite. The sun was continuously playing hide and seek. When the sun would be out, it would get very warm and then It started raining during early evening. This is how it gets in the mountains. The weather can be really unpredictable and that’s why typically I feel, we should be at the camp before late afternoon.  The camp is amidst majestic Stok ranges. Although not very high from the Himalayan standards, the Stok ranges are very beautiful. Stok Kangri, the highest mountain in these ranges, is not visible from this camp, but we could see another snow capped peak which someone mentioned is called the Gulab Kangri. 

The evening was spent discussing various topics from climbing Everest and K2,  running the UTMB, playing and posing with our friend Julee.  Santanu again got his camera and tripod out and tried to click pictures. But the sky was a little cloudy today. I retired early tonight, but could hear a lot of chatter outside. Mohan and Anoop were in the neighboring tent and I could hear them discussing till late in the night. Sometime in the night I fell asleep.

The Matho La pass is around an hours hike from the base camp. As we started walking, the Stok range was to the left of us. On the right were other mountains in different shades of brown.  

The team was well acclimatized by now, which could be seen in the manner all of us were negotiating the climb.  None of us had any difficulty as we trudged our way towards the Matho La pass. The climb seemed comparatively easier than the climb to Shang La and after a while we were on top of the Matho La ( 4890 meters ).  

Again, we spent sometime on the pass admiring the views. Stok Kangri was clearly visible from the top. I could sense a change in the scenery on the other side of the pass. This other side seemed brown and barren, more like the Ladakh I am used to seeing. 

The descent from the pass was again on a well marked broad trail. As we climbed down, Brijesh and I tried to run for while to check if our running muscles were doing ok. It seemed ok :-).  We all rested for a while at a small meadow near a stream and had our packed lunch. The camp for today was at Mankarmo. However Ved suggested that Instead of camping at Mankarmo, which can get very crowded because of all the climbers to Stok Kangri, we camp at another site just before Manokarmo .

After walking for a short while, we came across this campsite which looked like another of those shepherd’s pasture.  We were greeted by loud calls and we could see a few marmots around us. The afternoon as usual was blazing and very warm. 

After a while, I saw Chris coming towards me and I have never seen her this angry. I realized she had found a lot of trash dumped by previous trekkers and there was a cow which was chewing on all that plastic. That got me angry too. It is really heartbreaking to see the beautiful mountains and the beautiful animals residing in this mountains to filled with plastic.

We had a lot of time to kill today and we spent the whole afternoon and evening playing Dumb Charades and other games. Tonight was going to be our last night in tents. Tonight also turned out to be the coldest nights on the trek. The sky was very clear and we could see millions of stars.

As we got ready for the last hike of the trek, we realized that we had a long walk today. The destination was the village of Stok, which is at the road head.  Although the walk was long, it was again very easy, because it was downhill. We were mostly walking along the true left of the Stok river. 

There were quite a few places where we had to cross the small sections of the river, but all simple. Nonetheless, the surroundings were no less beautiful. Unlike the other days, we did get to see quite a lot of trekkers today, most of them either going to or coming from the climb of Stok Kangri.  We had our lunch near the stream, under the cooling shade of a willow tree. 

Finally after walking for a long time, we could see the the monastery of what looked like the Stok village.

As we reached Stok village, I had mixed feelings like always. On the one hand, this was the end of a beautiful trek and on the other, we were back in civilization. 

The few days spent on the trek were super fun. I was where I always love to be and want to be, amongst the mountains. I just wanted breath all the fresh air and behold the beautiful views and if possible take them home with me.

As part of the team we had Anoop, Santanu, Mohan, John, Sabine, Chris, Jaggi, Brijesh, Sandeep and I. There were many first timers on the team and the way they showed grit, determination and patience is extremely commendable.  As a team, we were awesome. Some of us had altitude issues, some of us dealt with the fear of heights, some of us struggled with carrying the weight and some of us struggled descending down or climbing up but at the end  we were all cheerful, happy  and took care of each other. We definitely had a great time in the mountains and I wish this team does many more treks together.

There is something humbling about mountains. Maybe it’s their tall and grandiose appearance or the initial intimidation when you cast your eyes on them. But ultimately, the most humbling part is the sense of accomplishment that we get after climbing.

The feeling of achievement, appreciation for the journey, and the chance to be outdoors.

Until next time, I will live with the memories of the last few days.

More photos here - Shang La Matho La pics