Sampling Ladakh

[sam2019]

Impressions from various trips in the Leh/Ladakh region.

 

[sam2019]

more ...

 

[Dool]

Seems better suited to Yaks than Motorcycles

 

[Dool]

You gotta admire the People who manage to live there, there is no O2, its like a base camp for the Moon.

 

[sam2019]

Its not quite that bad although I have to admit sleeping in Sarchu at 3500m when coming directly from Manali at roughly 2000m can be a challenge with a slight headache sometimes. Thats why I now usually stop for a night in Jispa at 3000m to get acclimatized.
Leh itself only has 2500m and once I reach there the problems are gone. One can always do some Pranayama to push the O2 levels though.

Regarding the road quality - it is getting better every year and soon there wont be any challenging parts left. Most of the stretch is already plain old black top and some of the more hard to ride downhill flooded slopes now get new bridges which should be ready in 2023 or 2024. With the opening of the Rohtang tunnel a big stretch that is really awful is already gone unless one chooses to take that route over the top. I have been there so many times I am quite happy to cut 50km and a lot of muddy downhill stretch by using the tunnel. The adventure now starts at about 30km after Jispa. Before that the road is very good.

Check our last trip video from 2022 here: