trip report by besthike editor Rick McCharles
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I had a peaceful night camped above 5000m close to the rocky face of the big mountain – Stok Kangri.
What little water I had left was frozen.
My challenge today was to scramble “Rick’s ridge” back to the trail.
You could say I was lost. On the other hand, I could see the official route many kms below.
In fact I loved the ridge walk. One of the highlights of the week.
The only difficulty was the last scramble down to Rumbak 3847m.
Rumbak turned out to be a pretty, interesting town. Everyone getting ready for winter.
Feed. Wood. Fuel.
These contraptions are used for melting snow.
These are used for gates and fences.
They use some solar power in Ladakh, but not nearly as much as in Nepal.
I carried on up to Yurutse 4150m.
And finally Kanda La “Base Camp” 4345m. (Calling these Pass jumping off points Base Camps is embarrassing, I agree.)
The young guy running the parachute was getting drunk on rum and beer. And looking forward to partying.
I left as quickly as possible after my Masala Chai.
I hiked up to about 4600m metres to a place that my guidebook called “Advanced Base Camp”.
It was me. The marmots. The partridge (?). And a horseman that stopped to let his animals graze and drink for a half hour.
As always, you need watch the cattle and Yak hybrids. They like to snoop in tents for food.
I hid my passport and most of my money under a stone. Just in case.
Good night. 🙂
See all my high resolution photos from this day on flickr.
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