Zanskar Road update

tommohawk

Just finished the LAmayuru to darcha via padum trek. Thought I'd give a brief update on the road.

It now goes from the highway before leh past wanla, panjila, sumdo and up towards the top of the pass after hanupatta (I walked the gorge way so didn't see exactly how far this bit goes)

As soon as you come over the top of Parfi la ou can see the road on the oposite bank of the zanskar heading up the valley. Followed the river as far as I could see. The road was wide and tarmaced allready for big stretches. This part of course then goes all the way to padum past pidmo and zangla etc.

After padum the road goes to reru, then carries on to Ichar and about a couple of ks past ichar. There uis no road bridge across to ichar yet though.

The final stretch of road began about 1k past Zanskar sumdo, past palamao and all the way to darcha.


Saw probably thousands of guys from bihar all in all sorting the road. Locals all seem to want the raod, obvious big advantages to them. I hope they realise what they'll lose.

Think I walked this trek just in time. Anyone thinking of doing should do it in the next few years before theres even more transformation.

vzzzbx

Thanks for the update. I walked this trek a year earlier and saw the construction works too (of course). I knew the plans, but the reality just hit home. Especially reading that they're so near to the pass after Hanupatta. They're really closing in from all sides. It seems hard to grasp that "soon" it will all be motorized where I trekked for days in such remote areas. I'm always ambivalent to opening up these regions with road construction. Who am I to deny local people a road if they want it, but it will bring different tourism. Less people will trek all the way, so villages at the end of the trails will see only cars passing by, no tourists stopping by. Our guide during our trek also thought that it's a short-sighted desire to want a road. But who knows... I'm also glad I experienced Zanskar without having to trek alongside a road.

tommohawk

yeah I agree totally.

just glad I got here in time

my camera broke on the 2nd day. Bit gutting really. One of ther most beutiful couple of weeks I've ever had.

.... except for the lugging up to 20kgs up 5100m passes... not so beautiful

vzzzbx

Wow. On my trek I also saw trekkers with full packs (food, camping gear and all). I had only a small day pack. My stuff was on the back of a mule. But I had great respect for the people who did it on their own, carrying such heavy loads over those high passes.

In November I'll go on a trek in the Khumbu (Everest) region in Nepal where I'll carry my own stuff too. But we're going from guesthouse to guesthouse, so we don't need food or camping gear. I intend to limit myself to a 10kg pack.

tommohawk

yeah, in hindsight we didnt need all the food we carried. by the end we'd shed about 5kgs each of food. last few days just carrying emergency food.

luckily a marmot helped us out by stealing 1kg of top quality cheese from my bag, stupidly left slightly open over night

I reckon i could could get away with 12-15kgs. 10's a good target if you can do it.

pip

Well, we planned to this one soon, so thanks, Tommo! Jesus, hard to imagine this major Zanskar route under a road...last time we did it they were up to Palamo from Darcha at the south end, but it was under a giant landslide (hah), and there was a dirt road from Padum to Reru, which was just horrible to walk on a hot afternoon.

At least the poor Manali ponies will get some rest at last. And there are some great other routes. The Indian army must have got some serious funding in their quest to motorise the place. But think of the impact on the Zanskari villagers, whose lives have changed forever, in almost the blink of an eyelid. wow.

Yes, we aim for 15kgs for me, 10-12kgs for her; camera gear makes it a hard target...last time I carried a tripod in the hand from Cha to Phugtal (the high dangerous route) - we used it to pull each other over the loose scree.

captain bruce

Depressing reading guys! As a demonstration of what happens when you build a road look at the annapurna circuit in nepal. No one does it now its a road......However, if you want the wilder stuff can i recommend the ladakh range - like zanskar used to be. The rumour is that the west of tso moriri/hanle will be open next year politics permitting

pip

Tommohawk, should you look back in on to this thread, can you give me an idea how far the road goes heading north from Padum please? And, is it motorable yet? Since I read your news, I figure it is still worth seeing via a shorter walk from the trail, over the Sirsir La, then into the Shillagong valley up to Wanla.

And, all is not lost even if the road pushes over the mighty Shingo La eventually, since one can then be driven to some of the enticing side valleys and walk a lot of great countryside in round trips back to the road. Few of us have the time to do so on the cross Zanskar walk, as both ends from Padum are quite long. Just a thought, I try to have 'em occasionally ;-) Another option that would open up is easier access to Rupshu, from near Tangsen. The development board (if one exists - eek) will need to manage access to Phugtal carefully.

But overall, can you imagine how fast Padum will develop once the last link is made, because there is no place I have ever seen quite like Zanskar, and the road tourism potential will be huge, even though the high passes are in all directions. The army would want this as an all weather road whenever possible.

Captain, We walked that Annapurna west side up from the steamy trail head to Muktinath couple years ago; you're so right, hearing and then seeing vehicles is sad indeed, even if they are all friendly Nepalis! Still, the area around Kagbeni is wonderful, so airy and wide open, and so near to the place I always ache to go to - Tibet.

thanks, Phil.

tommohawk

We first put our feet on the road oposite pidmo... just across the bridge. The road carries on north from there out of sight, but I guess to get on to the track this is as far as you can get. we got a lift in a work truck from there. no buses go this far. Jeep would do it I guess. bus goes as far as zangla I think