markha valley--planning

+body

Salaam from a newbie.
I've been visiting this site since I started dreaming of India (Ladakh). HUGELY useful. Thanx for being there.
I've done tea-houses treks in Himalayas (Nepal), but have'nt done camping treks. I've qs about the nuts-&-bolts of organising the markha valley trek. 3 of us'll probably start the trek on 18/06.
Will stay mostly in homesteads and parachute tents. Plan to carry a tent and minimal cooking gear. We hope to arrange this and a ponyman with an agency in Leh. Firstly, is this a sensible plan? Now to the nitty-gritties that I'm afraid might sound silly (i find that similar qs hav'nt invited many replies. Pliiiiz can veterans and enthusiasts, address them?
Q1.Food: How much provision should we carry—other than candies, dried nuts and such?
a) breakfast-lunch-dinner for 8-9 days: Can we expect to have at least 1/2 these in/packed from teahouses? More? Less?
b) Will teahouses be able to give some emergency stock if we fall short?
c) Has someone written a blog/account of the food they have prepared during treks in India? We are more than a little worried about what to stock up. For instance, doesn't dal take a long time to cook?
Q2. Water: Again how much should we carry? We don’t plan to be stingy on this.
Q3. Ponyman: What is the hiring rate for a ponyman this season? (We wouldn’t expect him to cook). Is there the possibility of hiring a ponywoman?

P'haps many of these r in Charlie Loram’s book. but the misearble bookshops here haven't managed a copy of the book yet. Am convinced that they'll probably get it, if at all, after our trek.

kolobar

You can expect to find homestays in Rumbak, Yurutse, Shingo, Skyu and I guess Markha village too. There are parachute tents in Ganda la base camp, Tachungtse and Nimaling - and this covers all of the Markha valley trek (from Nimaling you can walk all the way to Shah Sumdo where you reach the road and public bus service). Since you intend to trek early in season paracute tents might not be 100% there.
Contrary to your intention - when you hire a ponyman, you should also arrange with him to cook for you. Since he is bringing a stove, kerozin and food to make food for himself it will be the easiest way to prepare food for you too. First you have to decide which days you want to depend on your own food (I would say at least Tachungste and Nimaling and maybe one or two more days), then you go with your ponyman for shopping and you leave quantities to him to decide, including a quantity of kerozen. At least this is how I do it. (BTW: when you use split dal it does not cook long, in Nepal they usually even grind lentils to cook faster).
There is usually some basic food you can buy in parachute tents so even if you dont bring anything you will not starve - if tents are open of course.
All campsites have a source of water but you should not use it untreated. Therefore either you boil it (on your ponymans stove) or use good filters, iodine etc. I would say you should carry at least 2 liters of water since rehidration is also important for acclimatization.
I have never in my life seen a ponywoman. Property of horses and work with them is exclusively mans job in Ladakh (and in tibetan cultural world in general).
If you are interested I can give you my regular ponyman address. Ponymen are experienced in treks with tourists and can help you organize the trek so you will not have to worry about basic things.
I will skip giving you the price. There are big differences in prices for ponymen (for horses more precisely) quoted on this forum and the only thing I can say is that the price given to you by my ponyman will be fair price. You should know that ponymen charge per horse and you dont have to pay for a ponyman (even if there are two of them). Also you have to pay for their return trip (for instance: when you reach the end of your trek in Shah Sumdo, it will take your ponyman at least one more day to reach his home if he is from around Leh). Cooking will be charged extra. Food and kerozin you have to pay yourself. And give a good tips.

voyager61

Hi! In Marka already in 2004 there was guest house,for the rest not so much food and accomodation as yet,I don't know how it is now.

+body

thank you kolobar, voyager 61. thank you much. kolbar can you round off your very helpful and detailed post by giving the contact details of your ponyman?

kolobar

I hope I am not breaking any anti advertising rule on Indiamike:
Sonam Dorje, Jullay Canteen, group no.8, house no.56, Agling.
How to get there: Agling is a tibetan refugee camp near Leh airport. Take a taxi and show a driver the address. He will take care of everything and find the right house and the right man. In Agling there is quite numerous community of tibetan refugees who work as ponymen. Therefore even if Sonam is busy with some other trek you will probably get in contact with another ponymen available. These guys did lots of trek therefore just follow their advice. They are trustful guys. It is not common for ponymen to decieve trekkers so dont bargain about the price.

+body

thanx much, kolobar. is it likely that the pony-men'll have tents for hire too? also, counting our pony-man we will be four people--so shd we get two tents (most tents i gather are two people ones)

kolobar

No chance to rent a tent from a ponyman. Maybe from an agency but most likely quite heavy one made in India. Ponyman brings his own parachute+plastic sheet tent so you have to take care only for your own accomodation.

Larsuld

Really good info, Markha Valley has just been added to my summer holiday to-do list.

My take on the tents: unless you have your mind fixed on tents, I think plastic sheets should be fine if one has a good sleeping bag. I used a really big sheet in 2004, and it was fine, although it took some time to build up a stone structure to lift it up a bit as I had not poles/good sticks. They are waterproof, but of course may not always provide as much shelter for the wind as a genuine tent. Or if you don't have a sleeping bag you can go for the same thick blankets that most horsemen use. If you bring some standard cheap tents from Europe (if that's where you're from) most horsemen appreciate them as an additional tip. Tents and camping gear in general is much more expensive in India.

Best wishes
Lars

sam_thind

Hi
u can find good n cheap accomodation every where in Ladakh, so there is no need to carry extra pond... take ur mini luggage..
Last yr I went on bike n took tent n all...we used it once only n the spent sleepless night there...lolz

kolobar

You did Markha on a bike? Must be a tough ride down Gongmaru la to Shah Sumdo...

Lars has a point. If you intend to stay in homestays you can use some provisory shelter or stay in parachute tent teahouses in Tachugtse and Nimaling. I prefer some comfort/privacy therefore I bring my 1,5 kg tent for single use.

agantuk

Hi everyone!
2 of us are planning to do Markha Valley trek from 20th July.
+body it seemed you did the trek last month. Could you share your experience during your trek? Most importantly did you have any trouble finding ponyman?
Kolobar thanks a lot for providing those information regarding homestay and ponyman.
We are not in a mood to go through any tour operator as all of them are turning out to be extremely expensive. We would want to do the trek on our own but would need a guide/ponyman. Does not going with a proper trekking agency for such 10 days trek and doing it with just a guide reasonable?
I have seen many places people club Stok Kangri climb with Markha Valley trek. Is it a feasible thing to do if you are doing it solo?
Thanks a lot.

kolobar

You dont really need a guide for Markha. There are a lot of groups covering these trails, there is no difficult trail finding and if you have a ponyman he will know the trail.
Also guides are engaged with agencies and you will not find a good independent guide looking for a job during main season.
If you want to combine Markha with Stok Kangri you should do it opposite way than most of the groups i.e. clockwise so you will be well acclimatized before the climb. In Rumbak you turn right and cross Stok la. When descending from Stok la you will see a trail crossing over scree slopes to the next pass. You have to follow this trail instead of descend further to get to Makarmo camp below Stok Kangri. You can reach Makarmo from Rumbak in a day.
If you are doing Markha clockwise be aware of a fast altitude gain between Shang Sumdo (3.700m) and Gongmaru la (5.200m). My advice would be to do short stages: 1. Shang Sumdo - Chuskyurmo (you can do nice acclimatization tour from the camp site to the ridge on the opposite side of a valley), 2. Chuskyurmo - Lartsa, 3. Lartsa - Gongmaru - Nymaling/Tachungtse. There is a homestay just before Chuskyurmo camping site.

agantuk

Kolobar thanks a lot for your reply.
Regarding Stok Kangri would there be snow at this time of the year? and do we need any special equipments (Ice Axe, Crampons,Ropes, etc.)?
Regarding ponyman is it possible to book them before reaching Leh?

kolobar

The only way to book a ponyman in advance would probably be through an agency in Leh via email - if any is willing to arrange just a ponyman for you.
I suppose there will be snow on Stok Kangri at the time. If you are not familiar with technical equipment for ascent in snow it would be better to get a guide in Leh for SK climb.

agantuk

thanks a lot kolobar for the information.
with a bit of calling up few trekking agencies it seems homestays (as you previously mentioned) is the preference amongst markha valley trekkers who wants to do it cheap.