Trek partner required for Kang La: Urgus to Padum

We are a team of two planning to do the Kang La: Urgus to Padum trek (apart from host of others) in second week of August. This is apparently one of the toughest treks in Himachal, if not the toughest, with its 35 kms long glacier. We are looking for a third person to join our team to reduce the costs. We will be reaching Delhi in the afternoon of 12th August. The trek would be completed in Padum on 22nd August.

The cost would be around INR 10,000 – INR 12,000 (Delhi to Padum). Whoever wants to join has to return to Delhi from Kargil/Leh alone as we will be going to Leh via Kargil for two more treks.

Hallo, my name is Stephan

My girlfriend (Christina) and I were considering this trip too. We will be flying over from Zürich (Switzerland) on the 22nd July to Leh. Are you still considering this trek?

Regards

Stephan

Yes Stephan, the trek is still on for the time being that is. I can only confirm on 9th July.

I believe you have some prior experience in high altitude trekking. Not many have done this trek, and whoever has done is of the opinion that this trek is quite difficult, as the glacier is pretty long and is full of crevices.

Where do you plan to meet me? From your post it seems it will be good for you to meet me in Manali as you can catch the HPTDC Bus from Leh to Manali? I will be doing the trek from Himachal to Ladakh (and not the other way round). So in a way, you have to come to Manali somehow. If you need any help regarding travelling from Leh to Manali, do let me know.

You can email me at psouvik at hotmail dot com for future communication. My skype id is howzzat (in case you want to chat).

We completed this trek back in August. Here's the link of the photos. Hope you all enjoy.

www.kangla.byethost7.com/index.html

Awesome! I want to be there

Excellent photos

@psouvik
Can you please share your itinerary for this trek ? Also it would be really helpful if you can give me the guide's contact number.

You can check the itinerary from the map which can be accessed from the photo link above in my earlier post. However, this is the suggested itinerary:

Day 1: Manali - Udaipur - Urgus (Bus/Car)
Day 2: Urgus - Doksa
Day 3: Doksa - Gumba
Day 4: Gumba - Zardang
Day 5: Zardang - Kesar Yanchap
Day 6: Kesar Yanchap - Camp 1 (on glacier)
Day 7: Camp 1 - Camp 2 (on Glacier)
Day 8: Camp 2 - Base Camp (on glacier, below Kang La)
Day 9: Base Camp - Kang La - Sumdo
Day 10: Sumdo - Mune Gumpa/Bardan Gumpa

Days 2 to 5 involves walking on an average of 5/6 hours, the 34 kms glacier starts from Kesar Yanchap. The "real" trek starts from Day 6 and involves trekking on an average of 6-7 hours with days 8 and 9 being the longest being 8 hours and 9 hours respectively.

Total cost of the trek was INR 11,500 per head (Manali to Padum). The contact number of the guide (Prem Dorje) is +91 9816343024. If you don't get his mobile then you can contact his brother (Nawang) on +91 9418576440. Nawang is a guide as well but he hasn't been to Kang La before so he would refer you back to Prem.

You can give my reference to Prem as Souvik from Calcutta, he would be able to remember me as hardly anyone does this trek.

Cheers,
Souvik

Hi Souvik

Thanks for the contact no. of the guide.
I got through to Prem on his number, already had a preliminary discussion with him today.
One more thing i wanted to know from you is that I have heard there are a quite a few crevices in this trek so for a team of six how much rope should we carry, i asked the same thing to prem but he only said if the first 3 men are tied in a rope the next 3 following them wont require it.Is it true?
Also do the porters go all the way to Padam or some of them return before crossing the pass?

Awaiting your reply.

Cheers

Yeah, the glacier is infamous for its crevices and that's the reason this trek is less frequented. The conditions keep changing year to year. I can certainly say it was worse few years back but last year it was not so bad. Most of the crevices were less than 3 feet wide so we could easily jump and cross those. I think 2 50/60 mtrs rope would be good enough. Even though we had rope with us it wasn't necessary to use those. If the conditions are good, you won't even require to rope up. We had a very harrowing experience the day we crossed Kang La, it was complete white out with a strong gale and snowfall at the top of the pass (we couldn't even take photos properly at the pass). Even Prem wasn't sure as to which way is to the pass, it was one of the porters (Lal Chand) who guided us to the pass.

Porters would go all the way to Mune Gompa (not Padam) and from there they would take Shingo La and come back to Manali. You would need to pay them an extra 5 days (over and above the trek duration) for their return journey.

You will have 2 options once you reach Mune Gompa, you can either take Shingo La and come back to Manali or take a car from Mune Gompa to Padam and from there go to Kargil. Getting car from Mune Gompa to Padam is a nightmare, even if you get one you might end up paying INR 1500 for the 22 kms ride and that too you will have to wait on the road for a car to turn up; there is neither electricity nor telephone connection in Mune Gompa. We were just 2 of us so we had to get on top of a GREF truck to reach Padam. Even if you manage to end up in Padam, the nightmare isn't going to end there, the car rental from Padam to Kargil is INR 10,000 and to Leh is INR 20,000. Luckily I met a guy from Leh who charged me INR 1,500 from Padam to Leh, we had to reach Leh as we planned for 2 more treks in Ladakh. Incidentally, I did the Chadar trek this January with the same guy and he is a good friend of mine. Do keep these transportation costs in mind when you finalise the trek.

Thanks for the reply Souvik. I am not sure how many days leave i can manage from my job, so it would be of great help if you can tell me how many days would it take to reach Manali by Shingo la. I was actually planning to return to Delhi via Kargil & Srinagar.So will this Shingo la route reduce the no. of days?

cheers

You will need at least 6 days from Mune Gumpa to Darcha.

Mune Gumpa - Reru - Pipula
Pipula - Purne
Purne - Table
Table - Kargyak
Kargyak - Lakang
Lakang - Zanskar Sumdo
Zanskar Sumdo - Darcha

Hi Souvik, thanks for all the info. I plan to do this trek this July.
We are two of us.
Anyone on this forum willing to join us are most welcome.
you can reply to this thread.
Cheers
Sandeep

Pictures were great. Looks like de-forestation continues in the beautiful Miyar valley.

Hi Flameback,

I am a lone traveler and I would like join with you guys in this trek. I just came across this thread.

-Mlg