2003 Caravan 6666

Thikse Monastery and Gompa, a short drive from Leh.

We began at Shang Sumdo, a few hours drive from Leh. The scenery and colours were stunning from the beginning, below too.

 

I (Nicola) climbed the hill above camp for this crinkled view.

What a view! Nearing the top of the Kongmaru La, the first pass.

Kang Yatse, a 6400m peak. Sometime!

Our second pass was the Zarlung Karpo La, and we descended into a valley of quite different character.
We trekked thru more spectacular country over several days to reach the road at Pang, which is the next series.

After a week Jamie joined the team in Pang, then two days later we split from the trekking group.
With only Richard, Nicola and myself (Jamie), it was more of a holiday than usual.
We climbed five 6000m peaks and did a bit of exploring.

 

Dambar (left) was the cook and Rakish was the kitchen hand. We had seven horses and two ponymen.

You come across a huge plain, seemingly without end then suddenly the plain falls away to this castle-sided gorge.
We camp on the right hand grass (below).

We usually have the route to ourselves, it is easy to get lost and we met one woman and her guide who had lost their ponymen and horses.

We have a unique and comfortable dining tent setup
Evan, Helen, Beau, Helen, Matthias and Richard begin dinner without Kim, Joel, Nicola and Jamie.

Matthias and Helen cross the river again (and again, and again).

The summer flowers are abundant and beautiful through the trek.

Peace (and yaks) - here at Korzok Chu.

After crossing a 5800m pass we stayed high in the huge space of a valley system rarely trekked.

 

Our horse team (bottom of the picture) is dwarfed by the scale - Jamie

And again... - Jamie

No, Helen and Evan are not fighting (nor is it a mating dance), they are simply enjoying the space - Jamie

Here we branched off to go climbing - Jamie

Curious Kiang - Jamie

The climbing section was a great success, we climbed five 6000m peaks with the highest being 6666m, Lungser Kangri.

 

From the summits we could see more than 100 kilometres to Himalayan peaks like this - Jamie

From our base camp first we had to get to the mountain, crossing a tricky stream in several sections - Jamie

Nicola was keen to front point, but only one section was steep enough. Richard's highest is now 6666m but he is keen to climb an 8000m peak - Jamie

The views extended way into the distance - Richard Nacin

We think this is Mentok 2, with Mentok 1 behind, but are not entirely sure - Jamie

Richard descends Mentok 2 (?), we took one ridge up and another down - Jamie