2015.08.08 - D3, Trek Stok Kangri: Shang Phu - Matho Phu
near Himis Gömpa, Jammu and Kashmīr (India)
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Day 3/10 - August 8, 2015:
Shang Phu (4,378 m) - Matho Phu (4,492 m)
Duration: 6 hours
Highlight: Collado Shang La (9,935 m)
Distances and accumulated difference in altitude: 13.5 km, +760 m / -650 m
Full route: 2015.08.06-15 - Trek Stok Kangri, Ladakh (10 days)
6 o'clock in the morning: they sting the store. «Jule!» (Good morning!). The tea masala boiling on a metal tray, just in front of the door. I do not want to see you! It's very soon ... 6: 30h: «Jule, jule!». Hot water for the legañas! So are the little pranks of the morning to which the mountaineers find it so hard to get used to; but that's the hospitality in Ladakh. Someday I'll have to tell this man that there's no need to leave the water five meters from the store! We quickly collect the sleeping bags, take out the backpacks -first view of today's meteo- and dismantle the stores. It's 7 o'clock now, play breakfast: scrambled eggs (not spicy, well! There will be time later for these things), bread bikini with cheese, cereals and a thousand other things. The night before, picking up my backpack I found out that I had forgotten some long pants in Sang Sumdo's guest house and therefore, the first concern of the morning is to ask if any of our store neighbors would make the opposite route to ask them to pick them up, and within a week find them again in Leh. I get to find a group of French people from the city of Lyon, but they explain that due to the heavy floods of the last days they will have to deviate shortly before reaching the village, and then reach the town of Nimaling. My joy in a well. The operation for them is complicated. They told us that the day before, two horses drowned when they fell into the river on the route from Nimaling to Shang Sumdo. We separated then, wishing you luck and be very careful. Another couple explains to me that for the same reason, they had to leave the horses shortly before the climb to Shang Phu and that, therefore, they will charge from now on the weight of a store, food and various tools. For a moment it occurs to me to propose to load a part of that weight on our horses but they tell me that they will follow another path to the base camp of Stok Kangri, without spending the night in Manikarmo. At 8 o'clock, after finishing the camp, we said goodbye to our cooks and the muleteer who will stay a while longer to load the horses and look at that poor couple: "these backpacks, mother ... how much weight to the Stok Kangri ! »
We started the route up the exceptionally green Shang valley for the time. Several times we have to cross the river from one side to the other until we reach a detour in which the valley divides in two. We continue on the right. A short time later we reached a "doksa", a place accommodated by the shepherds to watch over their flock during the summer. This is a little unusual because instead of a shelter of stones as they usually occur, we have here a set of large phytas with a small stone wall around it, giving the place a mystical connotation in the immensity of the mountain. We make a small stop until we become impregnated with that environment and continue between fields of plantago and stony meadows. On the way we leave other doksas: on top of one a shepherd watches his flock, far up, lost among the stones. In front of us the hill of Shang La (4,935 m), the highest of the day, where we will leave the Shang valley. The air above is drier, cooler. Time for some photos and we quickly get the horses, with the rest of the expedition. The descent behind the hill is pleasant, among marmots and herds of yaks and we are surprised to find on the way hundreds of edelweiss, this flower so prized in Europe that instead here, abounds in aridity. We continue down to another place called Matho Doksa, by the name of the valley in which we find ourselves and the village located below, behind a curtain of mountains. There we take the food - nothing like a hot soup! - and after about 20 minutes we resume our route. The stops are scarce and still, short, being only 12: 30h of noon. Soon we ascend again to attack the second ascent of the day, a succession of ascents without a pass proper, but that we will have to cross before reaching the next camp. The tiredness accumulated during the morning, the height, the digestion and a relentless sun over our heads, slow down our steps ... the climb becomes hard. The heart beats strongly in the chest and it is a small step that we reach the hill of Yonchela, at 4,525 m. A descent follows it, of short duration. In the distance we can see the road that continues up the flank of an immense brick-colored mountain. On our right, a good fall: it would not be a good place to stumble. In the distance, at last, Matho Phu. It will take us another hour to reach it, descending all the height and crossing several streams. It is 3:30 p.m. when we step on the field at 4,492 meters high, seven and a half hours after leaving Shang Phu. A difficult day, but wild, green despite the time of year. Crossing immense valleys: this is the Himalayas!
Upon arrival we expect traditional Ladakh tea: a "salt tee", a mixture of tea with milk, salt, sugar and butter. A surprising mix at the first drink, but very interesting!
Shang Phu (4,378 m) - Matho Phu (4,492 m)
Duration: 6 hours
Highlight: Collado Shang La (9,935 m)
Distances and accumulated difference in altitude: 13.5 km, +760 m / -650 m
Full route: 2015.08.06-15 - Trek Stok Kangri, Ladakh (10 days)
6 o'clock in the morning: they sting the store. «Jule!» (Good morning!). The tea masala boiling on a metal tray, just in front of the door. I do not want to see you! It's very soon ... 6: 30h: «Jule, jule!». Hot water for the legañas! So are the little pranks of the morning to which the mountaineers find it so hard to get used to; but that's the hospitality in Ladakh. Someday I'll have to tell this man that there's no need to leave the water five meters from the store! We quickly collect the sleeping bags, take out the backpacks -first view of today's meteo- and dismantle the stores. It's 7 o'clock now, play breakfast: scrambled eggs (not spicy, well! There will be time later for these things), bread bikini with cheese, cereals and a thousand other things. The night before, picking up my backpack I found out that I had forgotten some long pants in Sang Sumdo's guest house and therefore, the first concern of the morning is to ask if any of our store neighbors would make the opposite route to ask them to pick them up, and within a week find them again in Leh. I get to find a group of French people from the city of Lyon, but they explain that due to the heavy floods of the last days they will have to deviate shortly before reaching the village, and then reach the town of Nimaling. My joy in a well. The operation for them is complicated. They told us that the day before, two horses drowned when they fell into the river on the route from Nimaling to Shang Sumdo. We separated then, wishing you luck and be very careful. Another couple explains to me that for the same reason, they had to leave the horses shortly before the climb to Shang Phu and that, therefore, they will charge from now on the weight of a store, food and various tools. For a moment it occurs to me to propose to load a part of that weight on our horses but they tell me that they will follow another path to the base camp of Stok Kangri, without spending the night in Manikarmo. At 8 o'clock, after finishing the camp, we said goodbye to our cooks and the muleteer who will stay a while longer to load the horses and look at that poor couple: "these backpacks, mother ... how much weight to the Stok Kangri ! »
We started the route up the exceptionally green Shang valley for the time. Several times we have to cross the river from one side to the other until we reach a detour in which the valley divides in two. We continue on the right. A short time later we reached a "doksa", a place accommodated by the shepherds to watch over their flock during the summer. This is a little unusual because instead of a shelter of stones as they usually occur, we have here a set of large phytas with a small stone wall around it, giving the place a mystical connotation in the immensity of the mountain. We make a small stop until we become impregnated with that environment and continue between fields of plantago and stony meadows. On the way we leave other doksas: on top of one a shepherd watches his flock, far up, lost among the stones. In front of us the hill of Shang La (4,935 m), the highest of the day, where we will leave the Shang valley. The air above is drier, cooler. Time for some photos and we quickly get the horses, with the rest of the expedition. The descent behind the hill is pleasant, among marmots and herds of yaks and we are surprised to find on the way hundreds of edelweiss, this flower so prized in Europe that instead here, abounds in aridity. We continue down to another place called Matho Doksa, by the name of the valley in which we find ourselves and the village located below, behind a curtain of mountains. There we take the food - nothing like a hot soup! - and after about 20 minutes we resume our route. The stops are scarce and still, short, being only 12: 30h of noon. Soon we ascend again to attack the second ascent of the day, a succession of ascents without a pass proper, but that we will have to cross before reaching the next camp. The tiredness accumulated during the morning, the height, the digestion and a relentless sun over our heads, slow down our steps ... the climb becomes hard. The heart beats strongly in the chest and it is a small step that we reach the hill of Yonchela, at 4,525 m. A descent follows it, of short duration. In the distance we can see the road that continues up the flank of an immense brick-colored mountain. On our right, a good fall: it would not be a good place to stumble. In the distance, at last, Matho Phu. It will take us another hour to reach it, descending all the height and crossing several streams. It is 3:30 p.m. when we step on the field at 4,492 meters high, seven and a half hours after leaving Shang Phu. A difficult day, but wild, green despite the time of year. Crossing immense valleys: this is the Himalayas!
Upon arrival we expect traditional Ladakh tea: a "salt tee", a mixture of tea with milk, salt, sugar and butter. A surprising mix at the first drink, but very interesting!
Waypoints
Waypoint
14,457 ft
Cambio de valle (4.407 m)
Mountain pass
15,021 ft
Colladito (4.579 m)
Waypoint
14,803 ft
Doksa (4.513 m)
Waypoint
15,263 ft
Doksa (shepard house - 4.653 m)
Waypoint
14,547 ft
Matho Doksa (4.434 m)
Campsite
14,736 ft
Matho Phu (4.492 m)
Mountain pass
16,188 ft
Shang La (4.935 m)
Waypoint
14,971 ft
Yonchela (4.564 m)
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