We were up 30 minutes earlier hoping to find that of all Himalayan creatures the "Working Intertentus "!
It was steady early climbing out of camp made bearable by the largely sealed sections on the main Manali - Leh road. As with all climbs over here there usually comes one hell of a descent and the one into Tupchiling was where we caught up with a yet another army convoy. While Pete & I waited the traffic jam out Graham went for it winding his way between trucks being in real danger of an early call up for duty on the Kashmir border !
At Tupchiling it was back up the hill for an extended climb into Keylong for an early lunch where we caught up again with Pete & Carol and the Canadian team as well as some excellent Mtn views
After lunch we went in search of the internet (not a problem escaping for a week or so but becoming a bigger problem because of its longer absence !). After looking under rocks we finally found an office with a small (bandwith) connection, enough to download a few emails but not enough to send !
Back on the road it was more climbing before a huge descent into Jispa made more exciting by the hillside glaciers and having to dodge dislodged on road rocks while doing 50-60 kms/hr !
In Jispa it was a welcome return to guest house accommodation where we could at least catch up on some washing and some camera battery charging before a night time performance from our support team on the "deisel drums" !
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| Pete working out what part of the days trip notes were actually correct ! |
Zing Zing Bar
As far as names go Zing Zing Bar conjures up an image of an exotic location worthy of a recommended Lonely Planet holiday ! The real image though couldn't have been farther removed ! Windswept and stark with oil barrels signalling it's status as a roadside work depot the location couldn't have been more uninhabitable if it tried ! Luckily for us though our camping accommodation 3-4 kms further on was at least perched on the semblance of a grassy plateau although the ice cold mid afternoon winds suggested that we were going to be in for a cold night !
Reluctantly bidding our guest house accommodation in Jispa farewell we descended to the river valley at Darcha for another check of your permits before a series of clmbs provided for great glacial and valley views !
The descent following covered some great downhill sections as well as a couple of not insignificant streams one of which Pete & I crossed by hitching a ride on our support vehicles running board to prevent a dunking in the cold water
We took lunch at Patsio in one of the mobile tent stops which was enough for Pete, suffering from a combo of a bug and the effects of the increasing altitude to take a front seat for in our vulture wagon !
The final 17 kms took us on a steepish gradient. With Graham bounding away up front and Pete out for the count
It was left to me to bring up the rear climbing mostly in granny subjected to piercing icy winds as we climbed up the valley past the non descript Zing Zing Bar to our exposed camp ground shared with our Canadian and US friends
With the Baralarcha pass at 4,900 metres another 20 kms ahead it was an early night with our thermal gear getting a call !
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