Ladakh | Markha Valley Route and Timings Update July 2021

 

Update- Though we did the trek from Skiu, the road now goes as far as Sara and possibly if the river is low as far as Markha. We therefore suggest that to drive from Leh to Sara on the first day (around 3 hours) and then walk after lunch to Markha. This will reduce one day from the trek and it will now become four to five days. Due to the pandemic the home stays were closed but it is possible to do this trek as a full home stay trek without tents and pony support once the covid situation eases up.

View of the peaks from Leh

July 13 2021 drive Leh to Skiu and trek Skiu to Sara
We started from Leh at 8 am and reached Chilling at 9 30 am. The road is now excellent and black top and there is now a permanent bridge over the river so it is now possible to drive upto Skiu - we reached Skiu around 10 15 am where our ponies met us and we started at 10 30 am. The dirt track road continues to Markha in the dry season so it is now possible to drive to Markha and start the trek from there - we had planned to walk the first day to Sara which is about 4 to 5 hours away. We followed the dirk track which has been built on the old trail and in about 90 minutes to reached Pendse where the tea shop run by the Skiu Women's Cooperative was closed due to the pandemic and lack of tourists. We had lunch next to the tea shop on the culvert and then started out for Sara at 12 30 pm . The road climbs gently gaining altitude slowly and in about an hour you reach a diversion with a road going down to the Markha river - the road going straight reaches a bridge which has not yet been completed and so it is not possible to walk up that way. The river crossing was about knee deep and took us around 30 minutes to get the group across - change shoes into sandals dry your feet etc. The road then continued for another 75-90 minutes and we reached the home stays of Sara - we camped in the garden of a very nice Home stay
Skiu to Pendse 90 minutes Pendse to River crossing 1 hour  15 min; River Crossing to Sara 1 hour to 1 hour 15 min
Skiu 3361 metres 33 58 46 N 77 16 25 E N Pendse 3446 metres 33 57 27 N 77 18 1 E Sara 3558 metres 33 55 20 N 77 21 15E
Skin to Sara 14 km One river crossing 
July 14 2021 Sara  to Markha to Umlung
We left Sara  at 7 30 am and within half an hour reached a bridge - a new bridge for vehicles was being constructed there - the trail then climbed up to Chalak village and ahead three chortens could be seen ahead on the ridge. We reached those chortens in about 75 to 90 minutes since leaving Sara. One hour from here going up the valley we reached a small pass and just below that were three coloured chortens. The village of Markha lay ahead about an hour or so. In about 30 minutes from these chortens we reached a river crossing - after the crossing it's a hot walk to Markha which takes another 45 minutes. We stopped in Markha for lunch and then after a break proceeded to Umlung. Markha village was full of mustard fields yet to turn yellow- about 45 min to an hour from Markha we reached another river - just in front of us was a fascinating rock formation - a gorge to the right leads to the wild Jumlam trek into Zanskar - we proceeded straight and then climbed up to a small pass ahead high up on an impossible ridge was the Tacha monastery reached on a very steep zig zag upward trail. From the pass it took us another 30 minutes to the campground of Umlung.
Sara to three chortens  75 to 90 minutes three chortens to small pass before Markha 1 hour Small pass to river crossing 30 min River crossing to Markha monastery 45 min 
Markha to next river crossing 1 hour River crossing to Umlung 1 hr to 1 hr 15 min.
Markha 3750 metres 33 53 14 N 77 25 18E  Umlung  3846 metres 33 52 7 N 77 25 50 E
Sara to Markha 11 km Markha to Umlung 5.5 km Two river crossings

July 15 2021 Umlung to Hanker to Taughutse
We left Umlung around 7 50 am and went down from the camp site following the river valley - it was a partially cloudy morning - the days have been very warm in the Markha with day temperatures touching 27 to 30 Celsius.  The trail at the end of the valley climbed gently for about 15 minutes and then reached a small pass with mane stones and prayer flags about 75 minutes from Umlung. From here looking down the valley the houses of Hanker could be seen amidst the green trees and this was a pleasant flattish walk - we got to Hanker in about an hour and decided to stop there at a home stay for tea. It was a very pleasant spot and we spent an hour resting and lazing in the sun. We finally left Hanker a little after 11 am skirted the village and almost immediately made a stiff 15 minute climb to reach some houses on a plateau surrounded by chortens and mane walls. Looking from here down the valley we could see beautiful yellow mustard fields in checkerboard patterns and behind them the snow clad peak of Kangyatse who would be our companion for the next few days.  We walked along these fields and going down to the river came to a bridge with an arrow which said way to Nimaling. This would be about an hour from Hanker. We decided to make a lunch stop here next to the river and stopped for around 30 minutes. The trail then followed the river on the left bank including some tricky sections which had to be gingerly navigated by climbing over rocks to avoid the water. The trail then left the valley and climbed up steeply for around 10 minutes before levelling up again above the river. Soon a sign appeared Taughutse 20 minutes it was around 45 minutes away. Finally we crossed a bridge over the river and within 10 minutes of the bridge reached the camping grounds lush green as no treks were possible since October 2019  which was the end of the trekking season in Ladakh.
Umlung to small pass above Hanker 1 hr 15 min Small pass to Hanker 1 hr Hanker to bridge 1 hour bridge to Taughutse 1.5 hours
Hanker 3945 metres 33 50 13 N 77 30 6E Taughutse 4245 metres 33 48 42 N 77 32
Umlung to Hanker 6.2 km Hanker to Taughutse 5.2 km One river crossing

July 16 2021 Taughutse to Lake Camp below Kangyatse
It was another brilliant morning at Taughutse and we left around 8 am for the lake camp. This is not a regular camp spot but we stop here for the brilliant view of Kangyatse and the high route walk to Nimaling the next day. A few minutes after the camp we came across a section where streams were flowing right across the rocks in multiple places and we had to gingerly navigate this section. The trail then came upto a broad meadow - in front there were some broken shepherds camps - do not go up here but take the trail on the right side which skirts these camps and goes up the valley. Very soon the trail starts to climb steeply again through a rocky section and finally makes a sharp zig zag turn to react a pass around 4600 metres in about 2 hours walking from Taughutse. This is a good place to stop for a mid morning rest. From here the trail again climbed gently following a fast slowing stream passing a number of mani walls with exquisite inscriptions. The rock formations in the valley north of these walls were also tremendous. In about 45 min to one hour from the pas we reached a small lake on the trail - we climbed up and behind that was a another bigger lake with Kangyatse behind and a new statue of Guru Padmasambhava in the water in the middle of the lake which in my view tarnished the natural beauty of this magical location.
Taughutse to small pass 2 hours Small pass to Lake camp 45 min to 1 hour Lake Camp 4660 meters  33 48 22 N 77 33 33 E  Taughutse to Lake camp 7 km

July 17th 2021 Lake camp to Nimaling
The Lake Camp where South Col Expeditions make a night stop on the Markha trek is not a regular stop for other groups. The reason is that it is hardly two hours from Nimaling, the base for crossing the Kongmaru La 5150 metres. However the location of the lake just below the peak of Kang Yatse makes this a superb campsite possibly the best on the entire trek. On this visit rather than do the conventional two hour walk along the valley to Nimaling I decided to climb another 300 metres or so to the grazing pastures below Kangyatse and then descend to Nimaling by passing the valley route. We started late around 8 45 am and followed the trail from the lake due south towards Kangyatse. The trail then veered to the east and some cairns could be seen on top of a hill. We climbed to the top in around an hour. The meadows were simply splendid yaks grazed on the lush green vegetation,  the ladakh pika or mouse hate scurried in and out of its burrow searching for food, overhead two lammergeiers soared with the thermals while a multitude of finches, redstarts and thrushes skimmed through the lush vegetation. On would imagine Ladakh to be arid and dry but not these meadows in summer above Nimaling. We came to a stream which ran below Kangyatse  and followed it gently upstream. Our altitude showed 4960 metres, almost 300 metres higher than Lake Camp. Across the valley we could see quite clearly the trail to the Kongmaru La. It was a sparkling July day with the temperatures around a comfortable 24 Celsius. A light wind blowing across the meadows helped to cool things down. We then walked in a north easterly direction towards Nimaling and started to descend from the pastures. In about half an hour we could see the tea tents of Nimaling below us and in another half hour we reached our camp site. For those of you who have some time and are on a camping trek, the Lake camp and the high route to Nimaling is greatly recommended.
Lake Camp to Nimaling via the high route 3 to 4 hours. However, there are no well trodden trails you need to follow the yak trails and preferably have a guide with you who knows the way.
The distance we walked was around 7 km and we reached upto 4960 metres.

July 18th 2021 Nimaling to Kongmaru La to Chukirmo to Chogdo - drive to Leh

Peaks from Kongmaru la 5263 metres

We left Nimaling around 6.30am. It was a clear morning and Kangyatse was clearly visible. We climbed steadily and in about an hour reached a meadow where a large number of Ladakh pika were scurrying in and out of their burrows. From here we could see the steep climb upto the top of the pass. In the meadows at an altitude of around 5000 metres there were some beautiful blue flowers flowering in the rocks. We reached the top of Kongmaru la around 9 30 am after numerous stops. We could see the entire view including Dzo Jongo and the Kangyatse peaks. The descent from Kongmaru la was steep and for the first hour zigzagged around the hillside losing around 300 metres where we stopped in a green clearing for lunch – some bharal were grazing nearby. It then entered the gorge of the river valley where the trail had been damaged due to floods. We found numerous landslides and zig zags - there were numerous ups and downs - climbing out of the river bed and onto the trail above the rocks and then down to the river bed again to avoid the landslide sections.  We also noticed that in the afternoon the river waters begins to rise dangerously due to glacial melt higher up and the waters of the Chuksirmo Khola was now a raging torrent which had overtaken the trail in many places. A walk from the pass to Chogdo which should take around 5-6 hours finally ended in 8-9 hours after numerous river crossings too many to mention. It was an exhausting end to the trek. Due to the poor trail conditions, groups should either camp below the pass in the green clearing where water is available and descend to Chogdo in the next morning when water levels will be low or alternatively leave Nimaling very early by 5 am so that you are across the pass by 8 am and down to Chogdo by 2-3 pm before the water levels rise. Nimaling to Kongmaru La  3 km  Kongmaru La to Chukirmo  8 km
Nimaling to Kongmaru La  2 to 3 hours
Kongmaru La to Chukirmo  5-6  hours to Chogdo 45 min from Chukirmo ( this should be the timing, we took a lot more due to the river conditions)
Kongmaru La  5250 metres 33 47 25 N 77 37 2 E
Chukirmo 4100 metres 33 49 29 N 77 39 7 E Chogdo 3800 metres

For a short video on the Markha trek do visit  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_S3RIUcfAb0

For more on our treks and expeditions do visit www.southcol.com