Kangchenjunga Trek Nepal | North and South | Road Construction

The Kangchenjunga group including Jannnu on the left and Kabru in front seen from a ridge above Ilam on the drive to Taplejung

A South Col team recently did the Kangchenjunga trek in Nepal in November 2019. A detailed day by day schedule and route will follow on this blog but in this post we deal with the roads now being used  on the approach to the Kangchenjunga trek.

We found that dirt track roads suitable for four wheel drive vehicles have been built on the approach to both treks north and south. These roads  are fair weather - hence it is doubtful if during heavy rain in the monsoon months they would be clear for traffic. However, we were informed by our jeep drivers that from middle October to middle May these roads are operating and can be used by trekkers to shorten their treks by 2-3 days. The journey, of course, like most Nepal dirt track roads is bone rattling but it does shorten 2 days walking into a four hour jeep journey.

Ladakh | Shang Sumdo to Rumbak Trek

The Stok Kangri range from the Leh flight - our trek travelled along these mountains from east to west

Shang Sumdo to Rumbak September 2nd to 6th 2019

In July-August 2019 we did a shorter route from Shang Sumdo to Stok village crossing two passes. This time we completed the third and more difficult pass Stok La and ended our trek in Rumbak. To compare the two seasons end July-August is warmer, has more flowers, is more green with more of clouds and some rain. The rivers are also higher at this time and there are many more river crossings throughout the trek. In September we were down to only two or three crossings - most of the rivers had receded and we could cross on the rocks. The September weather was also spectacular - clear, blue skies, white mountains all day and warm sunny days. 

For our earlier route and description do visit 
http://sujoyrdas.blogspot.com/2019/08/ladakh-shang-sumdo-to-stok-across-shang.html

September 2^nd 2019 Leh to Shang Sumdo

We left Leh at around 9.20 am and headed for the monastery of Hemis. We reached Hemis around 10-45 am - the monastery was not very busy and the light was excellent. After spending a couple of hours at the monastery including the very impressive museum, we headed to Shang Sumdo - the drive to Shang Sumdo took around 45 minutes  from Hemis and we reached in time for lunch.  The campsite was next to the road in a grassy clearing. After lunch we decided to go for an acclimatization walk along the trail from Shang Sumdo to Chogdo  - the end of the Markha valley. We walked along the road for about 20 minutes and then crossed the river on a small wooden bridge and headed across to a cluster of houses with some chortens in the middle. Fields of barley were being harvested and most of the villagers were working in the fields. After chatting with a husband and wife couple who were working in their fields we returned back to our campsite by following an alternative trail on the other side of the river. It was a very pleasant walk with yellow flowers in bloom all along the hillside. 

Leh 3450 metres Shang Sumdo 3700 metres 33 51 18 N 77 42 23 

September 3^rd 2019  Shang Sumdo to Shang Phu to camp below Shang La

We left Shang Sumdo at around 8-30 am by our vehicle as we wanted to gain some time and not walk on the motorable road. In 15 minutes we had covered the distance which had taken us two hours by walking on our last trek. We started out at around 8-45 am past the houses of Shang village and within 15 minutes crossed a wooden bridge across the river. In another 30 minutes we came to the river across stones and boulders and made two back to back river crossings - the water levels had reduced it was about calf deep now. The trail then continued across the boulders and we crossed the river again - we did not have to wade into the water.  Finally we crossed the river again for the fourth time and then climbed up to a small shrine with prayer flags. This was about two hours from the start of our walk.  From here the trail continued to climb gently meandering around the valley until we could see ahead the single tea house of Shang Phu. We reached Shang Phu by 11-45 am in three hours which was only due to the fact we have shaved off two hours by  not walking on the motorable road. As we had the whole afternoon free we took a decision to walk up another 75 minutes or so to a high camp below the Shang la and camp on a yak pasture. This would reduce the climb the next morning and make the very long day to Gangpoche doable by early evening. We left Shang Phu after lunch around 1-15 pm and the trail started to climb out of the valley. Within a few minutes we crossed  a small stream using the rocks and then started climbing steadily following the river upstream.  In about an hour we reached a clearing which was actually a yak pasture with thick luxuriant grass and decided to camp here. We could see the pass ahead of us.

Shang Sumdo 3700 metres Shang Phu 4350 metres 33 52 51 N 77 36 38E Yak pasture camp 4624 metres 33 53 44 N 777 36 13 E

Shang Sumdo to End of motorable road by vehicle 20 min End of motorable road to Shang Phu 3 hours Shang Phu to Yak pasture camp 1 hr 15 min

September 4  2019 Yak pasture camp to Shang la to Gangpoche 

It was a very clear morning and we left by 7.30 am for the pass. The trail continued to climb steadily for about an hour until it reached the final steep section at the bottom of the pass. The last push took around 30 to 45 minutes - the prayer flags of the pass are not visible till almost at the top.  Due to the good weather there was an excellent view of Matho Kangri peak dominating the valley. We left the pass around 9-30 am and started the steep downhill route . In about 75 minutes which reached a stream which we were able to walk across the boulders - 4485 metres . A little ahead there was another stream,  we could walk across this as well as the water levels had receded substantially since end July.  The trail then traversed the hillside for another 45 minutes before coming down to the third stream which we also walked across. We then climbed up 10 minutes to a grazing station - we had seen the sheep and goats from this station heading up to the high mountain pastures to graze. This took us around two hours 15 min from the pass. The trail now climbed gently for about 30 minutes and reached the fourth stream crossing - we jumped across the rocks and started a steep climb which eased up in 15 minutes  and followed a trail skirting and traversing the hillside. This continued for about an hour until two reached a small pass with cairns- from here we could look down on Gangpoche and we could see our tents pitched neatly in a green grazing meadow. From this point the trail traversed once again the hillside to the west before descending to a stream crossing. It then climbed up to a small meadow, descended again to another  stream and made the final 10 minute climb to the meadows of Gangpoche.  

 Yak pasture camp 4624 metres 33 53 44 N 777 36 13 E Shang La pass 4940 metres  33 54 18 N 77 35 21 E Gangpoche 4434 m 33 57 6 N 77 32 50 E

Yak pasture camp to Shang La 1 hr 30 to 1 hr 45 min Shang La to shepherds camp 2 hr to 2 hr 15 min Shepherds camp to Gangpoche 2 hrs 45 min to 3 hr 30 min

September 5 2019  Gangpoche to Chorten Chen via Matho La

We left Gangpoche around 7.45 am on another brilliant autumn day - the rains seemed to have faded away and there was a sharp crisp nip in the air. In 10 minutes we crossed a stream which we could jump across and in another 50 minutes came to another stream which we also managed to cross without entering the water. The trail then started to climb from here and reached the top of the pass in around 2 hrs to 2 hrs 15 min. We had an excellent view of Matho Golep and the Pyramid on our climb up to the pass and finally from the pass Stok Kangri came into view the highest peak of the group. We started down at around 11 30am   and stopped for a leisurely lunch on the way. In about 90 minutes (excluding lunch) we saw the campsite of Mankarmo below us. It was 30 minutes away and we had to cross by wading through the fast flowing stream in our sandals - the more intrepid amongst us managed to jump across. From Mankarmo we carried on 20 minutes down to Chorten Chen which was our campsite for the night. It was a beautiful evening and far above us on the craggy rocks we saw a herd of Bharal  about 10-12 animals grazing peacefully in the evening sunshine. 

Gangpoche to Matho La  4957 metres  33 59 0 N  77 31 40 E 3 hrs to 3.5 hours  Matho La to Mankarmo  4336 metres  34 0 8 N 77 29 59 E - 2.5 to 3 hours  Mankarmo to Chorten Chen 4294 metres 34 0 37 N 77 29 56E 20 min

September 6 2019  Chorten Chen to Rumbak via Stok La 

We decided to start out at 6 am because it was a long day across the pass and two false passes before the main pass. The trail started out by following the main trail to Stok but within 10 minutes swung left and climbed very gently for about 40 minutes to the foot of a steep climb to the first pass. There is a full airtel signal on top of this pass. The trail to the second pass is clearly visible. From here a 1 hr 15 min push including a steep 30 minutes zig zag climb brings you to the top of the second pass. Then another 25 minute climb finally reaches the top of Stok La. Rumbak is visible far below in the valley around 1000 metres below. The sheer steep drop to Rumbak loses around 400 metres in 30 minutes before the trail eases out in a wide valley and loses altitude more gently - it takes around 2 hr or so to reach Rumbak. From Rumbak another 45 minute downhill walk comes to a bridge above the river where the cars can pick up the Trekkers. The road to Rumbak will in all likelihood be finished within the next year.  

Chorten Chen to bottom of 1st pass 50 min Bottom of first pass to top of 1st pass 40 min 4584 metres  34 1 22 N 77 29 11 E First Pass to 2nd pass 1 hr 20 min 4820 metres 34 1 56 N 77 28 39 E 2nd pass to Stok La 25 min 4875 metres34 2 5 N 77 28 27 E  Stok La to bottom of pass 40 min  4580 metres Bottom of pass to Rumbak 3860 metres  1 hr 30 min Rumbak to bridge for car pick up 45 min 3712 metres 

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

Tips and Tricks for Better Photography

After my two posts on tips and tricks for mountain photography in this blog, I am giving below some general tips for everyday photography which I am sure would be useful. 

Tip 1: Add people to a landscape

Add a subject to the foreground of a landscape shot to give depth to the photograph.  An example of this is given below:

Tip 2: Use fill flash in daylight

When shooting people, in strong noon day sun use the pop up flash or even a speedlight to fill dark shadows especially under the eyes and bring out details. This ensures that the background is also exposed correctly and not washed out. An example of this is given below:

Tip 3: Kick the “I’ll fix it in Photoshop habit”!

You need to ensure that the photograph is taken in the camera not fixed in Photoshop – so white balance, exposure, lighting, focus etc all need to be bang-on! If you are not sure of the exposure bracket! Check the histogram on the LCD display to ensure that exposure is correct.

Tip 4: F8 and be there

Basically this famous photography axiom asks you to be ready to shoot. So rather than adjust white balance, aperture,  shutter speed , metering modes, focus modes etc  before taking a photo, you to need to set all this before hand. On a normal sunny day, I will usually set the following before I start out: WB auto, ISO auto set to maximum of 800, aperture priority around f8 or so, and matrix metering, AF-S for single focus. This allows me to shoot in most situations provide the light is reasonable. And, if I have time I would  bracket three to four exposure either by using auto bracketing  or manually -0.3, -0.7, -0.1, +0.3, + 0.7. This usually nails the photograph right in the camera.

Tip 5: To reduce noise at high ISO make sure your exposure is bang on target!  

Modern day cameras allow you to shoot at very high ISO’s like 1600, 3200 and even 6400 on top end models. However, the major drawback at high ISO is noise. So, one way of reducing or minimizing noise is to make sure your exposure in spot on. If you have underexposed even a little bit there will be ample noise in the shadow areas which is always difficult to get rid off. So try to ensure a correct exposure by shooting, maybe, a number of photos at different settings so that at least one is correctly exposed. This is an example of a photo shot an ISO 1600 but due to correct exposure there is hardly any noise:

Tip 6: On a tripod turn VR or IS off

This is a mistake which I have made a number of times. If you have a camera on a tripod you don’t need to switch on VR or IS as the camera is likely to be rock steady and does not need any vibration reduction.  Often in a hurry we forget this and shoot with VR or IS on.

Tip 7: For critical photos use RAW

When you need to use photographs for magazine stories, prints, exhibitions etc raw is the way to go. You can convert raw files using the correct version of Camera Raw with Photoshop and with proprietary converters like Capture NX2, View NX for Nikon.

 Tip 8: If you can, take along a small table top light weight tripod

Ideally most photographers would recommend a full heavy weight tripod but is difficult to carry around and also in some situations difficult to set up. So I have a small Slik table top which can also fit into a jacket pocket which I use when I need support. The Joby Gorilla pod is also an option and has the advantage of flexible legs!

Tip 9: Don’t put the camera away at dusk or at night

On the subject of tripods if you have one with you then photography at night and at dusk becomes a distinct possibility. Long exposures makes the world look a lot different and details in the dark night sky can often produce stunning effects.

Tip 10: Less is often more!

The proliferation of social media and the free photo web sites have made it possible for everyone to post their photos on the net even if they don’t have their own web sites or blogs. However, in their enthusiasm to post photographs of a holiday or journey I often find a facebook album of a hundred photos or more. Similarly, picasa web albums sent to me to review have similar number of photos. Usually with so many images the impact is lost and the good images get masked by the mediocre ones. So it often helps to edit tightly, remove duplicates and similars, weed out all photos that are not in focus, overexposed or underexposed, badly composed and leave the best ones for the viewers! Most of my albums rarely have more than twenty photographs and the majority have between ten and twelve!

Happy shooting!  

For more of my photographs do visit www.sujoydas.com

Mountain Photography at Night

92 sec f 6.3 ISO  800

On  our  South Col treks , I often try to do some night photography when the weather is clear and the stars are out. Recently in Nepal  I was able to  experiment with a lot of mountain photography at dusk and at night.  I am sharing some tips and useful suggestions in this post:

TRIPOD

It goes without saying that the first requirement for night photography of mountains is a strong rock steady tripod. Monopods and table top tripods are not real substitute to a good tripod. I know this means lugging up and down the mountain another 1 to 2 kgs of weight but if you need to shoot long exposures then you need the tripod. This will really help you to get rock steady photos at long exposures. I use an Oban tripod one of the entry level lightweight model weighing around 1.5 kg.

VR/IS

If your camera is on a tripod set VR or IS off - you don't need any vibration reduction as the tripod is supposed to be rock steady!

AUTOFOCUS

Please do set autofocus off and focus your lens manually - my experience is that with autofocus on the camera hunts for a correct focus point at night!

ISO

The newer generation of DSLRs have pushed high ISO performance to 3200 and 6400 with some amazingly good results but I am conservative in this regard – if I can put my camera on a tripod I still prefer the lower ISO settings 200-1000 with longer exposures.

APERTURE

I would usually select a middle of the range aperture like f5.6 , f6.3 or f8 unless I need depth of field from foreground right up to infinity. In that case I may even stop down to f16!

SHUTTER SPEED and METERING

After setting the ISO and aperture the balancing factor would be the shutter speed. It is hard to select the shutter speed in low light and make a perfect exposure. There is a lot of black and deep shadows in the photograph and usually the metering is fooled by this resulting in some over exposure. As a rule of thumb setting the exposure compensation to -0.7 and bracketing two stops around the meter reading usually gives one good shot! Speeds can be as low as 15 sec, 30 sec and sometimes even one minute using this bracketing technique.  Most DSLRs wont go below 30 sec so you would have to switch to bulb mode  fire the shutter with a remote release and then close it again. 

30 sec, f7.1 ISO 200 

WHITE BALANCE

I usually set the white balance to Auto and keep it that way - in case there is any extraordinary colour shift I would correct it in processing. but this is not usual.

RAW

Oh and finally do shoot raw - makes a huge difference to the final image!

For more night photos please do visit  www.sujoydas.com   

The Nikon F2.8 Zoom Lenses

Nikon has a number of fast F2.8 zooms covering wide angle, normal and telephoto. These are the so-called "pro series" of lenses and have excellent optical and build quality though can be frightfully expensive and heavy!. These lenses can be used on DX bodies as well though I feel that other than the tele zooms, there are better DX options at a lower cost - e.g. the Nikon 12-24 f4 for the wide angle zoom and the 17-55 2.8 DX for a normal zoom. This post looks at some of these top of the line lenses:

The Wide Angle Zooms

Nikon 14-24 F2.8G New USD 1950-2100 970 grams

The 14-24 is rated as the best wide angle zoom ever made by Nikon and beats the performance of even some of Nikon's prime lenses. On the flip side it is heavy, expensive  and does not accept filters in the front of the lens. This is the lens you want to buy  if quality is paramount. For a review please do visit http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/447-nikkor_afs_1424_28_ff




Nikon 17-35 F2.8 Used USD 850-1200 745 g

This lens was the undisputed leader before the 14-24, but covers a longer range than the 14-24 on the top end! It is often used by landscape photographers and is still an extremely popular lens. Available used at half the price of  a new 14-24 it is still an excellent choice. and it is lighter.  For a review please visit http://www.photozone.de/nikon_ff/672-nikkorafs173528ff





Nikon 20-35 F2.8 Used USD 400-600 640 g

This was the standard wide angle high speed zoom in the film days and it still holds its own on digital bodies. It covers four important focal lengths i.e. 20mm, 24mm, 28 mm and 35mm and with a fast 2.8 aperture can relly deliver stunning results in low light conditions. On the used market it has a very good price as well!  For a review please do visit http://bythom.com/2035lens.htm. 





The Normal Zoom Lenses

Nikon 24-70F2.8G New  USD 1880-2000 900 g

The Nikon 24-70 f2.8 G is probably the gold standard for normal zoom lenses for full frame DSLRs. It is fast, sharp and effective. On the minus side the lens does not have VR, is heavy and expensive. For a review please visit  http://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-24-70mm-f2-8g

Nikon 28-70 F2.8 Used USD 800-950 935 g

This is  an almost  forgotten lens and hardly used nowadays but still very good. At around half the price of the 24-70, it is still a good choice if you can manage without 24mm! Built like a tank, it can stand a  lot of abuse in the field!  For a review please do visit  http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/2870afs.htm

Nikon 35-70 F2.8 Used USD 250-500 665 g

This is another of Nikon's classics , way back from the film days! Smaller and lighter than the other zooms, it is capable of very good results but loses out to the 24-70  as it lacks 24mm and 28mm focal lengths! For a review of this lens please visit http://slrgear.com/reviews/showproduct.php/product/121

The Telephoto Zooms

Nikon 70-200 F2.8G VR New 2375-2500 1460 g

This is again the gold standard in this range of tele zooms. There are two versions of this lens the new one is with VRII. With the fast aperture and VR it delivers outstanding performance again rivalling many prime lenses in the same focal length. For a review please see http://photographylife.com/reviews/nikon-70-200mm-f2-8g-vr-ii

Nikon 80-200 F2.8 ED AFS Used 750-1000 1450g

There are three versions of this lens and the best one is the two ring design with a tripod collar shown here. This was without doubt  the king in this focal length range  before the 70-200! The one touch versions are available for around USD 300-500 used  and are also very good value for money though I prefer the two ring version! Unlike the 70-200 it does not have VR.  For a review please visit  http://www.bythom.com/nikkor-80-200-lens.htm



In another post to come soon I will review the F4 Nikon zooms so do stay  connected!


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The California Coast: Cambria

I recently had the opportunity of spending a very pleasant three days at Cambria - a small town on the Pacific Coast on the scenic Highway 1. These are some of the photographs of the Pacific Coast from in and around Cambria.

Sunset from Cambria

The Pacific at night

Storm clouds Cambria

Elephant seals bask in the sun 

The beach at Cambria

Ragged Point Sur

Ladakh: landscapes in black and white