Across The Great Divide

THE KANG LA PASS 2008

September 2008...we will be setting out again to make the exciting crossing between the two ancient Himalayan Kingdoms of Lahul and Zanskar, following an ancient trade route...here are some images from our 2007 journey..

Like a lot of wonderful things in life, we came to the kang La by sheer coincidence-I had been into the Udaipur (chenab) valley in the 80's but over the years we have concentrated within Project-Himalaya on the easier pass crossings (as easy as they get!) like the Shingo la into Zanskar.

This last summer we had tried to run a trek combining meditation with Ladakh - and simply no one was interested, so at the 11th hour we decided to take it off and take the one trekker, Irish friend Dave O'Leary, to the Umasi La pass; Leigh Blake From Australia went for it, as did Tom Lindh, who had trekked with us before - then at the last minute two of Dave's friends, Amy & Dan, booked.

And then the monsoon hit, wiping out the road to the base of the Umasi La...and thus we were left with the kang la, and a crazy time in Manali getting ropes together - as we knew that it was heavily crevassed.

Thus we set out up the Miyar valley in Early August...and were stunned by the incredible beauty of the green endless pastures, beautiful sunsets, and above all the incredible sheer scale of the glacial approach to the pass.

The trek is up;

http://www.project-himalaya.com/jladakh-kang-la.html

See you in 08

Joel

Joel