Climate Expedition Ladakh 2022 – a review

As a Himalayan veteran, after twenty trips to Nepal, I had the chance to visit Ladakh, the fascinating highlands in the northwest of India, for the first time. This is an attempt to look back on what I experienced together with our Trail Angels explorers and the great team of Global Himalayan Expedition while trekking and our moving mission in the project village.

What an inspired and enthusiastic Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) team (left to right): Simar Nikki, Irfan and Paras. Dorje is missing from the picture ©GM/Trail Angels

The team: hosts and travelers – a sworn unit

Global Himalayan Expedition (GHE) is a remarkable initiative that uses sustainable tourism to improve the living conditions of the local population in Ladakh (and now also in other regions of India) and also makes a contribution to climate protection. With this concept, GHE has already received several international awards and has also been able to win over many well-known partners for its “climate expeditions”

such as Harvard University.

We Trail Angels identify very much with the philosophy of GHE and have gladly accepted the offer to carry out a joint “climate expedition”. But what particularly excited us about GHE are the inspired people who work and live for a more sustainable tourism in the Himalayas. And accompanied us on our Explorer Tour so competently and courteously: Paras, the founder of GHE, Irfan our fantastic trekking guide, the always smiling Simar (responsible for the project villages), Nikki (responsible for the homestays) who shed some tears when we said goodbye and the stoic Dorje (technician & responsible for astrotourism), they all knew how to infect us with their enthusiasm for Ladakh. And they also impressed us with how respectful and cooperative the collaboration with the trekking crew (cooks, horse guides, helpers), who were as professional as they were kind.

Full of anticipation of what lies ahead in this magnificent country: The Trail Angels Explorer at the start of the trek ©GM/Trail Angels

Traveling a new region with a new agency always involves a certain risk. That’s why I was also glad that for this Explorer Tour consistently experienced long-distance hikers with Himalayan experience have signed up: Ingrid and Horst Kircher from East Tyrol, Simone Pacher and Mirko Zeichen from Carinthia, Dieter Henke, a Tyrolean living in Vienna and Matthew Nelson from Iowa. The latter a young, talented photographer who has been on assignment for the Trail Angels on many occasions. “My” explorers were characterized by fitness, patience and a never-ending curiosity and the group grew together during these three weeks, together with the GHE team, as Ingrid so beautifully put it, into one big family.

The country: Ladakh – the highlands between the Himalayas and the Karakoram Mountains

Well then, I will not make the mistake to describe Ladakh comprehensively at this point – from the natural environment to the history to the culture and the people. For this I rather recommend as a first introduction the article on Wikipedia.

What I would like to express here, however, is how much Ladakh is able to fascinate from the beginning of the journey. In particular, the Indus Valley around the capital Leh knows how to captivate the open-minded traveler with its contrast of tradition, spirituality and modernity. It is also the region in Ladakh that benefits from a flourishing tourism (95% of the visitors are from the own country) and yet offers enough space for pausing and inspiring encounters away from the much visited attractions. Especially when traveling with such a competent team as GHE. They made possible and experiences, such as the visit to Rinzin, the last royal potter of Ladakh, the astronomy session with the women of Fiang or the puja ceremony with the lamas in the Phyang Koster, praying for a successful and accident-free expedition.

These were unforgettable as well as eventful days, which allowed us a gentle immersion into the fascinating world of Ladakh and as a pleasant side effect, the urgently required altitude adjustment (Leh as the entry gate of our trip is after all at a remarkable 3,500m) was quite easy for us.

The trek: Hemis National Park – high passes, deep gorges and wide plains

The heart of our trip was of course the trekking. The route led us in a big loop through the Hemis National Park, it is the largest national park in India, and knew how to inspire by an almost incredible scenic diversity. We started near the well-known six-thousander Stok Kangri and had to cross the Ganda La, a 5,000m high mountain pass, right at the beginning. In return, our efforts were rewarded with a breathtaking mountain panorama and, subsequently, a string of pearls of fantastic hiking experiences: the archaic world-forgotten mountain village of Shingo, the spectacular gorge trail through a deeply cut canyon, which then led us to the downright paradisiacal oases in the Markha Valley.

Irfan, our guide, had not promised too much before the trek: The landscape in Hemis National Park truly changes step by step. The gentle path through the Markha Valley allowed us to catch our breath for the first time and sharpen our view of the rich history of this valley. Part of the historic Silk Roads ran through here, and the ruins of ancient fortresses, breathtaking rock monasteries and magnificent chortens (Buddhist scaral buildings) still bear witness to this today.

Shortly after the last mountain village, Hankar, the route again rose sharply, but it was the 5,300m high Kongmaru La, the roof of our trek to climb. The last camp before the pass we made on the wide plateau of Nymaling, next to a nomad camp. Here, one already feels transported to the already quite close Changtang, the endless mountain steppe of Tibet. Well then, the price of the absolute loneliness that the mountains of Ladakh radiate in October, we have paid up here with nightly freezing cold. The crossing of the Kongmaru La, combined with the ascent of a neighboring 5,500m peak and the final descent down old, hair-raising trails through another canyon down to the “snow leopard village” Shang then formed the crowning finale of our trek.

The trekking through the Hemis National Park has impressed me, as an old trekking veteran, deeply. Especially since, given the vastness of this mountainous country, one becomes aware of having experienced and hiked only a small mosaic stone of Ladakh. Because the possibilities for further trekking tours are almost limitless up here.

The project: Solar powered water heater for our project village Burma

As already mentioned, GHE is not an ordinary trekking agency, but an initiative with very specific measures to improve the quality of life of the people in Ladakh and also to make a contribution to climate protection. Thus, each “Climate Expedition” in Ladakh is associated with a specific project and active involvement of the participants.

In our case, GHE has chosen the mountain village of Burma in the Nubra Valley. The desert Nubra Valley is already in the Karakoram and firewood is scarce and valuable here. With the electrification of the villages and the installation of solar-powered water heaters, not only the living situation of the people is improved, but also the climate balance. No less than 16 (one for each house) self-constructed solar-powered water heaters could be financed by our trip. We wanted to install some of them ourselves and so we set out for the village: First we had to cross the 5.370m high Khardung La, one of the highest road passes in the world, to get to the Shyok Valley (the border between the Himalayas and the Karakorum) and then on to the Nubra Valley. Once in Burma village, we got right to work: installing water heaters was easy even for a clumsy “non-handy” person like me, and the teamwork of our explorers, the GHE people, and the locals was a lot of fun. In the meantime, a large nomad tent was set up where a celebration was being prepared to mark the electrification of the village. And what a moving celebration it was! There was singing, dancing, eating and drinking (the salty butter tea was clearly less popular with us than the refreshing Chang). It was only with much melancholy that we said goodbye to the so hospitable people of Burma and made our way back to Leh. Inspired by the certainty that we had indeed made a small contribution to a better life in Ladakh and to climate protection with our trip.

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