Delhi to Himalaya and back

Tanglang La

I woke up and found the rear tyre is flat. What the hell!!? There was nothing wrong with it yesterday. I changed the tyre and started suspecting that was a sabotage. There was an invisible slow leak on the outer side of the tube and I couldn't find anything in or out of the tyre on the same spot - a typical signs of a needle pinch. That was a not good start for the highest pass, but I didn't let it bother me. I had some slight altitude sickness symptoms, but I'm an old cat now, so I moved on. There is quick climb right after Pang and then a long ride across the high plateau, very much Aksai Chin like, which goes on and on, firstly on packed dirt then on asphalt and by the time you looked around you are already climbing the Taglang La. The top of the pass is visible from afar, at least from 20 km, it's high and far in the distance, to give you a thourough test of your nerves. I was at the top (~5100m) a bit earlier then yesterday. After few mud and stone streches, as is the case near the top of all passes, I enyojed again a huricane downride, stopping only to articulate my fingers. Just before Rumtze I spotted a nice place to camp, and after consulting few shepards I decided to give my tent a test - otherwise I would be carrying it for nothing.

Day 10: 97 km, 7h 39 min. Total 1061 km.

posted by iik @ 5:11 AM