Trek from Kidmang to Kiangdam, Changtang region, Ladakh, India (August 2024)

Part 2/2: Nyima Gompa to Kiangdam

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Map and GPS waypoints:

Left: Red-line route of the trek drawn on a portion of the 1:150,000 South Ladakh & Zanskar map, Editions Olizane, Switzerland. (Click on this map to see a larger version of it in a different window). The green dots mark the locations of our successive campsites; the brown dots mark the locations of the five successive passes. The red-line route is based on GPS waypoints I recorded during the trek. To access these waypoints, click here download the ladakh-2024.kmz file, and open this file in Google Earth. The waypoints with green icons are night camp locations and those with brown icons are the locations the passes crossed during the trek. The remaining waypoints, all with yellow icons, are intermediate locations.

Day 5 of trek: Nyima Gompa to northern Kyun Tso, across Nidar La (5140m)

Note: On days 5 and 6 of the trek, we passed two lakes. I do not know their exact names, so I use the name Kyun Tso (″tso″ means lake) shown on the Olizane map and call them northern Kyun Tso and southern Kuyn Tso, respectively.

View toward the north from our camp on a sunny morning.

Views of the camp.

Nurboo and I took a small detour to stop by the Niyma Gompa near our camp. View toward our camp as we left the camp toward the gompa.

Views of Nyima Gompa. Despite is remote location, the gompa is not abandoned. Its structures are well maintained and the prayer room was (unfortunately) locked.

Views toward the east after leaving the gompa.

Looking back toward Rebel La, with its distinctive rock formation visible at the center of the photo.

More views on our way to Nidar La.

Prayer flags at Nidar La.

Beginning of the descent from Nidar La.

Getting closer to northern Kyun Tso.

Changpa shepherd camps on the western shore of northern Kyun Tso.

Friendly woman next to her camp.

Sheep on the shore of northern Kyun Tso.

Other photos taken from the shore of northern Kyun Tso.

Day 6 of trek: Northern Kyun Tso to campsite below Salkom La, across Salkom La (5170m)

Our camp on the western shore of northern Kyun Tso.

Another shepherd camp.

Landscape and terrain between northern and southern Kyun Tso.

Approaching southern Kyun Tso. The water in and around this second lake has a high salt content. For that reason, there is no shepherd camp around it.

Closer views of southern Kyun Tso.

Beginning of the ascent of Salkom La.

A smiling rainbow.

More views during the ascent of Salkom La.

View of the wide Salkom La.

Mountain range on the other side of Salkom La.

Shortly after crossing Salkom La, we reached a place where work was underway to build a new military road linking Ladakh to the Tibetan border, causing ugly damage to the natural environment. We had no other alternative than to cross it to reach our next campsite.

Day 7 of trek: Campsite below Salkom La to the abandoned Umia village

View from our camp below Salkom La.

Kiangs near our camp.

Successive landscapes on our way to our campsite at Umia village.

[Two photos above: Mount Handlung (6160m).]

[Stone sheepfolds. The small enclosure in the photo on the right is used to individually house baby sheep.]

6220m peak seen from our camp at Umia village.

Nothing of interest remains of the village of Umia, apart from this ruined gompa built next to a small cliff pierced with caves, some of which could have been used by monks for meditation.

Day 9 of trek: Umia village to Kiangdam, across Norbu La (4970m)

Two of our horses enjoying the morning sun at our campsite.

Sheepfold seen soon after leaving our campsite.

Stunning landscapes seen on our way to Norbu La.

Prayer flags at Norbu La. (Norbu La is not really a pass. It is more the edge of a plateau, beyond which there is a steep descent toward Kiangdam.)

The plateau seen from the prayer flags.

Spectacular views of Kiangdam and Tso Moriri from the edge of the plateau and during the descent.

Past this point it rained almost continuously until we reached our campsite on the opposite side of the flat area.

Last morning.

Views of mountain peaks on the east side of Tso Moriri from our campsite.

View toward the south from our campsite.

Our horses enjoying the morning sun now seem to feel like they are on vacation after a job well done.

A car sent by Sonam Dawa took Nurboo, Stanzin, Tundup, and me back to Leh. Tse-Wong returned to his village (Puga) with his horses, riding one of them.

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