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Khardung La is one of the highest passes in the world
A SECMOL volunteer sits atop one of our buses as we wait for the pass to open.
By Garrett Palm
Oxygen deprived, I mistake the older, leather-clad German couple’s “Sprechen sie Deutsch?” as asking if I speak Dutch. I sing a happy birthday song in the wrong language, learned from my mother, which they greet with polite, confused laughter.
Driving sheep along a Himalayan road.
I take a photo of them in front of their motorcycles at the summit of Khardung La, one of the highest motor-road passes in the world, at 17,582 feet. Himank, the Ladakhi agency that maintains the roads in the Himalaya, claims it is the highest in the world at 18,380. Either way, I’m light-headed. I’m going over the pass to camp in the Nubra Valley with the students and teachers of SECMOL, an NGO I volunteer with. (A photo essay about my SECMOS stint in the Nubra Valley is online here.)
It is not far, but the drive takes all day since the pass is only open to one-way traffic, up thousands of feet of winding road. In the morning it’s open to those leaving the Nubra Valley. In the afternoon travelers leaving Leh can drive over. The view is amazing, especially if you hang out a window or the door, Indian style.
Garrett Palm is a photographer, writer, producer and improv actor currently living in Brooklyn, NY. You can follow his travels and photos at www.lifeisaslowharold.com and find out more about him at www.garrettpalm.com.
Khardung La Pass.
The last view of Leh, the capitol of Ladakh, in the valley bellow.
A SECMOL student celebrates reaching the top of the pass.
The final turn before the top of Khardung La.
Top of the world ...
Our buses parked in the Nubra Valley on the other side of the pass.
A sign proclaiming Khardung La as the highest motorable pass in the world.
Filed under: Morning photo, photography, Travel Tagged: | Asia, Garrett Palm, Himalaya, India, Khardung La, Ladakh, Leh, Nubra Valley, Travel
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