The world outside was a perfect monochrome – black and white. Inside the maxi cab , I sat beside the window pane drawing circles on the accumulating mist. The snow outside was getting thicker – inch by inch. The blizzard was getting dangerously stronger and showed no signs of receeding. The cigarette butt that one of the guys had thrown outside just minutes ago was invisible now , buried under a thick layer of snow. “A precursor of things to come?” - I thought to myself. The serpentine queue of vehicles, lined along the Khardung La stood immobile. The Innova standing right infront of us, started the ignition and in an attempt to move ahead, skid dangerously on the snow. We were stranded , on arguably the highest motorable pass of the world.
Our super adventurous trek during the first half of the Ladakh journey had an undesirable post effect- the road trip and mobile camping for the second half of the journey felt like a school picnic in comparison – notwithstanding the lovely landscapes we came across on the way to Pangong,Chumathang and Tso Moriri. Our final roadtrip destination was the Nubra valley. Lying between the Ladakh and the Karakoram ranges , Nubra is a cold desert and is also known as the gateway to the Siachen which lies to it's north. The only way to access Nubra from Leh is through the Khardung La. The road over the Khardung La is two lanes , no guardrails , a vertical precipice of snow below and interspersed with huge military convoys – quite unsurprising given the proximity to Siachen.
The journey from Leh to Nubra through the Khardung La was quite uneventful. Our initial plans to camp in the Nubra desert had to be ditched thanks to a sandstorm right after we arrived ( which I admit gave us cheap thrills , after the picnicky mobile camping days). We camped for the night in a village nearby , and left in the morning for Leh after stopping at the Diskit monastery on the way.As we passed through the military post at around 11 a.m just before Khardung La, the army hurried us across -“ It's snowing and we won't be letting any heavy vehicles across”. A couple of minutes of drive later , we stopped. The snow had blocked the way and all we could see was an unending queue of vehicles along the long and narrow winding road. To make matters worse , the blizzard continued unabated reducing visibility and making the road highly prone to skidding. We hoped the logjam would clear in sometime .What we didn't anticipate was an 11 hour stalemate in the snow blizzard , at 18380 feet .
By evening , we had inched around a kilometre ahead. The effects of high altitude were gradually showing up - staggering breath and headaches. Conversations had died down and everyone was back to the dead stupid game of Uno* .We were out of both water and food , something we hadn't stocked up on our way back since we were heading straight back to Leh. “ Let me make some tea ” - our driver Angchuk enthusiastically suggested. The porters jumped out , broke icicles hanging outside on the walls of snow , and dismantled the stove from the camping equipment stocked above. The driver's cabin miraculously turned into a kitchenette as he opened the seat compartment on the side to reveal well stocked up kitchenware and condiments. The hot tea was a miraculuous relief, albeit only for sometime.
As darkness fell , visibility levels were down to zero. Temperatures outside had dipped to sub zero and we could feel the biting cold make our toes numb.Govil suggested rubbing the toes constantly with our hands in order to keep them warm and avoid frostbite.An army truck distributing maggi and biscuits on the way stood like a messiah. We managed to get a little more than our rationed share thanks to a colonel from the Siachen regiment whom Avisek had befriended on the way. Angchuk steered the cab slowly through the blinding flakes of snow,carefully keeping distance from the vehicle right infront. We could see a car standing precariously on the edge of the road on the left .The driver had tried to speed ahead and had lost complete control. Angchuk and the other drivers got down , to try and push the car back on the road ( a ritual that all the drivers in this terrain abide by - to always stop by and help a stranded vehicle on the way , irrespective of the prevailing conditions).
The road ahead was now a complete blur. We could see the armymen on the road , walking through the blizzard trying to clear the snow. Inside Govil was making dinner for us - maggi atop the Khardung La. A young girl suffering from respiratory problems in one of the vehicles behind us was brought down by Angchuk, since ours was one of the very few vehicles that night with an oxygen cylinder inside. An army doctor was doing the rounds checking up on passengers inside .The prolonged stay at such high altitude was already taking it's toll on the stranded travellers .
At around 10 p.m , we could see a strong flashlight and the way clearing up infront. Angchuk started the ignition and drove forward. We cheered the armymen who gestured us to move ahead faster. Once we had descended , we dropped the young girl and her father who stayed back at an army post for their family in another vehicle behind to catch up. The pass had finally cleared up and the ordeal at the Khardung La was over. Ladakh had left it's final imprint on our memories for a lifetime.
*the only game the non functional human brain can fathom under the effects of high altitude.
Kudos to the Indian Army who got down to clear up the Khardung La ,and without whom it would have been impossible to get through the pass that night.
Photo credits to Abhinav