Week 63: to Whiskey Nalah - 4785m: Over Nakeela La (4937m) - Racpat RTW 2015-2017

June 8, 2016

Week 63: to Whiskey Nalah - 4785m: Over Nakeela La (4937m)

“It’s a gift”, the Tibetan man says when Rachel wants to buy a small Tibetan flag in the dhaba at Whiskey Nalah. We have had our dinner and it’s cold and snowing.

There is an ice cold wind during the night, it rains and snows a bit. In the morning the surrounding mountains have a dusting of fresh snow. We pack-up and have a chapatti-omelet at our dhaba. There is another checkpoint in Sarchu, but it is probably for vehicles because we are waved through. We continue up the wide valley, the mountains on both sides have wild rock-patterns that read even better with the moisture they received overnight.

After a couple of kilometers the road makes a long switchback into a side valley, and then rejoins the main valley. After about 23km we abruptly leave the Tsarap River, then start climbing the Gata Loops, a series of 21 switchbacks which take us from about 4200 meters to 4600 meters altitude. The views over the river valley and back over the mountains to the south are awesome.

Along the valley of the Whiskey River we can see the old road snake up the canyon and along an almost sheer rock face. No wonder they decided to abandon that road and build the new one here. The hairpins go fairly quick, but once at number 21 we still have about 10km and another 300 meters altitude gain ahead of us. Today, we again see many motorcyclists doing the Manali to Leh tour. They are mostly Indians on their Enfield bikes, but also a few foreigners. This would be a nice way to tour India, but the Enfield does not seem very reliable, so you’d need at least a little mechanical knowledge. As they pass us, we are given the thumbs up sign. Many have go pro cameras on their helmets and we wonder how many home movies we will be in.

At the summit we take our photos of the view, sign and prayer flags. Nakeela La is not really a pass though. It is just a highpoint on the road which could not follow the Whiskey River up its narrow canyon. From the highpoint the road descends about 6km to the river crossing at Whiskey Nalah, a high tented camp at about 4800 meters. During the downhill it starts to sleet and snow, a pretty good storm blows in when we arrive.

We enjoy chai at one of the parachute tents and discuss our options. Dan wants to continue to Pang so he can sleep a little lower. Rachel and Patrick are feeling okay and decide to pitch our tent behind one of the dhabas. There are no small tents here, and sleeping in a large tent full of Indian motorcyclists and truck drivers won’t get us a good night sleep.

So Dan continues on just as a pretty good snowstorm strikes, while we settle in.