Sarchu: A barren land where nothing survives

This trip was memorable and wonderful. We were supporting the runners participating in a road ultra running event. This event was organized on the Manali-Leh highway like every year. I have been associated with this event for the last 9 years and every time summer arrives, my body gets excited to visit Ladakh. Firstly, I get to volunteer in this event and secondly, I get relief from the heat of the plains. Of course, it is an event and the landscapes present here are magical but in this event which lasts for 5 days, the body gets into a very bad condition due to staying awake day and night. That means one falls asleep while standing.

I cannot show the photos of the runners in my photos because all my running photos went to the company organizing the event under self-disclaimer, however, I am not sad about it because I enjoy clicking photos of natural scenes more than people. Ever since I started traveling in the Indian Himalayas, my focus has never been on people. I have always been drawn towards the beauty of the mountains and I keep getting drawn into their embrace.

We left Bharatpur at 4 pm. Today our target is to reach Sarchu which is the state border of Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh. Passing through here, we first get the vehicles and people to enter Himachal Pradesh and then go to the check post of Ladakh and complete the same formalities and move towards our camp site. Here we rent 9 Swiss tents. We get a tent here for a thousand rupees per person which includes dinner and breakfast. We wait for the runners by stopping here.

Before leaving Bharatpur, I admire Mount Yunam Peak. I consider this peak as mine because I had summited this peak in 2018. I climbed the 6240 meter high peak in alpine style, it took me only one and a half days and believe me this peak is very challenging for one and a half days. After crossing Yunam Nala the car starts running at low speed between canyon type lanes. I get happy seeing many water bodies on the way and try to click photos in the moving car but I am unsuccessful.

Today is the last day of a runner who is running 135 miles because his finish line is in Sarchu, at 4 pm we finish this runner's race and transport him to the camp site. Going back we wait for the 3 runners coming from behind who are running 5 marathons daily on this highway. These five complete their marathon today at 05:30 pm and they are also taken to the camp site where everyone heals and rests and at 8 pm we all have dinner so that the same activity can be resumed again tomorrow morning at 4 am.

Sarchu is the only place where there is some grass, here there is also a peak named Sarchu whose height is 5700 meters...if I get a chance, I will climb it. This ravine is infamous for its strong and dry wind that bites the skin. Here the temperature goes to minus as soon as the sun sets. After drinking a sip of water, it feels as if the water has frozen in the stomach. But the good thing is that there is mobile network here which has made the life of the people easier.

Two years ago there was no network here, so this place feels more deserted. There is an army base camp here where sick people are taken care of. People do not face any special problems here, but yes, due to low oxygen, 5 out of 10 people fall ill. Some people also get acute mountain sickness and tourists have even lost their lives here due to not getting medical facilities on time. So it is said here that one should sleep less and drink more water.

Here the Sarchu river has made its way by cutting the womb of the earth, here we hikers can also go to Zanskar for which they will have to walk for 3 days. If we keep walking along the Sarchu river, we reach Hemin National Park which is 40 km away from Leh city. Anyway, today we have dinner here at 8 pm and sleep till 0930 pm so that we can wake up on time in the morning. Tonight another volunteering team will support the runners and today I will rest. See you tomorrow.

Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from canon 77d (55-250mm) and edited on laptop lightroom app, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.

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