to Patsio - 3750m: gaining altitude towards the first big pass on the road to Leh. - Racpat RTW 2015-2017

June 5, 2016

to Patsio - 3750m: gaining altitude towards the first big pass on the road to Leh.

“I love asphalt” Patrick says.

We are in no big hurry to leave the nice Tashi Deleg Hotel in Keylong. At least not until we have had one more large pot of coffee, some banana pancakes and eggs. At about 8:30 we make our way out of town. The lower road which passes through the town proper climbs up the valley to rejoin the main road. We are happy to find asphalt. The road slowly climbs for a while, past a few small villages with farmfields lining the river below.

At Jispa, we stop at a Dhaba to have some chai and hear that Rocio camped here last night. She took an early leave this morning, we assume she will try to get over the Baralacha La today. Our itinerary for the next couple of days is not so much dictated by distance but more so by altitude. We only want to gain about 500 meters per day, and do not want to cross the Baralacha La before we know that we can sleep safely above 4000 meters. Sarchu the town after the pass lays in a valley at an altitude of 4500 meters, we do not want to chance getting sick there. Therefore we go to Patsio today with a short day tomorrow to slowly gain altitude.

The road descends all the way to the river at Darcha where there is another police checkpoint. A rope is stretched across the road and everybody needs to fill their information into one of these Indian ledgers that will probably be preserved for centuries without anyone ever looking at them again.

After crossing a temporary bridge, a new one is under construction, we start a series of switchbacks to gain some serious altitude. A couple of cars crammed full of Indian tourists stop to talk and take our photos and selfies. We turn up another valley and see Patsio in the distance. Right at the 0 distance marker is a lake and a tented camp, one large dining tent, a kitchen tent behind and about a dozen blue tarp walled, red metal roofed cabins.

The guy at first wants 2000Rp for each, but drops it to 500 when we intend to just camp ourselves. The cabin/tent leaks and the walls and roof rattle, but it is cozy. There is a thin cloth inner tent attached to the outer tent with a separate partition for the English style flush toilet. They only sleep two so Dan takes his own cabin. A stone platform with a foam pad, two warm comforters and a thick blanket are provided. We use our own sleeping bag on the comforter and sleep well. There is a small lake with a paddleboat, but the boat sprung a leak last winter and is shipwrecked at the far end of the lake. Too bad, according to our guidebook this used to be the highest paddleboat in the world.

Dinner is a little disappointing with a very basic rice and beans dish, but it is warm and feeds us.