A little over a week ago, the administrators at my school here in Ladakh told me to go on a trek. This was because it was examination week, and there were no classes scheduled. But, after seeing me try to look busy for 2 days, they came up with this idea. Had they told me in advance, I could have gone on a longer trek. But, here it was already Tuesday, and I had only 5 days until the next school week. So, my only question was "Which trek?" As I pondered this, I looked across the valley to Stok Kangri. At 6,155 meters (20,188 feet), it is the highest peak above this valley, and usually done in 4 days.

My decision as to which trek was easy. Finding ponies was not, for several reasons. First of all, I had no advance notice or time to arrange for ponies. Secondly, this is August when ponies are almost all out on treks. Finding a ponyman for a low-budget trek would be difficult. Finally, no one is getting ponies for ANY trek right now, as the ponymen are all Tibetan and the Dalai Lama is here. So, I bought food and loaded up my backpack content with being my own pony or donkey.

The starting date for my trek was Wednesday, the 7th of August. This was also the arrival date for the Dalai Lama. I went down to the highway with the school children and waited for him to come in. The entire route from the airport to Choglamsar where he stays was packed with people from 8:30 when I arrived on (13 kilometers). He was expected at 9:00, but his plane landed at 11:00. After a cup of tea at the airport, his motorcade started the route. The first 5 vehicles were police escort vehicles, as security is tight. Then, there were a string of jeep/taxis. The Dalai Lama was in the very first of these, leaning forward and waving. I recognized him, and was amazed to see him only 10-15 feet away!

So, the start of my trek was delayed until 2:00. That gave me time to walk home, pack chapatis into my pack and get a jeep to take me to the trailhead at the village of Stok. I crossed the irrigation canal and headed out of the greenery of the village, passing by chortens and mani walls. On the route were some ruins of Buddhist nature, and an old fort on top of rock crags above the trail. This route is well-used by herders, and several yaks, donkeys and horses passed by which were loaded down. I arrived at my campsite by a herders' hut at 6:00 PM, and had dinner with a group of 4 from Delhi who were also headed up and camped there. The boy there, age 9, had an altitude headache.

On August 8th, I was woken by ladies shouting. In the outdoors here, I haven't figured out why, but everyone shouts when talking normally. But, at 5:30 AM, it is not needed! One of these ladies came to collect 30 camping rupees while I was folding my tent. I made her wait until I had it in the storage sack because with my luck a gust of wind would undo my folding while I was paying her. The walk on this day was simple. Just uphill to the peak's base camp at 16,410 feet. I arrived just past noon and set up my tent. After having some lunch, I walked without my pack up to the high base camp at 17,300 feet and decided to stay at the first base camp. There is no way to secure the tent from wind at the high camp. Water is a ways away there. And, everyone else was at the lower camp. I met a group headed down. One of the 3 people had summited. Later in the day, the group from Delhi arrived. The boy was doing better.

I set the alarm for 4:00 AM on the 9th. Then, I turned it off at 1:00 when a thunderstorm came in. I woke up at 6:00 to find fresh snow on the mountains and clouds all over the place. So, I took a "rest" day. I climbed the ridge east of camp, traversed it, descended back to the glacier above camp, and traversed the ridge east of camp, looping the cirque. Beautiful views, and little rain. Just lots of clouds. An Englishman came up and agreed to climb with me tomorrow. I showed him my guidebook and he took some notes before walking to the high camp to scout out the peak.

Our climb date was Saturday the 10th. We were up at 4:00, and walking by 5:00. We went to the high camp and then down to the glacier arm below the camp and had breakfast at 6:30. The English guy was glad I was there, because he thought the wrong peak was Stok Kangri, and would have attempted what looked like a path on the hanging glacier above the valley. Crossing the bottom of the glacier on the real route was the hardest part of the day for me. It was slippery, and we had to find places to jump the crevasses which had water roaring through them. That took most of an hour for 100 yards. From the glacier, we climbed to the right of the snow field. Once past that, we hit the east face of Stok Kangri, which was one straight slope of loose stones and rubble. A lady who climbed it last week had said that it was 2 steps up, and 1 sliding back all the way to the top. I was not about to do this, so opted to try the left ridge instead. After negotiating a series of semi-steep ramps, ledges and rubble, we gained the ridge. There, we found prayer flags, a cairn and a small path. This path took us all the way to the top avoiding all snow fields above us! This entire mountain was surprisingly similar to what I've seen in the San Juans of Colorado, only slower because of higher altitudes. I didn't feel the altitude, though, having camped for two nights at 16,000 feet. Coming around a crag and seeing the prayer flags at the summit was exhilarating.

We got to the top of Stok Kangri at noon and spent an hour up there. There were clouds, but after a half hour, they cleared enough for pictures. I was told later that on clear days, K2 can be seen from the summit. Our descent was down the face we had avoided on the way up. We heeled down that entire face covering more than a meter with each step. That approach, along with going AROUND that glacier arm instead of across it, got us back to camp in 3 hours, after it taking 7 to climb.

August 11th was day I returned to Stok and the trailhead via the same route. The only new thing to mention here is that I met Kelsang Tsering, the Tibetan ponyman who had been with me on a trek two years ago. He is great, and interested in going with me next summer if I can get a group to do the 20-day trek to the remote Rupshu part of Ladakh. That area has few trekkers, and some pretty lakes (some salt) that can be seen. At the trailhead, there was no traffic, so I walked on the road for about 2 hours before finally catching a ride home. In all, a great 5-day trek. And, I was ready for a new school week. Just like in the states, I go to work on Mondays to rest up from my "days off!"