Introduction
When it comes to building roads and maintaining them at the highest standards, Border Roads Organization never disappoints. They keep challenging themselves to break their own records and standards. This time they have broken their own Guinness record of building the new highest motorable world to Mig La(19,400 ft) surpassing Umling La(19,024 ft) built by them few years back. This is a great achievement by BRO to create and connect to improve infrastructure in Ladakh.
About Mig La
The all new highest motorable road of the world is at an astonishing height of 19,400 ft (5913 M) above the sea level as of December 2025. To give a small context, the Everest base camp is at an altitude of 17,450 ft and this new pass is at 2000 ft higher than that. This connects Likaru (on Hanle-Loma highway) t0 Fukche, one of the most important forward base of Indian Armed Forces near LAC. This would add a great advantage for Indian Armed Forces for all weather connectivity to the border areas.
Location
As mentioned this is road is between Likaru to Fukche in Hanle sector. On the way to Loma from Hanle after 12kms, the left diversion would take you to Fukche via Mig La. Fukche can be reached from Loma via Dungti and from Hanle via Photi La, Lekeng Yok or Umling La, Demchok. This would take atleast 3.5 to 4 hours, but with this new road one can reach Hanle to Fukche in 1.5 to 2 hours.
If anyone is planning to visit Hanle, one can plan to cover both Umling La and Mig La as per your itinerary(refer Umling La guide). This would be a new addition to all the road enthusiasts to witness the new roof of the world. The road condition from Hanle to Loma is amazing and this road is in construction (still reached by muddy road), but would be completed soon.
Current Condition
- As of now (December 2025) the Likaru – Mig La route is good to go, but not completely metalled yet.
- Few tourists have already visited Mig La and based on their inputs the road is still in a bad condition and one can go but with their own risk.
- The climb is too steep as well, so few vehicles might struggle for sure, also don’t expect any help as very few movement is happening currently.
- Naveed Alam becomes the first biker to reach Mig La with is RX 135 bike. (Youtube Vlog)
- Recently the road has been closed to tourists as work is in progress, blasting might be happening in few places, hence plan accordingly
- Fukche-Mig La road is still in progress, is expected to be completed by next year.
Import Distances
All distances are approximate
Hanle – Likaru : 12kms
Loma – Likaru : 39kms
Likaru – Mig La : 33kms
Fukche – Mig La : 34kms
Likaru – Fukche : 67kms
Hanle – Fukche(via Mig La) : 79 kms
Strategic Importance
Apart from tourism and Guinness records, the main focus of BRO is building infrastructure of the best quality. BRO never disappoints with it. There are currently 2 parallel axials in this sector, Nyoma – Loma-Hanle and Loma – Dungti-Fukche-Demchok. Currently these are connected via Umling La and Photi La. Both of them would need a longer journey and reaching Fukche from Hanle would need more efforts reaching Demchok and then heading back.
New Mig La pass would cover this issue efficiently and serves as a good connectivity between these axials. Since all the roads are of single lane, the vehicle movement would be split up equally as well. Along with the military advantage, this would also boost the local tourism to a greater extent. Already villages like Demchok, Hanle are seeing growth in tourism with new hotels, homestays due to continuous flow of tourists and this new addition would add to the growth.
Conclusion
I honestly can’t wait to experience the new World’s Highest Motorable Pass of the World. This would be a tremendous experience climbing the highest mountains of the Ladakh region, with the thin air, steep climbs but with tremendous views, lifetime memories and amazing adventure.
Picture credits – Link
