The Biker’s Everest

Who hasn’t heard about Mt Everest, everyone should obviously know about the marvel of the world. The only reason why it is famous is because of its insane altitude. Yeah, that’s the highest reachable point on earth at a gracious altitude of 8848 m above the sea level. So imagine you’re standing on a beach, the tip of Mt Everest is more than 8 km vertically above you. This is cool for the normal people, but do you know what might be the real Mt Everest for a True Biker? It must be none other than the highest motorable road on the earth, the mighty Umling La Pass.

False Claim : KhardungLa as the Highest Motorable Pass

Would you believe me if I say that the highest motorable road of the world is actually present in India? It looks quite strange but it’s actually true. The first thing which comes to your mind when you read this is Khardung La on the way to Nubra Valley from Leh, which appears to be the highest motorable pass of the world. But actually it’s a false claim and Khardung La isn’t the highest motorable road, but wait there are so many other passes which are at a very higher altitude than Khardung La is situated.

Lots of blogs, travel communities actually claimed so, but standing at a height of 17,582 ft, it is one among the highest motorable passes of India, even the board there reads 18,380 ft and the highest of the world which was actually an error in calculation.  Another reason why it is so famous is because it’s very close to Leh at 40km and the road is quite clear too. I have read that Khardung La can be reached even with buses from Leh as well so taking a traveler or a small car also isn’t very hard, so it makes a very popular destination for tourists because of its ease of accessibility.

Umling La : The Highest Motorable Pass on Earth

Coming on to the point, the highest motorable pass of the world is actually called Umling La Pass situated between Chisumle and Demchok in Ladakh UT. Standing at a gracious height of 19,024 ft, this is the highest in the world after the one in Bolivia followed by Mana Pass in Uttarakhand(Will be posting a blog on Mana soon). The road to reach Umling La is actually extremely challenging and very tiresome as well. It’s actually 230 km from Leh city, but the road till there isn’t an usual comfortable road, majority of the terrains are the roads which actually aren’t roads at all.

If you’re someone who loves adventure, who loves off-road biking to the maximum extent, then welcome to Umling La. Built under Project Himank by Border Roads Organisation, the main purpose of this road is to provide logistical support to the troops who’re based at LAC because of its near proximity towards the Indo-Chinese border. The weather here is so harsh that the temperature might go below -40 C during extreme winters and 50% of the usual oxygen that we have now is available at such high altitude. So this makes it not just the highest but also the most challenging road to drive through which makes it a perfect place for unreal adventure.

Geographical Conditions & Health Effects

It’s one of the most memorable and the most beautiful journeys as well to experience such breathtaking landscapes which are nowhere visible ever and also one can experience the wind blowing from both the sides. Even on the way one can read a board that one’s already at an altitude higher than the altitude of the base camp of Mt Everest. Sure, Mount Everest is the highest peak, at 29,031 ft., but the Umling La Pass sits at a higher altitude than the base camps of Everest. The South Base camp in Nepal is at 17,598 ft, while the North Base Camp in Tibet is at 16,900 ft.

So health issues would be of another great concern here. Acute mountain sickness would be another setback for all the riders who would be planning here. The harsh weather conditions make riding much more difficult, so it’s very important to acclimatize to the local weather conditions and take precautions before starting the journey. It’s a very great achievement of BRO who made these roads in such insane regions in such wild conditions. I just read that they were given special training just for this purpose and just can’t imagine the hard work behind this absolute marvel. Hats off to all the brave strong men involved in Project Himank. 

What’s actually there at UmlingLa

So once you’re on the top of Umling La you’ll see a lot of professional bikers with their stunning machines, clicking pictures, enjoying the stunning beauty all around with a pride of riding successfully at the highest motorable road of the world. Everything you see there would be the highest of the world, may it be a cafe or a washroom or anything. Actually there’s a small cafe which becomes the Highest Cafe in the World, open during some seasons and it’s such an amazing experience to have a cup of tea at such an auspicious location at a chilling temperature which is usually below or close to zero round the year.  

Crazy Adventures on the road to UmlingLa

It’s an unreal experience to reach there at first sight because it takes so many days of acclimatization and 2-3 days of traveling with multiple stops in between. Also the ones you’d be meeting there would be the bikers with insane adventurous attitude with a few guys with 4x4s,though it has became a trend to bring weird vehicles here including the Lamborghini Urus. So yeah, Umling La isn’t the place for weak hearted people xD. What do you actually need more than reaching the highest motorable road after lots and lots of adventure and insane risk involved on the way. 

About Bikers Skipping this Leg

I have personally observed most of the bikers planning to Ladakh usually skip this leg of the journey. Not sure if the matter is about the time or the risk involved or any other reason, but most of them skip it because of its remote presence. Let’s briefly explain what exactly happens here, so imagine you take the most popular route of starting from Chandigarh and heading to Manali then to Leh, exploring things around Leh and reaching back to Chandigarh via SriNagar and Jammu.

Leh would be the base of this trip and there are actually 4 but actually 5 if observed carefully, the first one going to Sri Nagar via ZojiLa Pass, another towards Siachen via Khardung La Pass, the third one to Pangong Lake via Chang La, the fourth one to Manali, but in this fourth road there comes a diversion after a small journey, at a place called Upshi heading towards Umling La, Foti La, Hanle, Dhemchuk and other remote places. This is something which should never be skipped, as Ladakh Bike Trip is entirely incomplete without this.

Though the terrain is extremely hard, the place is very isolated and facilities are barely available, you shouldn’t be missing this without a second thought. Though it’s very easy to sit and write this, it involves a lot of risk and unreal adventure which you’d never regret experiencing. Please make sure you take all necessary safety measures as health and weather would be the most challenging issues at such terrains. So don’t miss to involve this in your bike trip to Ladakh and thank me later.

PS: I haven’t visited Umling La and all information is based on my research and experiences I heard from fellow bikers. The credits of images goes to the respective photographers.

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