Mt. Whitney Portal Store & Hostel Forums General Mt. Whitney Portal Store Message Board I Can Climb...

...3 6000m + peaks for $261.56 USD...or I can do them solo for free (other than the couple of bucks for the ILP (Inner Line Permit)...
There are some small crevasses on the routes...so the safe bet would be to hire the guide to rope-up to...Additional days for additional peaks would only cost a little over 50 bucks...

The point of the post...If you have a couple of thousand bucks that you can afford to use...this part of the Himalaya is really worth the visit...a s-load less expensive than Nepal...and just as beautiful...and if you like to trek, or climb, there's no comparison between Ladakh and Nepal/Tibet when comparing costs (I wish I could have some of that Nepal/Tibet money back for climbs here...) easily accessible mountains go up to 7500m...you saw the quote above...and climbing can be even cheaper is you can schedule with a group...some 4 day treks are advertised at around 80 bucks...question to ask is whether you'd have to pay your own homestay fees...that would make it about $50 more expensive...

Let me know if you want to hear more about the trip...it's been an interesting start...finally starting to feel human again on Day 3...

Even the Dogs love Foreigners in Ladakh...
Hiking up towards the Stok La wirh 4 of my new friends...

Richard, it's good that you are doing well and enjoying yourself.

Thanks for posting

pul

A Ladakh traffic jam...


https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-PRFd5rX/A
A few Dronies with my Neo 2...


Thanks, Paul.
I am having a good time...I do wish I could subtract about 35 years from my age...going out and doing an epic (whether ride or hike) takes a heck of a lot more time for recovery...

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-CxHHX68/A

A few dronies (AI created video) with the Neo 2 at about 17,500' while I was doing a short acclimatization hike...
I'm going to be trying my first 6000m+ (really easy) summit in Decades...in a few days...

I travelled south out of Ladakh...there's a lot more greenery here in Himachal Pradesh...there are pine forests here and some of the cliffs remind me of (not the clean granite faces) Yosemite...

Here are a few dronies from a failed attempt to reach Bhrigu Lake...came up a couple of k's short...listen to the advice to get an early start when people tell you need to do an early start...I could have made it, but it would have required returning to the hotel in the dark and my old eyes can't handle riding in the dark...

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-qWrHwvD/A

He followed me up almost 1000m...in about 5k...like usual, he disappeared on the way down...apparently I'm too slow...

The "lake" in the lower-right is Beas Kund...a sacred Hindu Kund...

I hiked up the trail to Friendship Peak...still about 5000' short of the summit where I turned around...goal was to get a view of Beas Kund...

The People here are really no different...met a group of 5 friends doing a bucket list climb of Friendship Peak...they did make it...

It was crowded...and very interesting...

BTW, I don't think I have 1500m of climbing (Himalayan trails are Really Steep...and they rarely use switchbacks) in my legs...especially near 6000m...scratched Mount Yunam off the list and will probably just go as far as I can up Kyigar Peak...both are considered Easy...

Full Moon Rising...




So my climb of Mount Yuman would have been with what remained of the Full Moon...
Wish I had put more effort into getting Climbing Fit...

Jim has mentioned changing colors...





BTW, it was -3 this morning, but that's on the Cissy Scale...definitely having to wait for the sun to clear the hills before riding...

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-pFZhXX5

Some more short drone shots…
It was an amazing morning sky wise…

Nice to see some development in Coso Junction...

Good stuff, Richard. Keep posting.

Yeah, those trailhead pups can clock mileage. We had one guy follow us on a 20+ mile /8K gain bushwhack to a desert peak that hadn't seen a summit in 40+ years. He was a black German shepherd and we kept telling him to go home because it was getting hot and we didn't even have enough water for ourselves. Long story short, we came across a remote fire burn area where they had dropped a palette of bottled water for the fire crews, but clearly the fire burned over it. We dug down through the melted plastic and found some intact liter bottles. Saved both the dog's butt and our own. The pup summited and only left us to run off to the farmhouse near the trailhead. No collar or tags, but he earned the name "Lucky" that day...

Great thread Richard !

20+ years ago I was driving home when I saw the full moon rising at sunset…amazing scene and amazing photos…it was at Coso Junction.

I guess there’s a reason they call them Man’s Best Friend…

Luck does play an important role in this activity…

Thinking of how many times I cruised (foot and MC) to the Nepal/Tibet border…

Thanks.

Another AI created selfie drone video:

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-V68WdcT/A


Yesterday was going to be an easy cruise (on foot) to a meadow for some drone flying...
I felt good, so I just kept walking...
Crossed the Stok La and walked down to Rumbak...
Asked one of the Homestay Owners if they could call me a cab...
Their cellular/WiFi was down, so they couldn't call out...
They gave me a ride back to Leh...unreal, nice...


This is the Stok La:

I've got another AI generated video from the selfie drone...this one is really worth watching...colors Are Not Fake...
What a day...I've been feeling like I'm ready for this trip to end...and then there's a Today...what a day of doing things that not a whole lot of people do...could have been even better if I weren't such a sissy when it comes to stream crossings (foot and m/c)...and I was ready to just hang out at the hotel...


https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-95W4tpw/A

And you're positive that's not Mazourka Canyon...?

There are a lot of similarities between Tibet, Ladakh and the Western US...
Except...



Come to think of it, I have seen cattle walking on the highway in Northern CA...


And this...



Ancient Monestaries...
This one (under restoration reconstruction...no crew around at the time...) had a narrow walkway with Death Drops on either side...
For some reason, Lord Of The Rings popped into my head as I negotiated the ramp...

Thank you Richard for sharing and posting.

GK

I'm pretty sure I am going to my grave not understanding Acclimatization...
Spent the last few days in and around Karzok...the closest village to Kiagar Ri (6100m)...
I've been living at 11,000' for six weeks...
I've climbed over a 16,000' pass with no problems...
I crossed (on motorcycle), and lingered on, more 17,000'+ passes than I care to count...
I've stayed in Homestays at 13,000'+ and 14,000'+...
Karzok is at about 15,000'+...
Woke up with a splitting headache that didn't go away with pain medication...
I can still ride with a headache, so I rode the dirt road up towards the peak anyway...
Only made it about 400' up before I knew I was just wasting energy...

I thought about Tomcat quoting Secor..."gain the ridge"...and then it's about a 4000'/4k walk along the ridge...
You'll see it at about 30 seconds into the AI generated video...it's about 3 1/2 minutes because it's 3 days of selfies...

https://piotrowski.smugmug.com/Whats-New-1/Ladakh-2026/i-sLXbSgZ/A


I really did enjoy the ride back to the city yesterday...in spite of Day 3 with the lingering headache...A dirt track from last year to a couple of high altitude alpine lakes is nearly complete pavement this year...from Karzok until I rejoined the usual route near Nyoma, I saw less than 10 cars/trucks (a bit more if you include Construction Crews) and no other motorcycles...(you should notice the new blacktop in a few of the latter clips in the video)...it was nearly 350k of riding...up above 17,000'+...

Fly back to Thailand on Friday...can't say that I'm going to miss the last few days of Cold...no wonder almost all the remote businesses close down by mid-October...I had 5 layers, including 2 down jackets on, to keep warm...