High Altitude Madness..Altitude Sickness in Ladakh

It was just another day during the end of April 2015, Day temperatures were reaching their peak of about 12 degrees and night at -10. I was walking towards Leh Taxi Stand from Shaolin guest house in Sankar, i always stay at this homestay during all my solo visits to Leh, thanks to the amazing Mr.Dorjay and Grandma for the hospitality and food.I was warned to come back before sunset as it was getting quite cold in the evenings, summers haven’t started yet nor did the tourist season. I headed to Thicksey first to sit by the indus river and headed back to Leh, it was just 1700 and the sun was still up. I was told to come back by dusk, I still had time so i decided to walk back to Sankar via Leh Palace and Namgyal Gompa instead of the normal road.

Now there are to things about Leh or any high altitude places:

1. An average Human body is by default not designed to live in high altitude if living in plains, especially above 2400Mts(8000 ft). Leh is at 3500Mts (11500 ft), well above this threshold, this needs acclimatization of the body to the scare oxygen available at that altitude else would have to risk Acute Mountain Sickness(AMS) which can be sometimes fatal. Even after Acclimatization, trekking or anything which requires significant body effort should be attempted very slowly as there is simply not enough oxygen in the air that the lungs can feed into the blood.

2.With higher altitudes comes the issue of lower temperatures, that afternoon mercury was slightly above zero degrees and would rapidly drop after sunset. Tourist season starts only mid may when temperatures go upto 20+ during the day and the Manali-Leh Highway is cleared for traffic.


Ideally i should have just taken the straight road home and walked the 04 kms in an hour, instead i chose to take the route via Leh palace, which includes climbing upto Leh Palace, climbing up the Namgyal Gompa and descending through a series of long stairs to Sankar Village.

It was a normal walk upto the Leh Palace with a few stops and playing with some furry friends. After this is when i was probably slightly overconfident and decided to cut across the path to Namgyal Gompa and climb up the hill instead of taking the longer trail.

Leh Palace and Namgyal Gompa above (Src: Arun Bhat)

It started well and i did manage to climb a bit but its not like a typical hill, the soil doesnt hold its ground and the rocks keep slipping, i realized it then that i was perhaps a little too confident. I took multiple breaks as the sun started to disappear, i was breathless, panting and completely flushed, i could look at my hands and see them going completely red, i couldn’t even imagine the state of my face. The temperature was certainly below zero and my nose started to water and burn due to the cold. If this is as miserable as it gets in hell, i was there.

Had i taken the normal path, i would have reached the vehicle road which goes to Namgyal, but the path i took seemed to have no definitive end. I was sitting midway, scared to put a step up because if the rocks slipped then i would be somewhere deep down below the hill and certainly wouldnt have been able to walk away. I was trying hard to get a hold of my breath which seemed to be racing faster than it did the last time after every break.

Almost midway..

I sat down at one last place for a good 15 mins, opened my backpack for some water, that is when i realized i had none left.With some rest and scared that it would be dark soon, with one last effort i did manage to reach the stupa from where the flags run all the way to Namgyal Gompa, i was releived once i knew I wouldn’t die after all. The water i drank at the monastery was without any doubt the sweetest drink i ever had in my life. I sat inside for what seemed like an hour but what really was 15 minutes after which i took the stairs that begin at the other end of the monastery to end at Sankar.

Mrs.Dorjay saw me opening the gate and let out a shrill cry, while i was trying to look behind and figure out which creature had made her produce sound of such high frequency, she came rushing and appeared pale as if she has seen a ghost, it was me(How she could see it that clearly even in twilight i still have no idea). I realized it only after looking at myself in the mirror, my face was red, almost dark red in colour which only became normal in an hour after some thukpa in the warm kitchen.

This incident has without any doubt been a harrowing yet very enlightening experience for me, contemplating on that night even now i have certainly learnt a few things:

1. Its good to be confident, but there’s a line between that and being obsessively over confident. Never be Over confident.

2. Never under estimate the sheer power of nature, ever!

3. Even if doing certain things impulsively, rationality is something which should never be missed.

4. Knowledge is a good thing, read more about the place you are heading to, what you think is enough might not always be enough.

Dont Give Up, If in doubt, don't give up anyway!

I dont know if it had made me wiser or not, but it did make me realize that for life, human or otherwise, is amazing!