Nerves of Wari La Pass Route | Ladakh Mega Meet

Wari La Pass is situated at an altitude of 17400 Feet and was fifth pass of our trip. After crossing Khalsar Village, you need to move towards Agham Village, leaving the upper route going towards Khardung La. Once you reach Agham village there are two routes to Pangong Tso, one on left goes via Shyok Village which is quite a deadly route, mostly washed away, having live landslides, completely isolated and unstable (read my experience from my last Ladakh trip of this route: Adventures of Shyok Village Route | Ladakh – 2012). This route via Shyok village is quite short and one can reach Pangong Tso within 4-5 Hrs from this route. However, we had to take the right one, which ascends to Wari La Pass, then goes down to Sakti Village, then again ascend to Chang La Pass and finally descends towards Tangste – Pangong Tso Even Wari La route is not quite good by any means and the isolation along with steep gradient at some place can turn up the white faces even for locals and we were  mere mortals 😉 😉 … So, take a very calculative risk if you are planning to take on this route and especially when you are alone.

As we were approaching Agham, we saw some magnificent vistas around, the virgin beauty of Nubra Valley was yet to start. Just before the Agham Village, there was a small landslide that was being cleared by bumble-bee !! This gave all of us a chance to re-group and click some magical views surrounding us. It was fun out there with such large number of like minded travellers around. After driving a while, finally, the T-junction came and we took the right which stated Wari La Pass. The road initially looks like that you are entering a canyon with closed views surrounding it but after a while the valley expands itself in front offering some breath-taking views. There were few very small settlements initially. Rigzin and his company got the black fuel which was being sold there in one of the settlements to live up to the ever shortage of fuel pumps in such remote places of Ladakh. Then we reached a water crossing which was not that deep owing to the fact being late in the season, however, due to the presence of sharp stones underneath, it was a bit tricky. One by one we all passed through, bikers had to struggle a bit over stones, especially Benjamin but he was pulled out safely. Then came an i10 😯 😯 … But, to relief it was from a local. He struggled to pass through but after couple of grunt and tries, being pushed from our group, he finally got through… So, we had much wanted tiny adventure fun up there 🙂 🙂

The desolation started after that part, injecting in some nerves as there was no one around. Any breakdown will mean trouble and you will left with yourself to fix the issue. Rarely anyone takes these routes and that late in season, it ought to be your lucky day. Thankfully, we had a decent convoy to help someone in need. No single soul was present or accompanying us and we were just running in extreme isolation of nature on our own… The really virgin beauty of Nubra Valley was beyond comparison!! I was loving every section of it, could hardly take out my eyes off it and then the mountains towards Wari La started to appear, standing tall and handsome. The road conditions started deteriorating and finally ended up being just a dirt track. I was just ogling the majestic vistas outside, trying to click them every now and then, any possible means. We reached a point where everyone took short cut except us being safe players, however, sad part was Gagan in his Ertiga got stuck following behind one of them. He had to reverse the car all the way to road and then follow the road, guess Neha must have done a good job in navigating him through that patch. So, a lesson here, when you have rough roads only take short cuts if you feel really confident about your vehicle. Roads are there for a reason 😉 … This whole episode got him way behind us as we waited for more than 20 minutes without any signs. The vehicle was gasping for oxygen as it was throwing back the smoke inside. We were also gasping for breath at such high altitude and then when we spotted him, decided to move ahead.

It is not always good to take such long breaks at such high altitude about 17000 feet. In the last stages of ascend to Wari La, there were couple of tricky stretches with a little steep gradient and rough roads. Innova did struggle a bit on those patches so we were waiting for Gagan to make it through in his Ertiga. Eventually, we made it the top of Wari La and feeling of excitement from nervousness jumped in… It was quite a pass, completely desolated, no one around, no shacks, nothing just a yak horn facing the sky as per rituals and having a stone lying there with Wari La written over it. Everyone seemed to have settled down with their hearts into the raw nature of this trans Himalayan region and they were enjoying every bit of it, even with fierce cold wind at the top. Shekhar even hiked far distance, barely seen through 300mm lens when we all requested him to come down as it was quite an altitude. We spent another 20 minutes up there and were just waiting for Gagan, Nabeel and Benjamin to be spotted. Still, there were no signs of them…

I hope you enjoyed this part, have you ever done Wari La Pass? If yes, please share what did you like about Wari La Pass and how you felt being there…

The Journey ahead…