The Stok Kangri is the most preferable location for experiencing the most demanding trek in Ladakh. Lying sharply at the altitude of 20075 ft in the middle of the fascinating place in Ladakh, the Stok Kangri is the most prominent location on the southern skyline. The Stok Kangri Trek will bring the fascinating opportunity of spending some days at this impressive region to visit the colorful monasteries at Shey, Thikshey and Hemis before setting off on the rugged but amazing treks through Markha Valley.
The trekking routes are a serious challenge even for the experienced trekkers that will lead to the several remote and picturesque villages to the high Nimaling Plain below the imposing peak of Kang Yatze. Crossing the Kongmaru La, the trek will further take you to the unusual high route to Stok Kangri Base Camp, a 3-day approach to the mountain, which includes superbly located campsites and far-reaching views towards Tibet and the eastern Karakoram.
Although objectively very safe and technically straightforward (involving low-angle scree and easy snow slopes), the climb on Stok Kangri is both challenging and interesting. This is a wonderfully varied trip, perfectly suited to someone seeking his or her first Himalayan summit. The sight from the top brings amazing views of the Zanskar, Karakoram ranges and K2 (8611 m), the second highest peak in the world.
Trekking across the Stok Kangri Summit is actually finding oneself at one of the most popular trekking peaks in the Indian Himalayas due to its proximity to Leh and is highly recommended for those who wish to climb a nontechnical 6000 m peak.
Day 1: Arrive Leh
Your trekking to Stok Kangri begins with the arrival to Leh. You can easily reach Leh once you come to Delhi. You can reach Leh from Delhi either through a flight or through the road. Taking the flight is a better option as you would be saving a lot on time and energy. Taking the road may cost you a lot of time as you have to first go to either Srinagar or Manali to start for Leh. You can spend a day in Leh to acclimatize to the weather. Trekking in the area of Leh is among the best options among Trekking in India.
Day 02: Leh (Acclimatization day)
On day 2nd, you can enjoy the cultural and natural beauty of Leh. This can be considered as a day to get familiar with the town and also acclimatize to the weather. Lah is culturally a rich place. There are dozens of monasteries and ancient temples that you can go around. They are located in and around the town. Therefore you would be getting enough time to go around the place in a day. You can have an overnight stay in Leh. The hotels are easily accessible and rates are reasonable too. You can enjoy trekking here as post monsoon trek and pre monsoon trek.
Day 03: Leh (11500 ft.) to Chang Ma (13087 ft.) via Stok Village (11800 ft.)
It is one of the best sites that you would have once you have decided to trek this area of land. Trekking in Leh, could be considered by some people to be living their dreams. At any point of time, you might just feel that you are right in the middle of heaven. This is a day when you would enjoy a great drive and have an enjoyable trekking experience. The day starts with a drive to Stok village. At the start of the drive from Leh, you would go through many exotic and beautiful scenes. The drive to the Stok village is an adventurous one and if full of natural beauty and lush green trees. The weather is perfectly fine for the summer season. The Stok village lies immediately to the south of Leh and it is well known for a royal palace. The recently crowned king of Ladakh lives here. There is also a small museum inside the palace which has beautiful and religious artifacts.
The day 3 is however the day when you trek to Chang Ma. This might be a difficult trek and you may experience the joy of a snow trek. You would like to spend the night here and the overnight stay would be in tents in the open lands.
Day 04: Chang Ma (13087 ft.) to Mankorma (14200 ft.)
The whole trek passes through the barren grey landscape of Ladakh. From chang ma trek up to Mankorma, This day will show you the real beauty of ladhak and gives you the answer why ladhak known as cold desert, while trekking you will cross the 2-3 times small streams, it is a fairly easy trek along with the river and you would love the overnight stay in tents.
Day 05: Mankorma (14200 ft.) to Base camp (16300 ft.)
A few hours trek takes you back to the base camp. This exotic base camp is a pleasurable place. It lies in a grassy area. This area has a number of water bodies in the form of lakes and water streams. During the day time, you can walk on the upper areas of the campsite and enjoy the views of the surroundings. There are some beautiful peaks like Gulap Kangri, Parcha Kangri and many others. You can also take rest in the base camp to make sure that the group is ready for the next day’s trek and touring. You would get time to acclimatize to the weather. This is pretty necessary because in the coming days, you wuld find a drastic change in the climate and might experience thin air and lack of oxygen.
The overnight stay, would again be arranged in tents and make sure that you have enough warm clothes for the lowering temperature.
Day 06: Rest day + training day
This day is an easy day for trekkers. You would enjoy the time for going around and knowing the place to a much better extent. It is essentially a day to train for the upcoming trek and know the possibilities and challenges that are involved in it. Your trek leader and guide would let you know about all the different changes in the terrain. You need adequate knowledge and experience to go around the mountains. There might be situations where you have to trek in the sinking snow. You would find your legs sinking up to your knees. Therefore it is essential that you know the weather and surrounding conditions. It is also a day when you would to take enough rest so that you are well prepared for the coming excursion. The overnight stay would again be in tents. By now, you should be well familiar to the conditions prevailing during the day and night.
Day 07: Base camp (16300 ft.) to Stok Kangri (20080 ft.) Back to base camp.
Now that you have had rest for a day i.e. the Stok Kangri trek, you should be well prepared for the big climb. You should wakeup early to start the climb. The route goes through glaciers and then comes to steep slopes to the summit ridge. This is a long climb, so you should be mentally strong and prepared psychologically. It would take somewhere between 9 to 10 hours for average climbers. Slow climbers may take another 2 to 3 hours in addition. At the start of the trek, after a couple of hours, you should reach to the summit of the ridge. The summit offers you great views of the area. The wide and open surroundings give you a royal feeling. Towards the north, you would get a view of the Karakoram range. The Saser Kangri dominates the sky in the north along with the Karakoram, and the Zansker ranges in the south. The overnight stay, as usual, would be in tents.
Day 08: Base camp to Leh
It would be the ultimate day of your fantastic trekking experience. The trek which included high altitude trekking mountaineering and expedition would finally come to an end after this day. But before you end the day, you would see a lot of snow clad beauty and memorable view of mountain ranges. The joy of Ladakh trekking can be rejuvenated from this spot. As the day rises, you would have to start coming back from Base camp to Leh. The trek back could be difficult and you need to perform care and precision. On the same day, after you reach Leh, you would also have to cover up to Stok Village on your feet. Stok village is the final stopping point of trekking. From Stok village to Leh, you would have to take a drive. The drive may make you nostalgic of all the fun that you had while trekking the mountains in the last eight days.
| City | Night (s) | Hotels / Lodges / Camp |
| Leh | 02 | Spic N Span |
| Chang Ma | 01 | Camp |
| Mankorma | 01 | Camp |
| Base Camp | 03 | Camp |
– Guest house in Leh on Day 1, day 2 and day 8 as per the itinerary.
– Camping during the trek.
– Meals while on trek (Veg.+ Egg)
– Trek equipments: Sleeping bag, mattress, tent (twin sharing), kitchen & dinning tent, toilet tent, utensils and crampon (if required).
– First aid medical kits, stretcher & oxygen cylinder.
– Mountaineering qualified & professional trek Leader, guide, cook and Support staff.
– Transport from Leh guest house to Stok village and return as per the itinerary.
– Mules to carry the central luggage.
– Any kind of personal expenses.
– Airfare and pickup and drop from airport..
– Food in Leh.
– Any kind of emergency evacuation charges
– Necessary permits, entry fees and Foreigner peak booking charges.
– Mules or porter to carry personal luggage.
– Accommodation in good hotels.
– Check-in / out time is 12 noon at most of the hotels.
– Extension to other places is also possible with a minimal extra cost.
– Additional nights are available at each place with minimal supplement.
– A visa is required and must be obtained prior to your departure from your Country.
– If quoted hotel is not available, we will provide one of a similar category and standard.
– Small deviations in the tour program are sometimes necessary, depending on weather, road conditions, flight schedules and room availability.
– In case the government changes presently applicable taxes, increase in airlines prices, fuel surcharge our rates will need to be adjusted accordingly.
– Sometimes, there is no relevance between the distance and time of travelling, as it depends upon the condition of the roads and congestion of the traffic.
– While every effort will be made to maintain the itinerary, in view of local strikes etc that are beyond our control all schedule and itineraries are subject to last moment changes.
– Clients must be fully insured, as the company cannot accept liability for loss or damage to client’s property, medical emergencies or any other loss suffered by them whilst on tour.
– In Case of issuing Domestic or International air tickets, SGV is not responsible for any refund if the flight is delayed or cancelled, as it is the responsibility of airline.
