At the end of August, Arun contacted me about going on an overlanding tour in the first week of September. I declined at first because the dates were too close to my Ladakh marathon.
But when he mentioned that he wanted to climb Mentok Kangri instead of going on the tour, my eyes lit up with excitement as no one had signed up for Mentok all summer, and I had been hoping to take someone to the top. So, I said yes, and we decided to embark on the expedition from the 3rd to the 6th of September.
Upon returning to Leh on the 1st after a successful summit of Yunam with the team, I met with Arun. He mentioned experiencing a headache during his acclimatization night at Rumtse (4200m) and expressed concerns about Mentok Kangri. Instead, he suggested attempting Kiager Ri, a non-technical 6100m peak located near Kiager Tso and Spangnak Ri (6390m). The key distinction was the absence of snow on the ridge of Kiager Ri, making it a relatively easier ascent from the base camp to the summit while wearing trekking shoes. Consequently, we swiftly changed our plans and set off for Kiager Ri. Our initial halt was at Chumathang, situated at an altitude of 4100m, providing a perfect spot for overnight rest.
The next morning, we got food packed from Chumathang and headed towards the Kiager Ri base camp, which is located around 4850m. The road-head is technically the base camp itself, and we parked the car at the base of the mountain and set up camp for the night. We also managed to do a short acclimatisation hike and gained 500m before coming back down for dinner.
The next morning was the summit push.
For Arun, this was his first attempt to climb a 6,000m peak, and he was excited and brimming with confidence, thanks to his training back in Bangalore. For me, it was a new peak to explore but relatively easier than the others I'd attempted before. The summit push was from 4850m to 6100m, a 1250m gain, so not easy in any sense.
We started late, around 7:30 am, and managed to reach the summit in 5 hours, at 12:30 pm. It was an excellent push to the top by Arun, whose training paid dividends during the ascent. The views from the top were splendid, with the Kiager Tso shimmering in the afternoon sun, the Chalung peaks standing tall alongside P6270 & P6250, Chamser & Lungser flanking the Tso Moriri to its left, and the Mentok Range to its right. Karzok Kangri on our right, with Yalung Nong behind it and Spangnak Ri towering behind us. Spending 30 minutes at the top, we started our descent to our car and reached the bottom around 3:30 pm. The entire hike was incident-free, thanks to a clear weather window, acclimatization, and proper training to achieve the desired results. We left soon thereafter and were back in Leh by the night, ending a great 3-day climb to Kiager Ri.
The GPX FILE for the route is free to download here:
Comments