Stok Kangri is a high altitude mountain located in Hemis National Park in the Stok Range of the Zanskar Mountains, near the high desert town of Leh, Ladakh. It stands at 20,187 ft, but not too technically demanding, making it a good choice for those interested in some exposure to high altitude climbs. It was this peak that was the main impetus for coming to India. I had already summited Kilimanjaro, which was a little under 20k ft, so I wanted to see just how much further I could push myself. So why not the Indian Himalayas. After the Valley of Flowers, I flew to Leh, which sits at 11,562 ft, a perfect place to hang out and explore for a few days while I got acclimated to the altitude. This time I would not use any Diamox. After a few days of wandering around, checking out some cool sites, particularly the 17th-century Leh Palace that overlooks the town, and getting my hiking boots cobbled, I joined my tour group for about a week long excursion to summit Stok Kangri. This turned out to be quite the exceptional experience, not just because *SPOILER* I made it to the top, but because of what it took to get there. The trek started off well enough, but things turned sideways when I asked one of the guides if we could drink the water from the river. Maybe something was lost in translation, but I took him to say ‘yes’, but it was my own fault because I did not treat the water at all. I thought, well, it’s a raging river in an alpine setting, it’ll be fine. It was not fine. That very night I literally crawled out of my tent to violently release explosive liquids out both ends of my body. It was quite grim. And so for the next couple days I was dragging my ass up the mountain, intermittently puking and shitting and just lying down from exhaustion. Luckily, there were some great people in the group, many of whom were local to India, who offered to carry my day pack, and the guides set up my tent for me the next couple nights. I thought there was no way I was going to make it, but I said to myself just go a step at a time and at least get to basecamp at 16,350 ft, which I eventually did. But after collapsing in my tent, I started to get a headache. Here comes the altitude sickness I thought. I was beginning to come to terms in my head that I was just not gonna summit. But by the next day, after getting some food in me and the bad water having passed through my system, I started feeling better. And by the time we were to begin our summit push at midnight, I was almost feeling normal again, the headache now fading away. We started our climb to the summit, with several people in the group needing to turn back along the way. Those that remained eventually got to the top, a narrow strip of snow and rock, sheer drops on either side. I plopped down for a quick photo, my fist in the air. I felt such a sense of accomplishment. I did not think that this was a possibility even a day prior. I was relieved, proud, and lucky! Sometimes you just gotta grind through hard things (not altitude sickness though. If my headache got worse I would have stayed behind.) We got off the summit quickly, getting ahead of a gathering snow storm. After we descended a ways, the weather improving, I asked to head back to basecamp on my own because I was feeling good and much faster than the other group members. And hey, it’s India, so they let me. After I returned to camp I literally just collapsed into my tent, my feet sticking out the doors, too exhausted to take my boots off our zip the door closed. But I had a big smile on my face.
In recent years, due to environmental degradation and over tourism, Stok Kangri is now closed.
