MANALI-LEH HIGHWAY

On the other hand, the Manali Leh highway is shorter, more adventurous, goes through 5 high passes & offers panaromic views of towering mountains, high snow clad walls, scenic valleys, barren landscapes etc.

Although in my opinion both the approach routes offer diverse beautiful views, I have seen people opting for the Manali-Leh route over the Srinagar-Leh highway. Let us go through the below pros & cons of both the routes.

Prospects of travelling via the Manali-Leh Highway

• Airfare to Chandigarh is more economical than Jammu / Srinagar (at least from Mumbai, this is true). Connectivity wise, Chandigarh is better connected than Jammu by Rail from various parts of India.
• The distance to Leh is shorter from the Manali route. It you are starting from Delhi, it saves you one single day via the Manali route compared to the Jammu route.
• Travelling through Himachal & entering Ladakh is comparatively safer considering the unrest in the Kashmir valley.These are the pros. Now let’s have a a look at the cons.

Consequences of travelling via the Manali-Leh Highway

• ACCLIMATIZATION

Friends, you are travelling to an altitude of 11,500 feet above the sea level. Your body dynamics are expected to respond differently than your home ground. As altitude increases, the level of oxygen decreases. Now how does that affect your body?

In layman’s language, if you are able to jog / run 2 kms continuously at the ground level, you would experience similar exhaustion levels at less than 1 km. It is essential that your body gets acclimatized to the high altitude environment, hence the need to ascend gradually. Mostly, people who fly to Leh face this problem & are compulsorily required to acclimatize at least for 1-2 full days before they proceed to the high altitude areas. Now, while approaching Leh from the Manali route, you approach 15,000 feet levels on Day 2 of your journey. This sudden increase in the altitude results in low oxygen levels which may induce breathlessness, headache, fatigue, nausea, vomiting, discomfort in your body & difficulty in sleeping. This is called as “ACUTE MOUNTAIN SICKNESS” commonly termed as AMS. Please go through my detailed article on AMS, its symptoms & how to manage AMS.

Chances of going through the harrowing experience of suffering AMS are quite high when you approach Leh via the MANALI – LEH Highway. You may have to descend if the condition aggravates.

• UNEVEN DISTRIBUTION OF TIME on the MANALI – LEH HIGHWAY

While approaching Leh from the Manali end, the centre point is SARCHU (223 kms from Manali out of the 476 kms Manali – Leh Highway) which happens to be a border of Himachal Pradesh & the state of Jammu & Kashmir. There are 2 check posts before Sarchu of the respective states where tourist entries have to be done. However, SARCHU is located at an altitude 4,000 feet. Sleeping on the second night at such a high altitude may be difficult due to the lower percentage of oxygen at higher altitudes. Hence people usually tend to take a halt at KEYLONG or JISPA to ensure that they are not affected by AMS. This causes an uneven distribution of time due to which the second leg of the journey between Keylong to Leh (358 kms) takes about 12 hours leaving you with very less time to enjoy the magnificent views on the Manali Leh Highway.

• HASSLES OF PERMITS for ROHTANG PASS on the MANALI – LEH Highway.

If you are approaching Leh from the Manali side, you will have to apply for permits at Manali to go through the ROHTANG pass. If you are renting bikes from Manali, the vehicle Number would have to be endorsed on the permit. This consumes time & delays your journey from Manali.

• PERMITS FOR TSOMORIRI & PANGONG TSO.

If you are approaching from the Manali – Leh highway, you would not be able to reach Tsomoriri & Pangong Tso enroute. Visits to the two lakes requires permits which are provided only at Leh DC’s office. Unless, you have someone who can obtain the permits from Leh & send it to you, visiting these lakes with a detour would not be possible. You would have to reach Leh, obtain the permits & then again go back to Pangong Tso & Tsomoriri lakes. This adds to a lot of to & fro travel especially if you have planned to exit from the Srinagar – Leh Highway. Secondly, even if the permits are arranged though any agent’s contacts in Leh & you reach TSOMORIRI lake directly after taking a diversion after Moore plain, you may have a problem with acclimatization since TSOMORIRI lake is at 14,836 feet. Hence if you plan to enter LEH from the MANALI side & exit from the SRINAGAR side to cover the entire route, there would be a lot of backtracking from TSOMORIRI / PANGONG back to LEH.

Prospects of travelling by SRINAGAR-LEH HIGHWAY.

• ACCLIMATIZATION:- The approach from the Jammu & Srinagar side facilitates the necessary time & the gradual ascend to ensure that your body gets the due time to acclimatize before it reaches 10,000 feet plus levels. From the Jammu side, you would be reaching Leh on the 3rdSleeping at 11,500 feet (Leh) on the 3rd day would be comparatively better than sleeping at 14,000 feet (Sarchu) on the 2nd
• EXPERIENCE THE MANALI – LEH HIGHWAY BETTER

You can use the Leh – Manali route while descending. Now your body is fully acclimatized for high altitudes, since you have spent a good amount of time in & around Leh at 15,000 feet plus altitudes. This provides you the full time & an already acclimatized body to enjoy the vast valleys & vistas of the Manali Leh highway.

• EVEN DISTRIBUTION OF TIME:- If you opt Manali – Leh highway on your return route, you can break the journey at SARCHU & have adequate time to enjoy all the places enroute.
• NO PERMITS REQUIRED FOR ROHTANG PASS:- If you are approaching Rohtang Pass from the Leh side, no permits are required.
• NO BACKTRCKING while EXITING by LEH-MANALI HIGHWAY:- If you are approaching Leh from the Srinagar – Leh highway, you can chalk your Itinerary in such a way that you can stay in Leh, complete your acclimatization during the 2 days of your local sight seeing in Leh. Thereafter you can exit Leh for NUBRA, then connect PANGONG TSO, HANLE, TSOMORIRI & directly connect on the Manali Leh Highway at Moore Plains. It would not be necessary to go back to Leh, of course unless you have a return flight to take OR have plans to return from Srinagar side.
• CAN INCLUDE ZANSKAR in the ITINERARY:- Additionally, it gives you an opportunity to include ZANSKAR in your Itinerary, if you have plans. This provides you another few days to acclimatize before you reach Leh. Of course, Padum (12,037 feet) would be a little over the height of Leh. However unlike LEH, most of the scenic places in & around Padum are almost on the same levels. PENZI LA pass enroute PADUM is the highest point at 14,000 feet.

Consequences of travelling by the SRINAGAR-LEH highway

• Airfare to JAMMU / SRINAGAR may be expensive than CHANDIGARH.
• An additional 1 day is spend in reaching LEH in case you reach JAMMU by TRAIN. This would mostly happen in case of bikers who book their bikes till JAMMU. However, others reaching SRINAGAR directly would spent the same time in reaching LEH.

The valley situation enroute SRINAGAR, at times may be restrictive considering an occasional unrest in the valley. However, this is very exceptional. MANALI-LEH Highway route would be free of this issue.

TO SUMMARIZE

In this article, I have highlighted options of travel to Ladakh, the duration taken from both the sides and the pros & cons of travelling from either sides. If you find this article useful, please share it with your friends, relatives & near ones planning to travel to Ladakh.

In case you require any assistance in planning a visit to Ladkah, please feel free to write to me in the space provided below.  I would be glad to be of help to you.