Stok Peak Climbing

Morning drives to stok village that takes around 15 km away from leh. Start walking from the trekking point through the valley from left bank of the river. It's an easy but long walk through the valley to Mankarmo. There are many shepherd camps in the different entrance of the sub-valleys. The Mankarmo camp is the point from where the valley turns southwards. It is feasible to trek up to the first base camp but to get acclimatized, it is suggested to make it in two days. There would not be any problem in going all the way to base camp if you are fully acclimatized. The camp at Mankarmo is on the riverbed without any toilet facilities.

Keep walking in the same direction for around 30 min and head south. Tributaries pass through a few shepherd camps on other side. Take care of food and cloth from the animals around. In the evening, you can walk up to the advance base for adaptation. The trail leads to west and south from top of the hill. You will be passing through few glaciers before reaching the advance base camp from where you start crossing the glaciers.

Keep torch and other climbing gears ready for and early morning start. You should start at least by 4 am but it will be dark when you start. By the time you get advance base camp it would be broad daylight. It will be ideal to wait if the light is not enough to see the caves clearly. Start crossing the glacier towards south-east and then climb the peak to the western side. There are two ways to go up, one from the left side of the glacier which is more technical and the other from the right side which is easier with steps of rocks. You can scramble back to the base from same way you climbed.

An early start is suggested because it is a long tumble to stok village and drive back from stok to leh.