A View of the World from 17,000 Feet
As I stepped out of the car to take this view in, I breathed in deeply only for my lungs to gasp. Very little oxygen came in, the air was so rarefied. Our driver advised us not to walk around too much or spend more than 5 minutes at this location close to Taglang La pass, the second highest motorable pass in the world or we would collapse with high-altitude sickness. One guy remained in the car, unable to get out as his lungs gave way.
For friends in North America, a sense of scale. Altitude-wise, I was standing only 3000 feet below the summit of Denali. For friends in Europe, I was an easy 1500 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Yet the peaks around me were towering. Some would call them mere "ridges" in the Himalayas. They would not even qualify as "peaks" and so 90% of them were unnamed.
The Himalayas tame even the wildest minds. Such is their enormity and scale.
The serpentine road below is the main "highway" leading south (away from the camera) in the distance towards Tso Kar, the Mori Plains and, ultimately, Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Behind me, across the Taklang La pass, to the north, lies Leh, some two hours away.
A View of the World from 17,000 Feet
As I stepped out of the car to take this view in, I breathed in deeply only for my lungs to gasp. Very little oxygen came in, the air was so rarefied. Our driver advised us not to walk around too much or spend more than 5 minutes at this location close to Taglang La pass, the second highest motorable pass in the world or we would collapse with high-altitude sickness. One guy remained in the car, unable to get out as his lungs gave way.
For friends in North America, a sense of scale. Altitude-wise, I was standing only 3000 feet below the summit of Denali. For friends in Europe, I was an easy 1500 feet higher than Mont Blanc. Yet the peaks around me were towering. Some would call them mere "ridges" in the Himalayas. They would not even qualify as "peaks" and so 90% of them were unnamed.
The Himalayas tame even the wildest minds. Such is their enormity and scale.
The serpentine road below is the main "highway" leading south (away from the camera) in the distance towards Tso Kar, the Mori Plains and, ultimately, Manali in Himachal Pradesh. Behind me, across the Taklang La pass, to the north, lies Leh, some two hours away.