Well I'd never heard of it until 6 months before I went there but it's one of the most accessible 6000m peaks and relatively uncrowded.

 

It is in the far north of India in a region called Ladakh - sometimes referred to as Little Tibet and it's not hard to see why.

 

 

Stok Kangri overlooks the city of Leh - itself 3500m high - making for an interesting landing followed by a few days acclimatisation

 

 

We were on a ten day trek with a lot more acclimatisation than there had been on Kilimanjaro (where you really push your luck). The trek started at 3200 metres and involved  several ascents and descents.

 

 

Initially quite warm at lest during the day. Sadly no yaks to carry our camping equipment (ponies for that) but we did encounter a number of 'dzos' - sterile cross between yak & cow. Also a lot of marmots, lammergeiers & vultures but they were much harder to photograph.

 

 

The route entailed a number of passes before the target came back into view. The ascent route was up the right hand ridge in this view.

 

 

Base camp at 5300m was a little on the cold side - and windy several tents blew down & had to be secured with rocks - I was in mine at the time which was 'interesting'.

 

 

As with most highish mountains with glaciers there was a nocturnal departure so we were well up the snowfield leading to the summit ridge by sunrise but as ever it's a magnificent experience.

 

 

 

 

We had a cloudy day but tantalising glimpses of the cloud lifting on the summit ridge - sadly it didn't quite happen

 

 

 

 

There's usually a dream like quality to functioning at altitude but the acclimatisation in the previous 10 days really helped and there was suprisingly little difficulty getting to the top - it certainly felt easier than Kili 5 years previously but then this time I also knew what was coming.

 

 

The guides were great - sadly they couldn't carry us down - and the descent was much harder than the ascent but by then you don't really care!