Padum to Sanku via Penzi La

Cycling past the Drang-Drung glacier

The ride from Padum over the Penzi La to Sanku is absolutely beautiful, on a road with little traffic but which sometimes has a bad surface. From Sanku in the Suru Valley near Kargil we went up a side valley to Tikat and trekked to Sapi over the Rusi La This trek is steep in places so we employed porters to carry our kit while we carried our bikes. If you stick to the main road from Sanku to Kargil we were told it’s about 50km, all tarmac, to Kargil.

Here’s our blog post for this route.

Total KM Stage KM Comment
0 Padum (3,600m). Lots of guest houses and shops. Internet but no ATM.
25 Tarmac for 12 kms, then surface often bumpy. Many villages, though didn’t see any shops/accomm in any.
25 Phey (3,670m). Larger village with guest house, and possibly basic shops.
22 Many more villages, didn’t see facilities in any.
47 Arsho (over river) – last village before Penzi La.
32 Switchbacks begin after 24kms. Beautiful 9km further to the pass.
79 Penzi La (4,500m). Spectacular pass. Lots of good camping spots in the kms before the pass. Some streams for water on the climb.
32 High point (by a few metres) is 1km after the pass sign. Descend 13km to the main river (4,070m), lots of side streams for water. 10kms from here to a small village with no facilities. 3kms further to Rangdum Gompa (police checkpoint). 6kms further to Rangdum village.
111 Rangdum (4,020m). Lots of dhabas and basic shops, and possible to find somewhere to stay the night.
36 Water in side streams, many places to camp, often crap surface.
147 Turn off to Parkachik (R/up). Accomm and food at the Alpine Hut if you climb up to the village. If you don’t need supplies, stay L on the main road (which passes through the lower part of the village).
~8km We went up to the village, so not sure exacly the distance on the main road.
155 Road splits. Go R and stay on same side of river for a flatter road. To pass through bigger towns go L and cross the river on a bridge.
13 (Going R) Mostly tarmac. Lots of villages, water.
168 Cross main river on a bridge.
22 Pass through more villages. Good tarmac starts about 7kms before Sanku.
190 Sanku (3,000m), turn off to Tikat (which is 16kms away and the gateway for Rusi La) in main bazaar. Big town with lots of shops. Only guest house (Dak bungalow) is 1.5kms before the town centre.

 

Route Summary
Total amount climbed 2,000m
Traffic 5-10 vehicles an hour from Padum to Parkachik. Becomes busier from there towards Sanku.
Difficulty 2
When we cycled July 2012
How much we had to push Not at all

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