Name of Pass	Chang La
Altitude	5,381m
Type of pass	Cycle
Where	Between Shakti crossroads (33km, 3,750m) and Durbok (31km, 3,900m)
GPS Co-ords	34.047 N, 77.930 E
Climb	1,670m in 5 hours from Shakti

 

 

This must be one of the busiest passes of its altitude in the world. We lost count at 300 vehicles passing us as we climbed up from Shakti – mostly tourists on their way to Pangong Tso. Despite this we still quite liked this pass as the scenery is nice and it’s an enjoyable climb. Most of the time the gradients are gentle, but on the unpaved kms at the top there are some steep sections. Pity the army boys who get stationed on the pass for a month at a time, but make sure you take advantage of their complimentary tea!