Done Zanskar, Ladakh drive, from Vadodara in end May 2022 in Hexa 4X2 auto. Completed in 11 days.

The route was Vadodara-Mohali-Manali-Jispa-Shinku la – Purne ( phugtal trek) – Padum- Shinge la – Lamayuru – Leh – Sarchu – Manali – vadodara. ( Total 4267 kms) .

No khardung la / nubra / pangong done in this trip, so no permits required.

Here are some route updates ;

Vadodara-Mohali ;  ( 1260 kms / 20 hrs)  Used Udaipur-rajsamand-Bhilwara road instead of chittor and ajmer roads. Better and less traffic on this section. Used Jajjar-rohtak-gohana route, while going and Western peripheral bypass in return. Later is better road,  faster, and less expensive too. (only Rohtak-panipat section toll is rs 255)

Mohali-Manali-Sissue-Jispa; ( 400 km / 12 hr) Excellent roads, except sundernagar-Mandi and Mandi-Aut, where road widening work going on, dusty patches and heavy traffic.  In return used Bajaura-kandi pass-Mandi route..which is narrow with lots of traffic. But still better than Mandi-Aut section.

Jispa-Shinku la-Purne; ( 100 kms / 7 hrs ) Jispa to zanskar sumdo ( 30 km), excellent road. Ascending Shinku la ( 20 km ) is completely tarred, however last 3 kms lots of water streams and black ice on broken road ( done 8 am / -6 degree temperature on top).

Descending shinkula, road up to lakhang ( 10 km) is narrow, gravel, ice, craters, boulders, extremely narrow hairpin turns. Lakhang to Kurgiakh is better than last year, many shallow water streams to cross  but there are couple of  bridges also. Few more are under construction. Gravel and boulders are there on entire road.

Kurgiakh to purne is dusty, with few shallow water streams. Occasional Small patches of high gradients

But easily managable.

Purne-Padum ; ( 51 km / 3 hrs)  First 30 km s extremely dusty road with high incline at places.  JCB working at places for widening road. JCB of Jio also working from here to singe la. Last 20 km (reru-padum) is tarred and good road. No ice or water streams on this way.

Padum-Murgan la-singe la-sirsirla-Lamayuru ; ( 200 km / 10 hrs ) ; Road up to zangla ( 30 km ) is excellent. Beyond this up to 17-18 km road is tarred along the Zaskar river. After that 20 kms more along the banks of zanskar is dusty, narrow and scarry at places.

The road, ascending murgan la ( 12 kms )  is tough. Dusty with high degree of inclination. Was difficult for 4 X2, but somehow managed. From here singe la ascent start ( 28 kms ). Road again, are dusty and narrow but doable easily.  Last one km, saw ice and water streams on road, with Jio’s JCBs.

Descending singe la is good, long  non tarred road  ( 26 kms ). Few water streams and ice near top, otherwise ok up to photoksar bridge.

Again ascent of sirsir la starts, 12 kms of non tarred road is easy to drive.

Descending sirsir la is nice scenic nontarred road up to 27 kms, a bridge after phanjila village. From here to lamayuru (27 kms), excellent tarred road.

Lamayuru-Leh-Rumtse ; Good roads ( 175 kms / 8 hrs drive time). Done sight seeing in leh,thikse,stakna in between.

Rumtse-Sarchu-Sissu ; ( 325 km / 12 hrs) Tanglang la ascent and descent was tarred road, but Large ice  and water filled craters last 2 kms of top.  Morey plain, pang and ascent to lachung la is ok, tarred road but lots of trucks and cars en route, so you don’t feel like those old MLH road adventure.

Patches before sarchu, were many dusty diversions due to small bridge constructions.

Ascent to baralacha la was fast doe to good tarred road. Few water crossings and ice craters on road but manageable easily.

Baralacha la  is now ‘New Rohtang’. Heards of tourists and cars and their instagram reels may irritate you till solang.   Overall MLH is boring. Zanskar road are still exiting, may be for 1-2 more years only. 

Courtesy: Bharat Patel