Kun Base Camp

Text and Photographs by Mr. Sachin Vaidya

Mount Kun lies in Kargil District of Union Territory of Ladakh. Its altitude is 23,218 feet above sea level.

Kun Base Camp is at altitude of 14,940 feet above sea level. I hereby present day-to-day description of my trek to Kun Base Camp during September 2021.

Day 1 [17th September 2021]: First day involved aeroplane journey from Mumbai to Leh [11,483 ft.]. Night halt was at Leh.

Day 2 [18th September 2021]: Second day involved vehicle journey from Leh to Kargil [8,779 ft.]. Night halt was at Kargil.

Day 3 [19th September 2021]: Third day involved vehicle journey from Kargil to Parkachik [10,000 ft] in Suru Valley.

In route, I visited 7th century Buddha engraving at Bema Khumboo.

I also visited Parkachik Glacier. However even after two nights of high altitude (Leh and Kargil) night stay, I could not go near the Glacier due to exhaustion. My Kargil driver - Mr. Maqsood Ali - accompanied and helped me on the way.

Originally I had planned night halt at Parkachik; however, government accommodation was closed for renovation and no private accommodation was available. Then I shifted to Tangol; here also government accommodation was closed for renovation and private accommodation was unavailable. I came to Panikhar where government accommodation was closed for renovation but private accommodation in the form of a guest house was available. During all this journey, Mr. Maqsood made all enquiries with local people by getting down of the vehicle. I did not step out of the vehicle for enquiry.

After having food and tea in the afternoon, Mr. Maqsood left for Kargil. As my Airtel mobile phone was not functional, Mr. Maqsood called Mr. Muzammil (owner of Kargil tour company 'Roots Ladakh') and informed about change of plan for night halt - Panikhar instead of Parkachik.

It was a wonderful day with Mr. Maqsood. Both of us had travelled a lot in Ladakh spread over nearly a decade. As he was on a government contract job, he could not drive for me for more than a day (which was Sunday holiday).

Day 4 [20th September 2021]: 'Roots Ladakh' staff met me at Panikhar guest house. All the staff were sincere and excellent in their duties:

• Mr. Nissar = Guide
• Mr. Muzaffar = Cook
• Mr. Parvez = Helper
• Mr. Mustafa = Driver

We started around 09-30 am from Panikhar and had a tea break around 10-30 am at Parkachik.

Around 11-40 am, we reached Shafat [12,910 ft.]. For map, please check following webpage:

Mt Kun ABC Trek - Roots (rootsladakh.com)

We crossed wooden footbridge on Suru River.

The mountains were calling.

In Ladakh, the flowering season was July and August; however, a few flowers survived during September.

Leaves were turning red.

Suru River was visible for a long  time when we were trekking up in the mountains.

High altitude vegetation was interesting to observe.

The terrain was breathtaking.

The vegetation got reduced after attaining altitude.

Even after couple of hours of walk, the same (Suru) river accompanied us.

Finally after nearly three hours of walk, we reached our destination for the day - Chumik [13,149 ft.]. The total distance trekked was nearly 5 km.

It was interesting to watch the unpacking of luggage from horseback and pitching of tents.

Muzaffar and Parvez got busy.

This was kitchen tent.

This was my tent for the nights. To my surprise, it had two doors!

Day 5 [21st September 2021]: The fifth day was tiring as we had to walk from morning till evening.

Early morning view of the mountains was breathtaking!

The staff got busy in preparation of breakfast and thereafter winding up. Muzaffar was an excellent cook.

Toilet tent was visible at the campsite.

We started the trek around 9 am.

Somebody had put stones one above the other.

We could spot some wild flowers.

We had to carefully avoid glacier and glacial moraine.

We were near glacier.

Small patches of bushes were still found.

The last stretch of walk was tiring; however stunning views were a relief.

The total trek for the day was from 9 am to 5 pm and consisted of total walk for 10 km.

The night halt was at Kun Base Camp [14,940 feet above sea level]. It was cold and windy; hence, I had to confine myself to the kitchen tent. I could not use the chair [out of tent] as I did on earlier [4th] day.

Roots Ladakh had made arrangements for two sleeping bags - one into another; the sleeping bags were adequate for minus 30 degree Celsius. It snowed that night; but within two sleeping bags, I felt very warm and I had to come out of the sleeping bags and put them on my body!

Day 6 [22nd September 2021]: The last day of the trek involved walking back to Shafat and then travelling to Panikhar by vehicle. The early morning view of the mountains was fascinating. Fresh snow was visible all around the camp.

The staff was busy in winding up the camp and preparing food.

One of the two horsemen is visible in the photograph.

Following photograph shows my sleeping tent and its surrounding.

We walked to the place where Buddhist prayer flags were put, for a photoshoot; the place was a couple of minutes walk from the camp.

All the three tents of the camp (i.e. toilet, kitchen, sleeping) were visible.

My photographs were shot by Nissar.

It was tempting to click the photographs of Kun Base Camp again and again!

We started walking down around 09-30 am. As it was a return journey and photographs of the route were already taken, we walked with minimum photo shooting. We passed by a small emerald green lake.

We encountered  the same glacier.

Nissar is visible in the next two photographs:

I had a sign of relief when I saw the bridge on Suru River!

We completed the trek around 03-15 pm. We got into our vehicle and proceeded towards Panikhar. In route, we halted for tea at Parkachik.

Next day early in the morning, the next trek - Noon Base Camp - was to start. I had covered the same in another blog - Nun Base Camp.