Nun Base Camp

Text and Photographs by Mr. Sachin Vaidya

Mount Nun lies in Kargil District of Union Territory of Ladakh. Its altitude is 23,408 feet above sea level.

Nun Base Camp is at altitude of 15,091 feet above sea level. I hereby present day-to-day description of my trek to Nun Base Camp during September 2021.

Acclimatization days: Up to 22nd September 2021, [three days long] Kun Base Camp trek was successfully conducted with night halt at a guest house in Panikhar on the last day. On the very next day, Nun Base Camp was started.

Nun Base Camp was also conducted by the same Kargil based tour company - Roots Ladakh. For Nun Base Camp, porters were hired to carry luggage. They carried luggage on the first day to the Base Camp and came back to Tangol. On the next day, they came from Tangol to Base Camp to pick the luggage and to carry till the vehicle.

Day 1 [23rd September 2021]: Roots Ladakh staff and I started vehicle journey after 6 am from Panikhar to Tangol. All the staff were sincere and excellent in their duties:

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

For map, please access the following webpage:

Mt. Nun Advance Basecamp (ABC) Trek - Roots (rootsladakh.com)

At Tangol, we got off the main road and started walking towards mountain side.

Tangol village is visible in the next photograph.

A few soldiers and their porters were also trekking to the Nun Base Camp.

A bird's eye view of Tangol village is presented in the next photograph:

The Himalayan vegetation was on the way of drying with the onset of winter.

After a steep climb, flat land was a relief!

Sparse vegetation was still found.

From a considerable height, a foot over bridge, a village (not Tangol), a kutcha road were visible. Based on a YouTube video, I got an impression that that was another and better road to approach Nun Base Camp. However, the Roots Ladakh staff did not agree.

No snow was visible on the mountains.

It was interesting to observe colours of Himalayan wild plants.

Even after two and half hours of trek, Tangol village was still visible!

Somebody had written on a rock to mark the Nun Base Camp.

At last, Nun Base Camp was visible. There was a helipad and an under construction big room.

A few plants were still visible near the Base Camp.

The day's trek was from 07-45 am to 11-15 am.

After lunch, I started walking alone towards Advanced Base Camp.

A well demarcated pathway was visible up a certain distance.

A flower was a pleasant surprise!

Somebody had written a message on a rock.

 

A small bush was interesting to look at.

 

I saw a rivulet originated from glacier.

A flower above 15,000 feet above sea level was a surprise!

 

 I was nearing Nun Advanced Base Camp.

 

However as reaching Advanced Base Camp involved crossing a glacier and as I was alone, I did not dare to reach Advanced Base Camp. I confirmed this from a few people who were returning from Advanced Base Camp. I returned after drinking glacial water which was very tasty.

The journey from Base Camp towards Advanced Base Camp and back was done from 11-30 am to 01-30 pm.

 

I returned to Nun Base Camp. As it happened at Kun Base Camp, I could not use chair outside the tent. I had to confine myself to the kitchen tent till dinner. It was a cold night.

Day 2 [24th September 2021]:

The second day was return journey from Nun Base Camp to Tangol.

Early in the morning, the same porters came to pack and carry the luggage. They were offered tea and biscuits.

My photograph was shot by Mr. Nissar.

We started the trek around 07-15 am and completed the same at 09-30 am. As the return trek was on the same route, no photographs were shot except the one shot nearly half an hour before concluding the trek.

We offered lift to a porter up to Panikhar. Later on, we had a tea break at Sanku. Mustafa and I had good discussions over socio-political matters. I appreciated his free and frank opinions.

As all good things come to an end, it was time to say goodbye to all Roots Ladakh staff after reaching Kargil.

In the evening, Mr. Maqsood came to meet me after completing his duty. Due to some misunderstanding, the hotel manager requested me to change hotel and arranged my stay at another hotel. Mr. Maqsood helped me in transfer of hotel. We had dinner together.

25th September 2022: Mr. Maqsood came to see me off. We had tea and coffee at hotel and went to share taxi stand. I travelled from Kargil to Leh in a shared vehicle.

26th September 2022: I boarded early morning flight from Leh to Mumbai and reached home in the afternoon.