My tryst with Marsimik La
Marsimek La at a staggering 18,634ft is the highest motorable pass in the world. A pass which is seldom visited by visitors to Ladakh, yet remains one of the most talked about in the motorcycle touring circle.
It was this Marsimik La, which I had planned to conquer on the 10th of September, 2007.
While this was my third visit to Ladakh in as many years, this would be the first time, I would take on the challenge that is, Marsimek La.
As I started my bike on the unusually cold September morning, for the first time during this trip, anxiety and nervousness griped me. As I tried my best to gain composure and navigate my way to the village of Phobrang, I knew today was going to be one of the most memorable day of my life.
Every second of the journey to Phobrang (gateway to Marsimik La) was spent analyzing the sound and feel of my motorcycle, as I tried to gauge whether or not she was ready for the challenge ahead.
As we entered Phobrang and made our way to the ITBP check post, the nervousness turned into childish enthusiasm, as I tried my best to guess which route went to the formidable Marsimik La. At the same time the reality dawned upon me, out of the 12 who had started the journey from Manali, only 8 had made it Pangong Tso and out of the 8, only three (Suyash, Dheeraj and Me) had the guts and willingness to attempt Marsimik La.
As I went inside the ITBP camp with permits in one hand, I couldn’t wait to rush back out and get on my bike and start the ascent to Marsmik La. However destiny had something else en stored for us.
As I met the officer in charge, I sensed a bit of hostility and contempt in his voice and eyes, something which I have never experienced from the Armed Forces posted in Ladakh.
After examining the permits, he callously said, weather is bad and thus you cannot attempt Marsimik La!
As I stared towards the clear horizon, ahead of me, I asked him, where was Marsimik La and he pointed straight. When I replied that weather looked ok over there, he pointed in the direction that we came from and said, “Look there are clouds over there, so I can’t let you go!â€
It immediately became clear that Mani and Nitin weren’t exaggerating when they had met us on top of Chang La and had said the officer at the ITBP post in Phobrang was a real asshole. Apparently this same bloke had stopped them for 3 days, before finally allowing them to attempt and conquer Marsimik La (photographs of their ride to Marsimik La).
I tired to remain calm and tried my best to reason with him, while we certainly didn’t have any intention of committing suicide by attempting Marsimik La in bad weather; I just couldn’t come to grip with the fact how clouds in opposite direction would cause snowfall on Marsimik La! And in case during our attempt, snow fall started, we would certainly abort our attempt and climb back down. We even pleaded that if he couldn’t allow us to attempt Marsimik La, at least let us go a little ahead so we can at least see the challenge that lied ahead.
However this did little to please him and he kept looking at us in utter contempt and disgust, something which I still can not comprehend or understand. Even his colleagues (juniors) tried to persuade him, but he wasn’t ready to budge and no amount of pleading was sufficient.
After wasting over 90 minutes (during which there was no sign of snowfall), we decided it to call it a day and started the ride back to Lukung, where rest of the gang was waiting.
Never in my life have I felt what I felt that day, had I failed in my attempt at conquering Marsimik La, I would have had no regrets. Because I would have came back with the knowledge that I tried my best, even though I failed. However now it was like a kid going to the most important exam of his life and not being allowed to sit in the exam, despite having every thing in place, because the examiner didn’t like him!
It is this feeling, that still haunts me to date and would likely haunt me till I go back (which I intend to do this year) and claim the prize I was so vehemently denied of.
Ps. this is the 250th post of my blog
given the weather they had, I would not let ONE man past in his position.
Tomorrow if 1000 guys do it, but ONE dies and I am blamed, I lose my job.
Boss, those conditions were maddening – I am fully with him here. Your post is blatantly unfair to a man who was doing his job, and who possibly would’ve been sent to retrieve you guys had you perished in the adverse weather.
Contrarian I think you are saying this, after seeing the photographs. Well they are of couple of days earlier and at that time, there was no sign of snowfall and bad weather though visible, was towards Pangong Tso and not Marsimik La.
I thoroughly respect any one who is trying to their job, however this wasn’t the case this time. In fact rest of his jawans agreed with us that the weather was decent enough for the pass to be attempted. Add to this, Mani and Nitin were finally allowed on the third day, which if I remember correctly, they said was poorer in weather than the first couple of days they wanted to try.
yaar dekh, yeh mein aur tu jaante hain ki hindsight is always 20/20
peace. live and let live!!
Contrarian, I am not a god neither am I a saint; therefore I can not think from the perspective of another human being. I can only think from my perspective and use my better judgment to arrive at a conclusion and thus can only narrate that, which I have done above.
With regards to the officer I have written about, I sensed the hostility and contempt from his eyes and tone rather than from the words he spoke.
I have met and interacted with countless jawans from our armed forces and even had the pleasure of interacting with them at 9 in the evening on the outskirts of Srinagar, with guns pointing towards my head. Even then there wasn’t any sign of contempt in their voice, even though they were certainly in a far tense situation than this lad.
I have spent over 7 hours at the Kokhsar Bridge, waiting patiently for BRO to give me a go ahead for the journey ahead. I respect the rules and authorities, however I would under no circumstances, respect an individual, who acts as if he has a personal vendetta against me or bikers like me.
Call it hindsight or arrogance, this is who I am.
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hi there..my name is dhawal and i m from gujarat…i made a solo attempt to marmiskla on 12/7/2010 and i m proud that i went to the top of marmiskla….it was a very important day in my life as it was my dream to reach marmiskla la on my bike….i had literally give up many times on my way but my passion to reach there helped me to overcome all the obstacles in between……..