{"id":24056,"date":"2019-04-01T09:35:33","date_gmt":"2019-04-01T13:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/?p=24056"},"modified":"2020-04-11T04:20:06","modified_gmt":"2020-04-11T08:20:06","slug":"high-adventure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/blog\/high-adventure\/","title":{"rendered":"High Adventure"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HighAre you up for a <\/span>real <\/span><\/i>adventure in your life? Not group tour stuff but the real deal, the genuine article, the Real McCoy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ready? This is going to be true High Adventure in both senses of the word \u2013 for our entire experience is going to be <\/span>over two miles high<\/span><\/i> (11,000ft\/3,400m) in a hidden region of remotest Asia where the world\u2019s most exotic culture still exists\u2026 that of <\/span>Tibet<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Having driven many thousands of kilometers crisscrossing Chinese-Occupied Tibet, I\u2019ve seen how Beijing has destroyed Tibetan culture, turning it into a Disney-type fake theme park for Chinese tourists. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet, there\u2019s a part of Tibet that the British, when they ruled India, prevented China from capturing. Monasteries over a thousand years old still flourish there today.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighThikse gompa<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Is it in the Himalayas? Yes and no. That is, it\u2019s centered <\/span>between<\/span><\/i> the Himalayas and the great mountain range beyond them, the Karakorum. It is the region and surrounding area of the <\/span>Upper Indus River<\/span><\/i> as it flows out of Chinese Tibet and before it crosses into Pakistan, in the far northwest corner of India. It\u2019s the section in yellow in the map below. (Note: the purple is the Upper Ganges River.)<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighIndus River \u2013 red in China, yellow in India, green in Pakistan.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Tibetans who live in the region of the Upper Indus and surrounding side valleys call it <\/span>Ladakh,<\/span><\/i> the Land of High Passes. It is wholly Tibetan \u2013 here you will find real Tibetan culture truly alive and thriving, replete with astoundingly spectacular Tibetan monasteries, or <\/span>gompas<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Like <\/span>Thikse gompa<\/span><\/i> pictured above, below is <\/span>Leh gompa<\/span><\/i> hovering high above <\/span>Leh Palace<\/span><\/i> of the ancient Ladakhi kings, or <\/span>The Tiger\u2019s Nose<\/span><\/i>, Stakna Gompa<\/span>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighLeh Palace in foreground, Leh gompa above.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighStakna gompa, The Tiger\u2019s Nose<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s <\/span>Rizong gompa<\/span><\/i>, glued to the side of a vertical cliff\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighRizong gompa<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

And most remote, mysterious, and mystical of all, \u00a0<\/span>Lamayuru\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

\"HighLamayuru gompa<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>dukhang<\/span><\/i> or main prayer hall of these gompas are out of a movie, with their gilded and gorgeously decorated statues, wall hangings, and <\/span>tankhas<\/span><\/i> (sacred paintings).<\/span><\/p>\n

\"High<\/span><\/p>\n

\"High<\/span><\/p>\n

\"High<\/span><\/p>\n

Within Ladakh is an even more remote region called\u00a0<\/span>Zanskar<\/span><\/i>\u00a0\u2013 with the extraordinary\u00a0<\/span>Zanskar River<\/span><\/i>\u00a0from source to confluence with the Indus <\/span>over two miles high<\/span><\/i> and\u00a0flowing straight through the crest of the Himalayas. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The only entrance to Zanskar is over the 14,450 ft <\/span>Pensi La<\/span><\/i> (\u201cla\u201d means \u201cpass\u201d) above the gigantic <\/span>Drang-Drung Glacier <\/span><\/i>surrounded by Himalayan giants over 20,000 feet high.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighTo camp in the Zanskar Valley with the massive Himalayan twin peaks of Nun and Kun (both above 23,000 ft) towering above is truly unforgettable.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighYou\u2019re among Tibetan nomads tending their yak herds here, so expect to wake up in the dawn light with curious nomad kids peering inside your tent.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighMost unforgettable of all, however, is whitewater rafting through the <\/span>Zanskar Gorge,<\/span><\/i> known as <\/span>The Grand Canyon of the Himalayas<\/span><\/i>. The walls rise straight up for thousands of feet while the river bottlenecks in places only a few feet wide. This is one of the greatest whitewater adventures on our planet.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"High\"High\"HighUpon reaching the confluence of the Zanskar with the Upper Indus\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"HighWe return to Ladakh\u2019s capital of Leh to celebrate what we\u2019ve had, a true thrill of a lifetime.<\/span><\/p>\n

In our <\/span>exploration of Indian Tibet and running the Zanskar this August<\/span><\/i>, what we\u2019ll see, learn, and unforgettably experience is far, far more than this small glimpse in the photos above. This is Real McCoy High Adventure. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

To participate, you need no special skills, just normal good health and condition, capable of being at between 10,000 and 12,000 feet (3,000-3,700 meters) of altitude while in Ladakh.<\/span><\/p>\n

Note that Wheeler Expeditions will also operate this expedition to Ladakh and Zanskar next year, in <\/span>August 2020<\/span><\/i>. To apply to participate either this year or next, <\/span>contact me at <\/i><\/b>Jack@WheelerExpeditions.com<\/i><\/b><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Carpe diem<\/span><\/i>. Life is short. The time for a great adventure is <\/span>now.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Jack Wheeler is the founder of\u00a0<\/b>Wheeler Expeditions<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to get advance notice of expeditions you can join & stunning photos of Once-in-a-Lifetime Adventures<\/b><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Are you up for a real adventure in your life? Not group tour stuff but the real deal, the genuine article, the Real McCoy. Ready? This is going to be true High Adventure in both senses of the word \u2013 for our entire experience is going to be over two miles high (11,000ft\/3,400m) in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":366,"featured_media":24057,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[2044,10175,10188,10180,10191,10181,10182,10187,2356,3688,10185,10184,10178,10189,10190,10177,10183,10179,3778,10186],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/image1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/366"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24056"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29131,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24056\/revisions\/29131"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24056"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.escapeartist.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=24056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}