Stok Kangri expedition June 2008, Ladakh

"Its my dream to climb Stok Kangri , tho' i have never been to this height"
said Aman Pruthi a mechanical engineer from IIT Mumbai, when he came to my office first.I knew i had a very important task on my hands. Im dealing with dreams, great dreams.
His eyes had something which made me feel that he will summit and i was not wrong.
On 26th June 2008, at 5:30 am he stood on top of Stok Kangri along with Pamposh Kaushik.

Theye made us proud.They made everyone believe that dreams do come true, if you work hard for it, however.

This climb will be remembered in our hearts our minds forever.
Well done Aman & Pamposh.!!

- Prateek Deo , Director LAFL

the summit route:

Day 1: Spituk to Zingchen (camp1)
Day 2: Zingchen to Stok la base via Rumbak (camp 2)
Day 3: Stok la base via Stok la pass to Mankarmo (camp 3)
Day 4: Mankarmo to Base camp (camp 4)
Day 5: Base camp to Advance base camp - ABC (camp 5)
Day 6: ABC to Summit and back to Base camp
Day 7: Base camp to Stok - Base village

Pamposh Kaushik presently is working with Punjab Police , and has completed his Advance course in Mountaineering from HMI Darjeeling.

Aman Pruthi is presently working as a mechanical engineer in Mumbai .He completed his studies from IIT Mumbai.

Excerpts and photos taken from Aman Pruthi's personal album

"almost at summit, couldn't take any pics on d way as I was entangled all over my body with ropes and carabiners and anyway I wasn't in a condition to even think of taking a pic."

"Starting point of our trek - Spituk"

 "2nd day trek- Zingchen-Rhumbak"

"Stok La base...Our path went through Stok La...the small bump in the centre of pic where the zigzag pinnacles and smoother ridge meet. I love the cloud shadows formation "

"Sunset at Stok La base..one of the windiest place I've ever been"

"Our route on the other side of Stok La "
"1st view of Stok Kangri peak...the 1 in background"

"Our camp at Manokarmo...left bottom of the pic...Pic from a nearby hill I climbed for no reason"

"Mount Stok Kangri...the mountain that haunted my dreams for many months "

"Stok Glacier and our camp in foreground"

All photos are copyright of Aman Pruthi

A Life Away From Life venture.
Back to a lifeawayfromlife

"The 3 lights r faces of 3 people...headlamps. If you look closely, u can c nose of d guy below the brightest headlamp. We reached advance base camp(ABC) by 3 in afternoon..prepared gear for the trek..had dinner..slept from 8pm to 10pm...had breakfast at 10pm..and started trek at 11 and reached summit at 5:34 in the morning. Back to ABC by 8:00 and to BC by 9:30 and slept the whole day and night."

"me on summit "

"Prayer flags for thanks to mountain gods for letting us climb d peak and to pray for a safe descent. We can never conquer mountains. We can just thank them for letting us stand on their peaks and for lifting their veil to reveal the innocent and serene beauty they possess."

"another team of british girls reaching d peak in 'as close to death as possible without shifting to the other side' condition...same as mine :D"

"The summiters: Pamposh and me. "

"the far off hills belong to Pakistan"

"the far off hills belong to Tibet"

"Stok Summit. Looking up on the way down. "

"Kitchen tent"

"A mountaineers' celebration of making the summit"

"some peak view from airplane"

"Its jet right now but I've been here, to this height above the clouds on foot."

"Ladakh range...my mountain is lost somewhere here."