new highest pass in the world
 

khardungla in the himalayas at 18,000+feet has been relegated to second highest with the opening of a new pass near pangong lake the'miramisk la' .its 60m higher than khardung la/ has any1 been upthere?i am leving on oct14 (maybe wrong time in the huimalayas)but keepin my fingers crossed /would like to know if any1s been there/

Don't suppose you can give more details on just where it is? I can't find it on my maps. From what town to what town?

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Grant Johnson

Seek, and ye shall find.
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One world, Two wheels.
www.HorizonsUnlimited.com

near leh in the ladakh region of the indian himalayas there is pangong lake bout 150kms away.on the way o the lake u have to cross 'chang la' which in 5000+ mts( 3rd highest pass /road in the world)/miramik la at 5662 is just a short detour from the track to pangong so/ but recieved an email from a frnd that it aint open to the public/u have to take permission from indo tibetan border police/this year in early september itwas already snowed out.maybe someday we will be able to stand on top.

Some threads never die...Here's the rough location thanks to google earth

Check this thread on ADV.
FreeBird Goes .... @18,634ft - The highest so far - ADVrider

Marsimik La - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Marsimik - La is indeed the world highest pass among those discovered.
There is still a debate whether its motorable or not and even Indians need permit to get to that area. No photography allowed and the terrain is treacherous to say the least.

A friend in India sent me the following:

Khardongla, for the record books, is still the HIGHEST MOTORABLE ROAD. Khardongla, for the record books, is still the HIGHEST MOTORABLE ROAD IN THE WORLD. This allows even army trucks & tankers to pass through with supplies for the army. Last year some bikers claim to have ridden to the top of Miramisk near Pangong. However, I spoke to one of them & he said that there is no road as such ( dirt track ) & the bikes would not climb under their own steam. Apparently they had to walk the bikes up after putting them in first gear, taking of all the baggage & walking them up. Atleast thats the story I got from them. I intend checking this out this June when we are at Pangong.


I have some photos as well but they are in a word doc thats about 160k. If someone really want it, I can pm it.

Cheers,
John

John is right,

Most of the riders who have reached M-La have pushed their bikes to the top.

Does anyone know of anyone who has ridden on a motorcycle up to Marsimik La ... without pushing those last few hundred metres?

Marsimak La
 

From what I've heard and understand from the 60KPH gang is that they too pushed the bikes up. Most ppl undertake this trip with royal enfield bullets and hence the carburetors don't get enough air for the mix and hence the bang.
Some have tried taking out the air filter to allow more air flow into the carb, which has worked to some extent.
But i guess a different motorcycle would do the journey to the top just fine.

Yup, bet you could do it on a diesel Enfield as the army get the trucks/jeeps over it

John

Not really, three of my friends did it on two Hero Honda CBZs and Hero Honda Karizma and they too had to push it up.
Main problem there is the nature of the terrain, tyres don't get much traction there, while four wheelers get more traction due to four wheels.

Recently a friend of mine and I did Sach Pass, a 14,500ft pass in Himachal where we had to constantly ride in first and second gears and even had to half clutch at quite a few sections with a few requiring us to even paddle with our legs. Something I never had to do at 17,000-18,000ft passes. All this while loaded jeeps were doing it without the need of engaging 4x4.