Open this first
Altitude, and what to do about it
This page works with no signal once you have opened it once. Add it to your home screen in Leh, before the passes. Open it on the hotel wifi, then prove it: airplane mode, Safety, the numbers still there.
Altitude check · Lake Louise score
Check someone at camp
Ask them out loud and answer for them. Someone with altitude sickness is the worst judge of whether they have it. Works with no signal.
Check these first
Answer all four.
0/12
The score needs all four answers to mean anything.
A screening aid, not a diagnosis. When in doubt, go down.
If it has gone wrong
Going down is the one thing that reliably helps.
Oxygen, Diamox and rest can buy time, but they are not a substitute for losing altitude. Most people start to feel better after 500 to 1,000 metres of descent; if they do not, keep going down and get them to a doctor.
First six moves
- 1Stop. Sit them down. Do not let them carry on riding.
- 2Ask their name, the date, and where they are. Write down the answers.
- 3Walk them heel-to-toe in a straight line. If they cannot, go down now.
- 4Oxygen if the camp has it. Ask — several do and do not advertise it.
- 5Go down. At least 500 m, with someone alongside, at night if that is when it happens.
- 6Call 112 once you have signal. Say the altitude and the symptoms, in that order.
Where help actually is
SNM Hospital, Leh3,500 m
The district hospital and the only real one on this trip. Oxygen, and staff who see altitude illness every week. Everything else on the loop is hours from here.
Community health centre, Diskit3,144 m
The nearest help in Nubra. Small. Serious cases go back over the pass to Leh.
Primary health centre, Nyoma4,195 m
Basic. Also the army's area — in a genuine emergency they are the realistic source of help in Changthang.
Primary health centre, Korzok4,530 m
The nearest facility to Tso Moriri. Assume first aid only.
Numbers
- Bike agency (Lotus)Leh. First call for a broken bike or a road closure.
- Hotel Nirvana Palace, Leh01982 252834From the booking. Confirm on arrival.
- Travel insurance — policy no.Check it covers riding above 5,000 m. Keep the card in the wallet too.
- Insurance 24h assistanceThe helpline on the policy, not the sales number.
- Someone at home to call firstOne person, who then tells everyone else. Agree who before you leave.
A blank here means nobody has confirmed that number yet — an invented one would be worse. Tap it on this phone to save it here; it stays on the device and works with no signal. Have someone who did not write them down dial each one once.
How far down is far enough
Sleeping altitude each night. Losing 500 m is the target; more is better.
- 16/09Leh3,500 m
- 17/09Leh3,500 m
- 18/09Leh3,500 m
- 19/09Nubra Valley3,050 m
- 20/09Nubra Valley3,050 m
- 21/09Pangong (Merak)4,238 m
- 22/09Hanle4,270 m
- 23/09Hanle4,270 m
- 24/09Tso Moriri4,530 m
- 25/09Leh3,500 m
- 26/09Leh3,500 m