Ju-Leh Adventure

This summer I went to Ladakh for the third time, after a first visit in 1988 when I crossed Zanskar on foot, then in 1916 when I returned for a road trip with my daughter and my partner that took us from the Spiti valley to the lake Tsomoriri.
This time I thought I'd be able to go up the Changthang high plateaux to lake Tsomoriri and spend a few days with the nomads. I contacted several agencies: Ju-Leh Adventure proposed a trek that corresponded to this project. Unfortunately, I was too late: this year in mid-September the cold had already arrived on the Changthang. The only trek still possible was the Markha valley trek. It wasn't my first choice and, what's more, it started on the day I arrived in Leh by plane. Dawa, my contact at Ju-Leh Adventure, suggested that I join a small group on the evening of the third day of the trek. This would give me a chance to acclimatise before starting to walk. It was tempting, but I was still very hesitant: would my 68-year-old 'carcass' be able to withstand the ordeal of climbing Kang Yatse II at an altitude of 6,200m? Dawa was very persuasive, telling me that "it wasn't a race" and that "altitude sickness had nothing to do with age", so I finally agreed, and I thank her again. This trek is not only very beautiful, but the ascent of Kang Yatse II makes it truly unique.
The day before the climbing, I suggested to our guide Skarma that I leave the base camp one hour before the group with Stanzin, our second guide, and meet us together at the crampon point. Once we reached the edge of the glacier, we all donned crampons and roped up to begin the ascent to the summit together. I'll never forget those long hours of night-time walking in the snow, our steps lit up by the halo of our headlamps and with frequent stops to drink and catch our breath. I told myself several times that I wouldn't make it, but both my trek companions and our two guides were there to give me back my confidence. One magical moment that will remain engraved in my memory is the sunrise when we started to see the summit through the mist. The last part of the climb along a snow cornice and the arrival on the rocky peak were particularly impressive. Time for a few photos and we're already on our way back to base camp. The descent to the glacier is fairly rapid and a slip on a patch of ice is not out of the question, but we were well prepared to deal with it.
For me, this climb was really an unforgettable experience and an opportunity to meet some great people.
Etienne

This travel agency is very good. They are kind, fast, and patient to answer all my questions. The manual is also really nice, very clear about everyday itinerary details. They handle my best Markha trek with reasonable and valuable! The trek they arranged for me is one of the best trips in my life. Thanks for the great service they offer!

I had a beautiful experience with Ju-Leh. Tashi helped me plan and arrange a solo trip to Markha valley at short notice at the end of the season. Generous, helpful, and very knowledgeable of Ladakh. Thank you!

Passion for traveling will bring you to explore the world where you may never imagine ab out. Thank you Ju-Leh Adventure team for making this trip our remarkable memories of people and places we met in Ladakh.

Stanzin gave us promptly response since the first email. He kept on doing it for months to ensure that I and my friend would be enjoy and never missed anything. He and Tashi provided a simple itinerary but covered highlight places, professional drivers and also brought us to the first home stay experience where we were part of Ladakhi families who lived their live simple, strong and peaceful. Thank you for tasty dal, Ladakh bread and salty tea. Especially, warmly welcome that kept us felt better in the cold nights.

Not only the fantastic landscapes that made us fell in love with Ladakh. The historic places seemed to slow our lives down and bring peaceful back to us

Million thanks for your lovely team.

We booked the 5 day Markha Valley trek (starting from chilling) in June in the office in Leh and the trek was such a wonderful experience. Fascinating landscape, lovely people / homestays in tiny villages, snow in Nimaling with an expedition like feeling while hiking up and down Kongmaru La. Our guide Norbu Tsewang was (is) great. Kind, humble, funny, reliable - very good companion. We totally recommend this company.

Myself and my sister trekked the Markha Valley last October. We used Ju-Leh Adventure, our guide was Rigzin Tamchos.
The agency is very helpful and will respond promptly to every email you send, if you need help to plan your stay in Leh they are happy to give you a hand.
Has for our guide, he was the best. He was always making sure that we were okay. It was clear to us that he wanted us to have the best experience we could have. He comes from the Valley so he is very knowledgeable.
This agency is the way to go!
I would really recommend taking a guide with you if you are planning to do this trek at the end of the season, the weather conditions can change very quickly.
Our Trek was the highlight of our trip to India.
Thank you Ju-Leh Adventure & Tamchos
Zoé & Chloé

Great trek. We did the Markha for 8 days with a group of 7. Excellent guide, excellent team. The food was probably a bit too good, some of us hoped to lose some weight but alas... We chose J-L based on the quality of the website and the promptness of responses to info and we were not disappointed!

We are a family of 2 adults and 2 teenagers. We have done our 2nd trip to Ladakh with Ju-Leh Adventure and we are extremely happy of having choosen this agency. Stanzin was very responsive to all pre-trip inquiries, always answering very accurately. We did a cultural tour to Nubra valley and then we did the trek from Lamayuru to Hemis (we stopped at Shang Sumdo actually) in 10 days. Beautiful trek and the guide, cook and horseman were very friendly; we really had a good time.
We highly recommend Ju-Leh Adventure to anyone who plans to trek in Ladakh.

We had the best vacation of our life organized by Ju-Leh. They were great in their communications while planning our trips: They provided well written itineraries with maps and beautiful pictures that made our decision process easier.

During our trip, everyone we interacted with was very knowledgeable an delightful to work with. Especially our trekking guide Tashii and our chaffeur/guide Sangdup. They both made our trip to Ladakh a very memorable one.

Thank you Ju-leh for showing us the beauty of Ladakh!

My brother, Peter and I have just returned from our trip to Ladakh where we used a Trip Advisor recommendation when selecting Ju Leh Adventures as our agent. They were absolutely brilliant in the planning stages and in the services provided during our holiday. I cannot praise them enough for providing us with a range of very comfortable, affordable accommodation with lots of character, spectacular tours to The Indus Valley, Nubra Valley and Pangong Lake and two fantastic drivers in comfortable, reliable cars. Thanks so much for assigning us Motup and Dorjey, two very experienced and accommodating drivers who went the extra yard to help us enjoy our holiday. Some of the roads were a little tricky but we felt safe at all times. Thanks also to Dawa, Stanzin and Tasha for putting our trip together. If you are planning on a trip to Ladakh, this is the tour company we would recommend.

We had organized a trip with Ju-Leh Adventure in August 2018. They are flexible and responsive. We have organized the trip from Poland and the contact with the agency was flawless and quick. Any problem encountered was solved fast.
Our guide - Dorjay - was super professional, certified mountain guide and we had lots of fun with him!
It is very good choice

Working with Ju-Leh Adventure to plan a trip to Ladakh was truly an enjoyable experience. We were hesitant to plan a trip ourselves since we had a hard time finding reliable information online. Ju-Leh Adventure was great from the start. They replied quickly with detailed information and pictures to help us plan our trip. Other agencies in Leh didn’t reply nearly as quickly or with the thorough amount of information that Ju-Leh did. We also had a tight schedule so we really appreciated Ju-Leh working with us to make the most of our trip. Once we arrived in Leh, Stanzin and our driver Motup were waiting for us at the airport. Motup provided some great insight into the local history and culture. Ju-leh Adventure collected our passports at the hotel so that we didn’t have to wait in line to obtain our Protected Area Permits. Motup was a great driver who was able to navigate the roads quite well and avoid many of the bumps in the road to make the ride more comfortable. He also gave us some good recommendations for restaurants to try in Leh. Our trip to Ladakh was everything we were hoping for with the gorgeous scenery and very friendly people. At the end of the trip Stanzin came by our hotel again to see how we enjoyed it and whether there was anything that Ju-Leh could improve. It was a very pleasant and easy experience working with Ju-leh Adventure and would definitely recommend them to help plan your trip to Ladakh!

Dawa and Stanzin were really great and friendly throughout the whole process of planning our tour, very detailed and patient with handling our inquiries and customisation.

During the tour itself, we decided to cut short one portion, and Tashi and Stanzin were very responsive to help us change it to rafting instead. Although there were some misunderstanding later, we were glad we were able to clear it up, and we hope some of our suggestions for a better tour can be taken on board (especially the Tso Moriri portion, and the type of accommodation provided).

All in all, they made great arrangements for us: Our driver was very experienced, safe and made the whole trip very enjoyable, especially when a large part of the trip was about the journey itself: taking in the landscape, so we were very grateful to have a good and comfortable vehicle arranged.

The accommodation at various rest points were also up to our expectations, the Hotel Kidar owner (where we spent the most time, being Leh) was very friendly and helpful.

We were very fortunate to have been able to see quite a bit of Leh-Ladakh, and this was definitely one of the trips which will last a lifetime in our memories.

Tu jay chay!

We are a family of 4 and we booked a trip to Ladakh with Ju-Leh Adventure. The team was very professional and the trip went well beyond what we hoped for. The Markha valley trek was an amazing experience, breathtaking landscapes and we really enjoyed the time spent in small isolated villages in homestays. Our guide Rigzin was really fun and explained many interesting things about the local culture.

It was our first trip to India / Ladakh and we chose to engage Ju-Leh Adventure (based on the commendable reviews we read over internet and had no regrets making that choice). We spent ca 10 days in Ladakh and had a great time there! Visited Nubra Valley (sand dunes) via KhardungLa pass (highest motorable road in the world), Markha Valley winter trekking (first time winter trekking) and camping near Leh (first time winter camping). Ju-leh Adventure or Stanzin specifically has done an exceptional job in providing useful tips / recommendations and information for first timers like us and went extra miles to fulfil customer request. We highly recommend Juleh Adventure for their professionalism, customer focus and hospitality.

We wanted to get off the beaten path so we decided on the trek from Phyang to Hundar in the Nubra valley, 6 amazing days! We were a group of 5 friends, our guide Tsering and his team (cook, horseman, assistant guide) took very good care of us and we had a lot of fun with them.

Ju-Leh Adventure also organized a motorbike day tour, we visited a few monasteries (Likir, Alchi, Basgo...). We also went to Pangong lake, a beautiful place.

The whole trip was planned in advance and Stanzin was always very responsive and clear when answering our emails. They are a local operator so the value for money is excellent, they are very knowledgeable and professional.

We had a magnificent time walking through the Markha valley in August 2017 with our guide Stanzin. The beauty of nature is just mind-blowing and we always felt very safe as we were good taken care of. We enjoyed spending time with our guide, the locals and other travellers. Ju-Leh organization was always very polite and clear in their communication. They are very open to answer all your questions and help you where possible. I would never doubt to book this tour again!

Ju-Leh Adventure helped me organize two different trips in Ladakh, as well as arrange the Indian in-line permits for access to the areas.

The trip's guides were knowledgeable of the areas and especially the roads. One trip was to Pangong Lake on the northern boarder with China, and the other to the Numbra Valley and the beginnings of the Karakoram mountains, stretching to the west. Both trips were absolutely spectacular! Even if it was a bit cold, heading into winter was a great time to explore the area.

I would highly recommend Ju-Leh Adventure for their helpfulness, flexibility, and knowledge of the areas.

We chose Ju-Leh Adventure because we wanted to do a trek not too difficult and also visits.

They offered us a 3-day trek from Zingchen to Chilling. There is a pass at 5000m but eventually the hike is not that difficult. The incredible colors of the landscapes make forget the aches, in addition, to sleep in the local house is an unforgettable experience.

We also did 3 cultural tours which we enjoyed a lot: visits of the monasteries of the Indus valley to Lamayuru, the Nubra valley with the sand dunes and camels, and the beautiful blue turquoise lake of Pangong meeting the nomads.

We booked a 10 day trip with fixed departure with a group of people we did not know (apart from me and my wife), and we really enjoyed it.

We took the Rumtse to Tso Moriri trek
The whole experience, the views and nature were gorgeous, but concerning the organisation this was also flawless, the materials they used where good quality, the guides (Rigzin and Sonam) were nice, professional and proficient in English and the cooks they brought cooked every night excellent dinners for us in these difficult circumstances.

Also the booking experience is very nice, as you get immediately a reply and they respond very quickly to any kind of question.
It might not be the cheapest organisation around, but it does guarantee a great experience!