Ladakh is a land of high-altitude passes. Some of these are well known and are frequented by tourists, like Khardung La. But there are a lot of other passes that are not so famous and do not receive that many visitors. Wari La Pass is among one of these.
What is surprising is that this pass is located between three of the most famous destinations of Ladakh – Leh City, Nubra Valley, and Pangong Tso. It also offers a direct route for traveling from Nubra Valley to Pangong Lake or the other way around.
Still, not many tourists go this way. Even the local taxi drivers will probably either say no or charge you extra for taking this route. The reason behind that is the challenging nature and steep climb of this pass. A 4X4 SUV is considered the best vehicle for this road and even that can struggle a bit towards the top.
About Wari La Pass
Wari La is a high-altitude pass in the Ladakh region, situated at an altitude of 17,400 feet. It is one of those lesser-known passes that do not get as much attention. It is located at a distance of about 73 kilometers from Leh, 143 kilometers from Pangong Lake, and 80 kilometers from Diskit in Nubra Valley.
As I mentioned previously, this road can be used to travel directly between Nubra and Pangong. For more details about this route, please take a look at Nubra Valley to Pangong Tso via Wari La Pass.
If you are also planning your journey in the same manner, here is a little information on the current road status of the pass.
Wari La Pass Current Status = OPEN
A friend of mine recently traveled to Ladakh and shared inputs on the current condition of the road across Wari La. Mentioned below are the details.
- Till Khalsar – Good
- Khalsar to Agham  – OK with broken tarmac in few places and ongoing construction work.
- Till Tangyar – Mix of bad patches and gravel. Once you come to Tangyar and go up about a kilometer or so, you will find a bridge that takes you to the other side of the river; the same river that you have been traveling all along so far.
- Till Wari La Top – The road from Tangyar up till the top is all gravel and broken tarmac. There are quite a few water crossings as well, mainly due to melting snow. These crossings can be challenging, menacing or just a small puddle depending on the time of the day. If it’s cold and early in the season, the snow won’t melt as much as when it’s a little hot and later in the season.
- In the last 15 km till Wari LA top you will constantly be in the lower gears. You will feel that the air is thin. Your vehicle will be struggling for oxygen and so will you. In the last 25-30 km, you probably won’t come across a single soul or anything man-made for that matter. The next human establishment will be Sakti town on the other side of the pass, at a distance of 28 km from Wari La top.
- Till Sakti – The road downhill from Wari La top is all good tarmac, barring a few real bad kilometers
Conclusion
I hope the details above on Wari La Pass road status and condition were of help. If you are planning to cross Wari La on your trip to Leh and have any questions, please feel free to ask in the comments section below, or at or Community Forum, and I will be glad to answer.
2 comments
Do you think this is one of the most dangerous roads in the world? Reading stuff posted last year, the road sounds really bad. Has it improved this year, as of now? Thanks!
I wouldn’t really call it on of the most dangerous ones but it is definitely difficult. No improvement this year.