Umling La or Umlung La is the highest paved road and
mountain pass
A mountain pass is a navigable route through a mountain range or over a ridge. Since mountain ranges can present formidable barriers to travel, passes have played a key role in trade, war, and both Human migration, human and animal migration t ...
in the world, located in
Ladakh
Ladakh () is a region administered by India as a union territory and constitutes an eastern portion of the larger Kashmir region that has been the subject of a Kashmir#Kashmir dispute, dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and India an ...
, India, on the ridgeline between
Koyul Lungpa and the
Indus River
The Indus ( ) is a transboundary river of Asia and a trans-Himalayas, Himalayan river of South Asia, South and Central Asia. The river rises in mountain springs northeast of Mount Kailash in the Western Tibet region of China, flows northw ...
near
Demchok. At an elevation of , it forms the source for the Umlung stream that drains into the Indus and a tributary of the Kiungdul river that drains into Koyul Lungpa.
The Umling La pass is traversed by a road between
Chisumle and
Demchok, also called the Umling La Road, which ascends to a height of 5799 metres (19024 feet) in the vicinity of the pass, making it the world's highest motorable road.
Chisumle–Demchok road
In 2017 a paved road was constructed between the villages of Chisumle and Demchok by the
Border Roads Organisation of India. The elevation at Umling La of surpassed the record previously held by the
Uturuncu volcano road, Bolivia, making it the world's highest motorable road and pass.
It is higher than Mount Everest's
South Base Camp, which is at , and over half the cruising altitude of commercial jet airlines. The environment posed severe challenges for construction, with winter temperatures falling to , and oxygen levels 50% lower than at sea level.
The pass is located at Kilometre 24 on the road.
World records
On September 16, 2022, at 11:04 a.m. (Indian Standard Time), a Canadian team (Greg Harris and Priya Singh) and a Swiss team (Michele Daryanani & Nevena Lazarevic) set the world record for the highest altitude at which an auto rickshaw has ever been driven. The two teams set the record by driving to the summit of Umling La Pass at an altitude of 5,799 meters (19,024 feet).
[ Auto rickshaws take world's highest road to set world record https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2022/10/25/india-Richshaw-Run-world-record-altitude/7301666713774/]
The two teams were participating in the Rickshaw Run (Himalayan Edition), an event promoted by The Adventurists, where teams drive auto rickshaws from the Thar desert town of Jaisalmer in Rajasthan to the Himalayan town of Leh in Ladakh. Rickshaw Run teams are given the start and finish lines, but are otherwise unsupported and left to their own navigational choices in completing the approximately 2,300 km journey.
See also
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Demchok sector
The Demchok sector is a disputed area named after the villages of Demchok, Ladakh, Demchok in Ladakh and Demchok, Ngari Prefecture, Demchok in Tibet, situated near the confluence of the Charding Nullah and Indus River. It is a part of the gr ...
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India–China Border Roads
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List of mountain passes of India
References
{{Ladakh-stub
Geography of Ladakh
Mountain passes of Ladakh