Umlingla Pass

The Umling La Pass is located in the Indo – China border. The pass is highly barren and has no trace of civilization. In 2021, the Border and Road Organisation (BRO) constructed the world’s highest motorable road in the pass and received Guinness World Record.

Why was Umlingla Pass placed in Guinness World Record?

In 2021, the BRO constructed road in Umling La pass. It is located at a height of 19,024 feet. It connects the Chisumle village and Demchok village. This is the world highest road. For this reason, Umling la pass was placed in the World Guinness Record. It is highly challenging to construct roads at such altitudes. Here the temperatures dip to -40 degrees Celsius. Also, the oxygen levels are 50% below normal at these altitudes. In such climatic conditions, it is not easy to get contract workers to lay roads.

How is Umling La pass compared with North and South Mt Everest camps?

The Umling La pass road is located at an altitude higher than the north and south base camps of Mount Everest. These camps are rudimentary campsites located used by the mountain climbers during the ascents and descent. The food supplies to these camps are supplied through yaks and porters. There are no road connections yet!

Under which project was the Umling La road constructed?

It was constructed under Project HIMANK. Project HIMANK was implemented in the Ladakh region. Under the project, the BRO constructed some of the world highest roads in Tanglang La pass, Khadung La pass, Chang La pass and Umling La pass. These roads will provide access to Pangong Tso lake and Siachen glacier. Most of the workers implementing the project are from the state of Bihar and Jharkhand. Some of the key works of Project HIMANK are as follows:

• The world highest Bailey bridge was constructed under Project HIMANK. It is located in Khardung La pass.
• The Srinagar – Leh road was constructed under Project HIMANK. It played a major role in Operation Vijay that allowed India to make timely response during Kargil war.
• The Sasoma – Saser La Road is under construction. Once completed, it will the world’s first glaciated motorable road.