Khardung La : the world’s highest motorable road in India

Certainly obvious and confirmed by all is that the road to Khardung La, located 5,359 m (17,582 ft) northeast of the Himalayas in India, appears to be falsely based on Guinness. Nevertheless, it is not the tallest road in the world.

World records, many misleading websites, and even traffic lights at the top of the mountain show that it is the tallest road in the world at 5,682 m (18,641 ft). Recent GPS measurements have shown that even this height is not realistic. The same country has a much higher pass, including Umulinla, a recently constructed road to what is known as the “top of the world” at 5,882 m (19,300 feet) above sea level in Jammu and Kashmir. The new mountain road to Kiura, an international mountain road on the border between India and China, reaches an altitude of 5,711 m (18,736 feet). But the real “monster” in the region may be the road leading to Mount Chamkan at 5,953 m (19,530 feet) in the disputed Aksai Chin region on the border between China and India. This is an old jeep truck that runs north and south along the Indian border. This area was unmanned and a conflict area, so it was purely an army. At the Sino-Indian border, the gravel road ends at the top of Kunyamira at an altitude of 5,844 m (19,173 ft) above sea level. At the same boundary, a dirt road leads to the summit of Kungzhag La, which is the summit of 5,780 m (18,963 feet) above sea level. And a new dirt road built near the Sino-Indian War climbs Wenquan Daban (Daban Hot Springs) at 5,808 m (19,055 ft). In the conflict area between India and China, a new dirt road was built at the top of Lungalla, which reaches 5,795 m (19,012 ft) above sea level. A very dangerous road leads to Lungmar La on the Sino-Indian border at 5,776 m (18,950 ft) above sea level. There are roads on both sides of the border, but they do not meet at the top. There are many alpine military roads in the same area. One of them climbs Laghang La at an altitude of 5,838 m (19,153 ft). The new road, built in 2021, connects India and China via MedDRA and ends at 5,915 m (19,406 feet) above sea level.

In China, the situation is fundamentally changing. The lack of access to certain border areas means that guaranteeing the continuity of the country’s highest mountain roads is a mystery and we must rely on sources of questionable reliability. The newly constructed road climbs Kokusai Kiura to reach 5,711 m (18,736 ft) above sea level. Apparently, some vehicles may have scaled Radionla’s 5,830 m (19,127 ft), Chanlanla’s 5,793 m (19,005 ft), Keira’s 5,829 m (19,124 ft), also known as Kenra. Between Gyirong and Changguoxiang villages, or 5,774m (18,943 feet) in BodpoLa.