Sunday Drive by Hormazd Sorabjee: On top of the world
Only a special car can take you to the peak of the new highest motorable road on Earth, the Umling La!
The readout on the pulse oximeter clipped to my index finger is an alarmingly low 84. I’m finding it hard to breathe and after taking a few steps I feel like I’ve run a marathon. Hang on, it’s not what you think! In fact, what I’m experiencing is absolutely normal for anyone standing where I am, which is exactly 19,300 feet high. Oxygen in this rarefied atmosphere is in short supply and half of what your lungs inhale at sea level. Himalayan mountaineers know the feeling and now, so do I. The big difference is that I reached this lofty height without having to trek or walk one bit. Instead of a climbing rope or an ice axe in my hands, I was holding an Alcantara-wrapped leather steering wheel and cocooned in a cabin sealed off from the elements with the temperature dialed up to a toasty 23 degrees.
