This is a guest post from an avid traveller Manish Lakhani. Manish lives in Baroda and works in the telecom industry. He has traveled extensively in the Himalayas, including Ladakh and Sikkim. He went on Chadar trek last winter, and hopes to return again in the coming winter.
Chadar Trek is an unusual expedition of walking on ice. The Zanskar River freezes in winter, enabling walking on the ice sheet along the area that is inaccessible in summer. As you can see from pictures, a warm weather can break the ice, forcing the trekkers to climb over the mountains or walk in the frigid water.
Text and Photographs by Manish.
Mighty mountains and clouds that hide Sun on a cold morning before the trek started. We spent two days visiting places around Leh to acclimatize.
Walking on thin ice? Yes, there is no choice. This is part of day to day trek. A small mistake and you are in freezing water. Porters do this like walking in garden… amazing !
A frozen stream! I was thinking how it must have been flowing in summer. Imagine the temperatures required to make it into ice. There are lots of mineral in the ice that make it look colorful in direct sunlight. Nature is amazing isn’t it ?
It was a very hard day on the way back. After lots of snowfall, there was a shiny day. There was alway risk of melted ice and broken Chadar. A wrong step directly takes you into frigid water. The water is deep, and cold enough to take bring death.
During the return.. There was heavy snowfall, and the next day was sunny. Snowfall takes the temperarte up, resulting in in broken Chadar. We were walking in an ice slurry. I walked almost halfday with my wet feet, a horrible experiense. For the entire night, I was trying to dry my shoes near the fire. Yes i would like to experience this again.
Near Neraks camp site which is near Neraks village. We were wating here for 3 days to get clear snow . These goats belonged to a villager who was staying nears camp site. One day, a fine morning few of the villagers came to my tent to say good morning.
Going Home, a late evening. I was very much tired after after hard day. We walked two days’ distance in one, walking between avalanches. But in the evening, we had some hot soup and delicious food.
The amazing flight. Aerial view of Leh-Delhi route on the way back.
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Posted in ladakh
Amazing photographs!!
wonderful post..all the more determind now
Awesome post, thanks to you and Manish.
[...] is organized by Manish Lakhani who made it to the trek in January 2009 too (Read his guest post on Chadar Trek on India Travel Blog). We can still accommodate three more persons on the trek. Manish wants to [...]