Have you ever thought how it is sleeping in a open place where the temperature can drop from -10°c to -25°c? Have you ever thought what you are going to do when you fall into a frozen river when ice breaks below your feet? Have you ever thought of taking a dip in a river without clothes which is at subzero °c (more or less -10°c)? Have you ever wondered how its like to ride on sledge on icesheet which can break and you can drown completely? Have you ever thought that this could be a your last moment when are climbing an ice hill of 200ft and suddenly the guy before you slips and you have to make a choice of try to save him knowing that you can also go all the way down with him? Have you ever tried to actually skate with just you legs and not using skate boards to find out that its one of the best feelings in the world?
I know I know, so many “Have you’s”, But if you have experienced some of these then most likely you have been-to one of the most thrilling, amazing, dangerous treks in india. Its none other than Chadar Trek. I could go on and on about what my experiences but instead i would just tell you the most memorable ones in this 15 day trip.
The “small” & BIG climbs:
So when the ice sheet is broken and its impossible to cross the river on it, we have to do the only thing left, do the climbs. There are these small ones where you dont have a path but your guide makes one and slowly you climb, walk some distance till you see a good layer of ice to walk again then you climb down. Mind you, in all these, climbing down is the most difficult part. But nothing campares to the BIG climbs. Not only this is the most slipperiest of all climbs but also very dangerous. Its takes time and takes your breath away literally. Its unbelievably steep which feels like ages to climb. And on top of it when someone before you slips, it can be the the Enders Game , if you know what i mean. Unfortunately it happened to me and “by the power of ☠️” the force was strong with me,i managed to survive and also ended up saving the person who slipped. You are welcome world! 😎
Walking on and in the river: can you?
Walking on zanskar has been lucky for our group as we have walked on pure ice sheet, snow covered ice sheets at the same time which is rare. Most of the time you slip if there is no snow and usually there isnt snow at all. But when we were trekking it was snow everywhere and it also snowed while we were trekking.
What would you do if the ice sheet is broken for a kilometer with freezing cold water which is knee deep, Turn back or go ahead? Your feet will get wet, you wont be able to dry them quickly, you could slip aswell or even worse the second layer of ice sheet can break. Most of the groups turned back but we didnt. We had an amazing guide named DhutDhul who said we could do it and we did it. Yay!! It was fun. Yes i know what you are thinking, is he crazy or something taking out camera and shooting in the middle of this. May be I’m. 😏
Pole anyone? No Thank you✋:
A lot of people use one skiing pole, some even use two. I have also used it during my first two days. But after seeing how the porters and the guide were not using any pole for walking on the ice sheet covered with snow, i came to realize that pole makes you more dependant and make you susceptible to more falls. The falls do hurt but less falls are alway better. So i said sayonara to my pole and completed the trek with out using it again.
The Mug aka “Mugga” :
This is the only mug you are going to get unless you have brought your own one (Surprisingly few people brought their own 🤔). You have your morning kahwa “Leh special chai”, Hot water to to drink in the morning, tea or milk (mostly powdered milk) at breakfast, sometimes tea at lunch and as usual again at dinner, all with this mug. There are other obivous uses which i think are understandable. You can use this to drink some pure-mineralrich-icecold-subzerodegree water from river zanskar aswell (I strongly recommend but keep your distance while filling the mug).
Scouting everyday:
Everything is open, so the first thing you do every morning is scouting, to find the right spot where you are covered reasonably and no one has “Visited”🙈 that site before. This is the not the most difficult part, but after you are done, taking out the wet wipes from the packet which is almost frozen with a hand which is already without gloves for sometime and not the mention the freezy breezy breeze 🍃. I had to literally punch the packet every morning. Not a pleasant experience and on top of it you have to make sure no one is coming your way all the time.
Size DOES Matter:
I never thought size will make much difference for tents, sleeping bags, gum boots. If you arrive late to the campsite, you can end up in a tent which is for just one person with one more person. If you plan to have a good night sleep in the chilling temperature, make sure your sleeping bags are of correct size, meaning just dont check the tag but try it out and see if you fit comfortably in both the inner and outer sleeping bags. I ended up having a sleeping bag of size ‘S’ where i would fit only in XL, so you only can imagine how i survived the night. And never ever let your gum boots get mixed with others or else you will end up with pigmy size on left and gaint gonzalez on the right 👢 and trust me its not at all pleasant.
The unfortunate fall:
Always and always mind your surroundings and be alert as you never know what can happen in this unpredictable wild trek. Me and my friend were casually walking and suddenly the ice under my friend broke. He went inside. In my useless attempt to grab him, i went along with him into the water shoulder deep. So priority #1 was get out of water. I tried to climb out if it but the ice started cracking more because of my weight and the pressure i was putting on the already cracking ice along with my friend. Then i threw myself flat to distribute the weight evenly and slid myself to safety. Yap my friend did the same and we were safe. Wohoooo! Take that you you ice of chader.
Fantastic Skating:
Oh boy, oh boy this is the best time I ever had in the entire trip. You get to skate🕴️. You start with moon walking which slowly turns into skating with your gum boots. The first one was just okay. But when we were coming back, i have mastered it my own way. The thing is use only one foot to skate, the other one to stop, both the hands to steer and its one hell-of-a-ride.
freezing-effing-dip:
The craziest thing I have ever done is to take the famous dip in the river on our last day. Ok fine, its not the craziest thing i have ever done but it sure is effing freezing. You are literally walking into water at 10°c barely in your lower thermals and immersing yourself completely. It’s a must have experience. Hellya I loved it so much. 😏
Cutest animals are ̶c̶a̶t̶s̶ dogs:🐶
I’m a big cat lover, and I think they are the cutest animals in this whole wide world(Love cats videos like me? checkout this channel). But boy I was in for a surprise. Dogs can be way way cuter than cats and I learned this in leh. They have fur like husky and are so darn cute 😍. Trust me once you start, you cant stop petting them.
Sing along willya:
One of the fun things I did was singing the native Ladakhi songs along with all the Ladakhi people while they were making us the dinner. Actually I didn’t sing but played along but it was as much fun. 😬
