Day 1: Dar sabko ladtha hai!!
It has been 30 days since I booked my Chadar Trek.
A small intro about Chadar before I take you with me – Chadar trek is walk on the beautiful frozen river of Zanskar at temperatures ranging from -25 to -35. The trek opens every year for a brief period of one month from jan 1 st week to Feb first week before the river melts. The Chadar Trek is a winter trek in the Zanskar region of Ladakh, in Jammu and Kashmir. Chader as the name says it all is a sheet, in this case a Sheet of Ice. I heard about the Chader during my previous trek last year and I had my heart set to see the beauty. Two beautiful rivers flow in the Zanskar region – The Indus and the Zanskar, which flow along the same path and merge into one along the path. The walls of the rivers are cliffs up to 600 mts high within which flow the rivers in all seasons. But the Indus spreads across to the edges giving very little place for trekkers to camp or to walk if the river melts, leaving Zanskar the sole destination for people who crave for a walk on the river.
That being the introduction to Chader, I had been to Spiti valley a week before with my family and experienced -22 in the morning with the comfort of the car and a hotel to snug into in the night. Now that scared me. I knew what -22 felt like. I will have to endure this and more on a trek where my body is exhausted and I have just a tent and a sleeping bag. Several hours of contemplation in my mind, a brave face outside, and fear of the unknown enveloped my mind. My heart skipped a beat when the final messages of the current temperatures and climate came in from my trek guide Shashank one day before I left. ” We have a new low madam . It is – 35!!”.
So here I am, scrambling through my list of winter wear ( which was very clearly mentioned in the list provided by the trek company). Nothing seemed enough and my bag was already stuffed to 10 kgs. I had to stop fretting, pack up and leave. So I did.
As I reach the gate for boarding I knew I will meet my clan, clan of backpackers leaving to Delhi at an odd hour. There is a secret signature you need to look for – The trekking shoes, bright awakened face concealing the fear, rustic look and wearing nothing but the essentials ?. So you identify, nod and move on.
BLR – DLH – XHR. Bangalore – Delhi – Leh.
Got a paid seat to see the snow capped mountains, as a chill went down my spine knowing I am going to be in the midst of them in a few days. #leh #chadartrek #ladakh
Day 2 :
“Flight Number SG 121 will arrive at Kushok Bakula Rimpochee Airport shortly and temperature is – 17. Thank you for traveling with Spice jet . Your baggage’s can be collected at belt Mo. 2“ said the half sleepy air hostesses and went on to her seat.
Fleece zipped, wind jacket on, gloves handy, double socks on I walk out of the flight, Brrrrrrrr, where the hell are my gloves:).
Baggage collected and welcomed by a placard ? ( cheap thrills ) I am in my mini van waiting for the rest of the clan to come. Rigid smiles, small intros, talk about the weather and we are on our way into Leh to Ratna Hotel. My memory of Leh from 10 years ago was very different . It was a small town with a bare bones airport, basic roads and very few places to stay. The Pre 3 idiots movie in 2009, When the world did not make Pangong lake so famous but it was still so beautiful:)
Leh has changed so much. Wide roads, lot of army camps, bigger airport, so many resorts and ads. A signature of a commercial tourist destination. Not to my fancy I must say.
We reach Ratna hotel, met our guide Mr.Shashank, got our rooms alloted and met the people whom we are sharing the room with etc.Met Prasanna a Telugu girl from Vizag who was to be my roommate for today. Met Tej, Sandhya and Rajeshwari from Bangalore too. A gang of five from Bangalore. Super thrilled.
Sad breakfast awaited us vegetarians. Poori and aachar, as we won’t eat egg burji.
As we entered the room with our luggage at 9:30 AM,I saw the most amazing sight. Forming of a ice crystal on glass also known as frost.
Let me explain – When glass has a temperature that is lower then, or equal to 0 C, any water coming in contact with it, will freeze and turn into ice. It is called frost if the water that turned into ice did not fall on the material. Like here there was water left on the window glass that was not due to rain or snow. This frost is made of fractal structures. Fractals are never ending complex structures which are formed form repeating a small simple structure. Thanks to Mahesh for drilling the fractal into my head 17 years ago ? I appreciated the formation so much more as it was happening. That was too much of science and Math for the day ? .
It was a day for us to confine ourselves to the indoors of the Ratna hotel to help us acclimatise to the weather that was – 17 ?. Met a lot of amazing young people 25,26,27 years and introduced myself as the one who is going to bring up the average age of the group to the 30’s ? single handed.
Met a gang of five from Kolkata whom me and my Bangalore gang quickly took a liking to. Adrisha Ghosh, Pandey, Parth, Samarth and Rushiel. Adrisha I hope I got all the spellings right ?.
Hot water two buckets per per person gets delivered to the room by people working at Ratna Hotel. Water freezes in the pipes during winters and the only way to get water is manual carrying three floors up. Buckets come into the bathroom with steam coming out of them, but the water is close to lukewarm in seconds. As small splashes of water touch the floor we need to watchful of our next step as the water is busy becoming a thin sheet of ice already. It was water and different forms of it everwhere and as we say ‘Beauty is in the hands of the beholder’.
Day 3 : Dar sab ko Lagtha Hai Tand Sabko Lagthe Hai
The first thought and the only thought in my mind as I woke up to a freezing cold morning, cold bed sheets and a pricking pain in my toes was – TO GO BACK HOME. The pain in the toes and finger tips was not worth it I thought. Meat a few of my friends downstairs who had similar thoughts. Don’t you agree Sandhya and Rajeshwari.
Acclimatisation is an important part of the trek as it will help us perform to our potential even though we are put in a drastically different climate. It is boring and time consuming but its effects are miraculous. During acclimatisation the body produces more red blood cells to counteract the lower oxygen saturation in blood in high altitudes. Our body can work miracles, and it just needs a few days. Our guides Shashank and Rathode were very rigid on following the rules to the T, making sure we are hydrated, rested and ready for the trek slowly and steadily.
Had the same shitty breakfast -poori and Achar, and were ready for our small stroll around Leh in a mini van with 12 members. Went to a poultry farm / herb / mushroom institute ?, don’t know what to call it. A small room with a bunch of lab equipments and a few samples of seeds and mushrooms grabbed my attention. As I took pictures of mushrooms, of course Gucci mushroom was there and I was pleased to recognise it, I saw “keeda Jadi”. I came to know about it during my Roop Kund Trek but have never seen it for real. Was super thrilled to hold it. If you don’t remember what is Keda jadi here is a link to refresh your memory.
The local guy at the institute was pretty impressed with my knowledge of these herbs ? Total score ?. “Aap forest department se hai kya” He said. A very controlled humble smile and a nod saying No, I bid good bye to the Keeda Jadi and back with my gang to the van.
Our next destination was a local archery competition going on in the memory of a soldier who died in the area protecting them, and the competition was called “YU DHA”. It happens for four weeks every year. Check out the video of it below. I did try my hands on it, without an arrow, for the wellbeing of the Leh Public.
The best part of any trip, other than the place itself is the number of amazing and diverse people we meet and travel with, and bond. We become and behave like a family during the trip watching out for each other, as we try to understand another world which is so different from yours. Love the gang of us I was with in all shapes and sizes.
Our next stop was Thiksey monastery. One of the biggest Chorten’s in Leh. Dragged myself up with Sandhya as I have had an overdose of Monasteries in my Spiti trip as well. I had been to this place before and I swear nothing has changed in 10 years, including the scary pit hole bathrooms I had seen then. Yes! A room with a closed wall with several pits/ holes to point and shoot. Did not have the courage to take a picture of it ?
Came back to Ratna Hotel for a quick lesson on Mafia game from all of these “Teja, Sandhya, Rajeshwari, Prasanna Adrisha, Samarth, Parth, Pandey and Rushel. What an unforgettable evening we had bursting our laughing and screaming at the top of our voices and creating avalanches in the near by hills. Called up my Bacha Aryan at night to tell him what his mom did that day and I could see him rolling his eyes when I said I played Mafia for three hours straight. He said “Mom we play every day in the bus !” and a long pause prevailed
Day 4: Yes ! Still at Ratna hotel and not on the trek. Today is our health check up and insurance and our only day to see the Leh market .
Let’s skip the boring health check-up and the insurance which costed us Rs.5000.00 and a waste of 6 hours lurking around the department for permissions. Frustration aside I must say it was very organised and quick when our turn started.
Leh market was very organised, clean cobble stoned and beautiful. Several pashmina stalls ( most of them fake I presume ), ornaments, metal figurines winter wear decorated the market. We all went straight to the Army store for our Gumboots purchase. The army store was attached my all of us trekkers, as winter wear was selling like hot cakes ? . Quickly finished my share of shopping and ran to the dry fruit market on the other side of the road. Apricots from Kashmir, the bright orange dried apricots were kind of sour, but the local dark brown dried apricots tasted much better. Leh used to be a place which was cut off from all civilisation for few months during winters, not anymore.Pashmina means “Made of wool”. Wool from different breeds of goat like the Changthangi breed from the Ladakh region is used for making the pashmina which is worldly known as the Cashmere. Wool from these goats are thinner in diameter than the regular wool making it possible for a light weight close knitted clothes. A short visit to a government owned store sourcing pashmina from the locals and making the shawls, traditional Kashmiri clothes and small stoals revealed all this to me.The price for a shawl started at 15k. The best part of the hand woven shawl was the colours which were ? percent natural. Added a photo of the three colours of wool used by the company to get the silver tone in the shawls.On my way back to the hotel room I spotted a small sea buckthorn plant, which had thorns but was easy to pull out. Could not resist my temptation to pluck it and get it home ? . As my gang as wondering what on earth I was up to I sat on the ground and pulled it out pushing aside the thorns , tucked it into my bag and ran upstairs to my bag to save it. So Kanteli Mehra I have the plant which you asked, will pot it and when it comes to life will give it to you. Multiply it and give me one back ? .This was also the day our group was broken up into two for some reasons unexplained and we met a new group who were our companions for the rest of the trek. Amit, Deepak Panwar Pratik Patel, Pratik , Nayan, Subhadeep Bhattacharya and a Gang from Pune whom we are yet to know.
Day 5 :
You must want to fly so much that you must give up being a caterpillar “.
You mean die ? Asked Yellow.
“Yes and No. What looks like you will die but what’s still you will live”.
A paragraph from my most favourite and inspirational books of all times to me – “Hope For The Flowers” By – Lorin Michel. This book is available as a PDF a for free and just a handful of pages, do take the time to read.
Our body was eligible for a sleeping bag experience yesterday. We finished our dinner and moved to our campsite where our sleeping bags rated to -50 was waiting for us.These are bags used by our soldiers at Siachen Glaciers for 6 months and costs Rs.50000/- a set. These are sold second hand in the market where the trekking companies procure them and use it for us. I must say the sleeping bag was way more warmer than the beds we were in the past few days, after the initial 20 minutes of getting the sleeping bag warm with our body heat. It snowed a bit in the night and as we woke up in the morning snow fell into our tents as we moved out of our sleeping bags. See the video of the sparkling snow inside the tents.
Our road trip to Zanskar with our new team of 21 was set to go. My mind is calm ready to take what comes my way. Looking around I see some controlled tears, last minute phone calls to family as we are going to be out of reach for 6 days, some smiles and some super brave hearts who have come for the Chadar trek as their life’s first trek ?. Chadar is not the worlds toughest trek, but the person who is yet to endure it is sure to feel the pressure of the unpredictable nature and the stories we hear of people being rescued, people who could not be rescued and so on. Did I tell you our new group has a 65 year YOUNG man Kiran Ji who is all set for the trek like any of us. Admire his spirit.
We reach the starting point of the trek by 2:00 PM. The frozen beauty looked so pristine in different shades of white. A quick Maggi in a shak near by and we were ready. We landed with our backpacks one after another on the the hardened river amazed at the site of the river and a very odd feel of the slippery ground underneath. Our gumboots on and our hiking boots tied to our backpacks, all smiles super excited and full of energy we walked our baby steps on to the river understanding her at every step.
How many types of Ice have we all seen in our life’s ? Did you know there are more than 45 forms of it. We saw at least 10 variations of it the very first day in our 6 km walk.
Let me name a few – Ice foot, Anchor Ice, Floe, Drift Ice, Frazil, Nilas and so on.
I knew only a few names before I left for the trip:). We all switched between one mode of walk to another as the type of ice under me changed. We were watching our steps more than enjoying the breathtaking view. As expected we heard several of our group hit the ice and fall either on their bum or their back. Fall – Raise -Walk – Repeat. If you learn you skip the Fall step ?.
A very happy 6 km walk to our order camp site at “Shingra Koma “. We reach at 5:30 PM to see our team of guides, cooks and porter’s already set up our camps .They welcomed us with a cup of tea. This kind of Luxury I must say ? happens only in Our India ??. You don’t need to carry our tents, beds or food. Just carry your self and your essentials and leave your attitude behind.
A beautiful campsite, with a crescent moon to lighten up the sky and a star filled cold night at -27, we patiently waited for our dinner to be served at 8:00PM, Roti, Rice and Dhal for all. More conversations and new friendships and pep talks and plan for the next day we all returned to our tents very thrilled to have had a great start.
The photos and the videos tell the story more than I can .
With all my new friends – Pachipulusu Prasanna Madhavi, Amith Soni, Deepak Panwar, Pratik Kapadnis, Pratik Patel, Nayan , Teja, Rajeshwari, Sandhya, Adrisha Ghosh, Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
Day 6 :
” The river is alive. I believe in her spirit. She lives in different forms all year long. She spreads out to the banks sometimes, she freezes herself to a solid many times, sometimes she cracks along her veins, sometimes she gushes through the smallest of crevasse, some times she stays still even in the widest of the gorges. She changes her moods like a women I believe. This was my true feeling as I saw her in so many forms as I walked on her, thanking her all the while for the generosity.
So here we are on Day 6 of our trek, Our journey was for 12 kms starting from Shingra Koma to Tibb Cave. Ready at 8:00 after we start on the journey with a mild snow fall accompanying us all the way. See my eyelids with snow flakes weighing them down.
The river was beautiful today with snow covering it slowly as we walked on the frozen surface. I could see the gushing water with pieces of SKIM Ice. Frazil ice ( soft or amorphous ice formed by the accumulation of ice crystals in water that is too turbulent to freeze solid. ) was all over the river. Just as I walked admiring the bubbles which were frozen inside the ice, I fell and did not move for a few seconds. I had head on collided with solid ice. Stood up with Prasanna’s help, to see her really worried. Lucky me, I had fallen right next to a medical tent close to a camp site. Pachipulusu Prasanna Madhavi rushed me to them. A small first aid of Volini spray and a bandaid got me back on my feet. That was my count 4 so far.?
As we walked on half broken or slightly cracked ice, we used to hear the cracking of the glass. It surprises you the first time, and you fall in love with the rhythm as you proceed. Do listen to the video of my feet walking with volume. The sound is mesmerising and tells you how delicate the river is.
Overwhelmed by walking for 5 to 6 hours with just a small lunch break, we all crashed at our already established tents thanks to our porters who carried our sleeping bags and food. Did you know they have to pull the sledges along the ice, which looks easy but they have to carry the sledge and the luggage on their back when they are on land. All for a mere 1000/- per day.That was the hard reality.
Our camp site was a ahead of all other campsites. It was inside a hidden cave above the level of the river. Beautiful location for seven tents but mine. Me and Prasanna shared a tent which as closer to the dinner tents as the cave was full.
We settled down in our dining area early as it was getting cold and company would bring down the temperature and kill time before our dinner was served. We were served Pasta today and dhal and rice. You want to know the pasta sauce ? Acchar and carrot ?. Anything goes into a growling stomach, thanking the hands that give you the food.
I would like to live like the river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding. – John O Donchue.
With all my new friends – Pachipulusu Prasanna Madhavi, Amith Soni, Deepak Panwar, Pratik Kapadnis, Pratik Patel, Nayan , Teja, Rajeshwari, Sandhya, Adrisha Ghosh, Subhadeep Bhattacharjee
Day 7 : Zanskar changed her mood. She had snowed all day yesterday and our Guide Mr.Tensing called up a meet yesterday night with a change of plans. As it had snowed it will be easier for us to walk to our destination that is the “Frozen water falls” which was around 12 kms from Tibb Cave and return the same day. That would make it a 25 km one day. Start early tomorrow, at 7:15Am and reach the destination by 11:00 AM.
So Kiran Ji (Age :65 ) had a bad slip yesterday and his hand seems to have a small fracture. The brave soul that he is, had a bandage to his hand tied to his neck and was back in action again. Admirable spirit, isn’t it ?
Today morning like any other day Me,Pachipulusu Prasanna Madhavi Amit Soni, Pratik Patel, Pratik Kapadnis, Deepak Panwar, Subhadeep Bhattacharjee, Nayan Banzal and Kiran Ji were the first ones to get ready at sharp 7:15 AM. As you stand outside waiting at -30 C with out any moment , the chill breeze hurts and our body cannot generate heat to adjust as there is no activity. So we set off with our guide as the rest followed us soon enough to catch up.
It was a beautiful walk as the ice was not slippery at all. We walked as if we were going for our morning walk, at 4 to 5 kms per hour. No slush, no melted ice, no cracking sounds. Just Chader at its best. Deepak Panwar and Pachipulusu Prasanna Madhavi stopped a hundred times during the walk to take the pictures and diligently covered the trek inch to inch. Do you know what it takes to take picture ? Pull your phone out, get your hands out of the glove , click the picture/ pictures, realise your finger tips are hurting and put it back in the glove for a few minutes before the pain goes off and your hand goes to numb state again.
We reach our Frozen waterfalls, and were welcomed by the guide handing us a flower called the Golden Flower or called “Serschen Mentho”. Looking for more information about it. Anyone who know please let me know. I was over joyed to be welcomed by a flower.
Now coming to the waterfalls –
Science class on
Water molecule in a lake or river when they are close to each other and the temperature drops to 0 C water freezes. So how does a water falls freeze ? Because water is continuously moving, so every time the bond between two molecules form it gets detached immediately. For that to happen it has to be lot colder than 0 C. So low that the waterfalls freezes uniformly all through out. So it takes longer for any readily noticeable changes to appear.
The water which is a source ( stream / lake ) for the waterfall comes to below zero temperatures, which slows the water flow. Slow moving water molecules begin to stick to each other to form a Frazil. Frazil Ice is like a needle and easily floats. These frazils stick to nearby surfaces, and in this case cold rocks as water is falling down the cliff along the rocks. This forms the anchor for the rest of the Frazil’s to stick. Now when water that drops from the rock passes by the Frazil at such low temperatures will start to grow downwards till it hits the ground. Thus making it as tall as the waterfalls itself.
Any doubts
😉 ?
We met our separated group Adrisha Ghosh, Pandey, Samarth, Rusheil and Parth. Super thrilled to see them there as we were about to leave. Took so many pictures of the waterfalls and set off on our journey back to our camp site “Tibb Cave”.
We stopped for lunch where our lovely cooks cooked up a quick maggie and tea as we sat on sledges and small pieces of rock. I had carried a cake from my Bundt Naked all the way to Chader and was served with Maggie today. Enjoyed sharing it with all my gang and our cooks, porters and guide. Food tastes best when shared among others.
Long lonely walk back, as we dragged our tired legs back home on the beautiful snow covered river. The toughest day of our trek is over I thought as we tucked into our sleeping bags in the night. Did I say it too soon ?
Any doubts
😉 ?
We met our separated group Adrisha Ghosh, Pandey, Samarth, Rusheil and Parth. Super thrilled to see them there as we were about to leave. Took so many pictures of the waterfalls and set off on our journey back to our camp site “Tibb Cave”.
We stopped for lunch where our lovely cooks cooked up a quick maggie and tea as we sat on sledges and small pieces of rock. I had carried a cake from my Bundt Naked all the way to Chader and was served with Maggie today. Enjoyed sharing it with all my gang and our cooks, porters and guide. Food tastes best when shared among others.
Long lonely walk back, as we dragged our tired legs back home on the beautiful snow covered river. The toughest day of our trek is over I thought as we tucked into our sleeping bags in the night. Did I say it too soon ?
Day 8 : Over confident with our achievement of yesterday, we all got up a bit relaxed, chatted a bit longer after breakfast, made plans for the afternoon as we assumed our 12 km walk would barely take us 3 hrs or less.
Little did we know Zanskar was having her mood swings. Zanskar was sulking, like a women overloaded with work. Her displeasure was evident. She had melted in to a slush in several places. The cracking sound of glass was not there anymore. She changed her texture as we set foot on her. Not much of fresh snow to give us the friction for our gumboots.
Our guides have asked us to move on to the cliffs, leaving the river for some distance. We climbed on the snow covered slippery and uneven cliffs through the rocks with our gumboots. It was tougher than our on ward journey. Our distance was increasing as we are climbing up and down the cliffs instead of a straight forward walk on the frozen river. The river has increased in speed, water was touching the edges of the cliffs.
We had our next challenge awaiting us. We had to come down the cliffs and climb the next, and the only route was through water. We had to remove our socks as we had to enter the water, and wear it back on after coming out of water. This was a procedure to be followed every single time. Water was going in to our gumboots freezing our feet instantaneously. Ice pieces were going between our bare legs and the boot, as we waded our way walking on frozen ice which was 2 ft under the water. We all had our Hail Mary screams when we first stepped into water as our body went through a shock. Body as we know it bears it to some extent and our mental strength pulls us forward. Some sang songs to distract themselves from the pain that was at our feet, some spoke loudly, some went absolutely mute. Most of us made it through without falling into the water with floating ice at -27 C. Some were not so lucky. One lady fell inside and was soaked in water till her neck, some fell face forward. Thankfully I was not the chosen one to dunk in to Zanskar. The guides held us through several times. I cant thank my team mates enough who helped me just when I was about to slip. Amit Soni a special thanks to you for supporting hand every time I was getting out of the water. I feared the worst. The thought of me falling in water really worried me, and I did not hesitate a bit to ask for a hand when I had the slightest doubt of falling.
This was the day my heart sank several times as we walked on ridges with just a few inches to keep our feet on and snow covered rocks leaving us nothing to hold on to. I longed and prayed to see my children. I was exhausted in my mind. Tensing, Monto and others helped each and everyone one of us and got us to our destination for the day after 9 hours of walk to finish 13.4 kms. They cooked us food setting up the stove on ice. They were amazing. Without their support we would not have finished the trek with so much ease.
As we sat exhausted after the trek one of my friend Partha takes the time to wander in the dark at night and take some amazing pictures of our camp site and Zanskar at night
Video
Day 9 :
Humbled by the nature and thankful for everything we could accomplish we started our last day of the trek of just 5 kms.
My toes took a tole yesterday after it was exposed to the wildest temperatures and in and out of water. So many of my friends had fallen many a number of times yesterday and were bruised or slightly hurt. Some had a hairline fracture, some a sprain and we all accepted it as a parting gifts from Chader
😉
The river was still high in her speeds and melted in many places like yesterday, there were water pools we were getting to with just the gumboots, cliffs we were walking up knowing we were close to home at every step.Can words explain what we fell when we finished the trek at 12:30 PM. We saw the river one last time, thanking her for letting us walk on her for the most part. Loved every bit of it.Boarded our mini van which came to the pick up point and were happy to provide a little comfort for our bums after so many days. Phone calls to our family, exchanging emails, phone numbers and chatter chatter laughter and above all a great sense of contentment filled the bus as we drove through the snow covered roads.We reached our new place of stay for the night. Wooow bathrooms finally. We were allocated our rooms again. A very long wait for dinner. Our Pandey group was back and we had tequila shots measured with a Bisleri cap. Guess who measured it accurately. The Baker in me;-).Had a campfire, singing, dinner and our bodies begged for some rest. During our dinner we came to know some shocking news that around 140 people were stuck in Chadar as the water level had just raised, and all they can do was to wait patiently for the water to freeze back again. Thanking our lucky stars for our un interrupted trek, we got back to our rooms to pack up for our home coming tomorrow.
Toe video
Day 10: I love my Chadar, my family and my Vada sambhar at Adigas. Glad to be back home !!!!
Naturally Hema 