Freezing temperatures, warm smiles and "Juley" all around

Trekking on a frozen river at over 11,000 feet of altitude with temperatures ranging between -25 to -15 degree-Celsius is an adventure lover’s dream.

This dream can quickly turn into a nightmare if the temperatures get warmer than -10 degree-Celsius as it happened with us in 2012 while trekking on frozen Zanskar River in Ladakh, India. This trek is popularly known as the Chadar Frozen River trek.

Every year in the months of January and February, Zanskar River freezes over to form a ‘Chadar’ (meaning ‘sheet’) of ice. This chadar serves as a pedestrian highway for the residents of remote villages situated along its banks and a trail for trekkers. During the long winter months, the chadar is the only connect with the outside world for the inhabitants of the villages situated nearby.

With variations in temperatures, the chadar keeps breaking and reforming as it gets warm and cold respectively. While the beauty of the ice formations is mesmerizing, melting of the chadar makes the trek treacherous and arduous. A small slip is enough to get wet and this is not a pleasant experience when the ambient temperature is lower than -5 degree-Celsius.

The last day of our six-day trek is unforgettable. We had to travel through slushy semi-frozen river with gravelly banks in bone-chilling temperatures. The smiles of the locals and the cheerful sound of ‘Juley’ provided warmth to our souls. ‘Juley’ has several meanings in Ladakh. ‘Hello’, ‘Goodbye’, ‘Thanks’ or ‘Welcome’ – Juley is an omnipresent greeting here.

Wherever the chadar became too thin to walk on, we had to climb the banks, which are essentially moraines left there by passing of ancient glaciers. For locals it is a neighbourhood walk, while for trekkers it is overwhelming because a single mis-step can land you in the ice-cold river.

The trek is made memorable by the numerous frozen waterfalls and natural rock formations witnessed along the banks of Zanskar River. The myths around some of these highlight the hardships faced by Ladakhi people and their indomitable survival spirit. The recounting of these stories will inspire anyone to smile even amidst the most treacherous adversities and be ever cheerful.

‘Juley’ to the beatific smiles and warm hospitality of the locals for encouraging and guiding trekkers on this nerve-racking expedition, year-after-year.