Ladakh Trekking
Ladakh, popularly known as the land of Numerous Passes, the Land of
Mystic Lamas, the Broken Moon and the Last Shangri La is bounded by two
of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Greater Himalaya and the
Karakoram. Leh, Ladakh's largest town and administrative centre, lies at
the crossroads of ancient trading routes between Kashmir, Tibet, Central
Asia and the Indian plains. Ladakh's colourful gompas (Buddhist
monasteries) have attracted devout Buddhists, interested travellers and
is known for some of the most picturesque and challenging treks in
northern India. Ladakh is known as a high altitude cold desert region
that includes river valleys, wide plateaus rolling hills and sharp and
forbidding mountain peaks and passes. The valleys of Drass, Zanskar and
Suru Valley on the Himalayan's northern flank provide opportunities to
explore not only the interior of Ladakh, but to discover cultural styles
hardly affected by the last 30 years of tourism.
Treks in Ladakh
Trekking options within Ladakh include short, daylong walks up and down
mountains to visit remote villages or monastic settlements. The longer
duration Trans-Himalayan treks involve weeks of walking and camping in
the wild and barren region of Ladakh. Among the high altitude treks is
the trek from Lamayuru in the Indus valley to Darcha in Lahaul across
Zanskar that takes nearly three weeks to come to its conclusion. Most of
the established routes pass through the Zanskar range, which separates
the Indus valley from Zanskar.
The 10-day Lamayuru-Padum trek and the Stok-Khangri trek are the more
popular trek tours among the numerous options available in this cold
desert of Ladakh. In recent years, parts of the Ladakh range between the
Indus and Shayok valleys have also become available for trekking.Ladakh
offers very interesting trekking routes for trekkers. Trekking
possibilities include short, day -long walks up and down mountain slopes
to visit isolated villages or monastic settlements, or across a ridge to
enjoy the sheer beauty of the lunar mountainscape. Or long,
transmountain treks involving weeks of walking and camping the
wilderness.
Clothes And Equipments
The summer visitors to Leh will need basically warm- weather clothes,
with a sweeter for evenings and mornings when it may be chilly.
Temperatures begin to fall around the 2nd half of August, and though
cottons continue to be worm during the day until mid September, a heavy
sweeter or an anorak or coat will be needed in the mornings and
evenings. Form mid September it starts getting distinctly cold and
woollens are needed even during the day, though in the sun it is still
hot. Winter visitors- which means November to April- will need to equip
themselves with heavy woollens, anoraks or tweed coats, gloves,
balaclave helmets or equivalent and warm boots.
Reasonably good trekking equipment can be hired from Private Tour
Operators specialised in mountain treks. All trekkers should remember
that nights in the mountains would be chilly at any time of the year and
make sure that they should be fully equipped for the treks. They must
carry enough food for the whole trek, basic supplies- fruit &
vegetables or the occasional villages enroute will be able to provide
local food if you run out of food stock. It is advisable to keep a good
torch handy during treks and visit to the monasteries because shrines
are often found ill- lit.
