Chadar Trek

Chadar means sheet, and the name is what Zanskaris call the ice that forms on their river in deep winter, which for centuries was their only route out of the valley when the passes closed: they walked the frozen gorge to Chilling carrying loads. The route became a commercial trek in the 2000s, walked over roughly eight days there and back through a gorge whose walls rise hundreds of metres, sleeping in caves and on the bank. The ice is not stable, forming and breaking through the season, so parties detour over rock when it fails, and temperatures fall well below minus twenty.

What to look for

• The frozen river - a sheet of ice through a deep gorge, shifting daily.
• The gorge walls - rock rising hundreds of metres on both sides.
• The frozen waterfalls - ice formations on the side streams.
• The Zanskari porters - locals who walked this as a working route.

When to go

January to February, the only window when the ice forms reliably; warming winters have shortened and weakened it in recent years, and the route has been cut short or cancelled in some seasons.

Before you go

This is a serious expedition, not a walk: extreme cold and unstable ice. Registration with an authorised operator, medical clearance and acclimatisation in Leh are compulsory. The ice is less reliable each decade.

Nearby

Chilling is the road head; Zanskar is upstream.

Key facts