Chadar Trek Randomness

Will not write about how easy or difficult the trek was, as it would dilute the objective behind this blog. This post is dedicated to all those incidents/events which were beyond the regular aspects of a trek. Also the idea is to record interesting stuff from the trek, so that years from now if i revisit this page it would make me happy & hopefully reach for my backpack

• Stretched start- We had a perfect plan, we shall meet up at delhi airport a day before our early morning flight & figure out how to spend the night. So after watching Sherlock holmes-2 again @ Ambience mall, we headed back to the airport, not before having a tea at a roadside tea stall @ 1:15 am. After having an early breakfast all we needed was some sleep, so we dozed off after entering the aircraft at around 6 am. I woke up and saw that it was 9 am already and aircraft was on land. Then we were informed by the attendants that the flight never took off, it was snowing in ladakh.





Spending night at Delhi airport

• Announcement- We landed at about 11:30 am, it was bright & sunny outside. We were not carrying any warm clothes on us, it was all checked in. Then came the announcement, were they mentioned the outside temperature. It was -8 degrees, I confirmed it twice and got the same response. I was wearing a half shirt & i could feel what was in store for me as soon as i came out of the aircraft. It was fun running towards the airport, but then luggage took 20 minutes to arrive.

• Missing trekker- We were greeted by the agency guy outside the airport & there we met the 3rd trekker, an American, for the first time. The agency guy took us to the car and asked us to wait, as he was waiting for the 4th person, a Czech . After more than an hour & post some 25 calls, we decided to make a move as the airport was completely empty but for the employees. Also the breeze was not enhancing the entire waiting experience. We did not heard from or about david for next 3 days, post which he came to the guest house, barely hours before the departure. He knew ladakh well as it was his 7th visit, so he decided to spend some time on his own. And he didn't have a phone on him, so he could not contact anyone, he knew the place where he needed to turn up eventually, so confidently he went around meeting friends made during past trips.

• The contingent- When we started towards chilling, the starting point for the trek, there were 20 odd men on the bus accompanying us. My initial reasoning was they must be taking a lift & they would get down some where on the way. But later I realized that they are part of our group & they all had a role to play & loads to carry :)





It wasn't this bad, uploaded the picture as i find it extremely beautiful

• First step on ice- The idea of walking on sheet of ice, with flowing water beneath it, was very adventurous & we were all very excited, but the first step brought us back to reality. During EBC (Everest base camp) there was snow, but ice was not much. During Island peak summit ice was well formed, but here the ice was not that well formed. It was strong enough to hold people, but it would crack & make all kind of funny noise. The idea of falling in water, when the temperature is max -20 degrees, is pretty scary. It took us a decent part of first day to gain confidence & walk properly. Also it was not child's play can be proved by the fact that all of us fell on the way at least once, Kevon was the eventual winner among all the scorers, including our guide. And on plenty of occasion the ice would crack & one would be knee/ankle deep in it, which would be scary.





Sample fare served on the way

• Food- Nothing could have prepared us for the food that was to be served during the journey. We had simple fare in leh, where we had spent 3 days, and by simple logic we were expecting food during the trek to be equal or worse than that. But we were positively surprised when we started having 4-5 course feast on Chadar. We would stop at pre-decided points, where the guys would put up tents. Post this the kitchen team would get inside the kitchen tent & cook for hours. The end result would be a drink, followed by a starter, followed by soup, followed by main course, followed by dessert. Even though we felt sad for the kitchen team, but that feeling never occurred during meals. Not just dinner, even breakfast would be pretty elaborate, with bread, preserves of various type, options of drinks (hot chocolate, tea, coffee, etc), with omelet  porridge, nuts, etc. They would keep tweaking things to keep us interested in food, and we took it as a challenge & ate much more than we normally would. By the end of the trek neither me nor brao lost any weight, even though we had enough exercise  it just goes on to show the quality & quantity of food that we enjoyed.

Cow & goat staying together

• Animals- Throughout the journey we found plenty of animals, sheep, cow, donkey, dog, horse, etc. They were all with extra layer of fur, as required in the circumstances, adding to their cuteness. And they all looked as if they were having a great time. And they would all share enclosure, making it look as if they were a big happy family.

• Night fright- The second most horrible night of my life, worst being the night when i was being carried down by porters during EBC, whilst descending. Third day into the trek, for the first time we had put up a tent completely in the open, as there was no mountain or hill under which we could have put our tent. That day we had spotted loads of leopard pug marks, it was the major point of discussion during the trek. None of us were sleeping properly, as the temperature was extremely low, even in multiple sleeping bags. That night i woke up hearing loud snorting noise & then all of a sudden the tent started shaking badly. There wasn't any lights outside so using my headlamp i tried to see if any shadows were visible outside, but it was nothing. Brao soon joined me & we were speculating for a good two hours. Meanwhile shaking & snorting continued as it was. We were scared & had just two options. First was to be get ourselves out of the sleeping bags (we were shaking more than usual than) open the tent & check what was there outside, and the second option was to call for help. So we started shouting, but with the noise outside & the distance in tents ensured that no one could hear us, meanwhile the noises & shaking of tent were gaining intensity. After a while it stopped completely & then we could hear someone getting out of the tent, it was kevon. We asked him to check if there was something outside our tent. He confirmed that there was nothing, so taking his word at face-value we decided to crash. Thankfully no one could hear our cry for help & Kevon was too sleepy when he came outside to attend nature's call, hence no one had fun at our expense next day. But we knew what an ass we made out of ourselves & in future there was never even a moments hesitation to get out of the tent. I for one would never forget this & my appreciation for movies dealing with fear of unknown would increase. Of course i would not count the recent series of RGV's movies in that category or for that matter any category :)  

• Link Road, 'From government with love'- While travelling on ice for days & struggling on multiple occasion, finally it was time to climb up & reach a village called 'lingshed'. We were all excited but it was a difficult part & the ice was getting thinner. The idea was to reach fast & come down fast to avoid death (which is the only alternative if ice cracks and one falls inside). Our guide told us that government has made a road to the village called link road which would be about 2 hours post we start the trek. It was a couple of difficult hours, where for the first time we used rubber boots, but nothing could have prepared us for the madness called "Link Road". And here you didn't need Leonidas to kick you down the hill, one can manage that without any help. It was a path where one man can stand with just one feet on the ground, and it was made around a hill. Like any ghat road, this path also circled the hill multiple times & then takes the traveler to the top, major difference being the width of the path. It was scary to say the least, but we started & gained confidence as we progressed. But with height the fear increased & to add to that was avalanches resulting in ice sheets being formed in the middle of the road. According to the flow of water sheet of ice would always be downward sloping, making it even more risky. Even the guide was slipping while crossing it. Everyone else managed with little help from our guide, but i was scared to death. With trembling legs & shaking hands i somehow managed to cross it, but post that the legs continued in that state of being. I am thankful that no one clicked any picture or shot a video, else it would have been really embarrassing  But eventually i did conquer my fear. On the way back I was the first person, ahead of our guide too, to cross link road :)

Brao got moves

• Party @ lingshed- It was a home stay at lingshed, bed, good food, heater with a chimney in the room, great family who were hosting us, a nice little climb to a Gompa, etc & we started thinking nothing could cheer us further. It was as good as it can get, but just then we were proved wrong. Last night before we were to start back, as there were news of ice getting thinner & weaker, we decided we would have a round of Chang (Rice beer). One thing led to another, the entire contingent started singing & dancing. Then the host family came in with some empty boxes to be used as drums & some additional supply of Chang. After a while some localites came & asked us to join entire village at a bigger house were there would be better arrangements, more space & most importantly more Chang. Everyone was extremely enthusiastic about it, even though it was almost mid night. We went there & realized that the plans were bigger than we imagined. They had arranged for tabla. sitar, harmonium, etc there & loads of villagers were coming. Set up was taking more time then we expected, our guide wanted us to get some sleep as the next day we were to cover for 2 days worth of journey to get past dangerous sheet of ice. So we thanked everyone there & came back to our room. But the experience was awesome & energized us immensely. We covered the 2 days worth of journey in good time & almost reached there with porters & kitchen staff, who would usually be the first ones to reach.

Family which hosted us at lingshed



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  One of the porter's checking out Kevon's camera

  Bao & Fire- Literal translation of word Bao in ladakhi is a cave. It was one place we all would love to hang out during late evenings & early nights, as the porters would make their food their. No it wasn't the food which would draw us to their bao, but it was the fire on which they would make their food. We would sit their, have random conversation, share jokes with them, ask them about their experiences in chadar, talk about other treks that we had done before & the time would fly. Ladakhi people are extremely nice & cordial as hosts, they would offer us food, alcohol, etc when we would be in their 'place'. Every day all the porters of various group would try & reach the next destination as early as possible to grab the best bao. They would keep the fire on as late as possible to have a decent sleep, as they do not carry sleeping bags with them. So we would share their fire till as late as possible, then run towards our tents so as to retain the heat till we get inside our sleeping bag. They would again light the fire with the left over wood in the morning at their bao, which would be our hang out zone in the morning before we start walking. On the last day all four of us went to cut & bring the firewood for everyone, we were advised to get only the wood which is dry. Also they respect plants, hence they would not cut a tree which is green.



• 29 & Conversations- 29 is fast becoming a preferred game for trekker from across the world. Here again everyone was smitten by the game & we would play the game as & when we can. But the best part would be the random discussions we would have on movies, culture, lifestyles, languages, accent, dying languages and last but not the least how we all hated our mundane jobs.
• Most wanted Iraqi playing cards- Anyone who has seen the movie 'Green zone' would remember the set of playing cards which every soldier would carry, helping them to identify the who's who in Iraq, involved with SH's government. I had found it extremely interesting & was impressed by the idea. It was simple yet extremely effective, in the movie soldiers were even using the exact denomination of the card as the nick name for the person who was assigned that denomination. So SH was ace of spades, so on and so forth. I saw a real pack while on this trek, as a fellow trekker's friend was serving in US army, and I must add that playing with it was an experience.

• Australians & Cricket- Last time I met Australians while on a trek was during Island peak summit, when we took them apart during World cup 2011. It was awesome fun, while I made fun of everyone from Britishers to Srilankan, but they were not half as fun as the Australians. Aussies take pride in their cricket & they would be in pain when the topic was initiated. Well this time there were two brothers who were almost trekking with us, they had a separate group though but we kept on bumping into each other. And India was having one of the worst tours of Australia at that point of time. Both me & brao tried our level best to avoid the topic, but they successfully kept bringing it up. After reaching Lingshed, they called up & found out that India had lost another test. It became even more difficult post that, but such is life. 

• Craziness- There were many moments on the trek which I can put under this head & finish this blog. Like a freshly severed leg of a horse seen on the way, or a dead fox shrunk to unimaginable size, one running waterfall among hundred of frozen waterfalls and god knows what not. But the craziest of them all were people mad enough to take a dip in the water while at Chadar. After reaching the camping site, 3 guys, an Australian, an american & a Czech, decided to take a dip. They ran for about an hour to generate heat & then jumped into water. It lasted for not more than 10 seconds but post those 10 seconds they were all in serious trouble.I have never seen anyone in so much pain as was evident from their yelling, running & abusing. And all the Indians there, Me, brao & some of the support team members came down with them to watch it, decided to safely stay away from water. The Australian guy kept running & falling, not in any particular order, to generate heat in the body. It was the most hilarious moment for me during the trek.

Only functional waterfall



One of the numerous frozen waterfalls