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“The infamous Chadar Trek is the toughest trek in India and one of the spiritually enlightening places on earth that would be closed to public post-2019. I couldn’t miss that!”
Freelance Product Designer, Krishna Deepak Maniyar is raw, hungry and a simple guy who never wants to stop exploring. Passionate about time, life, nature, automobiles and food, Maniar’s list of adventures includes sailing the Arabian Sea, deep diving in Costa Brava, skydiving in Seville, hitchhiking in Europe, skiing at Bardonecchia, biking across the country and recently, summiting the Chadar Trek.
“It all began with an email stating the facts about Chadar Trek that asked the question: Challenging Enough? I surfed a few videos online and found people falling in manhole-sized holes on frozen ice over a river, crossing vertical cliffs, sliding through the ice with barely enough space to sleep, showing off frost bites and shivering through their necks but none stopping, none accepting defeat, everyone moving forward. I had an urge to see what this feeling was, a need to experience this madness and I signed up, paid the fee, and comforted myself with some confidence that I am going to nail the Chadar Trek,” says Krishna recalling the start of the epic journey.
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The Trip
Coming from the land of beaches Goa where the temperature was 22 degree to -14 degree in Leh, Krishna knew that what lay ahead was something he had never imagined. With no phone connection, Krishna landed in Leh a day earlier than the others and found a man with his nameplate on. He sat in the cab which took him to the guesthouse and was given a warm welcome.
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On the first day, before the actual start of the journey, he met players from the National Ice Hockey Team who were seen playing on the World’s Highest Ice Skating Rink, explored Shanti Stupa, gorged Thukpa, local Tibetan cuisine and witnessed Spituk Gustor Festival before he met the rest of the team in the night who were to travel to the base camp at Tilad the next day.
Krishna says, “After enduring tons of dust clouds and near misses on the stone cut road running parallel to Zanskar River, we reached Tilad. The scenic road throughout had led us to a perfect camping spot, a sandy coast in the gorges of the Zanskar valley of unending beauty. Slowly the skies turned dark purple and then there was nothing but an endless popping up of stars as far and deep as one could look. The never seen before lit sky, shooting stars and constellations were right there above my head and numbness in my feet. I removed my shoes to find out that the sweat had turned into ice and I quickly changed into new pair. I fell back to thinking, there was so much I had not seen in my life and this was only the first day into Chadar. This was the coldest night I had ever experienced.”
The troupe started towards Thomu where they walked on thin sheets of ice, calculating the steps and avoiding slipping. The route had crystal clear water running parallel to the ice sheets, high rise mountains made of layers of sedimentary rocks and spectacular beauty around. The first milestone of reaching Thomu was achieved soon.
Chadar Trek was the most unpredictable trek because it was broken at several places and you may find yourself waist down in a hole with ice cold water freezing your legs. The next stop being the Tibb Cave, the unusual rough terrain with shore made of bed of rocks had a sleeping space for a group of 30 adults. While looking at the water flow, Krishna saw something unimaginable, a green rain. “It was when I looked up that I realized a flock of thousands of birds and their synchronized pooping session. That was the day I felt like taking a bath,” chuckles Krishna.
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The last stretch to the Nerak Waterfall is considered to be the toughest of all trails because of the elongated distance and eccentricity of the Chadar formation. Few travelers that Krishna met on way informed him that walking to the waterfall might not be a problem but surviving the night could be life threatening. Slowly marching ahead with anticipation and anxiousness, Krishna with the troupe reached the final camp. The sight ahead was a testament of the concept ‘frozen in time.’
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“Beyond the waterfall, 3 Km on the top rested a village with a population of a dozen people. They had satellite phone service, an extremely well fermented wine and rock hard pieces of bread. Only 5 of us had gone to the village to make calls back to our homes and informed them about our safe journey so far.”
The highest point of his life was at this moment, when he was standing knee deep in snow at the top of the Nerak Village after making calls back home, looking at the starlit sky and being surrounded by snow clad mountains, thinking to himself that he made it.
The group decided to return to the Tilad camp in half the time with double the speed and reached the destination in two days instead of three. Krishna had one last thing to do and without any inhibitions, he dived into the bone chilling cold water of Zanskar River. He recalls his experience saying, “To say that the water was cold would be an understatement; the water froze everything. I had dived in as a person who feared death and I came back as a person who just loved life. It was when I was not dying, I was truly living! I let everything go, I was embracing the sun and smiling at the winds, breathing the sky and living my time!”
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Things to Consider
According to Krishna, traveling to Chadar gave him important lessons to be shared to fellow travelers who would prepare for the feat.
- Your feet will sweat so be sure to change your socks every time you complete the day’s travel goals because frozen socks will hurt terribly and can give you frost bites
- Give enough time to acclimatize yourself so, come early a few days
- Be fit, test yourself on small treks at least a month before starting because if you are traveling in a group, your inability should not strand others and vice versa
- Know well beforehand that you will not be served sumptuous meal of fine dine however, the food served is healthy and nutritious
- Do not overload your bag with unnecessary things
- Buy the perfect gum boots locally from Leh
- Reach Leh early so that you may get time to buy/rent things that you may have forgotten for the trek
- Use good pair of sunglasses, sun screen lotion and cover yourself if you have tendency to get sunburn
- Invest in a good down jacket
- Do not put excess layers on yourself because you need 2 layers (bottom) and 3 layers (top) in a day and in the night as the need arises
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Word For The Readers
“I have never felt so empowered by a journey. If one had a chance to embark this road, one should not hesitate even for a second. Live while you can. Chadar reveals your true self one step at a time. When a colleague of mine had learnt about my latest trip to Chadar, he told me, ‘Enjoy the last of what you are today for when you return, you would be a changed man.’ Although his words baffled me at first when he said them to me at that time; only when I returned I realized what truly he meant.”
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