Walking on the frozen river of Zanskar is an ultimate experience for adventure lovers. The traditional name of the trek is tChadar trek which means the frozen sheet. This roadway is the only passage route for the Zanskaris during the winter season as all other roadways are closed due to heavy snow fall at high passes.
Due to this, this route it had been trade route for centuries by Zanskari people. Now the route is also famous amongst winter trekkers and adventure lovers. For last several years, we have been organizing this winter trek in three different options with trained local Zanskari potters and our well-experienced guide and staff.
Zanskar has the distinction of being the least interfered with microcosms of Ladakh since it is the most isolated region during winters. This place is made inaccessible for nearly eight months a year due to heavy snowfall which results in closure of all the access passes. It is thus one of the last few surviving cultural satellites of Tibet. This geographical isolation together with the esoteric nature of Buddhism practiced here has enabled its some ten thousand inhabitants to preserve and perpetuate their cultural identity.
This Chadar trek allows you to penetrate this isolation and to examine some of the villages along the Zanskar River in the midst of winter. You can thus catch a glimpse of the region’s habitats during a unique time of the year. A visit to the ancient monastic establishments of Karsha and Zangla promises to heighten your insight into the mysteries of Shangri-la, which is a land of culture frozen in time behind the ramparts of the Zanskar Mountains. Chilling and Lingshed are the only sizeable villages on this trek up till Hanamur and Pidmo which lies before Pishu and Zangla in Zanskar.
