Over View
Imagine walking across frozen sheets of ice, with mountains enveloped by snow on one side and a stream, slowly freezing or melting right on the other, as you walk alongside it. And while that seems fascinating, look up, ahead, and around; to witness surreal beauty for as far as you can see. This is the Chadar Trek, the Frozen River Trek, only multiplied a hundred-fold.
The Chadar Trek or The Frozen River Expedition is one of India’s most unique and challenging treks. The 6-day chadar trek across the frozen Zanskar River in Ladakh takes place during the latter part of January till the end of February or sometimes even in the first week of March, depending on the weather.
The locals or Zanskaris as they are popularly known, usually take a road from to the Zanskar to Nerak and further for work which mostly consists of trading goods in the summers. During winter, the road is blocked and dangerous to travel so the locals tread along the Zanskar river which is frozen at this time. The thick blanket of ice that the Zanskar river forms resembles a white blanket which in the local language is called?Chadar?. Hence the trek along the frozen Zanskar River is known as the Chadar Trek.
Though it seems a challenging trek, it isn’t the most difficult; as it is a flat walk along the Chadar with minimal amounts of climbing. You are good to go if you can walk for a couple of hours without much strain.