Snow, Stars & Mystery: Faiz’s Unpredictable Chadar Trek
I had never given much thought to how I would die…until I went for the Chadar trek.
Naive and inexperienced, I decided to undertake the Chadar trek with some of my friends this year in January. Before this, my trekking experience that counts has just been in Dzukou Valley in Nagaland and Brahmatal in Uttarakhand. And out of excitement or out of sheer madness, I still don't know, we booked our slots for the ChadarTrek.
Since we all had heard that Thrillophilia offers the best itinerary and services in Leh Ladakh, we booked it through them. Also, we thought that weighing more options will ultimately lead to confusion and chaos, ending in the cancellation of the trip.
( I have a theory: when trips are planned purely out of enthusiasm, even its preparation should be straight and simple)
After having a talk with Thrillophilia’s executives Parth and Anshuman, we were informed about the possible occurrences on the trek, which somewhat thrilled us all the more to be honest. We all knew that we had to be physically fit and take proper precautions especially for this trek, and we were fine by that part. They even informed us about the layering of clothes which is Important to survive the bone-chilling winds and the fluctuating temperatures there.
Since it required several trekking gear and clothes, the shopping list was quite large. So, our two-month-long preparation was basically about getting more healthy and fit, and shopping.
On the day of boarding…
I fell sick.
So, there is a catch. For chadar trek, every trekker needs to go through a thorough medical checkup in Leh by the authorities there. If they declare you not fit to go, be it for any reason, you can't. And as the trek is managed only by the local tour operators, Thrillophilia could not do anything there. Upon this, Thrillophilia’s representatives would only be there at Leh, and the rest of the journey will be accompanied by the local trek operators.
Hence, I was skeptical. All the jogging, all the shopping, everything would go down the drain if I could not make it this time BECAUSE I knew it was a sudden plan…and these kinds of plans never return to you again.
Yeah, this is another one of my theories…
Since we had one-two days of acclimatization period before the check-up, I got enough time to get back on my feet fit and fine.
Of course we got the approval!
Because we all were physically fit from the beginning, and we never had any kind of health concerns (perks of being young and healthy!)
But, there arrived a day on the trek when all this overconfidence was cracked into a thousand pieces- trek Day 1.
Initially everything seemed fine, but we were taking it perhaps a bit too lightly…
After completing around 5 km of stretch on the frozen river…there arrived a turning ahead of which we would enter a narrow gorge flanked with lofty cliffs.
And I heard the ice CRACK beneath my feet!
I stood there still, my eyes wide open with shock and fear. Our tour operators, Tenzin and Renzin, asked us to stay quiet and still, not moving even an inch. And after sometime when they cued us to walk again, I finally moved.
And when you are between a gorge, the echoing sounds are quite strange, after some point you would not even realise that it is your own voice coming back to you. But we were strictly informed not to cause any disturbance as that could affect the terrain and cause cracks.
It was at that exact moment that the faces of my beloved family and friends passed through my mind in a second.
I realised, this trek was no joke, and we needed to respect it in order to complete it.
Our entire attitude changed from that point onwards, we were more careful and calm, climbing the steep ascents with gum boots.
In the late afternoon, we finally stopped at a campsite to set up the camps and prepare the food. Both Tenzin and Renzin were adept at arranging everything, and thanks to Thrillophilia that they partnered with just the right operators. There were porters who were carrying our luggage on sledges, and they were cooking for us as well. The food, given that place and the journey, seemed too good to be true. It was not just healthy and tasty, but each bite seemed to give us our lost life back.
It was the third day of the trek, we were heading from Tibb Cave towards Nearak Camp. It was on that day that we saw the frozen waterfall of Nearak for real. It is much bigger than the pictures, and much much much more stunning.
We were camping in Nearak that night, and we had just finished our dinner when we all heard some footsteps in the dark. Immediately we all fell silent.
IT WAS A SNOW LEOPARD!
Glowing eyes. A snarl. We were done for.
Our instant reaction was to scream and run, but…we did not do it. We remained seated. Renzin gestured silently, “Shh…”
Although I could not see its feline body clearly, I made out from the shadowy figure that it was huge. Its eyes were hooked on to our campsite but it was not as close as we thought. Since the entire place was cladded in an eerie stillness, even the faintest of sounds seemed loud.
The leopard took a few steps towards us, and Tenzin got up, slightly taking wood out of the bonfire to use it as a torch. As he did so, we could see the majestic creature more clearly. It was so beautiful and graceful, that none of us could utter a word. It went away on its own…leaving us with just a memory that would probably be one of the biggest highlights of our lives.
An Unforgettable dream
This trek was truly one of them. The beauty of the frozen Zanskar River and the gorges that it winds through, is unparalleled. The beauty of Ladakh’s winter terrain is magical, and that of Zanskar is something that you can never erase from your mind, memory, or heart. The destination did not matter on this trek, it was all about the journey. It was spectacular.
On the last night, we all were just resting in our campsite, and we looked up to see the stars. The sky here was so clear that we could see the pink-orange cluster of stars and a significant part of the Milky Way which left us astound! Then the moon rose slowly, blanketing the sky in her light.
This trek gave us so many memories to cherish, and so many experiences to learn from, that our journey back home was full of quality conversations. We somehow seemed to be different, more matured and experienced, more responsible. Perhaps this was the purpose of this sudden plan…as all sudden occurrences have some unknown reason or the other…perhaps it was our destiny.