Deep snow covers the Zanskar Valley near Zangla (Indian Himalayas, India). For 7=8 months per year these small hamlets situated at 3500 - 4000 m altitude are cut off from the rest of the world. The only way to get there (or for the villagers to get out) is to trek through a narrow gorge over the ice of a the frozen Zanskar River to the Indus Valley in Ladakh. This becomes possible after months of prolonged severe frost. At temperatures of upto minus 30 degrees Celsius this trek, the so-called chaddar, is a cold but spectaculair adventure. There are no hotels or other accommodation, it is camping all the way.
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