Ladakh Travel Information
Ladakh
is a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest
mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram, it lies
athwart two other, the Ladaksh range and the Zanskar range.
In geological terms, this is a young land, formed only a few million
years ago by the buckling and folding of the earth's crust as
the Indian sub-continent pushed with irresistible force against
the immovable mass of Asia.
Its basic contours, uplifted by these unimaginable tectonic movements,
have been modified over the millennia by the opposite process
of erosion, sculpted into the form we see today by wind and water.
Yes, water! Today, a high -altitude desert, sheltered from the
rain-bearing clouds of the Indian monsoon by the barrier of the
Great Himalaya, Ladakh was once covered by an extensive lake system,
the vestiges of which still exist on its south -east plateaux
of Rupshu and Chushul - in drainage basins with evocative names
like Tso-moriri, Tsokar,a nd grandest of all, Pangong-tso.
Occasionally, some stray monsoon cluds do find their way over
the Himalaya, and lately this seems to be happening with increasing
frequency. But the main source of water remains the winter snowfall.
Dras, Zanskar and the Suru Valley on the Himalaya's northern flank
receive heavy snow in winter; this feeds the glaciers whose meltwater,
carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in summer. For the
rest of the region, the snow on the peaks is virutally the only
source of water.
As the crops grow, the villagers pray not for rain, but for sun
to melt the glaciers and liberate their water. Usually their prayers
are answered, for the skies are clear and the sun shines for over
300 days in the year.
Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging from about 9,000 feet (2750m)
at Kargil to 25,170 feet (7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram.
Thus summer temperatures rarely exceed about 27 degree celcuis
in the shade, while in winter they may plummet to minus 20 degree
celcuis even in Leh. Surprisingly, though, the thin air makes
the heat ofthe sun even more intense than at lower altitudes;
it is said that only in Ladakh can a man sitting in the sun with
his feet in the shade suffer from sunstroke and frostbite at the
same time!
