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Ladakh 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 Ladakh
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, and
grandest of all, Pangong-tso. Occasionally, some
stray monsoon clouds 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. Drass, 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 virtually 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 celcius
in the shade, while in winter they may plummet to
minus 20 degree celcius even in Leh. Surprisingly,
though, the thin air makes the heat of the 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!
More trips in Ladakh:
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