Has the Chadar trek been snoozing in your bucket list for a long long time now? January will soon be round the corner and you can't waste more time thinking whether you'd be able to tackle the sub-zero temperatures on a frozen river or not. It's time to tick it off your ever-increasing checklist. Here are 5 reasons to help you decide why you must absolutely do the Chadar trek this winter!

Imagine walking on a mirror-like tongue of ice snaking between brown mountains and frozen waterfalls. At certain places, you will see the turquoise Zanskar cutting through the thick ice and as the ice melts and refreezes and sun and shadow shift angles, the color of your trail seems to be constantly changing. We will let you imagine the rest of this winter wonderland!

Photo courtesy: chadartrek.com

#2 It is an open challenge for yourself

The Chadar trek is one of the most extreme treks in the world, and probably the only one where you walk on an unforgiving, smooth-as-glass, frozen sheet of water! Sometimes to avoid the raging Zanskar, you will have to follow trails cut in the face of the mountain and even crawl beneath threatening stalactites. A few months of preparation is advised before you set out on this trek.

Photo courtesy: travel.paintedstork

#3 This will be a transformative journey

This extreme test of physical and mental resilience will bring out your inner God. This is probably the only trek where there is no fixed trail. You have to find your way on the ice; a little distraction and you can fall through where the ice is thin and end up soaked in the chilly water. These hardships will teach you a lot about life and survival. When you return, a part of your soul would have undergone a transformation. Take our word on this!

Photo courtesy: the travel word

#4 It will restore your faith in humanity

It will restore your faith in humanity. In the freezing cold, you will have the porters doing pretty much everything for you. They will guide you so that you don’t fall through thin ice, they will cook your steaming soups, set up your tents and will even help carry you across the river if need be. At the end, you will consider them superhuman!

Photo Courtesy: AsitavSenPhotography

#5 It will give you an insight in the life of the Zanskaris

You get a deep insight in the difficult life of the Zanskar people. Cut off from the rest of civilization by heavy snowfall, an average Zanskari travels twice along the frozen Zanskar every winter. This is their only lifeline during the hard winter, and all goods have to be trudged on sledges over the ice. What is the adventure of a lifetime for us, is the only way to survive for them. You will come back with a lot of respect for these people.

Photo courtesy: travel.paintedstork

What are you still wondering? Want more reasons? With global temperatures rising every day and glaciers melting all over, one fine winter the Zanskar might just refuse to freeze! We never know. So get those trekking boots on, give yourself a mighty warm hug and set off!

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