Trekking Himalayas in Winter- Lamayuru to Hanupatta

We are now back from the trek which took us from Lamayuru to Hanupatta and google maps tells me we covered around 38 Km during those three days. Let me tell you something that is not the route we took, we walked high on the mountains crossing passes and then on the frozen river.  Yes I know we were tempting the fates and here's how that went. full-width

The route how Google Maps shows it and how we did not do it

Trek Day 1 Lamayuru to Wan La

This is how we looked in Leh all covered up and as one of you said like Bollywood gangsters.

This was an awesome trek and it also is my favorite day of trekking, why because the sun was shining, it had both ups and downs and I was my 100% today. It doesn't matter if I was one of the last few to make it to the camp, the day was glorious. Also I caught cold today and that had a lot to do with labored breathing in the coming days..
I also tore my down jacket today, don't ask me how it happened; I have no clue. It is resting peacefully in my room all patched up with bandages. I'll talk to the store and let you know if there's hope for it.

That red bundle is me walking up to the pass, wearing bright colors in places like Ladakh is a great way to be found.

Trek Day 2 Wan la to FangiLa (Phonjila)

The small pools of river which were yet to be frozen.

Today we walked on Chadar, the frozen sheet of ice on the river. Though I am not sure of the name it is either WanLa river or Yapola river, you can't miss it the river is right next to the road and today it was frozen ice. A few of us got our feet in the water but nothing major. What waited for us was a cold night at Phonjila; me being the scared cold ridden person that I am slept in the Dining area with most of our group.

This is how our view was the whole day. I know you envy me now.

Trek Day 3 FangiLa to Hanupata

The mountains shined golden when sun fell on them. On a side note I have never loved sun so much.

This was a change of plans and I am still not sure how I feel about the day. even before we had started I was a bit skeptical about how I will fare. I had bad cough and every few steps I had to stop and catch my breath. Still I survived the first half, and after lunch things promised to look up till I broke two layers of ice and my foot was stuck.
Thankfully help was near and I regained use of both my legs in a few minutes. But by them my let was paining from the bruise and my breath was hitched. The result I took a car to the base camp with just 5 km left of the day's trek, what i am really sad about is that Ajay had to come with me. It was a beautiful day but the fact that I couldn't complete the trek was a big downer.

Pangong Lake and Back

Third Highest motorable road and VERY cold, I guess I was out there for just 30 seconds, and none of us wanted to get out on our way back. Yes it was VERY cold.

After being driven back to Leh and sleeping in a warm real bed I was still debating if I should join the group to Pangong or not, I had no desire to feel breathless or catch fever and become an even bigger burden. Thankfully I decided to go for it, even though I spent most parts of the two days trying to keep myself warm the lake was worth driving for even if I spent just a few hours on it.
Most people visit Pangong in summers and they are right, accommodation options are closed, the lake is no more turquoise and temperatures are beyond cold. The frozen lake however is a sight in itself, perfect sheets of salty ice coupled with mountains in the backdrop are definitely the best backdrop for clicking stupid pictures and playing football.

Like I said it was Beautiful (these cracks held our weight fine)

The trek was awesome and not because it was a trek or because I love killing my self it was awesome more because of the people we met on the trek. The next post to come up is about these people who made the whole thing a lot more fun, and made me thing group tours and not that bad.

These are just some of us, we were a crazy happy bunch.

If you are looking for information about Chadar trek, sorry it got cancelled, but if you would like to know abut winter Himalayan trek and our gear head on over to Trek the Chadar. We are compiling and putting together content for it so don't forget to sign up.