The most challenging and breathtaking could be the Chadar Trek 2025 if you are among those who love to explore, experience, and relive the moments of adventure at its pinnacle. Welcome to Chadar Trek 2025.
Why is the Chadar Trek 2025 so unique?
Considering the Chadar Trek distance covered during the 6 days in inhospitable conditions, it brings to mind a question as to why the Chadar Trek 2025 is so unique. Well, this question has a lot of answers! To begin with, the lifelike pictures and videos of monks and locals walking the trail, sometimes barefoot, on premium television channels have added a lot of glamour to the Chadar Trek 2025, proposed this season.
This 6-day trek shall take you through some of the most inhospitable terrains, as the Chadar Trek frozen river trail gets beautiful and unique with each passing day. Moreover, for 6 days, you shall be in a region that has a temperature dropping to -10 degrees on average during the daytime. Expect the same to hit a low of -25 degrees during the night.
The scenery, coupled with nail-biting cold, frozen river, sledges, and campsites at unexpected places, makes the Chadar Trek 2025 something special and unique to the core.
Enough of nail-biting, though, and it is time to hit the boots. Let’s get down to the basics!
1st Day
Overnight at Leh
As the Chadar trek 2025 is a winter trek, the only route to get here is by air. It must be added here that flights coming to Leh land here in the morning only. As you enter Leh, the mountain ranges below seem to be enveloped in snow as if welcoming you to the Chadar Trek 2025.
In the winter months, the temperature in Leh is negative, so the moment you get out of the airplane, it is apt that you should have a jacket, cap, and gloves covered so that the blast of cold air does not knock you down. After all, it would be mid-December. It is okay to make a round of Leh city during day hours, but as the day sets in and you prepare for the Chadar Trek 2025 for the next day, it is time to sit back and relax at your hotel.
2nd Day
Drive to Chilling and Trek to Tilat Sumdo
Chilling is the place from which the Chadar Trek 2025 begins. The distance of the Chadar Trek frozen river initiation point, Chilling, is 64 km from Leh. To reach Chilling, you will have to drive to Nimu on the Leh-Srinagar highway. Nimu is the point where the Indus River meets the Zanskar. From Nimu, you will have to take the road that goes left and head towards Zanskar.
A drive of one hour on this road shall bring you to Chilling, which is the beginning point of the Chadar trek frozen river. A nondescript village, Chilling has only a few sheds and houses. You shall drive a few km more, and the road will hit a dead end. This is the exact spot from where the Chadar trek 2025 will begin for you.
The first steps on the Chadar trek should be gentle to feel the softness and hardness of the ice. You will find ice in different formations here; at some places it will be like fresh powder of snow, while at others it can be hard and shiny too.
The best way of walking on such ice is to lift your feet as little as possible. This makes walking on an ice sheet for long hours easy bet.
The campsite for the day, Tilat Sumdo, is a one-hour walk. As you reach here, you will see that a small tributary will join the river from the left side. This place has a high camping ground and thus is used as a campsite.
In case someone is coming without a camp, caves on the opposite side of the camping ground shall offer refuge. Locals in this area often use these caves for overnight stays. You can also light a fire here to keep the cold away with the help of the last traces of vegetation that are available here.
Photo by Sakshi Patwa
3rd Day
Tilat Sumdo to Shingra Koma
Day 3 of the Chadar Trek 2025 will begin from Tilat Sumdo, and you shall be on your marks by 8 AM as the sun rises here at 7 AM. Most of the region on Chadar receives sunlight by the middle of the day (including Tilat Sumdo), and this means that the ice cap remains for longer durations. The mornings could be colder depending on the temperature on that day. As you keep walking, you shall also listen to different kinds of sounds beneath your feet, which shall give you an idea of the firmness of the ice.
In places, the Chadar is thin enough so that water flowing beneath can be seen. With experience walking on ice, you shall be able to identify the danger points. The distance of Shingra Koma from Tilat Sumdo is 10 km. At an average pace, this distance can be covered in 6-7 hours. I recommend that you carry some fast-cooking items like Maggi noodles, which can be cooked on a small trekking stove in no time. Do not bring packed lunch items, as these can become unusable by midday due to the intense cold.
The camping ground for the day, Shingra Koma, appears behind a huge rock suddenly, and the place is perfect to call it a day and admire the beauty of nature on the Chadar Trek 2025.
4th Day
Shringa Koma to Tibb
This is indeed the most beautiful day on the Chadar Trek 2025. You will come across numerous frozen waterfalls, which are definitely worth capturing!
When you have trekked a substantial part of this trek for the day of 15 km, you will come to a point that has a massive waterfall. The surrounding trees here have prayer flags, which signify their religious relevance for the local Ladakhi. By 1 PM, you shall be at a place that has rocks hanging over your head. This could be an ideal place for having lunch.
In the latter part of the trek, the river narrows down to a gorge with no sunlight. This means that you are walking on the thickest layer of ice for the day. Two hours of trekking on this chadar and you shall come to Tibb, which has a rock shelter for 8-10 people. This is the ideal place for resting for the night, and you should enjoy your views of the Milky Way from this point while sipping on the hot tea, which you shall remember for a long time.
5th Day
Trek from Tibb to Neark
Your day on the Chadar Trek 2025 will begin from a frozen waterfall today, too. Cliffs, gorges, and narrow trails—you name it, and you shall have it on day 5 of the trek. By midday and perhaps your lunchtime, you shall be at a point from which you can have your first glimpse of Nerak.
Narek Waterfall and Nerak Bridge are the next to fall in line. Before you understand and comprehend more, it is time you reach Nerak village. The distance from Tibb to Neark is 15 km, and the village is some 2000 feet higher than the riverbed.
Nerak is a popular rafting point in the summers, and for the Chadar Trek 2025 in the winters, it is the camping ground. Reaching Neark is perhaps the culmination of your Chadar trek, and you can be proud of yourself for accomplishing such a difficult and challenging trek.
The best time for the Chadar trek is from mid-January to mid-February, as this is the period during which the Zanskar River freezes to its extreme. However, for the Chadar Trek 2025, you can consider doing it in the latter part of December too, in case you have missed it so far.
There are many trek companies that conduct this trek. However, my recommendation is for Himalayan High, which has expertise in conducting treks like Chadar over the years.
The Chadar Trek is an experience of a lifetime; do it once, and your life shall never be the same again!
Featured Image by Yogendra Singh from Pixabay
