6 Special Tips for a Winter Trip to Ladakh

Winters have started to settle in the trans Himalayas including Leh – Ladakh and now the most common question

“How to make a winter trip to Ladakh” will start coming up on the DoW Travel Platform, very soon. I thought to

act proactively and try to provide some valuable tips for the fellow members so that they can smoothly plan a winter trip

to Ladakh keeping them in mind. I have already documented a detailed article on planning a winter trip to Leh – Ladakh

under Leh – Ladakh in Winters – Most Common Itinerary, which can be referred as the starting point on planning a

winter trip to Ladakh by anyone of you looking for such details.

A Winter Trip to Ladakh…

Most of the high mountain passes have started getting snowfall and they will start to close or shut down for coming

winters closing both the roads to Leh – Ladakh from Srinagar – Leh or Manali – Leh highways. The journey

overSrinagar – Leh Highway and especially the Manali – Leh Highway gets too risky to traverse as you enter the

month of October owing to snowfall at passes, black ice on road that skids the vehicles making driving risky and above

all extremely harsh cold conditions with not much shelter and food at disposal on these roads in winters. So, the only

option to travel to Leh – Ladakh in Winters after October, is to directly fly to Leh from Delhi…

And if you say Why Leh – Ladakh in Winters?

Winter tourism in Ladakh is always special but lately it is rising like anything. Many senior travelers and lovers of Ladakh

including me, who use to love this once upon a time remote place named Ladakh, now see much filth, garbage and litter

in season time & hence, try to avoid visiting it in summers. Especially, owing to the rise of domestic tourists (forgive me

on saying the bitter truth, but you know it is true, don’t you?? ?? ) who litter like anything on the shores of holy Pangong

Tso or Tso Moriri, at remotest passes, in remote corners and where not they throw those shitty plastic bottles out of

their moving cars or those wafer packets which such morons eat like asses, open the window and throw out… disturbs

the ecological balance, flora and fauna just for the mere show off of the 4×4 capabilities their super cars posses, for few

100 likes, smileys, RTs in the age of this virtual Social Media???… Confronting them means getting into trouble, spoiling

the mood, sometimes taking on punches and spoiling your own trip as locals have closed their eyes and they don’t come

forward to beat the shit out of such jack a*** morons…. Aah, my heart bleeds as I write all this but anyways lets come

back to topic …

PS: You can help save this beautiful heaven from this filth & littering by learning, sharing, spreading and educating these

Tips for Responsible Travel in Himalayas.

Here, are 6 special tips for making a winter trip to Ladakh in coming season for you…

1. It will be cold, read very cold, and so go prepared well enough!!

Flying directly to a high altitude place like Leh (3500+ Mtr) can cause serious health issues sometimes if proper care is

not taken for Acute Mountain Sickness. And when it is winters, there should be extra care that needs to be taken in

order to help your body fight & cope with extreme cold plus high altitude together. Hence, one must always be at least

aware of importance of Acclimatization and tips to better acclimatize to some extent before venturing to further high

altitude. But, in winters the highways to heaven called Leh – Ladakh are closed and hence, flying to Leh in harsh cold

conditions in the only option one has on disposal.

Since, it will be winters, keeping body hydrated is a challenge up there as you need to drink plenty of water and water

must be warm or hot to drink. Keep sipping black tea, black coffee or hot honey lemon tea to combat cold and still keep

your body hydrated. Carry Garlic & Black Pepper too as they provide warmth in the body and support it fight cold.

You should go prepared with the heavy woolens, keep yourself covered all the times and do now expose body parts to

cold especially the chest and next areas. Wrap muffler around your neck so as to keep warm or keep zippers of jackets

closed to cover neck. Remember that if you get hit by cold then there could be issues in acclimatization as well. You can

read more details in the article: Tips for Carrying Clothes for Ladakh Trip

Partially frozen Tso Moriri in Ladakh…

2. Carry good sleeping gears

It is always good that you carry your own Sleeping Bag, rated at least 0 to -10 degrees Celsius OR you can buy a fleece

sleeping bag which can be inserted into your low temperature rated sleeping bag as a layer to increase the temperature

beating. You will get some quilts or blankets any how that can act as further layers over it. You can check this sleeping

bag in case interested: Quechua S0 Light Right Zip Adult Sleeping Bag

There will be guest houses or home stays offering quilts and blankets and at times heater if you lucky with power

availability, but your own sleeping bag will surely provide you that mental satisfaction of survival in such cold. The layers

of blankets or quilts can always act as layers of further warmth. Remember that Tso Moriri will be very harsh, don’t

know why, but it will be and hence, in case you plan visiting it then stay at Chumathang which is much warmer place in

comparison.

Khardung La buried under snow…

3. Prepare you budget well, expect least from stays or food and carry enough cash

Do not expect much discounts as most of the hotels or accommodation options will be closed and the ones which will

be open, will charge almost the same amount of tariff and sometimes far more in order to include heating facilities these

hotels provides that of course comes with a cost. This is barely limited to Leh only and I am not talking of Nubra

Valley or Pangong Tso or Tso Moriri. There you have to rely on basic guest house or home stays which are run by

local families.

Some hotels even provide rates with meals as it is mostly hard to find food nearby and especially at night I am not sure

that you will actually want to walk down the lanes in bone freezing conditions. So, check for sure about the availability of

food before fixing the deal and how charges are being offered, that is inclusive of meals or not. Be ready to satisfy your

hunger with basic food of rice, dal and if at all lucky, chapati … May be just Lamayuru and Gesmo restaurants will

be open in Leh main market among well known names.

Do not depend upon ATMs as they might not be functional due to no power or less cash.

Frozen moments at Tso Moriri Lake…

4. Prepare decent budget for transport too

Continuing from stays, taxis will mostly be available as personal taxis only. Shared taxis will be rare to spot and most

buses also discontinue the services to tourist places in Ladakh. There will be less number of tourists and hence rare

possibility to get shared taxis to share such costs. Prepare your budget accordingly that you might need to own a private

taxi and taxi prices like we all know are quite hefty in Leh – Ladakh. For the leh – ladakh taxi union rate list 2015-16

including the contacts of some reliable taxi drivers within Leh – Ladakh, check the link here. You can get about 10-15%

of discount by directly getting in touch with drivers and of course, talking in person rather on phone always help in

bargaining more. As it will be winters, there is no need to pre-book taxis what I feel personally.

Traffic at Khardung La on a Winter Trip to Ladakh…

5. Plan at least couple of buffer days in hand avoid hassles from an abrupt snowfall

Check weather forecasts before venturing over Khardung La pass or Chang La pass and see there is no signs of

heavy snowfall for that very day or coming days, else you can easily get caught for 2-3 days in Nubra Valley or Tangste in

case it snows heavily on Khardung La Pass or Chang La Pass respectively. So, take calculative risk after seeing weather

conditions even if the roads will open soon when snowfall resides but it is always best to keep the overall plan safe as

well

It is always better to keep couple of buffer days for such abrupt snowfall contingencies as many a times it also snows in

Leh resulting in cancellation of flights. Hence, always good to have couple of buffer days to be spent in Leh or

around Sham Valley for all such contingency cases.

Roads on a Winter Trip to Ladakh…

6. Enjoy the frozen vistas & book a window seat of your flight

Well apart from everything we talked about above, do not forget to enjoy the magnificent shades of infinite landscapes

and endless horizons covered with abundance of snow like an ocean of snow till the point eyes can see them

Do book a window seat of the flight, if possible on the left hand side to enjoy some of the magnificent white gold

covered aerial views of Himalayas from the window. Since, there will be not much tourists around, you can enjoy the

places, monasteries along with very very hospitable people of Ladakh in a calm, peaceful and relaxed manner.

Leh in Winters…

Conclusion

Well, I hope the above tips for making a winter trip to Ladakh will help you in your upcoming trip. I will look forward

for any queries or doubts or valuable suggestions and inputs you have to share with me…