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2009 Banff Mountain Photography Competition
Mountain Adventure

Sankar Sridhar: The Zanskar River

“Class six rapids in summer, classic highway in winter — the Zanskar River, in India’s Ladakh, boasts many distinctions. The most recent thrust upon it has been that of offering the “wildest trek” in the world. With temperatures often tumbling to -30° and the ice constantly shifting beneath one’s feet, it’s a claim few dispute. But much before being reduced to an adrenalin rush, the traverse of the Zanskar had been a journey of nerves and faith. A vestige of the Silk Route, residents of the remote valley of Zanskar would walk 90 miles and 11 days to Leh over the frozen river to trade their wares. They read the ice with the eye and staff, prayed for good weather, and rested in caves high up in the gorge, like the one from which this image was taken. They called the river’s icy winter muzzle Chadar and held the river sacred, sliding across on padded shoes so they would hurt neither the river nor its pride. Even today, when tourists with crampons strapped to their boots troop on behind tour guides, the locals pray for the river to forgive them. And people like Tashi, a government servant and among the few old-timers who still use this route, keep with tradition and wear rubber-soled boots. But Tashi’s generation could well be the last to know the Chadar and its legends. An all-weather road has been creeping towards Leh through Zanskar’s gorge. Bulldozers, dynamite and empty bitumen barrels have already taken their toll on the Chadar, which now freezes for less than a month each winter. Locals say the benevolent spirits that protect them will desert their domain once the road is opened in 2012, and that they will take the freeze with them.”

Sankar Sridhar discharges his duties as an editor while in the city, and recharges himself in the Himalayas exploring the roadless recesses to document the daily life and customs of communities before the rush of roads and tourism inflicts change. Sridhar’s writings and photographs have been published in international and national magazines and newspapers, including Geo, Le Courrier France, Le Courrier International Japon, Outlook Traveller, India Today Travel Plus, The Telegraph, The Statesman, The Times of India, and Daily News and Analysis. More recently, his photographic works found mention in the online edition of The New York Times as a “Must see, compelling web site” even as his book Ladakh —Trance Himalaya was published. Sridhar hopes his images and words will, in whichever little way, move people enough to form an appreciation for the wildernesses and respect for the communities that call it home.

www.sankarsridhar.com

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