Chadar Trek – Frozen Zanskar River

Chadar Expedition is a once-in-a-lifetime adventure, curated by Ferrantelli Tours and Travels (OPC) Private Limited, where the winter closes the mountains in, roads disappear and the river becomes the only path forward. The Zanskar freezes slowly, layer by layer, until it turns into a moving sheet of ice winding through a deep gorge.

This frozen surface — the Chadar — becomes the trail. Some sections are solid and white, others dark and translucent, carrying the sound of water moving far below. Days are shaped by cold, light, and caution. Footsteps are deliberate. The canyon walls rise straight up, catching only brief sunlight. The river curves endlessly, revealing nothing in advance.

Camps are set against rock faces, tents anchored where the ice allows. Nights are long and quiet, broken only by wind and the shifting sounds of the frozen river. This journey is slow, repetitive, and demanding. The landscape does not change quickly — but the way you experience time does. By the end, the cold feels familiar, the silence feels full, and movement itself becomes the achievement.