Ladakh is
a land like no other. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest
mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram,
it lies athwart two other, the Ladakh range and the Zanskar
range.
In geological terms, this is a young
land, formed only a few million years ago by the buckling
and folding of the earth's crust as the Indian sub-continent
pushed with irresistible force against the immovable mass
of Asia. Its basic contours, uplifted by these unimaginable
tectonic movements, have been modified over the millennia
by the opposite process of erosion, sculpted into the
form we see today by wind and water.
Yes, water! Today, a high -altitude
desert, sheltered from the rain-bearing clouds of the
Indian monsoon by the barrier of the Great Himalaya, Ladakh
was once covered by an extensive lake system, the vestiges
of which still exist on its south -east plateaux of Rupshu
and Chushul - in drainage basins with evocative names
like Tso-moriri, Tsokar, and grandest of all, Pangong-tso.
Occasionally, some stray monsoon clouds do find their
way over the Himalaya, and lately this seems to be happening
with increasing frequency. But the main source of water
remains the winter snowfall. Drass, Zanskar and the Suru
Valley on the Himalaya's northern flank receive heavy
snow in winter; this feeds the glaciers whose meltwater,
carried down by streams, irrigates the fields in summer.
For the rest of the region, the snow on the peaks is virtually
the only source of water. As the crops grow, the villagers
pray not for rain, but for sun to melt the glaciers and
liberate their water. Usually their prayers are answered,
for the skies are clear and the sun shines for over 300
days in the year.
Ladakh lies at altitudes ranging
from about 9,000 feet (2750m) at Kargil to 25,170 feet
(7,672m) at Saser Kangri in the Karakoram. Thus summer
temperatures rarely exceed about 27 degree celcius in
the shade, while in winter they may plummet to minus 20
degree celcius even in Leh. Surprisingly, though, the
thin air makes the heat of the sun even more intense than
at lower altitudes; it is said that only in Ladakh can
a man sitting in the sun with his feet in the shade suffer
from sunstroke and frostbite at the same time!
