Ladakh wears a white blanket in winter months. Post October, when the temperatures start dipping below the freezing point, the brown and barren mountain slopes get decorated with powdery snow. Mercury dips quickly in November and December months, often going below -30C in the high Changthang Plateau located in western parts of Ladakh bordering Tibet. The huge high altitude lakes in this region that paint the landscape blue in the summer months freeze and turn white. The weather is unforgiving but the landscapes is dressed in bridal wear. Here is a photograph of Pangong Lake made during the harsh winter of January 2013.
I first visited Ladakh in 2008 and spent two months exploring the region from corner to corner. Later on, although I was keen to spend my travelling time exploring newer regions in the Himalayas, circumstances took me back to Ladakh again in different seasons for different reasons. Visits to Ladakh have always had unpredictable results, despite my familiarity with the place. There are times when I was awed, surprised and bowled over. And then there were times when monotony took over, when fatigue dominated and patience ran out. But running out of patience is a sin in the mountains. So you endure, you return and you see new things and go back with an increased respect for the mountain and its people.
I have just completed uploading my collection of 101 images from Ladakh, created over nearly as many days I spent gallivanting in this mountain country. That’s an average of one image per day! Click on the image below to view the full library.
This photograph adorns the March page on WWF India table-top calendar. A few more images of winter in Ladakh are featured in a few other pages of the calendar.
I made this photograph during a winter visit to Ladakh in 2011. The first thing that struck my mind on seeing this landscape was that the tiny-looking building did not exist when I came here the first time, in 2008. The confluence of a beautiful blue Zanskar River with a muddy Indus surrounded by mountains all around looks beautiful, but is scarred by the new construction.
