Chadar Trek, Frozen Zanskar River from India.

Our lead guides are from Padum and Lingshed, the villages the trek connects. They've grown up reading the ice. They know which sections are crossing-only and which to wait out by an hour. No outside guide can do that the same way.

Leh sits at 3,500m. Chadar starts at 3,400m and drops to 3,000m by Day 3, but the cold and dry air still hit hard. We build in two full days in Leh (Day 0 arrival + Day 1 rest, with a short walk) before the trek begins. Skip this and you'll suffer on Day 1 of the ice.

Gumboots (the real ones, with felt liners), wool socks, gaiters, down jacket, -20°C sleeping bag, balaclava, ski gloves, micro-spikes for the icy patches. You bring your own thermal base layers, mid-layer fleece, and the cold-weather hiking experience to use them. The kit list and a fit-test happen in Leh on Day 1.

Every batch carries one extra day for weather, two if temperatures crash. Satellite phone for SOS (no mobile network on the ice). For anyone who needs to bail, we've negotiated helicopter evac from Nerak with a Leh-based operator, last-resort but documented per trekker.