Yak Trail

Popularly known as "Hermit Kingdom", Ladakh is a land of snow carved peaks, translucent Lakes, barren terrain and mystic culture. The district of Ladakh lies at the border with Tibet at the most eastern corner of the State of Kashmir. Bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Great Himalaya and the Karakoram, Ladakh is a land like no other. Ladakh is often referred to as the "Little Tibet", or the "Last Shangri-La". Ladakh is the trans-Himalayan region, which separates the western Himalayan peaks from the Tibetan plateau. 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.

About 20-km south of Rangdum stands the Pazila watershed across which lies Zanskar, the most isolated of all the trans Himalayan Valleys. The Panzela Top (4,401 m) is the picturesque tableland adorned with two small alpine lakes and surrounded by snow-covered peaks.

As the Zanskar road winds down the steep slopes of the watershed to the head of the Stod Valley, one of Zanskar's main tributary valleys, the majestic "Drang-Drung" glacier looms into full view. A long and winding river of ice and snow, the Drang-Drung" is perhaps the largest glacier in Ladakh, outside the Siachen formation. It is from the cliff-like snout of this extensive glacier that the Stod or Doda River, the main tributary of river Zanskar, rises.