Ladakh, popularly known as the land of Numerous Passes, the Land of Mystic Lamas, the Broken Moon and the Last Shangri La is bounded by two of the world's mightiest mountain ranges, the Greater Himalaya and the Karakoram. Leh, Ladakh's largest town and administrative centre, lies at the crossroads of ancient trading routes between Kashmir, Tibet, Central Asia and the Indian plains. Ladakh's colourful gompas (Buddhist monasteries) have attracted devout Buddhists, interested travellers and is known for some of the most picturesque and challenging treks in northern India. Ladakh is known as a high altitude cold desert region that includes river valleys, wide plateaus rolling hills and sharp and forbidding mountain peaks and passes. The valleys of Drass, Zanskar and Suru Valley on the Himalayan's northern flank provide opportunities to explore not only the interior of Ladakh, but to discover cultural styles hardly affected by the last 30 years of tourism.

Treks in Ladakh
Trekking options within Ladakh include short, daylong walks up and down mountains to visit remote villages or monastic settlements. The longer duration Trans-Himalayan treks involve weeks of walking and camping in the wild and barren region of Ladakh. Among the high altitude treks is the trek from Lamayuru in the Indus valley to Darcha in Lahaul across Zanskar that takes nearly three weeks to come to its conclusion. Most of the established routes pass through the Zanskar range, which separates the Indus valley from Zanskar.

The 10-day Lamayuru-Padum trek and the Stok-Khangri trek are the more popular trek tours among the numerous options available in this cold desert of Ladakh. In recent years, parts of the Ladakh range between the Indus and Shayok valleys have also become available for trekking.Ladakh offers very interesting trekking routes for trekkers. Trekking possibilities include short, day -long walks up and down mountain slopes to visit isolated villages or monastic settlements, or across a ridge to enjoy the sheer beauty of the lunar mountainscape. Or long, transmountain treks involving weeks of walking and camping the wilderness.

Clothes And Equipments
The summer visitors to Leh will need basically warm- weather clothes, with a sweeter for evenings and mornings when it may be chilly. Temperatures begin to fall around the 2nd half of August, and though cottons continue to be worm during the day until mid September, a heavy sweeter or an anorak or coat will be needed in the mornings and evenings. Form mid September it starts getting distinctly cold and woollens are needed even during the day, though in the sun it is still hot. Winter visitors- which means November to April- will need to equip themselves with heavy woollens, anoraks or tweed coats, gloves, balaclave helmets or equivalent and warm boots.

Reasonably good trekking equipment can be hired from Private Tour Operators specialised in mountain treks. All trekkers should remember that nights in the mountains would be chilly at any time of the year and make sure that they should be fully equipped for the treks. They must carry enough food for the whole trek, basic supplies- fruit & vegetables or the occasional villages enroute will be able to provide local food if you run out of food stock. It is advisable to keep a good torch handy during treks and visit to the monasteries because shrines are often found ill- lit.