The Zanskar valley lies in remotest Ladakh. This is a region so remote that it takes three days of driving from Leh just to get there a drive through a convoluted land of tortured rock and deep gorges. The journey takes you through western Ladakh, at first along the Indus and then the Suru and Stod rivers, before reaching Padum, the capital of the district. This is the ‘land of white copper’ (Zang is the word for copper here), and the feisty torrent of the same name originates here on the northern flanks of the Great Himalayan Range. The river then carves a dramatic route north through the Zanskar range before flowing into the Indus.



In the winter months, the roads are snowed in and the frozen surface of the Zanskar river is the only ‘road’ leading in and out of the region. In summer, the ice-melt facilitates a very different kind of passage through the canyon system on inflatable rafts and kayaks. It’s an adrenaline-pumping six-day white water run through surreal, constantly shifting landscape. The high point is the gorge itself near-vertical rock faces hem in the violent torrent rushing thousands of feet below. An ambitious road project might soon encroach upon this region. Before the road renders it less remote and more pedestrian, committed adventure enthusiasts might want to journey into the heart of a river that’s never less than spectacular.