Garba at Chadar trek in minus 30 degrees

— An article by Shivani Gadre

The best example of “you can always separate Gujarati from Gujarat but can never take Gujarat out of Gujarati” is garba, which was performed at minus 30 degrees. The team of Thrill Blazers from Vadodara has once again marked their presence by performing garba at the Nerak waterfall on the Zanskar river at Leh. The team included eight people from Vadodara out of a total of 13 people. This Chadar trek was their first ever, and this is the only company in Gujarat that conducted this tour. This adventure company also won four awards in the Gujarat Tourism Awards 2021–22. 

In the first half of January, when the Zanskar River was totally frozen, the team visited it to explore during their Chadar trek. After reaching the summit point, they all played garba and showcased the culture of Gujarat. 

Dhaivat Pandya, instructor and founder of Thrill Blazers, said, “We reached Leh on January 8 and, after the necessary health checkup, started the Chadar trek on January 11. We reached Shingra Koma on the same day and then reached Tibet Lake on January 12. From there, on January 13, we started our trek towards Nerak Waterfall and returned back to Tibet Lake on the same day after a 30-kilometre journey as some of the frozen river ahead was broken. However, our group performs Garba at the Nerak Waterfall, which was totally frozen, and represents our Gujarati culture at this height. “It was a proud moment for everyone as we explored a new place and marked our presence.”

The group travels more than 100 kilometers both ways. The average 15 km of distance in the trek was covered by the team by carrying all the essential equipment, like sleeping bags. “The Chadar Trek is one of the wildest in the world because challenges like sliding of the snow cover on a frozen river, stones falling, hypothermia, less oxygen, wet feet, bleeding from the nose, sunlight reflection from the snow which is dangerous for eyes, a snow leopard, and others. The local porters are there to assist us with food and other basic needs throughout the trek. We want to explore this Chadar trek and also spread the message that people from Gujarat can do anything. “By exploring a new place and learning a valuable lesson about living life without any luxurious amenities as there was no mobile network, we trekked and lived with just our basic needs,” said Dhaivat.

Dhaivat also added that they learned a valuable lesson about living life without any luxurious amenities.’