Apart from the scenic beauty, Ladakh offers adventure activities in the midst of magnificent and spectacular landscapes. Ladakh is known for its river rafting, mountaineering and trekking activities.

RIVER RAFTING

River rafting in Ladakh is unique and considered to be one of the best experiences in the world. It overviews the gorgeous valleys, the exquisite wildlife, the snow covered peaks and the hillside monastries and villages. These activities are prominent on the River Indus and its tributaries. The stretch between Spituk and Nimu on the River Indus is best for professional river rafting and rates between 2 to 3 on the international river grading scale of 1 to 6. The stretch from upstream of Spituk to Karu is the easiest and perfect for basic training or even "scenic floating". The Indus has become idyllic not only for scenic beauty but also sightseeing and other interesting activities for tourists.

The white water expedition in the Zanskar River is renowned for professional river rafting. It is extremely difficult and requires the participants to be well trained to face the gorges in the Zanskar Mountains between Padum and Nimu. There is a professional team and a back up rescue team as a prerequisite to the expedition.

MOUNTAIN CLIMBING

The Nun-Kun mountain chains in the Great Himalayan Range are prominent for mountaineering due to their easy accessibility from the Kargil-Padum road. Its closeness to the base camps makes it an appealing experience for mountain climbing. Nun ( 7,135 m) and Kun (7,087 m) are the highest peaks of the six known peaks accessible from the Suru Valley.

The Zanskar Mountains are also famous for mountaineering. The Stok-Khangri range in the Zanskar Mountains lie towards the south of Leh, making the base camp a two day trek from the Stok Village. Stok-Khangri (6,150 m) is the highest peak over viewing the central region of the Indus Valley. Other peaks in the region are Gulap Khangri (5,900 m), Matho West (5,950 m) and Kantaka (5,275 m). There are many unnamed peaks ideal for mountaineering in the area. Towards the southwest of Leh is the Konglacha peak (6,700 m) which can be reached via Rumbak on the first leg of the Markha Valley trek from Stok.

The Northern region of Leh, across the Ladakh Range and Nubra Valley lies the famous Karakoram Range. These are accessible by foreign climbers only after acquiring special permission from the Government of India. However, the most eminent summits in this range accessible from various parts of the Nubra Valley are Saser-I (7,415 m), Saser-II (7,513 m) and Saser-III (7,495 m).

The season for mountaineering in the Ladakh region is from mid-May to mid-October in which the ideal period is from June to September as during this period Ladakh remains unaffected by the monsoons unlike most of the Himalayan ranges.

TREKKING

In Ladakh, trekking involves either day long walks in the mountain slopes to visit the monasteries and monuments or long, trans-mountain treks which take weeks of camping and walking. The trek from Lamayuru in the Indus Valley to Darcha in Lahoul, across Zanskar Valley, takes nearly three weeks covering two major mountain ranges. There are treks through the Zanskar range which separates Indus Valley from Zanskar. The 10 day Markha Valley trek, the 11 day Lamayuru-Padum and the Stok-Khangri trek are the most popular ones.

The season for trekking is from June to mid-October. Short trekking trips can be undertaken even in the month of May. However, some routes such as the Hemis-Markha-Padum trek are suitable only during late autumn as in summers the tracks are submerged under water. The most beautiful, demanding and adventurous trekking route is to Zanskar across the frozen Zanskar River called Chaddar Route.