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Drass
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| Drass
(3,230 m), 60 kms west of Kargil on
the road to Srinagar, is a small township
in the centre of a valley of the same
name. Locally called Hembabs
("snow land"), it is
renowned as the second coldest inhabited
place in the world because of the intensely
cold winters and heavy snowfall. Winter
temperatures are known to plummet to
40oCelsius below zero. During
the four months of spring and summer,
however, the valley turns very picturesque
as the gently surrounding hillsides
turn into green pastures splashed with
a variety of wild flowers. Lately, Drass
has become famous all over the world
due to the extensive television coverage
it received during the 3-month long
conflict at the Line of Control (LoC)
between India & Pakistan. Its physical
landmarks like Mushkoo
Valley, Tiger Hill, Tolo-ling,
etc., have become part of India's modern
national epic. |
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| Drass
valley starts from the base of the Zoji-la pass
across which the 434 km Srinagar-Leh road passes.
For the most part, this road follows the historic
trade route, also known as the 'Treaty
Road'. The most dramatic part of the
road is the ascent up the Zojila pass
(3505 m), the principal gateway to Ladakh.
It is a legendary feature through which traders
and explorers traversed the Himalayas, the world's
greatest mountain range, as it lay on the route
to Ladakh, Tibet, Central Asia and China. It
has played critical roles in the passage of
trade and cultural influences between Kashmir
and Ladakh and on to Tibet and Central Asia
through the centuries. It also marks the drastic
transition between two contrasting environments,
those of Kashmir Valley and the Ladakh plateau,
within the span of an hour's drive. |
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soon as the last turn of the road at 'India
Gate' near the top of the pass is crossed,
the luxurious forests of Kashmir suddenly disappear
and the dramatic bleakness of Ladakh with the
ever-changing colours of its brown and ochre
mountains suddenly hit the eye. |
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The
population of Drass comprises mainly
of Dards, who are descendents
of Dard immigrants from the Gilgit valley
and other Dard areas from down the Indus.
They speak Shina, which
unlike the Tibetan-originated dialects
spoken elsewhere in Ladakh, belongs
to the Indo-European linguistic family.
Polo the ancestral sport of the Dards,
is played with particular zeal and fervour
in Drass. A hardy people enduring with
fortitude the harshness of the world’s
second coldest place, the people of
Drass can well be described as the guardians
of Ladakh's gateway. |
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centuries they are known to have negotiated
the formidable Zoji-la pass, even during the
late autumn or early spring when the whole sector
remains snow-bound, for transporting across
traders’ merchandise and to help stranded travellers
to traverse it. By virtue of their mastery over
the pass they had established a monopoly on
the carrying trade during the heydays of the
Central Asian trade. They are also known to
have kept the mail running between Kashmir and
Ladakh across the Zoji-la, regardless of the
season and the climate. |
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Suggested Tours
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Drass
Travel Reservation Form
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