Drass
(3230 m), 60 km west of Kargil on the road to Srinagar, is a small township
lying in the centre of the valley of the same name. It has become famous as
the second coldest inhabited place in the world by virtue of the intense
cold that descends upon the valley along with repeated snowfalls during
winters. Winter temperature is sometimes known to plummet to less than minus
40 degrees. The
Drass valley starts from the base of the Zojila pass, the Himalayan gateway
to Ladakh. For centuries its inhabitants are known to have negotiated this
formidable pass even during the most risky period in the late autumn or
early spring, when the whole sector remains snow-bound and is subject to
frequent snow storms, to transport trader's merchandise across and to help
stranded travellers to traverse it. By virtue of their mastery over the pass
they had established a monopoly over the carrying trade during the heydays
of the Pan-Asian trade. A hardly people enduring with fortitude and
harshness of the valley's winter, the inhabitants of drass can well be
described as the guardian's of Ladakh's gateway.
Drass is a
convenient base for a 3-day long trek to Suru valley across the sub-range
separating the two valleys. This trek passes through some of the most
beautiful upland villages and flower sprinkled meadows on both sides of the
4500 mts high Umbala pass, which falls enroute. The trek to the holy cave of
Amarnath in neighboring Kashmir, which stars from Minamarg below Zojila,
takes 3 days and involves crossing of 5200 mts high pass. Drass also offers
numerous shorter treks and hikes to the upland villages.
