Dixam - Skant

Going down the canyon by car in the twilight we decided to follow the canyon upwards next morning.

In a few kilometers the canyon started narrowing and getting wilder. Sometimes we had to ford barrier lakes breast-deep and carrying our backpacks over-head. Soon the canyon became absolutely lifeless. We did not see any indications that anybody has ever been here.  There were not even ubiquitous goats. A rather big part of the canyon appeared to be very far from the external world. It cannot be seen from above. One can get here only through its lower part. The canyon has many branches stretching for many hundreds of meters. Here one can see a great number of small caves and grottos located at various heights.  

Jumping from one stone to another we went forward along the twisting brook channel. We had to be very careful as any accident could turn into a challenging rescue operation.

By dinner-time we reached the narrowest part of the canyon. So we had to decide either to turn back or to continue our travel not knowing where it finally would lead us. We decided to go forward morally prepared for spending the night without any tents and sleeping bags. 

But in the evening the landscape started changing … Somehow we had managed to reach Skant camping after the sun went down. It took us 10 hours to travel over distance of 15 km from Dixam to Skant.

This trekking route can be recommended only to well-prepared people accompanied by a local guide!