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The town of Dras is located in a relatively flat and open space. It
has extensive willow groves along the river. Insummer this town
presents a pleasant look whil e in winter it discovered under a thick
blanket of snow. Dras experiences the lowest temperatures in the
valley and with its altitude of3,300 m, this town is said to be the
second coldest inhabited place in Asia. The mercury may drop to as low
as 40 degrees Celcius below freezing point. Often the small huts are
covered by snow and communication with the outside world is cut off.
The Dras Valley is an enchanting valley formed by the Dras River which
rises in the Machoi glacier near the famous Zozila Pass. The river is
joined in its course by many other rivers and streams flowing in from
snowfields in the nearby mountains.
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
The river Shigar flowing in from the north drains an adjoining part
of the Dras Valley. In summer, as the snow in the upland smelts, the
volume of this river rises considerably. It meets the Suru River near
Kharul a short distance away from Kargil.The terrain is characterized
by rock and stone with the occasional greenish patch formed by willow
and groves.
There is a short summer season in the Dras Valley. It begins inMay,
when the snows begin to melt. Crop sowing activities startlate, while
harvesting is done early so that the crops arebrought in before the
beginning of snowfall.
Barley and other coarse cereals are the main crops grown inthis
valley. Agricultural production is hampered due to thepoor and
unproductive soil and the short growing season. Moreover, there is a
lack of irrigation facilities in many parts of the Dras Valley.
As a result, agricultural yields are not enough to meet theneeds of
the people living in this valley. Food grains have tobe imported from
the Kashmir Valley. Fuel too is a scarce commodity and has to be
brought in from across the Zozila Pass.Brokpas are the
people living in the Dras Valley. They probably migrated to this tract
from Gilgit several centuries ago.
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.
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