Ladakh in winter: snow leopards, cold and what it takes

In summer, snow leopards in Ladakh live high on the ridges, following bharal (blue sheep) and urial to the upper pastures, and they are almost never seen. From December, snow pushes the sheep down into the lower valleys and the cats follow them. February and early March are the best weeks: it is the mating season, the cats call and travel more, and spotters find fresh tracks in the snow each morning. January is good but it is the coldest month. December is possible, and by late March the cats begin to move higher again.

Ladakh is one of the few places where a serious search can also be a comfortable one. Hemis National Park lies across the Indus from Leh, and its best side valleys are about an hour's drive from a heated hotel. Many of the spotters are villagers from Rumbak and Ulley who have watched these cats for years, and homestay income has helped turn the snow leopard from a threat to livestock into a reason for visitors to come. We plan winter trips from mid-January to mid-March and adjust them to the latest reports from the valleys.

In winter, Ladakh is reached by air. The Srinagar road over Zoji La and the Manali road over the high passes close for the season, usually from around November until April or May, so check current status before you travel. Direct flights from Delhi take about 1 hour 20 minutes and leave in the morning, because winds over the mountains build later in the day. Weather can delay or cancel flights for a day or more, so we build a spare day into the return and never book a tight international connection on the day you fly out of Leh.

Leh airport sits at about 3,500 m, and you may land in air of −10 °C. Altitude is the first thing to manage, not the cold. We plan three nights in Leh before any walking: a full rest on the first day, then short, slow visits to Shey, Thiksey and Spituk, all quiet in winter. Drink plenty of water, avoid alcohol for the first two days and tell your guide about any headache or breathlessness. Hemis National Park charges a daily entry fee and Ladakh levies local fees on visitors; both change, so check current status before you travel.

Most of our field time is split between two places. Rumbak is a small village inside Hemis National Park, reached by road from Leh past Spituk and Zingchen and then a short walk from the road head, with porters carrying the bags. Its side valleys, Husing and Tarbung among them, are steep, rocky and full of bharal. Ulley is a hamlet in a side valley of the Sham region west of Leh, at around 4,000 m, with a road to the door and wide, open slopes that are easier to scan from a single vantage point.

Using both valleys spreads the odds. If the cats move away from one, the spotters in the other may have a kill under watch, and the change of scene keeps a long week fresh. Rumbak usually gets four nights and Ulley two, with Leh at either end. The table sets out how the two differ, so you know what each part of the trip will feel like before you pack.

In January and February, daytime highs in Leh sit a few degrees either side of 0 °C and nights fall to about −15 °C. In the valleys it is colder: nights of −20 °C to −25 °C are normal, and you will spend four to six hours a day standing or sitting still on a ridge. The sun is strong and the air is very dry, so faces burn while toes freeze. Clothing decides whether the trip is a pleasure or an ordeal, and we would rather you over-pack than suffer. The essentials are below.

• A down jacket rated to −25 °C for the still hours, plus a windproof shell
• Two sets of merino or synthetic thermals, fleece mid layers and insulated trousers
• Insulated waterproof boots with good grip on ice, wool socks and gaiters
• Liner gloves under insulated mittens, a warm hat and a neck gaiter
• Sunglasses, high-factor sunscreen and lip balm
• Binoculars, 8x42 or 10x42; our spotters bring the telescopes
• Spare camera batteries kept inside your jacket, and hand and foot warmers

In Leh we use The Grand Dragon Ladakh, one of the few large hotels in town that stays open and heated through the winter. It is the base before and after the valleys, and the place for a long, hot shower on the way home. Many Leh hotels close from December to March, so the choice is small and early booking matters, especially for the February weeks that snow leopard trips and the Dosmoche festival share.

In Rumbak and Ulley there are no hotels. You stay in a village home or a small lodge, in a room with thick quilts and a sleeping bag rated to −20 °C, and the family kitchen with its stove is the warm heart of the house. Toilets are traditional dry compost toilets, cold but clean, and we bring hot water bottles and extra bedding. Food is simple and hot: thukpa, skyu, momos, rice and dal. This is the price of sleeping where the cats are, and most guests remember the kitchens as fondly as the sightings.

Days begin before dawn with tea by the stove. The spotters are already out on the ridges with scopes and radios. After breakfast you walk slowly, often 2 to 5 km over the day, to a vantage point and settle in to scan. When a cat is found the radio crackles and the team moves, sometimes for a distant shape that shows only in a scope, sometimes for a cat resting on a kill for hours. Many days bring only tracks, scrapes and bharal herds, with golden eagles and lammergeiers overhead.

No honest operator guarantees a snow leopard. With five or six full days in the field in February or early March, two valleys and experienced spotters, the odds are good, and shorter trips reduce them sharply. Fresh snow, wind or cats moving to another valley can make a week quiet. Photographers need 500 mm or more on a full-frame body, and patience. We never use bait or calls, never ask spotters to push a cat closer, and drones are not allowed in the national park.

You do not need to be a mountaineer, but you do need to be steady on icy, uneven paths at close to 4,000 m and content to sit still in deep cold. Anyone with a heart or lung condition should see a doctor first, and we recommend travel insurance that covers evacuation from altitude. We do not advise the valleys for young children. If you want winter Ladakh without the field days, the Dosmoche festival in Leh in February and the frozen Indus make a gentler six-night trip.

Our Snow leopards of Hemis and Ulley journey is ten nights, from ₹3,75,000 per person, twin sharing: three nights in Leh, four in Rumbak and two at Ulley, with lead spotters, porters, all meals in the valleys, a private car and a private guide. Winter in Leh, built around Dosmoche and the frozen rivers, is six nights from ₹1,95,000. The best February weeks fill first, because the experienced spotters are in demand, so it pays to decide by the autumn before.