Ladakh: hell beneath the wheels | France 5 | Les Routes de l'Impossible

In the extreme north of India, in the State of Kashmir, at over 5,000 metres altitude, lies the region of Ladakh, known as “Little Tibet”. To travel to the rest of India there’s an air route, which functions normally in summer, but in winter becomes a matter of chance. Most of the time, flights are delayed or cancelled. The only road leading south, towards Manali and Delhi, running along the Indus valley, is impassable for nine months of the year. The road runs over giddy peaks in the Himalayas, of which two reach more than 5,000 metres. It’s one of the highest roads in the world and also one of the most dangerous. At this altitude, the least effort is exhausting and the least mistake can be fatal. Adjay, a 40 year-old Indian driver and his mechanic Ali, take this road to deliver tar. In the first few kilometres they have to cross an extremely fragile bridge, barely able to support the weight of their truck. The road is very busy. Cars, trucks, buses (first and second class) and even?in fine weather?motorbikes and cycles take the route through a landscape that takes the breath away and… passes along the edge of giddy precipices. Hardly out of Manali, in the State of Himachal Pradesh, the truck is up in the clouds: the first pass, the Rohtang La, rises to 3,977 metres. The mist is thick; the driver can’t see 10 metres. There are ravines and slippery mud that make each corner a perilous adventure. Hundreds of stranded vehicles block the road. On the rest of the road it’s impossible to pass. Each time it happens, one vehicle has to park and the other passes at walking pace. There are parking places every three or five hundred metres, but nobody wants to be the first to give way. So there’s a standoff to see who will reverse?and this can take hours. Then the high mountains, the snow, the cold and, above all, the lack of oxygen that makes driving hard work. In Ladakh you also have the nomads moving their yaks and goats up and down the pastures every month. They live at over 4,000 metres in extremely harsh conditions. We also accompanied Tenzin, a Buddhist monk, who takes the narrow paths, hugging the mountainside, trying to reach Himis where every year they hold the biggest festival of sacred dances in Ladakh.