The walls are near vertical cliffs up to 600 m high and the Zanskar River (a tributary of the Indus) flows in a narrow gorge that is only 5 metres (16 ft) wide in places.

[3] The best time to do the Chadar trek is January to February,[4] when the temperature during the winters drops sometimes to -30 to -35 degrees.

[5] Chadar trek starts from Chilling however with time the organisers tend to drive ahead to about 1 km away from the first camp at Tilad Sumdo (10,390 ft) or motorable Shingra Koma.

Over the next days the trek moves to higher camps via Tsomo Paldar and Tibb cave to Nerak (11,150 ft).

The road construction has disturbed the local wildlife, primarily the snow leopard.