Will the glacial wilderness of Siachen stage war, or will it be where ibex and snow leopard roam?
The militarization of the Siachen A glacier has attracted media attention only of late. Since the glacier lies in the most remote region of the Karakoram range, a year-round occupation of this Karakoram ice-giant was never previously attempted and the standard military strategy of occupying the heights has resulted in far more casualties from altitude than from gunfire.
The Siachen can be reached by foot through the Saltoro Valley, after a long, hair-raising jeep ride to Khapalu from Skardu, where Pakistan maintains an airfield. The Saltoro has traditionally been the avenue of access to the Siachen. Although the first European explorers did not cross the Bilafond La until 1909, local Baltis recount a history of cattle raiders from Yarkand (now in Chinese Xinjiang) crossing the Bilafond and the Siachen when the ice was less severe. This other route is from the Dansam Valley up the Bilafond glacier, and over the 18,000 Bilafond La into the Siachen basin. A few stone heaps and ruins of livestock pens along the Siachen's lateral moraines indicate that hardy Yarkandis may indeed have once exploited Balti herds. Some locals say Yarkandis and Baltis once engaged in polo matches here. Whoever they were and for whatever reason they came, they left a large pile of horned ibex skulls at the only grassy oasis in a wilderness of ice and rock, a place called Teram Shehr or "Lost City," located where the Teram Shehr Glacier joins the Siachen.
Of even greater significance are extensive carvings chiseled into polished boulders across from Dansam village. Stylized animals, horse riders bearing round shields, ibex figures and Buddhist stupas, here, as in other parts of Baltistan, indicate an ancient traffic over the high passes. In 1909, on the first crossing by a European of the now Indian-occupied Gyong La, high above Goma village, T.E. Langstaff found a stone cairn. Certainly the approach up the Nubra valley to the Siachen snout was never customarily used, nor was Nubra ever entered via the Siachen. Early 20th century explorers encountered treacherously deep water and rapid currents in the summer, coupled with shifting quicksands.