Keran ;-Of Icicles and Icy Roads.

Many areas in this world still remain landlocked for the winter months. Landlocked by snow. To describe in detail,"Snow blocks up the passes to places high up in the mountains."Kashmir being embedded in the Himalayan and the Karakoram ranges; the two highest mountain ranges of the world has a number of areas which have access through high passes and these passes get blocked in the winter months by snow. Well this is not only Nature which makes these passes unpassable in the winters; a lack of development is also a factor. 

Keran is such an area which has no vehicular movement to it for 5 months of the winter; Nov. to April. The area is an agglomeration of around 25 villages having a population of about 5000 people, situated on the slopes of a valley which is connected to mainland Kashmir via the Furkian Pass. Road upto Furkian Pass remains open 12 months but on the other side of the pass the road to Keran remain under snow for almost 5 months.

Yet it is not that people don't come to mainland Kashmir in the winters. Some of them do and they come walking uphill to the Furkian Pass and hike a ride down to Kupwara. Coming to know of this when I was posted in the district Kupwara(of which Keran is a part) I almost kept the bees in my bonnette under control for a good 3 months of my first winter their but then finally the bees overcame my calming infulence and when their was a proper pretext I made this trek.

It was a grand show of Icicles and Icy Roads. Enjoy below what my camera with its failing batteries( due to the cold) could hold on in its memory;-

This is a freezing show.

Every stream show the same roof hangings.

The frozen roads.

Walking on this is not possible.

Even waterfalls freeze.

Water in gushing streams freezes.

The stream was a show all along.

The stream really held me to it.