The November story

November Pangong is not a tourist destination. The lake's freeze process is beautiful but invisible to outsiders. The shallow sections near Lukung freeze first, creating a transition zone of ice and liquid that locals say sounds like breaking glass. The deep centre, 5-6m deep, resists freezing longest. The military posts maintain their year-round vigil. The Changpa goats grow their finest pashmina fibre in the bitter cold—the colder the winter, the finer the cashmere. This is Pangong as it existed for millennia before tourism and cinema: a high-altitude lake at the edge of two civilizations, frozen under stars, patient and indifferent.