“If I don´t do anything in sports , then I think my life will become half..”
Night temperatures was around -15 in January , soaring close to the freezing point by mid-day in Leh : Ladakhs short hockey season in full swing on ponds , tokpos (small streams ) .. any piece of frozen water.
Girls Hockey Team , Leh . Copyright SECMOL (secmol.org)
Hockey started to take off in Leh in the 90´s , before that winter sports were largely unknown : when I moved from the old town to a Changspa gusthouse in the mid-eighties they stopped the bus to watch , pointing excitedly at the goser on skis.
The 4th National Ice Hockey Championship ended on January 29th in Leh , amid controversy worthy of any big nation : Kargil and Indo Tibetan Border Police teams stepped out of the games , claiming rigged decisions by the judges. The growth womens hockey has also demanded a lot of courage both within and outside the rink : take any and all chance to see the infectiously enthusistic film Thin Ice on the subject.
SECMOL ( who provided the top image ) organise girls and boys hockey training , all winter visitors with experience of the game are welcome , BYOS (bring your own sticks and skates , even better leave them there) .
As I write this the Leh weather widget has started to show mild weather coming , -9 at night and dancing at thaw point in day time.
Night temperarature chart Keylong and Leh . Leh data mainly from leh.nic.in weather widget , Keylong from news reports. Keylong is more than four hundred meters lower than Leh , and consistently warmer
Here (since some has asked where I´m coming from ) we´ve finally had some decent winter weather. The annual winter fair in Jokkmokk (404th year ) started a couple of days ago , with day temperatures around -20. Down here -15 , and half a meter of snow. Nature stuck out it´s tongue at our local politicos who last year massacred the trees on Central Street , by building up a long series of mini kang ri´s , snow mountains , that were anchored by the cubistic benches and bike stands placed along the road. Nature will find a way . I´ll update with a few photos later.
high road to.. 