High in the untouched Himalayas of northern India, artists cut blocks with chainsaws of the ice of a frozen river, feverishly sculpting what they hope will pioneer the Indian response to the Festival international of ice cream from Harbin in China.
So far, the Kangsing collective has created what it call a “mini-colosseum”, a cafeteria and a sauna near the village which is doing well son name of Cooling in The North region of Ladakh in most grand, more troubled cashmere region bordering Chinese Tibet.
The facility at 3,350 meters (11,000 ft) serves as a starting pointoff point for the popular seven-day Chadar Trek along the surface of the frozen river of Zanskar through the breathtaking landscape of the “frozen desert” which has been shut for two years due to the pandemic.
“We think we could have a festival big enough, grand enough like Festival international of Harbin, something where theon can ask artists of all over the world come participate” group Tashi member, who use only one name, told Agence France-Presse (AFP).
For now, the mini-colosseum stands just a little higher than the average person.
Corn one day son creators hope to imitate the famous ice hotel in Jukkasjarvi, Sweden.
The spot has been chosen for son lack of sun that could melt ice and where icy whistling winds keep temperatures minus 17-20 degrees Celsius (plus 1.5 to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit) throughout the day.
With a certain support from the local governmentthe groupwhich includes a doctor, a also built a sauna at bank of the frozen river, where they manage to raise the temperature up at 60 degrees Celsius.
A sturdy group in their bathers then dive directly into a pit outside dug into the frozen Zanskar river, to take an ice bath of about a minute – if they can last it’s long.
“It’s extraordinary and rejuvenating,” said a reinvigorated Tundup Gyaltsan, a local police officer.
“You don’t feel the cold at all,” he said.
