Avoid Acute Mountain Sickness

Acute mountain sickness can occur to anyone at an altitude above 10,000 Ft. from the sea level. The most common symptoms of acute mountain sickness are headache disturb sleep, loss of appetite, nausea, coughing, irregular breathing, breathlessness, lassitude and lack of concentration. Since Leh Town is situated at an altitude of 11,500 Ft. above sea level. It is advisable to take the following precautions, so as to acclimatize your body properly.

Please note that you might experience any of the above symptoms which is very common, you are advised not to get panicked but give a proper rest to your body which is the most effective and required remedy for Acute Mountain Sickness.

Take complete rest for the first 24 hours of your arrival in Leh. However, this period may vary with different individuals.
Your body should get used to the lower oxygen levels.
No matter how physically fit you are do not run or exhaust your body for the first day.

1. Climatological Data of Leh

	JAN	FEB	MAR	APR	MAY	JUNE	JULY	AUG	SEPT	OCT	NOV	DEC
TEMPERATURE
Max	-2.8	0.8	6.4	12.4	17.1	21.1	24.7	24.2	20.9	14.2	7.8	1.6
Av.	-8.4	-5.5	0.0	5.6	9.9	13.9	17.4	16.9	13.1	6.6	0.6	-4.7
Min	-14.0	-11.8	-6.3	-1.2	2.8	6.7	10.2	9.6	5.4	-0.9	-6.6	-11.1
RELATIVE HUMIDITY
Morn.	61	59	55	50	39	39	49	54	47	45	45	54
Eve.	51	46	43	32	27	24	34	36	32	28	34	42

MEAN PRECIPITATION (in mm)
11.9	6.5	6.5	4.3	15.7	19.5	12.2	7.1	2.9	8.0
MEAN POTENTIAL EVAPORATION (in mm)
0	37	65	91	110	104	73	34	0	0
WIND SPEED (in m/s)
1.5	1.9	1.9	1.8	1.4	1.3	1.3	1.4	1.4	1.0

WIND DIRECTION
Morn.	NE	NE	S	S	S	S	S	SW	S	S	NE	NE
Eve.	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW	SW
NUMBER OF CLEAR SKY
Morn	23	21	25	27	26	27	25	26	26	29	28	24
Eve.	23	23	24	24	24	26	25	25	26	28	27	25
SOLAR RADIATION (kWh/m2)
Glob	131	153	201	230	265	267	265	238	195	165	127	109
Diff	47	47	54	61	65	64	65	63	52	51	45	40

Max=Maximum | Min=Minimum | Av=Average | Morn=Morning | Eve=Evening | Glob=Global | Diff=Diffuse

2 .Mechanical Analysis of Soil of Ladakh

Places % of	Leh	Zanskar	Kargil	Dras
Coarse Sand	4.17	3.77	6.44	0.88
Fine Sand	24.83	54.82	61.10	19.82
silt	2.5	15	3.3	53.9
Clay	8.5	25.5	20.5	25.0
Texture Class	Loamy Sandy	Sandy Clay	Loamy Clay	Silt Clay

3. Weather and Climate

At Ladakh's altitude of 3000 meters and above, the high degree of radiation due to the rarefied air makes for generally low temperatures even at these sub-tropical latitudes. On the other hand, the thinness of the atmosphere makes the heat of the sun actually greater than on the Indian plains. Thus there is a saying that only in Ladakh can a person who has his head in the sun and his feet in the shade endure both sunstroke and frostbite at the same time.

The altitude range causes wide variations in climate even within Ladakh, but in general summer is short and mild and winter long and bitter. The cold weather begins in September/October and lasts till May. The hottest and the coldest months are July and January respectively.

There is little precipitation, which gives Ladakh its characteristically barren landscape. Summer rainfall is irregular and depends on occasional incursions of the Indian monsoon over the Himalayas. Of recent years there seems to have been much more rain than usual in the summers. Most of the precipitation (about two thirds) is in the form of winter snow.

Leh gets little snowfall, which being very dry and powdery does not usually lie for long, therefore there is not much scope for wint33r sports. Dras, although situated on the leeward side of the Great Himalaya, receives heavy snowfall and is said to be the second coldest inhabited area in Asia, the daily minimum averaging –22 Degree Celsius in January and February, and the lowest recorded value being –45 Celsius in 1904.

4.

Water boils at a lower temperature at high altitude because of the lower atmospheric pressure, at 3050 meters it boils at 90 degree Celsius while at 4575 meters it boils at 85 Celsius.