I was recently reading an article in a magazine and it mentioned a place I had never heard of: Siachen Glacier. As an avid backcountry skier I have a soft spot for glaciers, but I was shocked as I learned about this one.
It turns out that Siachen runs through a hotly disputed part of Kashmir and has been the site of battles between India and Pakistan for 25 years now. Was is horrible to begin with, but a battle on this glacier takes depravity to a whole new level. The glacier sits between 11 and 18 thousand feet above sea level. At that height you barely breathe let alone fight. It is routinely -50 degrees and avalanches and crevasses are a constant danger. Moreover, your food is constantly frozen (as is your rifle) and you're at constant risk of pulmonary edema. It is probably the worst place on earth to be a soldier.
Equally tragic is that both India and Pakistan are turning this area into a giant ecological tragedy. The area is littered with the waste of 25 years worth of thousands of soldiers. Apparently it's making the glacier melt faster than it should.
I highly recommend reading this New York Times article; there's more in this Outside article. To help you struggle with the geographical beauty and human horror, here are some photos from the region:
