Ladakh Ice Hockey
Puck Hunt at 3500 Meters
The air is extremely thin and minus 16 degrees cold, even the fittest players quickly run out of breath – but the view and the atmosphere are fantastic: Ice hockey has become very popular in the Himalayas. Teams from Europe are now also traveling to the cult tournament at an altitude of 3500 meters.
Only a few minutes remain until a possible triumph. The German-Finnish ice hockey team “Geronimo” is leading 2:1 in this last period, but the opponent from London is putting on the pressure. The “Spitfire” keep getting great chances. The “Geronimos”, including some former German national players, get help in their defensive efforts in the final phase from the playing surface: the ice is getting bumpier and bumpier.
On the beer benches, which have been converted into substitution benches, the players of both teams are completely out of breath on this January day. The extremely thin air at an altitude of 3500 meters allows even the fittest among them barely more than 30 seconds per shift. Besides, it is also bitterly cold at minus 16 degrees.
Despite the exhaustion and the intense final period, the players keep looking around in amazement. In the background of the outdoor ice rink, the six-thousander of Stok Kangri glows, directly opposite the substitution benches the nearly 1000-year-old Buddhist Spituk Monastery and the medieval city palace of Leh tower over the natural ice hockey field. A herd of cows has joined the hundreds of spectators. Welcome to ice hockey in the Himalayas.
“I’ve Never Experienced Anything Like This”
It’s the final of the “Friendship Ice Hockey Cup 2013” in Leh, Ladakh, Kashmir, and the two European amateur teams “Geronimo” and “Spitfire” are the first international teams to undertake the journey to the annual tournament in the middle of the Himalayan mountains of India. “The atmosphere is simply incredible. We’ve played all over the world, but I’ve never experienced anything like this,” says Markus Nirschl, captain of the “Geronimos” from Munich, during the intermission. In the background, players and locals are sweeping the ice with long bamboo brooms.
What Nirschl means is the fascinating combination of the dramatic landscape with the local enthusiasm for ice hockey. During the bitterly cold winter months, when the summer-heavy tourism industry comes to a halt and the schools remain closed, everything in Leh revolves around ice hockey. “From the first snow in December to the beginning of spring in March, all of Ladakh lives and breathes ice hockey,” says N.A. Gyapo, president of the “Ladakh Winter Sports Club” (LWSC).
Indeed, the atmosphere at the stadium is like a fairground. During the games, the wall around the reservoir, where the matches are played, is lined with cheering spectators; during youth training, dozens of mothers and fathers, unless they are on the ice themselves, chat by the balustrade while their little ones are cheered on by coach Tundup Namgail.
Sticks Made from Plastic Bottles
After training, Namgail, who has been a member of the LWSC for 13 years and plays as a defenseman for the Supor team from Leh, rubs his cold fingers. “In winter, ice hockey is our most important aspect of life here – almost the only one,” he says. In the summer, the Ladakhis play football and cricket, there is even a polo field. But during the uneventful winter months, there is only ice hockey.
The fascination with ice hockey in Ladakh is not new. In the early seventies, the army troop of the Ladakh Scouts began mounting makeshift blades under their shoes. They also used sticks with plastic bottles as blades and pucks cut from the thick rubber soles of old army boots. These were the improvised beginnings of Indian ice hockey.
Almost forty years later, India even has a national team thanks to Ladakh’s passion for ice hockey. In 2009, they participated for the first time in an international tournament, the Challenge Cup of Asia of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). Back then, the team, composed almost entirely of Ladakhis, lost every single game and scored only one goal. But in 2011, they scored six goals in the same tournament, and in 2012, when India hosted the Challenge Cup, they achieved their first victory, a 5-1 win over Macau.
A significant contributor to this success story is Adam Sherlip. The 28-year-old New Yorker was the coach behind the bench back then and still coaches the national team today. Since 2008, the ice hockey coach has been coming regularly to India to train local teams. With his foundation, “The Hockey Foundation,” created specifically for this purpose, he travels across Ladakh every winter, visiting all the towns and villages infected by the ice hockey virus.
Know-How from Overseas
When Sherlip remembers the beginnings of his mission, he has to grin broadly. “Back then, the players didn’t even know the rules. When I first came here, there were no face-offs or offsides, and the substitutions were completely random. That’s not the case anymore.” During a training session with Sherlip on a river arm outside Leh, the players listen attentively and disciplined to his instructions and perform the exercises with concentration—observed by a herd of sheep. “India has a very young ice hockey culture, and we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” says Sherlip.
With a bit of luck, the conditions for this work could soon improve significantly. On the outskirts of Leh, an ice rink meeting all IIHF standards is already halfway built. The foundation has been completed for almost two years, and the spectator stands are already visible. It would be only the second ice rink in all of India and would mean a big step forward for Ladakhi ice hockey.
However, the funds to complete it are lacking. For the third winter in a row, the concrete colossus lies ghostly and useless, buried in the snow. Transferring the construction site from the city of Leh to the LWSC club is now expected to help overcome bureaucratic hurdles and enable fundraising. “In the medium term, a proper stadium is necessary for the further development of the sport here,” says US coach Sherlip. “Playing on the reservoir forever isn’t feasible.”
The two European guest teams, fighting for victory in this year’s Friendship Cup on that very reservoir, are not bothered by the adventurous environment. Two minutes before the end, the overwhelming superiority of the London “Spitfires” is finally rewarded with the equalizing goal. And as the sun is almost disappearing behind the white mountains, Ladakh’s tournament of friendship ends in a conciliatory 2-2 draw.
The mountain landscape around the central ice rink in Leh creates an incredible atmosphere. Photo: Tony Kretzschmar
Even in heavy snowfall, the guests from overseas and the Indian hosts have plenty of fun playing ice hockey. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
Even the sacred cows don’t miss out on the spectacle. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
Tundup Namgail trains the U18 juniors in Leh. Photo: Jakob Horstmann
The London Spitfires are in high spirits before the final. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
The view from the monastery hill to the mountain range of Stok Kangri is breathtaking. Photo: Jakob Horstmann
The city center of Leh is sparsely populated in winter. Photo: Jakob Horstmann
For two years now, the foundation of the new ice rink has been lying unused on the outskirts of Leh. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
A deserted goal waits invitingly on one of Leh’s two training fields. Photo: Jakob Horstmann
The American ice hockey coach Adam Sherlip trains teams all over Ladakh. Photo: Jakob Horstmann
In the background of the ice rink lies the city fortress and the Spituk Monastery on the left. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
At -16 degrees Celsius, you don’t want to spend too much time on the bench. Photo: Tyler Kretzschmar
The heavily present army strongly promotes ice hockey. Photo: Alexander Harney
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