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As a man who was literally born in the mountains, it is understandable that Steve Berry knows his stuff about all things cold and arduous. His talk to the Shackleton Society involved plenty of that kind of thing, centered on two treks that he undertook in Northern India, linking Ladakh with the small kingdom of Zanskar by hiking up a frozen river. These trips are a necessity for the locals, who use the river as their only trade route during the long winter months. Steve explained just how tough the local people have to be to complete these trips, often many times a season, and described the ever-present dangers of bears, snow leopards, and falling through the ice into the freezing water below. Despite a poor winter the first time he attempted the trip, when he was forced to turn back after they literally ran out of ice, he returned a few years later and completed the trip – a route he highly recommends.