Getting there: Air India, KLM, Northwest Airlines, and Delta all have through service from the United States to Delhi. Air travel can be booked through the individual airline Web sites, through a travel agent, or through Expedia. Flights from Delhi to Leh can be arranged by an outfitter, but they are subject to weather delays, so on the return journey be sure to allow several days between your flight from Leh and your connecting flight.

Malla Treks arranged our expedition. Comprehensive resources are available at indiatravelinfo.com and india-travel.com.

The best time of year to visit is summer, as the high passes snow in from fall to spring. Flights operate irregularly, subject to weather conditions, during the winter and provide access to an interesting trek down the ice of the frozen Indus River. Clothing should be suitable for both warm and cold weather since temperatures can dip below freezing at any time of year.

Other activities in the area include trekking, climbing, road and mountain biking, paragliding, trout and salmon fishing, whitewater rafting, camping, and skiing.

Entry requirements: All American citizens must have a passport and visa to enter and exit India for any purpose. All visitors must obtain visas at an Indian embassy or consulate abroad prior to entering the country. There are no provisions for issuing visas upon arrival. Travelers arriving in India without a valid visa are subject to immediate deportation. The U.S. Embassy and consulates in India are unable to assist when U.S. citizens arrive without visas. For further information on entry requirements, please contact the Embassy of India at 2536 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20008, (202) 939-9849 or (202) 939-9806, or the Indian consulates in Chicago, New York, San Francisco, or Houston. A number of private visa services companies can expedite this process, and we used Zierer Visa Services.

Medical facilities and insurance: Adequate to excellent medical care is available in Delhi, but in the northern, rural areas on our route health care is very limited or unavailable. Consult your medical insurance company before you leave to determine whether your policy applies overseas and if it will cover emergency expenses such as medical evacuation. U.S. medical-insurance plans seldom cover health costs incurred outside the United States unless supplemental coverage is purchased. Similarly, U.S. Medicare and Medicaid programs do not provide payment for medical services provided outside the United States. However, many travel agents and private companies offer insurance plans that will cover such expenses.

When making a decision regarding health insurance, Americans should consider that many foreign doctors and hospitals require payment in cash before they will provide service and that a medical evacuation to the United States can cost more than $50,000. Uninsured travelers who require medical care overseas often face extreme difficulties. When consulting with your insurer prior to your trip, check whether payment will be made to the overseas health-care provider or if you will be reimbursed later. Some insurance policies also include coverage for psychiatric treatment and for disposition of remains in the event of death.

Useful information on medical emergencies abroad, including overseas insurance programs, is provided in the Department of State's Bureau of Consular Affairs brochure, "Medical Information for Americans Traveling Abroad," available via the Bureau of Consular Affairs Web site or via autofax at (202) 647-3000.

Other health information: Information on vaccinations and other health precautions is available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's international traveler's telephone hot line 1-877-FYI-TRIP (1-877-394-8747), via fax at 1-888-CDC-FAXX (1-888-232-3299), or via the CDC's Web site. Indian health regulations require all travelers arriving from Sub-Sahara Africa or other yellow fever areas to have evidence of vaccination against yellow fever. Travelers who do not have such proof are subject to immediate deportation or a six-day detention in the yellow fever quarantine center. Americans who transit through any part of sub-Sahara Africa, even for one day, are advised to carry proof of yellow fever immunization.

Safety is an issue. Ladakh is a longtime adventure tourism destination, but it does border the Kashmir Valley, where a title dispute between Pakistan and India has been raging since 1947. Check out the latest U.S. State Department warnings and assessments.

Books and videos: Suggested titles include Ancient Futures: Learning From Ladakh, by Helena Norberg-Hodge and Peter Matthiessen, and A World Away, by Larry Snider. The video to see is John Huston's The Man Who Would be King, which stars Michael Caine and Sean Connery and is based on the Kipling novel. The original Lost Horizon, directed by Frank Capra and starring Ronald Colman and Jane Wyatt, could well be the region we are traversing. The documentary Ladakh: In Harmony With the Spirit (1993) is also fascinating.

Communications: Leh boasts some Internet cafes, but there is no land-based communications system for most of our journey. We are using a Thrane & Thrane Capsat M-4 Inmarsat phone, capable of 64 kbps data transmission speeds, rented from Remote Satellite Systems International. For audio reports we are using an Iridium Motorola 9505 portable satellite phone with an accessory data kit for transmissions at speeds up to 9.6 kbps. The team is using a variety of digital cameras including a Nikon D1, plus the smaller 3.3 megapixel Nikon 880, and a 2 megapixel Canon PowerShot S200 digital ELPH. The laptops include a Mac iBook, a Compaq Armada 7400 with a Xircon credit-card ethernet/modem PCMCIA card, and a Dell Notebook L400.