Ice hockey in the Himalayas: Playing in the climate crisis

The 15-year-old Indian girl Deachen rubs her hands before pulling on large ice hockey gloves and picking up her hockey stick. She then squints up at the snow-capped Himalayan peaks. She should really be training on proper ice by now. But instead, she’s forced to practice with a tennis ball on tarmac. That is because the lakes on the high plateaus of Ladakh are not yet frozen over. This region is also feeling the effects of global warming: bodies of water are turning to ice later and winters are shorter. Because there are no ice rinks, this means there is less time to train. Ice hockey is the most popular winter sport in Ladakh, in the north of India. India’s national women’s ice hockey team was founded in 2017. It is Deachen’s big dream to join it one day, to play professionally and travel the world. Luckily, it’ll soon be vacation time and she can leave her boarding school in the capital Leh and go home, to the mountain village of Chumathang. Once there, she will be able to get back on the ice and seize a major opportunity: the captain of the Indian national women’s team is coming to her village to scout for new talent for the youth squad. Will Deachen manage to qualify?