How ice hockey became the most popular sport in the Himalayas 

On 6 February 2018, a new world record was set for ice hockey.

Fully 4,361m above sea level in the Indian Himalayas, a group of hockey enthusiasts - led by Adam Sherlip of US-based charity The Hockey Foundation - made their way up to construct a makeshift rink on an icy lake and play the highest altitude game in the sport's history.

It wasn’t a simple endeavour - jet lag, altitude sickness and even the logistics of transporting the equipment to the site proved to be an almost game-breaking challenge - but the choice of location also wasn’t as strange as at it seems at first glance.

The Hockey Foundation has been active in the Ladakh region since 2009 with over 7,000 pieces of equipment donated to local people before the game took place in 2018.

And that world record-breaking endeavour was one of the many ice hockey matches to take place on the ice-cold lakes of the Himalayas since The Hockey Foundation first went there over 13 years ago.

Olympians join the Indian ice hockey revolution

India is known more for field hockey with a record eight men's Olympic titles, but the mountainous north is ideal for the development of winter sportspeople.

As Indian speed skater Vishwarag Jadeja, who trains in the Himalayas, told Olympics.com: “Ten of the provinces of India are covered by the Himalayas, so winter sports have immense possibilities. There are 16 lakes in this region and I’ve only explored two. These lakes are like 100km long and 20km wide and they’re completely frozen.”

In Ladakh, there are only two or three months every year where it’s possible to play on the lakes before the ice melts.

But in those months, hundreds of women, men and children take to the ice - armed with sticks and pucks often provided by North America's National Hockey League (NHL) - to pursue their passion for the game.

That passion even affords them the opportunity to rub shoulders with some of the world's greatest ice hockey players, including Canada's four-time Olympic gold medallist Hayley Wickenheiser who visited the region to train young female ice hockey players.

“They greeted with us with open arms and were super excited to be on the ice with us and learn from what we had to say,” she told Olympics.com.

Wickenheiser brought with her over 70 bags of equipment for the girls and women to play with, and was left touched by the amount of other people who joined in with the training sessions.

“[There were] disabled kids on cardboard pieces and then we put them on a sled and suddenly they could fly on the ice,” she said, reflecting on the diverse array of children who joined her that week.

When asked what her reason was for coming to Ladakh, Wickenheiser was clear about her intentions.

“Just to spread the message that hockey is for everyone,” she said. “It’s the most popular sport in the region, and kids don’t actually go to school there so there’s a lot of issues with suicide and lack of hope and boredom.”

Ice hockey to highlight climate change

Another reason ice hockey is played in the Himalayas is to highlight the impact of climate change.

In 2020, The Hockey Foundation and the Ladakh Winter Sports Club, in collaboration with Randstad India and The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, hosted The Last Game as part of a series of ice hockey matches played around the world to highlight the effects of climate change.

NHL Hall of Famer and double Olympic gold medallist Slava Fetisov led the initiative as Team India faced off against the United Nations, with 8,000 cloth bags distributed to the people of the Ladakh region in order to reduce the use of plastic in the area.

Randstad India CEO Paul Dupuis, who spoke at the event, brought attention to the issues of climate change that have already been affecting Ladakh, with Times of India reporting a visible loss of ice in the glaciers of the surrounding region.

“I think sport is the best connector,” Dupuis said. “It builds community, it builds friendships, and today, it's going to build awareness of climate change.

"We know all of you here in Ladakh have been impacted by climate change. And we are going to raise awareness and are going to be loud and tell your story to the world and going take action to support you.”

The future of ice hockey in the Himalayas

With ice hockey having taken such a strong foothold in the Himalayas, the impact is sure to be felt for years and decades to come.

A Ladakh team, featuring several players from the region, made its debut in the Asian Challenge Cup in Abu Dhabi in 2008.

Since then, it has travelled extensively to play international with the India national ice hockey team, coached by Hockey Foundation founder Sherlip, playing its first matches in 2009.

The popularity of the sport has become even more evident in recent years, with ice hockey included for the first time on the programme of the Khelo India Winter Games in 2020.

While Milano-Cortina 2026 looks out of reach, there is a chance that an Indian ice hockey team - including players based in the Himalayas - will one day compete at the Olympic Winter Games.