(Image source from: Mother treks for nine days in -35C to give birth})

Most women like to complain about the pain they went through during child birth. But the plight of this women and her family for bringing in a new-born child is at best harrowing.

A family from Ladakh in India's northern region had no option but to trek on foot a distance of 45 miles to reach the nearest hospital for the delivery of a woman. The sad part is that after childbirth they again trek back to their village along the frozen river Chadar, at an altitude of 11,123 ft.

The family treked through the frozen mountain river, at a temperatures of -35C, for nine days before reaching the nearest hospital in Lingshed. After child birth, the family returned the same way with the newborn and a toddler in a basket.

The weather-beaten family walked over the frozen river for eight hours per day, very often in knee-deep bitingly cold water. They had to carry their own provisions and their children as well during their long journey. At nights they camped in caves with fire, lit to provide warmth in the bitter cold.

The photographs were clicked by Tim Vollmer from Iceland while he was on a trek along the frozen Chadar river with friends when he met the family.

Tim says that he was amazed at the length of trouble the family had to go through to to get a child. In the west child birth is so much easier compared to the family he met, Tim said while adding that they must be so cold.

Just walking over the frozen river with the cold water rushing underneath, only a few inches below your feet is in itself terrifying, said Tim. A travel from Leh, capital of Ladakh, to Lingshed takes at least five days in the best of conditions. But the roads and passes remain closes for six months annually, during the long winter snow. So the locals use the frozen river to transport goods for their living and many a time they die in the hazardous trip, added Tim.

(Picture Source: dailymail.co.uk)

(AW: Pratima Tigga with inputs from dailymail.co.uk)