Think you had a tough time giving birth? This mother had to trek for nine days in -35C just to get to hospital... then carry her baby all the way back along a frozen river

Family in Northern India forced to walk 45 miles to the nearest hospital in -35C
They had to repeat the nine day journey when the baby was born, carrying him home
Trekked on foot down river Chadar, at an altitude of 11,123ft, for eight hours a day

The birth of a child is one of the most significant moments in a family's life.
Many are fortunate enough to experience this in the comfort of a hospital, before driving home with nothing but a table-load of presents and sleepless nights to worry about.
For this family from Ladakh, Northern India, the situation was quite different, as they were forced to travel on foot for 45 miles to get to the nearest hospital.



A different world: As there is no doctor or hospital facility in the village where the family live, they were forced to travel on foot down river Chadar, at an altitude of 11,123ft, for nine days - and then make the same journey back when the baby was born

Long journey: Another member of the family carries the newborn's older sibling as they make their way up the frozen river, walking for eight hours a day
It took them nine days to get to their destination, Lingshed, the nearest town with a hospital, after which they had to return the same way they came - up a frozen mountain river in temperatures of -35C.
A photographer encountered the family during their nine-day journey home with their newborn baby in a basket, carrying a young child.
 
The frozen river Chadar is at an altitude of 11,123 ft,and the family walked for eight hours-a-day over the frozen river often up to their knees in bitingly cold water.
The family were forced to carry both provisions and children, and camped in mountain caves at night as they trekked back to their home town.
The photos were captured by photographer Tim Vollmer from Iceland who was trekking up the Chadar with his friends when he spotted the weather-beaten family.