Every autumn a small team walks up to the glaciers above the Chandra and the Bhaga with stakes, a GPS unit and a notebook.

Their measurements show the ice edges moving back a few metres a year. For the farmers of Lahaul, whose peas and potatoes depend on meltwater channels, the change shows up as channels that run dry in August.

Some villages have begun storing water in small tanks built with help from the panchayat.