My soul never felt so content before!!!!

Prologue:

Ever since I became a member of the online biking community, one question has itched me the most. When will I get leh’d?? The enlightment, salvation was attained on Aug 15^th 2008 (Happy Independence Day to all!!!).

My soul never felt so content before!!!!

The riders were as follows:

1. Jay : CBZ Extreme : Starting from Pune
2. Pankaj : Pulsar 150 v2 : Starting from Noida
3. Sripurna : Pulsar 150 Classic : Starting from Bangalore

The trip itinerary:

10th : Delhi - Manali (530 KM)

11th : Manali - Sarchu (230KM)

12th : Sarchu – Leh (244KM)

13th : Get the permits and do some local sightseeing.

14th : Leh - Khardung La(18380 ft) - Diskit (Nubra Valley) (118KM)

15th : Diskit - Hunder - Diskit - Sumur - Panamik - Khardung La (18380 ft) – Leh (335KM including Diskit, Hunder, Panamik) (335KM)

16th : Leh – Chang la (17800ft) -- Pangong Tso (170KM)

17th : Pangong Tso – Leh (170KM)

18th : Leh - Tso Moriri (210KM)

19th : Tso Moriri – Leh (210KM)

20th : Leh– Sarchu (244KM)

21st : Sarchu – Manali (Kunzum la pass is just 80KM from Rohtang pass J .. 3 hrs drive) (240 – 320KM)

22^nd : Manali – Kullu – Jalori Pass – Rampur – Hatu – Shimla – CHD – Delhi (555KM)

The adventure started much before we began riding. My bike had not arrived at Noida by 9^th evening (loaded her on 2^nd) and the GATI guys said that it will be coming on 10^th evening & the delivery would be made by 11^th morning. That was simply unnacceptable as everything would go haywire. The decision was made to pickup the bike from the Gurgaon godown as soon as the bike arrived there & not wait till it arrived in Noida.

The bike finally came by 10^th morning & we went there in the afternoon to pick it up. The location was a bit hard to find as it was on the outskirts of Gurgaon & after a good hour & half of riding we came to the godown successfully.

The bike was covered well & no bent/broken stuff. Unpacked & everything was good to go except for the fuel line which had got cut, thankfully at the end. Somehow managed to get it to sit on the carburettor for the time being.

Pankaj made a dash for petrol bunk & got two litres of petrol. Tummy full & I tried her, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty kicks & she was refusing to start. Finally went to a near by bike shop & the carburettor was full of water & sludge. Not sure how it got there!!!

Came back to noida by 8 and both us were exhausted to core.. Jay had managed to get some spare parts for his bike.. we got the cash out from the ATM & tanked up our bikes to start early in the morning..

Drat.. double Drat… We were already 1 day behind by the schedule!!!

Day 1: Baked Pulsars & fried CBZ for the menu!!

Loaded the gears on the bikes by 4.30 & we were good to go.. kick started her & she came alive. I closed the throttle & the RPM’s were still high!!! I was like WTF.. L Some hunting around the accel cable & some more dirt & muck had occupied around it which was not allowing the throttle cable to close completely.. Applied some engine oil for the time being & things started to look up..

As Haddock says, “Blistering Barnacles”.. it was already 6 by now.

We chugged out of Delhi safely & hit the NH1. The ride was smooth uptill Ambala & by that time, the sun was baking us for free. We reached Chandigarh around 12 in the afternoon & I made a quick dash to home to visit my parents, while Jay & Pankaj headed towards the Ropar-manali road. We were back on the road by 2.30 & making good progress towards Kiratpur. The rain gods did not show any mercy & the marathon rain session started. Out came the rain suits. The roads were full of red slush & pot holled. The traffic sense is non existant in this part of area. Finally the hills started after Kiratpur. Sigh!!

Our target for today was manali & we were in Bilaspur at around 8 PM. Mandi looked too far, let alone Manali. We found a small hotel just before Sundarnagar & crashed for the day. We still had to do more than 100KM to reach to manali.

Day 2: Rain Rain all the Way!!!!

Got stuff loaded by 7 & off we went. The stretch from Sundernagar to Manali is awesome!! We were finally enjoying on our saddle. The long stretch of army truck convoys made their presency felt to us early itself.

We hit manali by 11. Tank full & we were out to claim Rohtang la. Just then, a long army convoy also had sneaked in front of us & thus a jam ensued. Slowly we crawled upto Gulaba point & moved up to Marhi. Just after marhi we had the first taste of the many landslides we would see on the trip. The BRO guys were @ work already & we crossed it in 30 min. Rain was not abating & Rohtang looked far. The chill made itself felt as the altitude climbed. My hands were numb when we reached Rohtang.. The usual crowds were abuzz in the small patch @ Rohtang la.

Telugu, Tamilians, Bengalis, Mallus, Delhiites, Punjabis, Phirangs from Germany, Britain, US of A, other places, felt like the whole India & world had thought of meeting up @ Rohtang. Both myself & jay were doing involuntary body break dances @ the top. The chill was painfull. Surprisingly, could not spot the board which said this patch of land is the Rohtang Pass. The fog+mist+rains was getting dense.

The other side of the Rohtang la had pathetic roads. The descent to Gramphoo was hurting!! Long convoy of army supply trucks & hair pin turns which had muck completely drained us out.

It was 6 by the time we left Gramphoo. We had enquired about the state of roads ahead & had not good news. There was no roads for another 6-10KM & on top of that, It was dark & it was still raining.

Every metre felt like a Light year & we three trickled away into the dark. Finally after Sissu, the roads were looking promising but then suddenly saw a long queue of Red lights in the distance… It was a jam. WTF.. A small girl from the nearby village had been mowed down by a Army fuel truck (drunk driver) & had sped away. The little one had been admitted to the nearby hospital. But the villagers blocked the road demanding that something be done about the unruly trucks that ply on this road.

Minutes came & went!!! We requested the villagers to let the three of us go, but they refused. We started taking turns to knap on the bike itself. They had called the police station in Keylong and asked a FIR to be lodged. To top it off, the blood of the little one was on the road & needed to be taken as an evidence.

The police took their own time to come (Just like in the movies). The inspector took a photo of the evidence from a dingy looking MOBILE CAMERA. We looked @ each other & said WTF… It was dark, raining & god knows what pic would have come?

Everyone was satisfied by now & they allowed the traffic to move @ 10.

Within half an hour we were in Tandi & asked for a hotel to stay only to be told that Keylong is the best option and another 7KM of bumpy, slushy ride. Around 11 we made our entrance into a sleepy Keylong. Found a hotel & a restaurant. Airtel works in Keylong (Only Postpaid).

The day’s ride ended @ midnight!!!

Day 3: Haywire!!!

We started around 7 in the morning. The rain was still accompanying us. Everyone warned us to be carefull on the roads & lookout for the slippery stuff @ keylong. We chugged along slowly. Just as we reached Jispa, Jay was not feeling well. He was shivering madly & uncontrollably. We stopped at a road side dhaba & had umpty number of tea rounds. Nothing seemed to stop the shivering. Finally we decided to look for a place to stay for the day & let Jay recover.

We found Hotel Padma Lodge in Jispa & shacked up for the day. All were keen to get some sleep & make the most of this rest day!!

We may not have travelled more than 25KM.

Day 4: Ride as far as possible!!

Jay was better now & so were we. There was only one thing in everyone’s mind, to get to Leh as fast as possible. The original itinerary was tossed out. We were not sure which places needs to be axed or visited. Enroute, the first pass of the day was Baralachla. Pretty empty but serene place to say the least. One can make STD calls at the army post in Patseo. The last we contacted our families was in Keylong.

The rain had stopped for the time being & we headed towards Sarchu. The roads from Baralachla were more enjoyable. Sarchu came & went very fast. We were now going to start the “21 best loops in the world, the Gata loops”. Thoroughly enjoyed the ride upto Nakee la. Ascent to Nakeela was not felt much.

By the time we started for Lachlungla, it was dark & then the rain started. The most horrible 50KM i have done in my life. The pot holes were many, it was completely sloshed out roads. The trucks had dug up huge ruts on the side of the road & it was slimy to say the least. Pankaj had a small spill here. We were keeping an eye for a water crossing that comes before Pang, not sure of the name (Krishna nullah??). Luckily the bed of the crossing had a thick layer of concrete & it was fairly easy to cross. Finally we reached the army checkpost near Pang @ around 9.

Found a dhaba & shacked into the bed. We were the only three to be using the full tent. J

We slept with the thought of having to do Tanglang la in rain!!!

Day 5: Got Leh’d!!!

The night was a bone chattering festival. AMS hit me pretty badly, continous headache ensured that I could not sleep well in the night. Got up in the morning & popped in a diamox. The rain was showing signs of parting ways with us.

Was having a small walk in the morning around the tents & spotted three bikes, A KA, & 2MH bikes. Out of sheer luck bumped into Praveen Shirali, Navendu & another gentleman (whose name I forgot). The trio were coming back from the Spiti-Leh tour. They warned us of the hazards on Tanglang la & gusty winds in Morey plains.

Bid them farewell, & we started for Tanglang la by 8.30 in the morning. Once we entered Morey plains, it was a complete transformation of sorts. The weather was looking sprighty, the colours were amazing. To add to it, snow bound mountains seemed to be escorting us to Tanglang la. The 40 odd KM were done with lot of breaks.

The ascent to tanglang la was pretty straight forward, it is only the last 10KM which has broken roads owing to the widening process being undertaken by the BRO. We were @ the top of Tanglang la. To say it is comfortable sitting on top of T-la is very dangerous. I had hard time just putting the bike on its main stand with all the luggage on it. Also walking around the pass takes the wind out of you.

The descent was again frought with deep ruts & in one of them I had enough muck that covered my ankle completely & I had to literally drag the vehicle out of the situation. Again, felt like someone had sucked the breath out of me with a vaccum cleaner. Lot of small breaks ensured during the descent to Rumste.

The roads from Rumste to Leh was a pleasure to ride on & after 5 days of riding in rain, We were happy to be basking on sun’s rays. The landscape was a treat & photo stops were made on the fly.

After we crossed Thicksey, the wind suddenly picked up out of nowhere & with it came fine sand like particles that prick on the skin. The bike was swaying uncontrollably with all the luggage. At one point, the gusty winds pushed the bike from my lane to the shoulder of the right side & that too with oncoming convoy of Army trucks. IT WAS SCARY!!! (Jay was behind me & he said that it looked like I was going to commit suicide.. LOL.. J)

Hurray!! We reached leh by 5.30!! It never felt so good & I repeat again….

My soul never felt so content before!!!!

We stayed @ Hotel Kang la. Nice place. We requested for the permits to “Khardung la & Pangong Tso”. We had to axe “Nubra & Tso Moriri circuit” owing to the unforeseen delays.

Day 6: Get to the K-Top!!!

In the morning, we got the bikes checked. Pankaj was complaining of loose chain & found that the chain had worned quite considerably & couple of links had to be removed. Jay’s front disc pads had completely worned out. There was not even a millimetre amount of pad left. Unfortunately, the CBZ Extreme pads were not available in any shop, We got one side fit with a new one & the other was left as it is.

It was 12 by the time we stopped for lunch & then we started ascent to K-top by 2.30. We reached south pullu easily & gave the permits, the army guys there were quite friendly.

Another 10 odd KM and we finally had hit the K-top. The feeling was one of immense accomplishment & test of oneself. It was around 6 in the evening when we started the descent. Again, the nail biting cold on the K-top was immense. Had dinner in leh & crashed for the day.

Day 7: A Day with Pangong Tso!!!!

Left for Pangong by 9. Took the diversion from Karu & shakti flew past us. The roads were enjoyable till the army post on the foothills before the chang la pass. Had long discussion with the army guys there.

Chang la ascent was done without too much stress. The return had some surprises for us. The parched landscape looked beautifull. The streams were flowing gracefully. Tangste came in good time @ 3 in the evening.

The marsh land after tangste was breath taking & then we finally hit the “Pagal Nullah”. Much had been read, heard & said about this unruly beast. We were hoping for it to be sane, complying, gracefull duct of water. But it was afternoon & the water level & pressure had swollen.

To add to the woes, we could not see the bed of the stream, the shoulders had too big boulder like stones for the bikes to make through. So we decided to cross the nullah in the middle. We did not want our shoes/cameras to be wet & hence walked across it to safely keep it on the banks. Pankaj & Me were so busy charting out the path across that we did not see a Qualis that was coming from the other direction. The people inside had a look wat these nerds are trying to achieve walking in the water??

Pankaj was the first to go & with not much effort, he made it through. Next I was in line. Fired her up & led her slowly into the bed. Right in the middle she died on me!!! Drat.. double Drat… fired her up once again, gave a hand full of acceleration & she did not move an inch. The rear was sandwiched between two big boulders. Pankaj came over & pushed her to the banks. Finally once on safe side, I was wondering why she was accelerating so sluggishly & to my utter disbelief I found that “I crossed the Pagal Nullah in third gear!!!!”.. I repeat once again .. “Drat.. Double Drat..”.

Then came the moment I was waiting for a long time, the first sight of Pangong. the words said by Russel crowe in the movie “A Beautifull mind” zapped my mind, “Terrified... mortified... petrified... stupefied... by you”.

We found a nice dhaba with 4 beds for 400/- for the night.. Dumped the luggage, got hold of the tripod & both of us took a long walk across the shore of the Pangong Tso. I was literally pinching myself as I walked around, The dream had come true!!!

The colours, The interplay, The sweet breeze, The fluttering flags, The light green, The bottle green, The light, dark & arial blue!!! The shades of purple in between !!! Mesmerised!!!!

Jay had arrived @ Pangong by the time we returned from our photo shoot. He had a good adventure in crossing the nullah. The darkness crept on the Pangong!!

It was around 8~9PM when Jay yelled at us to get the camera out of the dhaba & we were seeing the blissfull rise of a full moon on the Pangong Tso!!! We were thanking our stars profusely for delaying us to see this beauty in action!!!

Life never felt so good!!! Peace!!!

Slept tight!!!

Day 8: Pangong’s glory in full colours

Pankaj got up fast to witness the sunrise, but alas some clouds were around hence could not spot the sunrise. I joined him on the banks with tripod happily clicking away to capture the beautiful colours. Jay was happily snoring off!!!

Finished all the clicking by 10 & we packed our stuff & left. The Nullah crossing this time was much easier & the water level was considerably low. Tangste came up in good time. Once the ascent to Chang la started, I was feeling I was riding a Luna or a moped of some sort.. The bike just was not pulling & giving more stick to the accelerator did not help any cause. The RPM’s were just not building. Pankaj did not see this phenomenon, but both Jay & me were going side by side & both the bikes were struggling to cover the metres. Finally after a very slow lumbering ride, we reached chang la top, had a hot cup of tea & made a dash for Leh!!!!

Day 9: Ride back to Sarchu

The return journey started with a fast ride to Sarchu. Nothing much to say. Started @ 9 & reached at 9. Thankfully there was no rains on any of the three passes.

Day 10: Ride back to Manali..

Today’s target was Manali. Started @ 9 and covered Baralachla easily and then the horrendous stretch of Keylong, Sissu, Gramphoo. The dust was really bad & everyone was soaked top to bottom with it. Felt like I was riding in Sandstorm…

By the time we entered manali it was 9, found a place to stay & crashed for the day.

Day 11: Landslides galore

Started @ 9 & we were in Bilaspur by 4. Just as we crossed the city limits, found a long queue of trucks & a crowd had gathered @ the police checkpost there. They said that a landslide had taken place a couple of KM down the road & hence it was closed for traffic. We waited till 7 for the cleaning up to complete, but it looked like it would take much longer. Hence found a hotel in Bilaspur & crashed for the day.

Day 12: More Landslides

Got up in the morning & headed out to the checkpost only to find that the road is still not open.. aargghh… requested the police their to allow us to go near the site & check out the status of the cleaning effort. It was a big landslide, lot of big boulders & immense amount of muck was on the road, The cleaning process completed in half an hour & we got the green signal to cross. As we headed out we found more than 5 landslides in a matter of few KM and slowly made our way upto Swarghat.

The ride back to CHD was a bit of pain as the traffic was stiffling. We had not seen this for a long time on the barren scapes of Ladakh region. By 2.30 we were in Chandigarh & we parted our ways. Jay & Pankaj left for Noida.

Parents were glad that their crazy petrol head lad had landed home safely!! The smile on their & my face was the most “Precious”!!!

Pankaj reached home by 8 & jay had some other plans!!! J

Some points to collect home to:

1. Leave early & stop early before darkness creeps in.
2. Get good number of polythene covers to cover your stuff. Some might let go in the middle & need replacement.
3. Cover your socks with a sturdy polythene cover to hold off water, if you cannot afford a gum boot.
4. There are no STD/mobile coverage between Keylong & Karu. So tell your people @ home clearly.
5. you can request army guys @ barracks for making STD calls depending upon availability.

-Sri

Auli and Nanda Devi peak finally captured!!!

Dates : Jan 5^th – Jan 8^th

Destination : Auli

Roundtrip Distance : 1100KM

Max Altitude : 12000+ feet.

Route :

Noida -- Haridwar -- Deoprayag -- Rudraprayag-- Karnaprayag -- Nandaprayag -- Joshimath -- Auli.

Tourers on board:

Pankaj Chauhan : P180 v2 Dtsi

Jay : CBZ Extreme

Sripurna : P150 Classic

Jan 5 : Cruise Control till Rudraprayag

The biker’s itch has bitten me quite bad. I have made it a regular habit to visit one exotic place a month and this month we had decided it was “Auli”. Hounding all the logs in the net had brought some of the magnificent pictures of Auli ski slopes and the “Nanda Devi peak”. I knew I had to get up there and see, smell and capture it. It would be a nice place to break the new year’s quota also.

Talking about new year, we had some great plans and the original destination we had was “Harr ki Doon” valley. It is said to rival the “Valley of Flowers” in its beauty. It is a 35KM odd trek from a small village called “Sangkri”. Alas, due to some medical crisis we had to abort it on the day we had to leave(Dec 25^th). This trek was a 8day parikrama trip that would open us to the beauty of trekking. As usual I was back in office to hunt for the next destination the next day.

Day 1 started well as we set off at 4.30. Nice cold winter morning and with no traffic. The temperature as everyone knows was hovering around the 4 degree mark. The following was my attire selection to beat the cold :

• Inner wear with Winter full sleave warmers
• One Tshirt
• One full sleave woolen sweater
• One full sleave winter jacket
• One full sleave Rain proof jacket.
• One track pant and warmers
• One Jean pant
• One Cotton gloves
• One cramster gauntlet glove
• One sneaker
• One balaclava
• One GP one helmet.

With the above, the cold was certainly bearable and special mention to the balaclava. It made all the difference in keeping my ears, neck and face warm!

Heading to the all to familiar Delhi Haridwar highway we thought of rapping up miles quite fast. But surprisingly Jay took a wrong turn and went into the road which goes to “Dadri”. A good 15KM of back track to join the highway. We had split into two groups. The roads have improved a lot since a year. There is a 4 lane highway till the town of Meerut and the bypass is almost empty in the morning. The tar is freshly laid out and we were in haridwar by the stroke of 10.

We regrouped in a dhaba before haridwar and finished our breakfast. Started riding out by 11.30 and we entered straight into a 20KM bad stretch. This stretch starts out from the time we finish Rishikesh and till a small town of “Ted byaasi”. Construction work and couple of landslide made this stretch a bumpy one.

After the small town, the road is just serene and beautiful. The roads are very confidence inspiring, wide enough so that you take the corners anyway from 40 – 60Kph. There is enough twisties to work your hips and abs as though you were in a gym. It is as though you were doing “Power ballads on your bike”.This stretch goes straight through Deoprayag city. The city is confluence of Alaknanda and Bhagirathi river. The Ganga itself flows so calm and steadily coupled with a greenish tinge that is mesmerising. We were at 2000+ feet and covered atleast 280KM.

The ballad show goes on for another 60KM till you hit the city of Rudraprayag. The city has another confluence of “Alaknanda and Mandakini” rivers. One can also go to “Pauri” from “Kirtinagar” which is a 44KM detour. We have marked in our TODO list. We halted at “Shangri La Resorts” in Rudraprayag around 7PM. Nothing really to say about the hotel except that its name made us hope for some cozy setting. Dinner was served quite clumsily in the hotel and we waited for almost half an hour before the roti arrived. Day ends with 400KM on odo and we are still at 2200Feet! Grrrr…

Jan 6 : Get on top of that hill men!

After an excellent day of riding yesterday, spirits were high and the same can be said about the rain gods. We left at around 7 in the morning and instantly the clouds opened up on us.

I made a mistake of not carrying any rain proof pants but the gods were merciful that the pour was more of a fine misted drizzle than a torrential monsoon falls found in Agumbe. The distance to cover to Auli was around the 100KM mark.

We crossed “Gochar” in no time and then the second bad stretch starts. This one goes all the way upto “Karnaprayag”, a total distance of around 20KM. After we crossed this strecth, then the “B Dancing” began in ernest. The dancing went through the city of “Nandaprayag” and we were nearing Joshimath.

Joshimath is a small town sitting at 6000+ feet. The climb upto to this city is really brilliant, the roads are undulating yet no pot holes, you can corner hard with minimal traffic. One goes up above 3000+ feet in a matter of 25KM. It is basically a stop over for people visiting “Badrinath/ Valley of flowers/ Hemkund”.

The rain had been our constant companion since the morning and by the time we were in the outskirts of Joshimath, it had not let go. Even the mountains were not visible let alone “Snowy mountains view”. This was a “Big scare” in my heart. Coming all the way here and we would not be treated to a clear blue sky view to “Nanda Devi” almost brought me to my knees. Anyway, kept my fingers crossed and we then decided to go to “Auli” directly. Auli is around 14KM from the outskirts of Joshimath. The road was pretty damp with the rains and we were happy to take in the views.

Our eyes lit up with the first sight of snow on the roads at around the 7KM mark. The collection of snow kept accumulating on the road side till the 11KM mark. The last 3KM we lost the sight of the ground and by this time the road had a good 4 inch of hardened snow. The tires started slipping, the rear started its dance and after riding close to 3 and half years and accumulating 37000+ on the odo I went “Zyukkk Thudd for the first time!!”. I had lost the rear completely in a hair pin turn and I was surprised how softly I landed on the snow. The bike was ok, no bents or broken stuff. We struggled to cover distance from this point and barely made another 100 metres after which my rear was spinning madly!. We could not go any higher than this point. We were still around a KM away from the GMVN and because we had no reservation made previously we did not have much hope of getting rooms there. So we spent clicking pics and enjoying the snow.

I was keeping a close eye on the Ropeway that was going up towards Auli and was praying that it is still functional despite the rain and snow. We were relieved to see the carraige slide down from Auli when we were taking pics. We spent some more time and then planned to take the rope way the next morning. The only question left was “Will we get a clear blue sky in the morning?”

Point of Return!!!!!

She is Alone and Enjoying it!!!

Tyre spinning itself to ground!!!

Pankaj's bike is sliding as we regroup!!!

Aloha!!!! The ropeway is working

Day 3: Azzure blue is the gift for the New year.

Bless the lord! Bless the lord! was what I was thinking the first in the morning. Pankaj had got up somewhere near 5 in the morning and had taken a peek from the small window in the room and saw a million glittering stars in the sky. I was relieved. Miracles do happen in this world. With the first crack of dawn we were out hunting pics and we were not dejected. An Azzure blue sky was what we got. yayyyy!!.

I will let the photo of the morning talk for itself.

Now the Ropeway in Auli starts at 9.40 AM. That is the first trip. After capturing the sunrise shots I had one more outstanding thing to do before I left for the ropeway. There are two temples which are close to my heart, A lord “Narasimha and a Vasudeva temple”. Also the Badrinath “Lord Narayana” is also worshipped here during the winter months. I had to observe my services to the lord who had given us a Azzure sky blessing. Needless to say that the temples are brilliant and very colourful. You are not allowed to take photos inside the temple.

The left wrist of Narasimha is incredibly thin and gets thinner every day. It is said that when Kali-yuga overtakes the world, the wrist (arm) will break and the mountains Jaya and Vijaya (near Vishnu Prayag) will collapse and block the present road to Badrinath. The new Badrinath will be relocated at “Bhavisya Badri”, about 23km southeast of Joshimath.

Now it’s 9.30 in the morning and we took our tickets in the counter for the ropeway. Each ticket costs 400/- per person and that includes the roundtrip. You need to specify how much time you will spend in Auli and when you wish to return. The carraige itself travel every 20-50 minutes gap depending upon the tourist strength.

Some details of the ropeway :

Track distance : 4.15Km

Altitude at lowest terminal : 1906mts

Altitude at highest terminal : 3016mts

Capacity : 25

Total Ascent : 1110mts (yayyyy!!!!!)

Travel time : 25 minutes

Speed : 3 m/sec (hehe)

There were around 7 people excluding us 3 for the first trip. The ropeway is very smooth in motion and you really feel good. The gripe being that the glasses were pretty scratched, so you do not get good photographs. But the view and the experience is their in my mind perfectly.

I will again let the photos do the talking.

Nanda Devi peak is a colossus 7816mts high and the first time the ropeway operator showed us was spell binding. The photos do not do much justice to the beauty. There are trails that head towards the peak from Joshimath.

We had the customary Maggi noodles and a cup of tea for the breakfast. We took a pair of snow shoes (Rs 50/- per shoes for a full day). These shoes are bought from the Army themselves (that is the claim of the guide). They are good enough for a feet of snow easily.

We then decided to do some skiing. We enquired about the pricing and the guide said it would take 350/- per ski. We took one and took rounds in trying out skiing. The slope as such was already peppered with ski lines from the German foreigners who had accompanied us. The ski boots itself is very heavy and hard. It is difficult to walk for the first few minutes until you get the hang of it. Pankaj took to the slopes and enjoyed to the hilt!!! I was much happier to stay back and shoot him, Lest I feared and sprained ankle will not let me get back home in one piece.

It was already 3 in the afternoon by this time. We then packed our bags and headeed back to Joshimath. We had thought of covering some distance before the last day and so we thought of heading up to Rudraprayag. We started at 5 from joshimath and reached there by 9 having dinner in Karnaprayag.

Day 4 : Dance back to Home.

The last day started at 7AM from Rudraprayag and we reached home by 8PM in Noida. The ride was fast and furious!!! period.

Come to think of it, This has been an amazing journey and the best gift that anyone could have hoped for at the start of a new year especially after we dropped the “HKD trek” plans.

Even after coming back I cannot hide my shameless smile when people see the pics and go “Holy god WTF”, “You must be joking!”, “This is not India!!”. Ignorant people who have never stepped out of their well. period.

Lastly, all three bikes were flawless in their service. Even after three of them taking a tumble, they kept working like clockwork.

Trip to Narkanda & Hatu peak

Following are some of the photos from a trip to Narkanda and Hatu. Covered it in the weekend of November (24, 25).

















Cheers!!
Enjoy!!!
Sri

5 day RoadTrip to Gangotri

5Days RoadTrip to Gangotri from Delhi
Altitude : 11,000+Feet
Round trip distance : 1100KM.
Duration : 5 days (21 Sep -- 25 Sep)
Team :

1. Pankaj : 180 Dtsi Pulsar
2. Jay : CBZ Xtreme
3. Me : 150 Classic Pulsar

Route: Noida<-->Meerut<-->Muzaffarnagar<-->Haridwar<-->
Rishikesh<-->Tehri<-->Uttarakashi<-->Harsil<-->Gangotri

Day1 : Journey Begins


Got up early by 3AM. Took bath and got fresh. Finished all the packing into my cramsters. Loaded them onto the bike and off i went to the meeting point by 3:45. The meeting point was decided as "Sab Mall" in Atta Mkt of Noida. Within 5 minutes, both Pankaj and Jay had also arrived. Reset the trip meter and off we went towards Ghaziabad-->Meerut NH58 highway road. All three of us knew our strengths and weakness in riding at graveyard shift times. All of us took turns in being the wing rider. Distance were covered in not much of fuss. Finally at the crack of dawn we were out of meerut and took our first break at a small dhaba. Sipping hot chai and seeing the beautiful colours of rising sun was refreshing. Also the air had a very pleasant smell. 15 mins gone and we were back in the saddle belting out kms after kms.

I had apprehensions of the state of roads when Muzzafarnagar came close. The construction has been going on for quite some time. But atleast the side which we were going had been finished so keeping the speed was not much of a difficulty. The odd Jugads which were a common sight in rural india were starting to irritate us.

Entered haridwar at the stroke of 12 with some more breaks in the middle(courtesy sutta breaks for jay). One thing was sure, it was hell negotiating the traffic in haridwar and it was even worse in Rishikesh. We almost took 45 mins to get to Rishikesh from haridwar for a paltry 25 odd km.

By 1 we started our ascent into the hills. The initial climb is impressive to say the least. You climb quite high within the first 30KM. The view just before Narendranagar was fantastic of the plains and Ganga. The roads which had looked good uptil Narendranagar started deteorating pretty fast. We had our first sight of what a landslide does to the roads in the hills just after narendranagar. Half of the section of the road had collapsed and a 500ft drop was staring at us.

Gulped lunch late in the afternoon at a roadside dhaba. Comparing to the number of dhabas you find in Himachal, i think Uttaranchal is sparse in it. You dont find big banners screaming that it is the finesh Vaishno dhaba. Chances are that you wont find any boards either. Lunch is a simple Dal, chawal and roti.














We crossed Chamba in good time and reached New Tehri and our horrors started. We completely missed the turn towards Uttarakashi and instead drove a good 20KM towards the Dam at the bottom and well inside the city itself. Also the views made sure we did not doubt the road we had picked. Only when we reached at the dam did we realise we were in good trouble. It was already half past 4 when we reached near the dam. There were two options

1. Kaccha road 10 KM before which would connect to the main road after circumnavigating the whole dam.
2. Normal road, for which we had to backtrace a good 25KM.

All three of us being very adventurous, we decided the kaccha road. When we came to the entrance of the kachha road, it did not look bad but horrible. There were mini boulders everywhere and the speed had dropped to crawling or walking pace.Still managing with our best of efforts we were trying to maintain close to 20Kmph. Now the ultimate deceit came from the villagers in Tehri. They said that it is not more than 5KM, but it was close to 25Km. The only saving grace is that we got all the angles we wanted to see of the lake and the dam.

It was 6.30 when we reached the normal road and darkness had fallen. Ok now we were in the saddle for more than 15 hours and our bodies were tired like hell. We had to concentrate double as hard on the road. Almost all the turn and curves were ladden with loose gravel and fine sand and you could feel the back wheel stepping outside easily and you cannot bend too much lest you want to loose the front into the sand and wash out.

Surprise.. Surprise... In Uttaranchal, nobody rides at night (Private and public busses, taxi operator.. you name it). It became very clear we were the only three aliens riding for more than hour. The worst part of it is that you see villagers just strolling around on the road all of a sudden and in the darkness it can lead to you having wild imaginations and the eyes of dogs == eyes of some man eaters from a distance. By 8PM we reached a small hamlet called "Kandi saur" and we still had 60KM of rugged terrain to cover to Uttarakashi. We decided to shack up as all three of us were exhausted to core. The hotel (Krishna Residency) was neat and well maintained and had a TV also. The room rent was 400/- a little high but we got a TV and hot water through shower.

Day 2: Atlast in Gangotri



Tiredness ensured that we all got ready by 7 in the morning. Had a good cup of chai and withing 15 min we were again on the road. Till now from Tehri the roads were really not great and apart from the views there was nothing exciting.

Little did we realise that the stretch of 60KM to Uttarakashi will bring a big smile on our faces. The roads were freshly laid, no sand or marbles on the corners and curves and all three were taking curves with liberty. As we neared the city we got the first sight of river Bhagirathi flowing in all glory. We reached Uttarakashi by 12 and had our lunch there in one of the hotels. The roads are very dusty and dirty and it is basically clogged all the time. Topped up the bikes with petrol as we did not know if there would be anymore of them elsewhere in the road (Even Gangotri). Got out of the place and we had another 100Km to go to Gangotri. The initial 20Km really sucks and the traffic is very dense.



Then came the famous stretch which is landslide prone and simply saying you dont see any paved roads for the next 30Km. Any former dirtbikers or avid enthusiasts will love this stretch. Complete with mud, muck, rocks, boulders, fine sand. It will test your and bikes capability to go over the hard stuffs completely. One thing i noticed is that if the air pressure were dropped by a few Psi while going over sand and mud, it enables you to ride much better becuase of the increaded area of tire contact on earth. We were lucky that the traffic was almost nill and still luckier that there were not any rains and the landslides that accompany them. But saying that does not give you free ride, there are atleast 6-7 stream crossings and two of them being very nasty ones. Both of them were wide and had very slippery entry and exit into the stream. Also at the bed of the stream there lay very smooth and loose boulders. There are also stretches of wet muck especially around the mettalic bridges and road construction and clearing areas. You need to be especially careful choosing your lines and you slide at the slightest burst of throttle. The best way i found out was to keep feather light grip on the handle but enough to correct when the front tries to wobble and grip the thigs tightly on the tank to ensure that the back of the bike inline.

Another one of the gems that we came across was a small hamlet called "Sukhi" just before Harsil. After the offroad trip this place sits a top of the hill overlooking harsil city and gives you one of the best 360 degree view. This hamlet also has presence of the army and a small barrack is stationed here. We three were green with the envy of them. Stayed at the place for sometime and then headed down to harsil.

Now again Harsil has an army cantt and a pretty scenic spot on the banks of the Bhagirathi river. We again stopped at this place for a round of chai. We have officially termed ourselves as "Chai ki Tankii". It was getting around 4 when we left harsil and there were still a good 30 odd KM to cover to Gangotri.

Atlast, peace, salvation when we reached Gangotri at around 5.30 (in one piece if i may add).

As it was an off season, there was absolutely no rush except for the last batch of yatri's who wanted to catch the darshan before it began to snow here. Gangotri closes after the "Diwali festivities" are completed. We found a cheap double bed room near the mandir for 150/- per night (Unbelievably cheap). The room was facing the Bhagirathi and the gushing sound is pretty deafening. Now around the temple and the city itself are some towering peaks, Its sad that they were not covered by snow but in their own respect they are huge. After ditching the luggage in the room, we went to the temple and payed our respects. Also we then went to the "Bathing Ghats" and if you hold your hand in the water for more than 30secs, chances are that you will have frost bitten them easily.

Now comes the interesting deal, Although i have said that this was a 5 day roadtrip. Initially we had planned it as a 3 day Road trip. We had miscalculated horrendously bad and it had taken us 2 days to reach here itself. So what next you would be asking? Put leaves on the fly or take them at will... :) was what we decided and hearing about the beauty of "Tapovan and Gaumakh" our hearts got tempted even more and we decided that the next day we will go as far as possible towards
Gaumukh and return by the end of the day back to Gangotri. We were told that Gaumukh is not possible in one day (lest you are a fast walker on the high alititude).

SO then the plan had gone from 3 day to a royal 5 day Roadtrip and considering that one does not have any mobile phone service here, we considered ourselves that this was the blessing in disguise of Ganga ma to us (Or fear that you might receive the pink slip on arrival of office).. :)


Day 3: Drooling Gaumukh trail

The plan was simple on Day3, go as far possible on the Gaumukh trail and suck in the ambience and the beauty. The trail to Gaumukh starts besides the temple complex. The path is an ardous one and it is imperative you have good set of shoes to do this trail. It will be mighty difficult if it were to rain in these trails as there are boulder and stony paths at some areas. We were able to do a roundtrip of 8Km while pankaj was the most eager fellow and did a roundtrip of 13KM. I will let
the pictures do the talking about the trail and remember we did not even get close Gaumukh or Tapovan.. So we can only drool as to how beautiful they will be.

Came back by 5 into the room and all of us were doggedly tired. All 3 of us hit the sack and slept for an hour or two. It was late evening and we had our dinner early to catch some sleep before the journey back to Noida.












































Day 4 & Day 5: Future planning

We left early by 7 and we were pretty much sure that we will staying at the same hotel on Day 1. So we went at an easy pace and took plenty of stops. We purchased apples from the orchards near harsil (Rs 15 per kilo. What a bargain?). Needless to say that this apple tasted awesome to the ones we see at home. By 5PM we were at the same hotel. Put the bags in the room and went out for a round of "Chai", It started raining immediately and what better way to spend the evening sipping chai and having samosa. (Ahh.. the memories are good).


The next day was a routing dash to home. The dash getting better due to rain which kept the temperatures low and gave out a fine mist covered mountain views. Just before Tehri, the mist got really bad and we could not see anthing more than 20meters. Couple of hair rising incidents with rogue taxi drivers and we had managed to get to haridwar by 4.30PM.

Finishing lunch in haridwar, we hit the road by 5.30 and we were comfortably cruising on the highway. The night driving was a bit of pain because of the immense oncoming traffic and the dust. We reached Noida by 10.30, took a photo and parted our ways with a contentment that we had never felt.


But all three of us will agree on one thing if people like you who are thinking about going there.

Read my lips... DONT MISS GAUMUKH & TAPOVAN for anything in the world.

















PS: All the fantastic pics are courtesy of Pankaj & Jay. I had been a bit lazy & unfortunate not to have brought my camera to add to the J collection we have.