Ladakh in December

[abhi182]

yay, it's that time of the year again,....Time for my winter sojourn into the Himalayas ...
This year's intended destination is Kinnaur and Spiti while Srinagar/Sonamarg/Pahalgam is the backup destination if the former starts looking tricky

Intend to start from Chennai on the morning of 26th, grab a MUV in delhi and head to Kinnaur , stay in Kalpa for a while and then head over to Kaza

Intend to be back in Delhi by the next Sunday and head back to chennai by Sunday evening



And while on the topic, Thought I'll share some of the pics from my last year's trip

now that i have created a new thread on that topic in the itinerary section, I decided to share some of the pics from my 2007 Winter trip to Leh :grin:

Heading to Pangong


The Dalai Lama's Summer palace



His holiness sure knows how to pick the best possible spot


View around the palace








Frozen rivulets




Way to Chang La



My Pro - Trek died in the cold (fortunately to live again)


Water freezes in side the car with heater on at full blast








contd:

[abhi182]

Valley beyond chang-La







First glimpse of the lake






The seven colored Pangong - tso


















Time to head back



getting cloudy and dark at Chang-La


Chang-La may seem docile but is one of the most treacherous passes I have done

Way to Nubra



Smooth Tarmac


Lone Petrol Pump

[abhi182]

The Indus meets the Zanskar



Land of the Gods



The Mighty Indus - Shores freezing up


Some random frozen fall



The sandy hills of Lamayuru


Way to lamayuru



Destination Nubra,
advised return by the army jawans from Khardung-La top :(
(apparently major snow was predicted that night which meant we'd have got stuck in Nubra if we proceeded further and tried to return the next day)



Way to K-Top






Unexpected traffic jam


Qualis does a spin





Whoa, look at that road

here is hoping the Spiti trip turns out to be equal, if not better :cool2:

[rkbharat]

Amazing is the word, and that last pic is my favorite

[akas_chauhan]

That's nice. TFS. Did you do any winter sport activities over there?

[greatDrive]

Oh my god, That too cold.
How can travelers survive this kind of cold?

[abhi182]

Ha, the cold was actually fun for a while ..esp given the fact that I spend most of my time in the perennially hot & sultry chennai

[vinit.merchant]

Amazing and Beutiful.
How did you manage the Fuel? Did you stack it up in a container?
My guesses are that Pumps would be a rare sight there.

Also, you seem to be a regular visitor to this side of the country, since you know quite some things about the places there, considering there are no other vehicles to be seen on the road. Also, Do you travel with family? Aint it scary out there?

[Locomotive]

Fantastic pics mate. I am amazed you went to Ladakh at this time.

Did you take the Manali Leh Route or did you fly down to Leh? I thought the Manali Leh road would be closed by now and under heavy snow.

give us more details, please. Eagerly waiting for more.

[abhi182]

flew down from Delhi
There's no other way to reach Leh around this time of the year but by air (unless you want to take chances via the srinagar side - (Zojila may be open)

It indeed was family trip (no kids though) jointly brewed between I, the lady and a still single friend in Leh

the driving was between primarily the two of us (i and friend...all those snow covered roads were giving teh lady some jitters) but we hired a supposedly pro army driver (retired) to negotiate the tracherous chang-la for the trip to pangong
bad decision in retrospect because he was little too adventurous and was speeding around a turn (which both of us wouldn't have done) which caused the tailspin you see in one of the pics

Fuel again wasn't an issue as we Leh was our base and tanking up his ever dependable qualis was usually sufficient for most outings (except the planned itinerary to Nubra, which we unfortunately couldn't accomplish - major snow was predicted that night which meant we'd have got stuck in Nubra for at least a day or two if we proceeded further and tried to return the next day)
minor hiccups apart, Leh in the winters is an altogether different (and often surreal, esp outside leh town) experience which I'll gladly recommend to anyone who is willing to bear few hardships to walk outside the proverbial beaten path

[Locomotive]

Oh fantastic. I have already started dreaming of going to heaven in the winters. your Pics are really good. Just keep them coming

[WasavaTyres]

Lovely pictures. You sure had a lot of fun.

[hellstar]

breath taking pictures and can only say that your really lucky to be there to see all this in person, this is one place which has always managed to evade my plans every year for the past three years

[recker_us]

I crossed Chang La enruote to Pangong Tso in August thsi year. Its was freezing cold. Snow was still present at the side of the road that time.

Its amazing to know that the road is doable in Decemeber also.

Cheers,
JP

[sqwall]

Great pics.
Would love to do this trip sometime myself.

Cheers