[libranof1987]

Originally Posted by Sugeeta

Would look forward to detailed updates from your end and will just copy & paste your details onto my travel plan.

Well, if you guys are in for an impromptu plan, we'd love to have you as company! More the merrier.

PS : We'll be leaving on Monday.

Only problem is I will be travelling with a husband (who hates to drive, and if asked to, drives like a maniac) and 3 kids aged 13, 16+ and 20+. The genre of rock music they patronise drives me nuts.

Lol!

[Sugeeta]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Well, if you guys are in for an impromptu plan, we'd love to have you as company! More the merrier.

PS : We'll be leaving on Monday.



Lol!

Thanks a lot for the invite. That was very generous of you. However, I would be in Bangalore office over the weekend only to return by Monday afternoon.

Will have to be in town next week to take delivery of the new fiesta.

Would look forward to more plans in the future.

Cheers
Sugeeta

[manver786]

Hi,
Noticed the thread today and have gone through it. To clear your doubts about the road conditions, in the year 2008 I went to Badrinath and Mana in my pocket rocket (Swift VDI-ABS). It was accompanied by a Wagon R. Yes there were certain pockets which were bad but nothing deterred our vehicles and the ride was smooth. Even our Delhi-Gurgaon roads are bad as compared to the roads in HP/UK. We took Delhi-Meerut-Kotdwar-Srinagar route and came back via Roorkee-Muzzarnagar. The Wagon R had to maintain momentum on gradients on Joshimath-Badrinath road but the Pocket Rocket went smoothly. I understand you are taking you NHC. In so far as the ground clearance is concerned rest assured there won't be any problems. To encourage you further, in the year 2009 We did Tribal Circuit in our Swift VDI i.e. Delhi-Narkanda-Sarahan-Sangla-Kalpa-Kaza-kunzum-la-Rohtang-Manali-Delhi. In this trip we (2+2) thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip. What matters is your confidence in your vehicle and little patience on hills. Go, enjoy and revert with travelogue as I intend to go to VOF and Hemkund Sahib from 21st/22nd instant. Even the trip to Binsar was done in my Zen (1996) sometime in 2004 and there was not a single bit which was missed by the car.

[libranof1987]

^^ Thanks!

Yea, we'll be leaving tomorrow morning in our ANHC.

One question to regulars - is it necessary to carry original RC?

ETD is 5am 8th August '11

[bluevolt]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

One question to regulars - is it necessary to carry original RC?

It will be better to take original RC if you are leaving your City. Otherwise photocopy is sufficient for daily purposes.

And yes good luck for your journey.

[phamilyman]

horribly disagree

hope u got my pm n left the rc at home.

[phamilyman]

Gangotri is closed. Just out of a 3 hour land slide clearance at kalia sour 18km short of rudra prayaag

On a side note,Garwhalis are the crappiest idiotic drivers in this country.

Where's u libran.?

[libranof1987]

Fellas, I am back from the trip. The trip went amazing and slightly disappointing (understandably). The detailed TL will be up shortly.

Until then, here are the route updates :

1) Delhi - Haridwar : Good when it is 4-lane but terrible at the single-lane stretches. Everyone is just very rash and I've had an awful evening driving on that stretch. The 3-day weekend made it worse.

2) Haridwar - Hrishikesh : Good when the road is clear (read : mornings). Terrible jams (especially at the 2 railway crossings) during evenings. You'll spend about 1.5 hours for this 25km stretch

3) Hrishikesh - Srinagar : Decent but extremely bad in 3 patches.

4) Srinagar - Rudraprayag : Decent but there is 1 spot where there's constant land-slide. We were lucky to get past it while going and coming but people have been stuck there for 2 days.

5) Rudraprayag - Joshimath : Not good; there are umpteen stretches where there are landslides and people have been stuck for days together. (Esp. Gauchar)

6) Joshimath - Govindghat : Very bad; half the road is washed off almost consistently. So, mostly single-lane traffic. You'll take 2 hours for this 25km stretch if you're lucky to have clear roads.

7) Govindghat - Badrinath : I'd suggest no one even think about this right now. The road has 5 extremely dangerous land-slide zones coupled with thick, wet slush. There are 2 extremely dangerous spots where water comes on the road : 1) Pagla nala 2) Kanchen nala. The Kanchan nala is a disaster waiting to happen with about a feet water on an extremely corroded road going down at high speed.

Overall, do NOT do this trip if you want to have fun. Our main aim was to go to Valley of Flowers which is prime only in August hence we didn't mind.

The rains have become incessant all thru'out Rudraprayag onwards hence the situation will get only worse.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

horribly disagree

hope u got my pm n left the rc at home.

Yep, had taken the original RC.

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Where's u libran.?

Just got back home right now.

[phamilyman]

Hey man,
Well detailed, we're stuck in rudraprayag waiting for shirobhagad landslide to clear!

Disagree completely on joshimath govindghat btw.fantastic tarmac, we did it in 25 min at 730 am

The horrible area is pandukeshwar about 6-8km ahead of govindghat parking which is terrible. We had very very close shaves on a landslide just out of pipalkoti with tennis ball sized rocks flying ahead of our car! Below is a SMS report I shared with friends at badrinath :

Tens of Sump busting land slides, badrinath had 15+ water crossings, 4.75 hours waiting for landslide at shirobhagad to clear. VOF needs one full day ex ghangharia, we did 4/12km only, drove through landslide with tennis ball stones flying before my windshield. Aur kya bacche ki jaan loge?

I think 66rcc 21brtf should be scrapped n outsourced to someone competent like L&T. Two ancient bull dozers which rest >50% of the time ... Jesus. These guys are a national disgrace!

PS : I'm sure the horses at ghangharia were trained by one of Sanjay Gandhi loyalists : free vascetomy guaranteed in 590 bucks along with a core fitness workout if u come downhill . My hamstrings never hurt more. Good to climb though. ESP hemkund whose 1st 3 km have a 23.5% gradient starting at 3100m or so. The horse took 2 hr 10 including breaks n I walked down in 2 hours despite many breaks offering glucose water. Runners can surely wrap it up in 60-70min

[libranof1987]

Govindghat - Badrinath is a nightmare!

Originally Posted by phamilyman

Hey man,
Well detailed, we're stuck in rudraprayag waiting for shirobhagad landslide to clear!

Tell me about it!

On the way up, I drove thru' a mud-slide!

Disagree completely on joshimath govindghat btw.fantastic tarmac, we did it in 25 min at 730 am

The road is 1-way with half of it gone down the valley in some stretches! What speed did you drive at? Probably you had a free road at 7.30am.

The horrible area is pandukeshwar about 6-8km ahead of govindghat parking which is terrible. We had very very close shaves on a landslide just out of pipalkoti with tennis ball sized rocks flying ahead of our car!

Pipalkoti - we started late from Rudraprayag because our hotel manager found out that there was a jam there. Thankfully, we were stuck only for 3 hrs.

Hope you get home quick man

[phamilyman]

Oh man, I was in rally mode n there was little traffic to govindghat.

Seems we're stuck here today too. Mumbai style rains man!!

[phamilyman]

And we're not getting out today. Here is some well meaning but silly volunteers!! They could be killed if the hill so much as sneezed!

[bantejas]

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Fellas, I am back from the trip. The trip went amazing and slightly disappointing (understandably). The detailed TL will be up shortly.


Overall, do NOT do this trip if you want to have fun. Our main aim was to go to Valley of Flowers which is prime only in August hence we didn't mind.

The rains have become incessant all thru'out Rudraprayag onwards hence the situation will get only worse.

I am not a avid trekker or anything, but I do visit the Himalaya once every year and have been doing it for quite some time now.

Try to avoid UK in July Aug. The rains play havoc there and people usually are stuck for ever. The best time for VoF is usually Aug End to Sept 2nd week (of what I know). The roads usually are disaster and yeah, for the first timers it is a sort of wake up call.

Originally Posted by libranof1987

7) Govindghat - Badrinath : I'd suggest no one even think about this right now. The road has 5 extremely dangerous land-slide zones coupled with thick, wet slush. There are 2 extremely dangerous spots where water comes on the road : 1) Pagla nala 2) Kanchen nala. The Kanchan nala is a disaster waiting to happen with about a feet water on an extremely corroded road going down at high speed.

A lot of people go to Badrinath every year and it is pretty safe if the safety measures are taken care off. My parents go to VoF and Badrinath every year (some times twice as my dad loves VoF and mom Badrinath) and haven't faced much of an issue. This is Himalaya for you :-).

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Overall, do NOT do this trip if you want to have fun. Our main aim was to go to Valley of Flowers which is prime only in August hence we didn't mind.

Depends on what you call fun as. I was stuck in Uttarkashi (thankfully we reached that place some how) for a week after our trek. We could not venture out of uttarkashi at all!! One fine day we thought that we'd leave and we had to walk past several landslides and after 50 kms (30 kms of walking, 20 kms of hiking, thanks to the jeeps stuck between two landslides), we reached to chamba from where we got a cab to Haridwar. It was fun!!

Try to take the public transport as it is faster than getting stuck in a pvt vehicle.

Tejas

[phamilyman]

Anyways we attempt to escape rudraprayag via khirsu in an hour. Pray for us

[phamilyman]

and we've escaped! Khirsu-Pauri-Kaskhet-Satpuli-Kotdwar-Delhi it was.

What a complete mess - saw half a truck sized boulders fallen on the road near kotdwar (in the reserve forest) - completely fed up of these rains - its wreaked complete havoc all around!