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I spoke to the MTNL customer care, they confirmed, BSNL is what they use outside Delhi. Plus they have a zero rental plan which is billed as per your actual usage (one condition - use 100 worth of services in the first 6 months).

I am thinking of giving this a try. While on trips will be helpful, otherwise can turn it into a gsm tracker for the car.

Hello all ,
I am planning to combine a trip to Sach Pass with one to Ladakh in month of sep .
I have some queries of sach pass after reading some TL / literature on the same , it would be of great help if the same could be resolved by the more experienced people out here :
1. The route is Pathankot > Kalatop >Chmaba>Satrundi check post > Sach Pass > Killad > Udaipur > Tandi.

2. Would cover the same over a period of three days
3. Is it possible to do Sach Pass in a Logan in sept ( i have neither four wheel drive nor the ground clearance of SUVs)
4. Is there possibility of snow hazard in this month.
5. In case am not able to do in a Logan can i be told what specifically would be the limiting reasons.
6. Any contact number of the FRH at Kala top and Killad.

Regards
Sumit

Folks,

Planning a trip this Aug, Sep. Below is the plan.

The plan is Mumbai - Mumbai as of now. Suggestions, tips, opinions welcome.

There are 3 of us, friends, who will be going. We are from 3 locations - Bangalore, Chennai and Trivandrum. Initial plan was to hire a self-drive vehicle (SUV) from Delhi and do the Delhi-Delhi trip. But unsure about the reliability of service & vehicle (we can't take chances for this trip), we set aside that idea as Plan B. As of now, the plan is to take my Fiesta 1.4 (P) to Mumbai where the other 2 will join me there and we proceed from there. Have few questions as well.

1. Is this plan doable in a Fiesta 1.4 petrol (2006, 38K on odo)? The vehicle is in good condition with new tyres and well maintained. I have seen other threads where Linea, SX4 and even an Alto doing this. So hopefully Fiesta should be fine during Aug/Sep. Any inputs? Suggestions are welcome.

2. Any good, reliable options of self-drive vehicles in Delhi? We are looking for SUV (Scorpio, XUV, Thar etc.). I have seen Carzonrent, and few other service providers, but just not unsure about the reliability - on their service front (condition of vehicle, documents), and vehicle front (vehicle condition). If we get a reliable option at a reasonable rates we would switch to Delhi-Delhi plan. Request help on this.

Below is the plan.

1. Avoid small car at Sach pass. some water crossings are really bad
2.Pathankot to Tandi is possible over 2 days of driving. First day stay on a spot about 50kms before sach pass
3. Some mild snow possible, but landslides are real possiblity
5. GC is a big issue, esp rocks in the water crossings


You are not really doing local sight seeing in Srinagar. So much better to go to Gulmarg(2-3 hours from Srinagar) if you start early from Pathankot
If you want to stay in Srinagar, do
Srinagar - Gulmarg-Songmarg, no point coming back to Srinagar

From Sonmarg, it can be one day drive (14 hours or so) if you start early. Will give you one extra day. Saturday DC office for permits may be closed, you never know, or have a half day. So I suggest start early and push to Leh, as Kargil is not worth staying in.

Pangong - Tso moriri is 14 hours as you will go via leh.
So Pangong to Sarchu is actually 2 days.

Stick to main routes, fiesta will be fine.
Just carry an extra spare in your boot.

From Sarchu, push to Kullu, couple of hours from Manali. Will give you more time for Delhi.

For Sept or late august, Fiesta would be fine, just be careful, and drive slowly. You will have to take care at water crossings. Like do recce on foot, see depth, size of rocks. Make sure your car has a sump guard. That is very much needed.

Thanks for the inputs Tanveer. If I understand correctly, here are your suggestions:
1. Srinagar - Gulmarg - Sonmarg (Day 5)
2. Sonmarg - Kargil - Leh (Day 6)

3. Pangong - Tso moriri : I did not quite get his. Does it require us to come back to Leh? Can't we do it via. Chushul - HorLa - Mahe in a day? Can you elaborate?

Other points noted. Thanks!

Chushul route is not advisable in a Sedan.
Even if you had 4x4, there is a good chance of permits denied.
Even with chushul route, its 11 hours to Tso moriri from Pangong Tso.

Hello ,
i have asked this query earlier also but i wanted a bit more reasoning , pls bear with me
THese two routes that am worried about , are they doable in a sedan if i fit All terrain tyres.If i have with me foldable ramps could i then use them for crossing the places where there isbig rock/dicey water crossing.I have a Mahindra Logan. my tentative time of travel in 3/4 week of sept or first week of oct.

Sumur >Khalsar>Agham>Tangyar>Wari La( 17300 ft)>Sakti>Chang La( 17650 ft)>Durbuk >Tang Tse(184 km)

Spangmik >Maan >Merak >Chushul>Satatho La (16500 ft)>Kakasang La(17880 ft)>Horla(16974 ft) >Mahe (142 km)

regards
sumit

I am planning kolkata to Leh this August in my BMW f30 320d.
Is it possible?

Yup very much possible. Just hire a flatbed, and load her up on that for the entire journey.
Jokes apart. Somebody took a mini to Leh, but...
1. It wasn't "their" mini. Press guy. So no worry about bills
2. Mini has a very short wheelbase
3. Mini does not have run flat tires
4. Mini had a fortuner/innova as a support vehicle.

Keeping all these things in mind, if you still wanna do it, do the Srinagar Leh highway. Most of it is tarred. Not sure whether the tires will survive, though!

I did not venture out there in my Honda city ivtech.
Instead I bought a Scorpio for my Ladakh trip from Mumbai.
That said and done I did see a couple of Skoda Lauras and a hyundai accent and maruti dzire along with a tata nano on the ladakh circuit.
You should be able to make it to Leh but from there on you might want to take the SUV route for visiting the places.
Also BMW has no service stations in the area and your run flat tyres may be tested heavily.
The BMW is a car meant to be driven on roads.
The Ladakh circuit involves good roads, bad roads and quite frequently, no roads.
However, if you are in the mood for adventure and are covered by zero depreciation insurance, feel free to go ahead.
Wish you all the best.

I was asking about upto leh.
From leh onward in my friend's SUV.
In leh i have a Friend's place where I can keep my beemer.

The Srinagar leh highway is okay, but I am not sure about those run flats. If you can swap them out, well you should be somewhat okay!

Thanks tsk.
Are runflats that bad than tubeless? BTW I have baseline thus high profile turanza runflats which I heard are little more forgoving.
I have emergency wheel kit with space saver as well and puncture repair kit.

Sumit, assuming this is your first trip in this region, both of this route you mentioned are tougher than usual routes. Moreover Ladakh taxis don't run on these routes usually. There are couple of water crossings on these routes. If you get stuck then getting help is very difficult. In August when we were there, One Innova from our hotel took this route and they stuck somewhere near Wari la in the evening. They had to spend entire night in the car (in a freezing cold) before next help arrived.

By the time you reach Sumur you would get clear idea about terrain, weather and performance of your vehicle. If you are confident enough then only take this route. Even I had these routes in my mind but after reaching there I changed the plan and stuck to normal routes. For hatchbacks and sedans its always a challenge.

The problem is with repair of run flats. Punctures and sidewall cuts can be common at this terrain. Sometimes, water crossings do hide sharp stones.
Runflats are very expensive. Moreover, due to stone scraping, your expensive rims could get damaged.
Best thing, spend 40-50K on a set of normal tires with cheap rims, and use them for this trip.
I think even one alloy+run-flat damaged will be more expensive than 50K. Right?

Doable on Logan unless there is ice on road. Can be a struggle.
There are a couple of rocky stretches where you can get underbody hits. Then there is sand section where larger wheeled(29.5" dia like safari scorpio) can still get through, but your tiny wheels will get stuck.
Chushul-Kakasangla was so bad last time I did it that even with 4WD low, I barely made it through. Got some underbody hits on the safari too. Small car can do it if BRO constructs the entire road.
Whether that happens or not, is anybodies guess.
Moreover, there is a good chance, that Chushul checkpost will send you back.