[Mik]

Originally Posted by asr245

Hey,

So have you made this trip yet? I am planning a trip in end Jan/Feb beginning to Joshimath/Auli but not sure about the road. I know a City wouldn't make it so choice of car is between a WagonR or a DZire.

Please do let know of the road condition if you do plan or have made the trip. Thanks.

Hey! I decided to go to himachal for my year end vacations since there are reports of lots of snow at many places. For uttarakhand, i did hear that Dhanaulti has received snow. To track this more, you could visit the bcmtouring thread.
Regards.

[asr245]

Originally Posted by asr245

Thanks for the report Chaunfa! I actually did that trip about 1.5 months ago so it's done & dusted.

Maybe a bit of briefing about the condition of the road.

- Vehicle: Maruti DZire VDi.
- Journey: Dehra Dun to Joshimath, a total distance of about 310 kms in about 10hrs (couple of 15-20mins breaks included).
- Route: Dehra Dun - Shivpuri (Rishikesh bypassed) - Devprayag - Srinagar - Karnaprayag - Nandaprayag - Chamoli - Joshimath
- Road condition: seemed to vary according to number of landslides on the given day. Forward journey was good with 90% of the journey on good to reasonable roads. On return journey we encountered a couple of instances of landslides + an overturned trailer truck.
- Driving: Sedate (90% 2nd gear, 10% 3rd gear in hills). Probably could have been more sedate as roads are narrow and any kind of miss would most likely be fatal. I can say that as only a month ago my wife lost her uncle on the same route.

Advice:
1. Be really careful with how much you speed, and visit Auli (in winters) only if you love snow/skiing. There's nothing else besides that.
2. The last 6-8 kms of the road from Joshimath to Auli was completely covered with snow. Cars and SUVs without 4X4 will not make it to the top unless you are prior experience in uphill/downhill driving in snow conditions. Snow chains are preferred even by locals.
3. For the above journey there's a cable car ride from Joshimath to Auli but had not been working for a few months. Alternatively local cabbies charge about Rs 1000 for the 10km journey.

For anyone who's interested - did the same trip again this year in Jan. Same car, road conditions more or less the same but now the cable car from Joshimath to Auli is working. They charge 750 for a round trip (there is no provision for a 1 way trip) and it takes about 20-25 mins. They have only 2 carriages (20p capacity - no seating) which leaves in tandem about every 30 mins.

[mainakit87]

Hi Members!

I am planning to do a road trip in Uttarakhand from Delhi in Feb 2016. My preffered route is below
Delhi-->Nainital-->Kausani-->Joshimath/Auli-->Almora-->Delhi
Most probably I shall drive a Figo for this trip and have 8 days to do this. Is this route doable in Feb in a Figo?
Any information on this route is highly appreciated.

BHPians please let me know.

[bhpbreather]

Reviving an old thread - Has anyone been upto Joshimath recently and can update the condition of the roads also if it is possible to go till Malari or Niti in a 2WD Mahindra Scorpio. Any information will help.

Thanks.

[shekhar_gogoi]

Reviving an old thread. Has anyone done this route recently from Delhi? Which route to take and any route restrictions? Thanks in advance.

[beemerf30]

Hey Everyone.

I am planning to travel to Auli on 10th December 2020. Has anyone been there recently? Please share your experience about the road conditions! Is there a chance for snow on the road.

I will be travelling in my BMW 3 series F30. Will the ground clearance be an issue or should we take a SUV (Hyundai Creta)?

Inputs appreciated.

Thanks.

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by beemerf30

Hey Everyone.

I am planning to travel to Auli on 10th December 2020. Has anyone been there recently? Please share your experience about the road conditions! Is there a chance for snow on the road.

I will be travelling in my BMW 3 series F30. Will the ground clearance be an issue or should we take a SUV (Hyundai Creta)?

Inputs appreciated.

Thanks.

IMHO, It would be better to avoid BMW if you have the option!

The roads are undergoing widening and particularly the stretches in Shivpuri - Devprayag- Kirtinagar regions are in bad shape.

In September 2020, we had to take a longer detour to reach Srinagar from Rishikesh via Tehri. We were in S Cross 1.6. An alternative would be to approach via Kotdwar and avoid Rishikesh altogether. Even 25 km stretch of Haridwar to Rishikesh is in bad shape.

Auli gets snow around last week of December but weather is unpredictable this year. My friends in Nepal have told me that some regions have got snow yesterday, which normally get snow around New year.