[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

AFAIK there is no accomodation at either Chander Tal or Battal unless you are carrying your own tent. Battal is just a turn off point.

Alternatives are - go on and stay at Losar, which would be stupid unless you have plans to go on to Kaza.

Better option would be to drive from Manali to Chander Tal and return tp Gramphoo - accomodation is available (not sure of Gramphoo) at Kokshar/Sissoo or better still Keylong.

Keylong-Pang is not difficult but at Pang also accomodation is very basic.

July is better than June, and September is better than July. You have to be wary of heavy rains in Himachal during July, but I think that is a decent time to travel without OTR driving.

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Keylong -Pang can be easily done in one day, no issues.
The probability of Gramphoo-Losar being decent is about 35-40 % especially with the news of unexpected rains in those areas now a days.

Thanks for clarifying the Keylong-Pang issue.

I think I am gonna do this:
Day 1. Noida-Manali
Day 2. Manali-Keylong
Day 3. Keylong-Chandratal-Keylong
Day 4. Keylong-Pang (Stretch to Leh if possible)

Does the plan for day 3 sound feasible?

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

I think I am gonna do this:
Day 1. Noida-Manali
Day 2. Manali-Keylong
Day 3. Keylong-Chandratal-Keylong
Day 4. Keylong-Pang (Stretch to Leh if possible)

Does the plan for day 3 sound feasible?

But why are you going to Keylong on Day 2? You have to come back to Gramphoo to take the road to Chander tal. Which means 4 hours extra to and fro Gramphoo from Keylong. Instead, I would suggest an early morning start from Manali (3-4 am), reach Chander Tal latest by 10-11, and turn around before 2 or earlier so that you can reach Keylong by 7-8 pm.

Keylong to Leh is ambitious if road is not good, but possible with another early morning start. I have left Jispa (1 hour beyond Keylong) at 515 am and reached Leh by 530 pm.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Instead, I would suggest an early morning start from Manali (3-4 am), reach Chander Tal latest by 10-11, and turn around before 2 or earlier so that you can reach Keylong by 7-8 pm.

Thanks for the information Kumarji, guess I am gonna follow your advice. One thing I wanted to ask is; how long does the daylight last in there. As in from what AM to what PM in July?

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Keylong to Leh is ambitious if road is not good, but possible with another early morning start. I have left Jispa (1 hour beyond Keylong) at 515 am and reached Leh by 530 pm.

Yup, being ambitious is the idea for this drive. Though I hope to be sensible too. We're gonna decide our halt after leaving Keylong on the fly based on how much distance we cover & daylight hours left. Maybe break early even and stop at Sarchu.

[sen2009]

I was just waiting for this thread to happen.

I have made plans for Visiting Lahaul- Spiti- Kinnnaur - Kaza from Mumbai this October.

My plan is as following -

Oct 7 8PM - EOD Oct 8 : Mumbai - Rewari/ Panipat/ Karnal
Via - a) Ahmedabad, Udaipur, Jaipur, Delhi Bypass
b)Nasik, Indore, Bhilwara, Ajmer, Jaipur, Delhi Bypass

Oct 9 - Rewari / Panipat / Karnal - Narkanda / Hatu Peak
Via Chail

Oct 10 - Narkanda / Hatu Peak - Sarahan
Via Baghi - a) Baghi - Khadrala, Sungri, Taklech, Nogli
b) Baghi - thanedar - Kotagarh



Oct 11 - Sarahan - Chitkul
Via Karcham, Sangla

Oct 12 - Chitkul - Kalpa (and Roghi)
Via Pangi.
Then, same day Kalpa - Roghi - Kalpa



Oct 13 - Kalpa - Ropa Valley
Via Giabong.


Oct 14 - Ropa - Tabo
Via Malling Nullah

Oct 15 - Tabo - Kaza (enroute Pin Valley)
Enroute - Kungri, Culling, sagnam, Mudh, Pin Valley

Oct 16 - in and around Kaza
Ki, Kibber, Tashigang, Langza Fossil Centre,Komik, Dumul etc.

Oct 17 - Kaza - Manali
Via Losar, Kunzum, Batal, (Chander Taal - if possible), Gramphoo, Rohtang, Manali


Oct 18 - Manali - Rewari / Jaipur (if possible)
Via Kiratpur, Chandigarh, Delhi, Jaipur

Oct 19 - Rewari/ Jaipur - Mumbai



There will be five people travelling. Me, my wife, my sister, my mom and driver. Exccept for mom, everyone else is reasonably healthy. However, any trekking is pretty much out of question.

Please advise on the entire route planning or segments. I have time in my hand so can rework it as many times as needed.

Thanks in advance.

[manver786]

Tentatively I am also planning to take the Shimla Sangla Route on 10th. My plan is to drive upto Narkanda on day 1 and then drive to Sangla/Sarahan and stay there for two days. Thereafter the programme will be made as the weather God permits and will try to come back from Manali. I hope the roads will be clear by then.

[hvkumar]

One quick suggestion would be to see if you can shift departure from Bombay to early morning (3 am). I suggest this for 2 reasons:
- The traffic jams at Surat BP and Ankleshwar are clear in the early morning
- A fast driver can reach RJ-HR border by end of the day

Ideal place to halt is Behror on RJ-HR border where there is an excellent RTDC Hotel Midway.

This plan will also ensure that you can cross Delhi early in the morning (before 7 am) so as to beat the traffic jams.

On the other hand, if you are keen on the night departure from Bomba, you can easily cross Delhi and target Panipat/Karnal etc at end of day. Ideally, you could stay at the Haryana Tourism motels which are there in most of the places in NH1.

You are getting into a dangerous period when snow fall starts - normally by first and second week of Oct, and that means both Kunzum la and Rohtang la may have temporary shutdowns due to snowfall.

Much also depends on teh intensity of this season's rainfall - the Kinnaur Valley gets heavy rainfall and roads get badly damaged especially around Malling, which lies on the road to Sumdo/Tabo.

Kaza-Manali is going to be a tough drive, especially if you also chose to go off to Chander Tal. Bear in mind that by that time of the year, there will be little water in Chander Tal. The day you travel to Manali, maybe you should leave very early - or stay over in Losar the previous night - so that you can reach Manali by evening.

Driving from Manali to Jaipur may be difficult unless you are going to be non-stop and lucky in combating traffic jams in Delhi that evening. Better idea would be to stop over before Delhi (Panipat, Sonipat, etc) and cross Delhi early morning and drive on as far as possible that day.

[breezydrive]

Originally Posted by sen2009

I have made plans for Visiting Lahaul- Spiti- Kinnnaur - Kaza from Mumbai this October

There will be five people travelling. Me, my wife, my sister, my mom and driver. Except for mom, everyone else is reasonably healthy.

Belive me, the itinerary is very hectic considering three lady members travelling along and especially your mom. I'll advise you to avoid Kaza-Manali part. If Manali is a must, then come back to Rampur & try via Jalori jot OR else via Karsog - Sundernagar - Mandi.

[manver786]

Sen2009,

Could you please let me know the approximate distances between the places you intend to cover and the approximate time to be taken from between October 10 to October 17. This info would help me in fine tuning my programme. I am planning to leave Delhi on 12/13th in a Swift VDI(ABS) with my family (2+2). I request senior members to advise on the route and the precautions to be taken enroute.

thanks

[lordofgondor]

Kumarji, how long does the daylight last while being on the Manali-Leh route. As in from what AM to what PM in July?

[hvkumar]

Day light roughly the same as Delhi region, 15-30 minutes less either way.
Ideally, start early at first light, 530-630 am, and end your day by 5 pm, so that you can avoid night driving.
Taxis on the route drive through night in some sections too - say, leaving Manali at 130 am and so on.

[phamilyman]

There is a dhaba at Chhatru - donno if its mentioned in another part of the thread.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Day light roughly the same as Delhi region, 15-30 minutes less either way.
Ideally, start early at first light, 530-630 am, and end your day by 5 pm, so that you can avoid night driving.
Taxis on the route drive through night in some sections too - say, leaving Manali at 130 am and so on.

Interesting about the day light time. Thanks for your input sir, now I can plan better as I was definitely looking to avoid driving during nights.

[indianrunner]

Hi,

On the way back to Blr after a Blr - Leh - Blr trip. The roads from Sirinagar were good when we went in end May. On the return we took the Manali route and the roads are reasonably bad. Very dusty from Debring onwards. The Baralacha pass is kind of one way in portions as the sides have thick snow which needs to be cleared. We got stuck in the famous Rohtang pass traffic jam for over 2 hours.

In Ladakh the roads are good except for a 7km stretch from Pangong Tso to the village of Spangmik, a 30km stretch to Tso Moriri and about 50 km stretch from Sumdo to Debring.

Rgds

[hvkumar]

Our friend pramods who is in Ladakh had a tough time, getting traffic-jammed in Zoji La yesterday (fresh snowfall) and stayed in Sonmarg for the night. Curfew in Srinagar last few days - he could not break out even in the early morning hours (as per Army's advice) and he continues to be stuck in Sonmarg for one day. He reported that Zoji La is in a terrible condition now,

[Rudra Sen]

That doesn't sound very encouraging.
hvkumar, don't you think that snowfall is bit heavy this year? This also means delay on road repairing.