[Swift Express]

Day 1 left thane at 1.45 am and reached hanumangarh in rajasthan at 9.30 pm. Thanks HVK sir for asking me to take the bhatinda hghwy. superb hghwy. saved me gd time. any advice for the road beyond

thanks pramod n bunny paji for the update. since we r 2 of us will take the risk with the vento. aiming for srinagar kargil in single day

[Tushargohil]

Thought to share with you, 400 trapped civilians rescued near Leh :-

Leh: Army rescues 400 civilians trapped in landslides - India News - IBNLive

400 trapped civilians rescued near Leh

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Swift Express

Day 1 left thane at 1.45 am and reached hanumangarh in rajasthan at 9.30 pm. Thanks HVK sir for asking me to take the bhatinda hghwy. superb hghwy. saved me gd time. any advice for the road beyond

thanks pramod n bunny paji for the update. since we r 2 of us will take the risk with the vento. aiming for srinagar kargil in single day

You can target Hanumangarh-Patinitop in a day's drive, or maybe even further till Srinagar, but if you arrive there late night, you may have difficulty finding acco.

[rnbohra]

on the way finally. Left Pune 0200 hrs 10-6-2012 reached Jaipur 1930 hrs. Realised the good side of petrol price hike and maybe the hot summer, practically empty roads. Will aim for Jaipur-Pathankot or maybe Jammu also starting 12-6-2012 @0400 hrs.

[Swift Express]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

You can target Hanumangarh-Patinitop in a day's drive, or maybe even further till Srinagar, but if you arrive there late night, you may have difficulty finding acco.

Day 2 - Could only leave Hanumangarh at 8:45 AM. Roads between Hanumangarh and Moga are in really bad shape. Looks like the Chautalas are in opposition for quite some time. The road through Chautala village ehhh there was no road in some places. The colour of soil on road and the field was matching and there were huge craters leading to broken axles on one loaded trailer. Had crawl in this section. Guess it was good practice for the bigger challenge at Zojilla. Reached Jammu at 7:00 pm.

The 1500 km drive done on day 1 helped me take it easy on day 2.Thanks once again for the advice

Day 3 - Left Jammu at 7:45 am. Plan was to cut off mrng traffic at some of the initial small towns atleast. But wasted 90 mins due to huge pile up before Katra Exit. Reached Srinagar finally at 5:00 pm.

One thing the J&K Cab drivers do not like being overtaked. Once you do that they will get behind you like crazy and overtake you to show who is the boss. Well the Vento is certainly not king of the hills and hence gave way smartly. Down here the Tavera is king i suppose.

[Swift Express]

Need help. Looking at the dodggy weather in zojilla and manali route should i buy some kind of a anti freeze solution for the coolant. Being from Mumbai i have no idea abou this.

[pramods]

Originally Posted by Swift Express

Need help. Looking at the dodggy weather in zojilla and manali route should i buy some kind of a anti freeze solution for the coolant. Being from Mumbai i have no idea abou this.

You don't have to buy anything, mostly the diesel here already have that, never faced any problem in last 3 trips, this time the temp were quit low or maybe this time there was a display to see the temp in car, went as low as -10C, but diesel was Ok.

-Pramod

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Why don't you stay at Kishangarh on Day 1, then take the Bhatinda superhighway to Hanumangarh, then Abohar, MOga & Jalandhar?

Originally Posted by Swift Express

Day 2 - Could only leave Hanumangarh at 8:45 AM. Roads between Hanumangarh and Moga are in really bad shape. Looks like the Chautalas are in opposition for quite some time. The road through Chautala village ehhh there was no road in some places. The colour of soil on road and the field was matching and there were huge craters leading to broken axles on one loaded trailer. Had crawl in this section. Guess it was good practice for the bigger challenge at Zojilla. Reached Jammu at 7:00 pm.

Since the Hanumangarh-Chautala-Bhatinda road was in a bad shape - and always - I had suggested you go via Abohar to Muktasar, Kotkapura & Moga to get to Jalandhar (see my above message), going via Bhatinda is always bad news.

Originally Posted by Swift Express

Need help. Looking at the dodggy weather in zojilla and manali route should i buy some kind of a anti freeze solution for the coolant. Being from Mumbai i have no idea abou this.

Add concentrated coolant without water, that will help avoid water freeze.

Originally Posted by pramods

You don't have to buy anything, mostly the diesel here already have that, never faced any problem in last 3 trips, this time the temp were quit low or maybe this time there was a display to see the temp in car, went as low as -10C, but diesel was Ok.

-Pramod

Yes, I also agree.

[Swift Express]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Since the Hanumangarh-Chautala-Bhatinda road was in a bad shape - and always - I had suggested you go via Abohar to Muktasar, Kotkapura & Moga to get to Jalandhar (see my above message), going via Bhatinda is always bad news.

Missed out on the second important part of your advice and hence lost precious time. But yes next time will surely take this route ahead of Hanumangarh.

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by pramods

Looks like Zojila is in same condition since start, I did the same on 22nd May and it was snowing that day, Yeti was having tough time crossing this pass, at some places the puddles are so deep that it can take the whole car, I did it in late evening as the pass opened after 2 days of snowing at 7 PM in the evening. In comparison Rohtang, Barlacha and tanglanla was easier and safer!
-Pramod

I did Zoji La on 2nd June and it was too bad then too. Today reached Manali and as per my observations:

Zoji La - The worst with uneven surfaces. Even Tempo Traveler and Mistubishi Outlanders had under belly hits.

Kardung La - South Pullu to North Pullu is bad and mainly due to uneven roads.

Chang La - The second worst pass. Was snowing the day I crossed and again uneven roads 15 kms on either sides of the pass.

Tanglang La - Road surface was good but had to drive through two feet of slush. I'll say the third difficult pass.

Rohtang La - Mix of water crossings, slush and uneven roads but nothing extreme. No more Zing Zing Nalla, A bridge has been built (missed the thrill of crossing the nalla in my car ) and now the entire Srinagar-Leh-Manali road can be done in day or night if you are familiar with the roads. No serious water crossings anywhere in Ladakh.

Interesting finds: I did find Honda city, Optra and even Chevy Cruze doing Manali - Leh road today and saw a Skoda Laura in Leh yesterday.

[indianrunner]

Has the cell phone connectivity improved or is it still only BSNL available outside Leh area?

Rgds

[BunnyPunia]

Yes, our Aria hit the under-belly couple of times at Z-la too (8th June). Massive jams and narrow, bad roads. The top is smooth though. K-top was closed (9th June) the day we wanted to do it (massive landslides the previous day).
Chang La (9th June): very snowy. Very bumpy! Mild snowfall for us
T- la (10th june): Yes, slushy is the word. However love the fact that roads are tarmac (from leh side) as well as sandy flat for quite some part.
Rohtang (11th June). Did it on a tuesday and hence no traffic encountered. Pretty dry as compared to C-la and T-la. Bumpy roads but pretty good tarmac one you go down towards Rohtang.
Saw one X6, 2 Q7s (not together) doing Manali - Leh. Saw sedans like Dzire etc too.

Indianrunner: Airtel went somewhere before Sonamarg and came back at Basgo plains before Leh. Went off 10 mins after karu (towards C la) and came back at keylong.

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

I did Zoji La on 2nd June and it was too bad then too. Today reached Manali and as per my observations:

Zoji La - The worst with uneven surfaces. Even Tempo Traveler and Mistubishi Outlanders had under belly hits.

Kardung La - South Pullu to North Pullu is bad and mainly due to uneven roads.

Chang La - The second worst pass. Was snowing the day I crossed and again uneven roads 15 kms on either sides of the pass.

Tanglang La - Road surface was good but had to drive through two feet of slush. I'll say the third difficult pass.

Rohtang La - Mix of water crossings, slush and uneven roads but nothing extreme. No more Zing Zing Nalla, A bridge has been built (missed the thrill of crossing the nalla in my car ) and now the entire Srinagar-Leh-Manali road can be done in day or night if you are familiar with the roads. No serious water crossings anywhere in Ladakh.

Interesting finds: I did find Honda city, Optra and even Chevy Cruze doing Manali - Leh road today and saw a Skoda Laura in Leh yesterday.

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

Rohtang (11th June). Did it on a tuesday and hence no traffic encountered. Pretty dry as compared to C-la and T-la. Bumpy roads but pretty good tarmac one you go down towards Rohtang.
Saw one X6, 2 Q7s (not together) doing Manali - Leh. Saw sedans like Dzire etc too.

12th is Tuesday. Did you cross Rohtang yesterday? I too saw the X6. Was yours the white Aria that I met in Tso Moriri? Mine is a grey 8
i20.

[BunnyPunia]

Dude - YES! (pic attached). Sorry for the typo : it should have been 12th, the tuesday!
That was me - we first met at Chang La (me going to Pangong, you going to Leh) and then at Moriri. That night, we drove to Leh and reached by around 11pm.

Yes, we stayed overnight at Keylong on 11th night, crossed Rohtang on Tuesday morning and hit Delhi by 11pm yesterday - and what a relief it was. No traffic at all at and around Rohtang. U can basically ride down to Manali from Keylong side on a tuesday (when its closed for repairs) but cant ride up. I am also told that with the permits, you can drive up to Rohtang too : I recommend everyone doing Leh from this side to hit this stretch on a tuesday!

Originally Posted by Harshavarthan

12th is Tuesday. Did you cross Rohtang yesterday? I too saw the X6. Was yours the white Aria that I met in Tso Moriri? Mine is a grey 8
i20.

[Harshavarthan]

Originally Posted by BunnyPunia

Crossed Rohtang on Tuesday morning and hit Delhi by 11pm yesterday - and what a relief it was. No traffic at all at and around Rohtang. U can basically ride down to Manali from Keylong side on a tuesday (when its closed for repairs) but cant ride up. I am also told that with the permits, you can drive up to Rohtang too : I recommend everyone doing Leh from this side to hit this stretch on a tuesday!

It never striked to me that Rohtang is closed on tuesdays. Anyways good for me. Keylong to Manali took just two and half hrs for me with breaks. But I did find a few vehicles crossing from Manali side. How is that possible?

And man, have to say.. You are TOO FAST