[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

The road ahead and Chandrabhaga following us



























continued...

[BolBolero]

Originally Posted by laluks

In the entire episode I was just a mute spectator confused with the varying demands the day had.
So that is the reason there aren't any photos at the spot where we stopped!!

1. We are moving forward from Khillar, which meant we must cross Sach pass before sun goes down
2. Taking the Swifts along meant we halted at Khillar - the best choice
My initial plan actually, which was discussed with HVK! Not that it mattered!!
3. With out the Swifts moving ahead - who will help the swifts in bad territory
This is something I was more worried about! Who would pull or push out the Swifts??

I had no answers. It was a tough call to make and HVK had to decide to move ahead. It meant leaving a part of the team behind. Well at times leaders have to make tough decisions. And mind you these decisions make the team strong towards the end.
Actually none of us had any answers, we were all shooting in the dark, so to say! But in hindsight a very good decision! May not have gone down well with everyone on that day!
With no mobile network at all and no information exchange possibilities, it was really frustrating to say the least in such scenarios.
+1 to that Sir!

Originally Posted by hvkumar

One of the major reasons for the decision was that KSM-vTEC was a tough egg, capable of handling any situation, and he was very firm that he would try his level best to scale the Sach Pass, but did not want to be a handicap for the 2 SUVs. He was also of the view that if the going really gets tough, he would turn back there itself.It was left to his judgement to take that call.
And I was hoping KSM-Vtec would make that call, rather than put the team and the cars at risk!
You may recall that the decision to come on the Sach Pass was an "insane" decision he had taken and he was pretty determined to make that attempt with or without our support: Shockked:
After completing the drive from Udeypur to Thindi and then to Khillar, KSM-Vtec's decision to attempt Sach Pass in a Swift seemed to border on lunacy I would say!!

I was quite happy to see so many Bolero pick-ups in these parts and the drivers were friendly guys who could also be depended upon to help out in need.
No offence meant, but IMHO it isn't the same as having your team help out in times of need

At that point when we reached Khillar, we estimated that the Swifts must be at least 1-2 hours behind - and we were not even counting the time lost in repairing the puncture (which we got to know only later). Time was already 230 pm and had we hung on there waiting for the Swifts, we would have had to call off the drive towards Sach Pass that day since I did not fancy our chances of driving in the darkness.
Needless to say, this decision of mine can always be debated.....were we running away for our own selfish goals to reach Chamba?
Sir, there wasn't and will not be any debate. You were the leader, you took the decision, it had to be followed! Period

On a lighter note, Mumbai Roadsters "Everyone in the two SUV's was feeling really bad about leaving you guys behind, but we consoled ourselves with the fact that the leader of Mumbai Roadsters a.k.a KSM-Vtec would understand the predicament we faced and we were also hoping that the two Swifts had turned back towards Keylong, to try to cross via Rohtang Pass or Srinagar."

Much to our surprise....

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba


We stopped waiting for the Swifts to catchup. I roamed around the place looking out for some interesting things to click.

I found these fellows




Chandrabhaga




Smelt some flowers too




While I was busy with these activities, HVK turned back and went in search of the Swifts. After a long wait HVK came back and we moved on.



Swifts were no where to be seen.

continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

Soon we reached the end of Lahaul.


There was an amazing bridge, and a huge waterfall


Some photoshoots
















I walked over the bridge and clicked this


The other side was Panghi Ghati








continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

We moved on














We reached Panghi




Another Killad Manali Bus, the second one seen in this route


continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

We saw some people after a long while








School?


More greenery










continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

We saw a caravan






Another bridge


BolBolero


The calf did not expect a speeding scorpio there


Purthi to Ajog? May be next drive



This is one great initiative, thanks to that we can drive to all these places


Road ahead












Some Hydel project in the making



continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

Killar at a distance





















continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

We reached Killar by 14:30 hours


Thanks to these people we have some roads to drive




A glacier far away


A milestone


She was not amused at our predicament


We checked with these ladies about the turn to Sach pass.


From here we took a left turn to Sach pass. If we go straight I guess we will reach NH1B at Kishtwar. That is for our next drive

continued...

[laluks]

Day 21
1st September 2011
Key Long - Sach Pass - Chamba

The first look towards the route to Sach Pass








continued....

over to HVK for the next part

[akaush]

Amazing pics LaluKS.

I really regret not continuing the journey after Kaza. Missed all the fun.

[hvkumar]

REACHING CHAMBA

Even before the trip, we had a Plan A & a Plan B for this sector.

Plan A - On Aug 31, Drive from Tso Moriri to Sarchu, since I was sceptical about the large car convoy's capability to cross Sarchu before 430-500 pm. So the plan was to stay back in Sarchu. Leave early next morning, cross Keylong before 9 am and stop before Sach Pass, since I did not want to cross it at night. BolBolero researched options and he found that there was some PWD Rest House in Khillar and nowhere else after that. Just before the trip, I also talked to Kesri who had just returned from Sach Pass & got the details of the only hotel in Khillar. After the trip began, we ran into Glenn & Saji (at Chitkul) when they were returning from Sach Pass and they also confirmed the hotel in Khillar (where they also stayed). So the Plan A was to drive from Sarchu to Khillar & then go on to Chamba-Dalhousie the next day. I was also prepared for a time overrun in this sector and in the event that ran too close for comfort for Lalu KS - who had booked in advance his air ticket from Bombay back to Bangalore on Sep 5 - I would do a non-stop dash from Chamba back to Bombay to catch up on the schedule and somehow reach back the night of Sep 4 or morning of Sep 5 so that Lalu could catch his flight.

PLAN B - This assumed that on Aug 31, we would reach Keylong from Tso M. If that happened, we planned to cross Khillar & stay back at either Bagotu check post (before Sach), Satrundi check Post (after Sach) or Tissa. This was based on reports from the mobikers (and some help from friend Naren Kaimal) who had stayed at the police tents in the check post at Satrundi. Where we stayed would depend upon the progress & onslaught of darkness that day.

PLAN C - this was not in the Plan! This is what ultimately happened.......

All those who I had talked to mentioned how difficult it was to cross the Sach Pass and the long time it took them to do the Keylong-Chamba (or vice versa) drive.

The mobikers had stopped over at Satrundi CP, did not do it in one sitting.

Kesri - took a seat in a HPSRTC bus & shared seats in Maxx UVs in 3 stages, Keylong-Khillar, Khillar-Tissa & Tissa-Chamba. Correct me if I am mistaken, Kesri. He reported that each stage took him 6 hours and but for the bus journey, all the others were in UV taxis, whose drivers knew the terrain inside out and could be trusted to do it as fast as anyone could.

Glenn, Saji (sj_joova) & Justin had a gruelling time, driving from Dalhousie to KHillar on Day 1 (evening Dalhousie at 9 am and reaching Khillar late evening), and then proceeding to Keylong all of the next day. SO they took 2 full days, and they were also driving a Scorpio.

So we were confident of going faster than any of the 3, but still reconciled to stopping somewhere en route to Chamba...........

[kesri]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Kesri - took a seat in a HPSRTC bus & shared seats in Maxx UVs in 3 stages, Keylong-Khillar, Khillar-Tissa & Tissa-Chamba. Correct me if I am mistaken, Kesri. He reported that each stage took him 6 hours and but for the bus journey, all the others were in UV taxis, whose drivers knew the terrain inside out and could be trusted to do it as fast as anyone could.

My stages in this section were like this:

Day-1 30-July-2011: By HRTC Bus - Keylang Dep 7:30AM ; Breakfast stop (30min) at Jhalma 9:15AM ; Udeypur Lunch (30min) at 10:30AM ; Killar arr: 3:40PM (with many other stops for tea, pax alighting/boarding) etc. Bus driver was driving in a slow relaxed manner all the way.

Day-2 31st-July-2011: Rest day at Killar

Day-3 1st-Sept-2011: By Share-Maxx - Killar dep: 6:45AM ; BreakFast-stop: 9:10AM 50Mins at Checkpost-Dhaba ; Sach Pass: 10:30AM 10Min stop at Pass-Temple and finally Chamba Arr: 4:15PM - My maxx driver was a regular for this route and expert driver. He probably knew every boulder on the track and stopped 5 mins under a waterfall, with windows closed, on the road before sach-pass, for his daily car-wash!

I will be posting links to my Story Blog and Pictures here on this thread ... once I see you guys have posted your Sach-Pass Pictures.
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[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by kesri

My stages in this section were like this:

Day-1 30-July-2011: By HRTC Bus - Keylang Dep 7:30AM ; Breakfast stop (30min) at Jhalma 9:15AM ; Udeypur Lunch (30min) at 10:30AM ; Killar arr: 3:40PM (with many other stops for tea, pax alighting/boarding) etc. Bus driver was driving in a slow relaxed manner all the way.

Your timings (Our timings):
Keylong-Udeypur, 3 hrs (2.5 hrs, but without breaks)
Udeypur-Khillar, 5 hrs (6 hrs, with break of 30 mts)

So we were slower than the bus, despite less scheduled breaks, but lots of unscheduled ones.

Day-3 1st-Sept-2011: By Share-Maxx - Killar dep: 6:45AM ; BreakFast-stop: 9:10AM 50Mins at Checkpost-Dhaba ; Sach Pass: 10:30AM 10Min stop at Pass-Temple and finally Chamba Arr: 4:15PM

Your timings (Our timings):
Khillar-Sach Pass, 3.5 hrs, with huge break, (3 hrs, no breaks)
Sach Pass-Chamba, 6 hrs, (5 hrs, no breaks)

- My maxx driver was a regular for this route and expert driver. He probably knew every boulder on the track and stopped 5 mins under a waterfall, with windows closed, on the road before sach-pass, for his daily car-wash!

My Scorpio also arrived squeaky clean! Especially the top!

I will be posting links to my Story Blog and Pictures here on this thread ... once I see you guys have posted your Sach-Pass Pictures.
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We will love to see both - any time, you need not wait for us to complete our blog!

[kesri]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

We will love to see both - any time, you need not wait for us to complete our blog!

Thanks HVK for permission to post my links early without waiting; as I am leaving for Chennai later today (if Vijay Mallya & KF don't cancel my flight meanwhile).

I was kind of holding back my post, so as to not "rain on your (rather IPHE) parade" ... so to speak! Anyway here it goes:

Last year in the monsoon season (July-August-2011), I did a 3-Pass backpacking tour over Jalori-Pass, Rohtang-La and Sach-Pass in Himachal Pradesh. In the end, the itinerary turned out to be like this:

25th July : Kalka -Shimla (Toy-train)
26th July: Shimla - Narkanda (HRTC Bus)
27th July: Narkanda - Sainj - Jalori - Shoja (HRTC Bus)
28th July: Shoja - Banjara - Aut - Manali (HRTC Bus)
29th July: Manali - Rohtang La - Keylong (HRTC Bus)
30th July: Keylong - Udeypur - Killar (HRTC Bus)
31st July: Killar (rest day)
1st Aug : Killar - SachPass - Chamba (By Share Maxx jeep)
2nd Aug : Chamba - Delhi (HRTC Bus)

Detailed story in my Blog here: https://sites.google.com/site/suhana...46-hp-backpack
(see sub-pages in above for Killar and Sach-pass parts)

All Pictures (via Flickriver) in below links:

1. Shimla-Narkanda-JaloriPass-Shoja-Manali
Flickriver: Photoset 'HP1 Jalori Pass' by ks_bluechip

2. Manali-RohtangLa-Keylang
Flickriver: Photoset 'HP2 Rohtang Pass' by ks_bluechip

3. Keylang-Udeypur-Killar (Pangi Valley)
Flickriver: Photoset 'HP3 Keylong to Killar (Pangi)' by ks_bluechip

4. Killar-SachPass-Chamba
Flickriver: Photoset 'HP4 Sach-Pass' by ks_bluechip
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