[laluks]

Day 09
20th August 2011
Kaaza - Jispa

A reminder of natures fury


A chorten en route


Snow Capped Peaks






Baby Alto


Swifty


Swifty - KSM-Vtec clicking


NJ striking a pose




continued...

[laluks]

Day 09
20th August 2011
Kaaza - Jispa

We reached Kunzum La by 09:00AM


Altitude of Kunzum La


Some views from Kunzum La






Snow melt by a stone!


The chorten of Kunzum La


Our beauties at Kunzum La


Discovery Bolero at Kunzum La


continued...

[laluks]

Day 09
20th August 2011
Kaaza - Jispa

The oldest (SS) and the youngest (no_enthu_da) Team members at Kunzum La


SS rejoicing that we had made it


NJ trying to Help HVK to the bonnet. HVK's finger got under the bonnet and HVK screams with pain


Pained HVK looks on


SS cheers HVK


HVK strikes a pose at Kunzum La


NJs turn to pose


NJ and no_enthu_da playing with snow




no_enthu_da, SS and JP at Kunzum La


The team at Kunzum La


Papa Scorpio and Baby Alto


Discovery Bolero


The one and only Mumbai Roadsters


By 09:15 we moved on from Kunzum La

continued...

[motomaverick]

awesome shots of the bolero in the backdrop of the snow capped peaks, specially with nj, ts & jp in the foreground

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by k149in

Atlast, I could read the entire log at a single shot. Very lively thread. Swift crossing the river was scary. Could some one elaborate why small cars need to be towed instead of driving through? I have heard my friend drive his Swift in heavy flooding with water level as high as the bonnet.

The reasons why we towed the Swifts & the Alto - without even them trying to cross the water on their own - were as follows:

- Water flow was too Swift!
- There were lots of boulders and tyres could get trapped between them
- Being petrol cars, high revving engines, they would have to use their full power to go past, but in the process they may hit their underbody
- The Scorpio & Bolero tyres fell into one of the crevasses but brute power and some quick acceleration got them out immediately (as you can see, the Sumo was not so lucky and had to struggle at the same point)
- We were not confident that they would not be swept away

As you can see, unlike flooding in a city, depth did not really matter in this case, it was the uneven terrain and the velocity of the water flow that led to the decision that the small cars should be towed across.

[codelust]

Simply awesome coverage and captions of the stretch from Kaza. The doggie looks more to be saying "take me along" than "don't go". Kunzum with snow looks so different from Kunzum without snow.

We started much later than than what you guys did due to the pump at Kaza having problems and ran into trouble at the first crossing. I took a left of center line through that one and hit a patch of loose gravel under the water and the left front of the Swift dug in. We did manage to drive her out after a bit of effort.

I never use full power in such situations. You'll only damage the car and/or get wheelspin. It is much better to keep a decent momentum going that gives you enough grip and a bit more of power when you want to cover an undulation. Only place where I really gunned it was at the crazy crossing after Zing Zing Bar because I could see a clean line, any other line meant getting stuck.

[STARCHILD]

Attachment 830113

Are those outhouses in the background? If yes did any one avail their services?

[KSM-Vtec]

Originally Posted by k149in

Swift crossing the river was scary. Could some one elaborate why small cars need to be towed instead of driving through? I have heard my friend drive his Swift in heavy flooding with water level as high as the bonnet.

Originally Posted by hvkumar

The reasons why we towed the Swifts & the Alto - without even them trying to cross the water on their own - were as follows:

- Water flow was too Swift!
- There were lots of boulders and tyres could get trapped between them
- Being petrol cars, high revving engines, they would have to use their full power to go past, but in the process they may hit their underbody
- The Scorpio & Bolero tyres fell into one of the crevasses but brute power and some quick acceleration got them out immediately (as you can see, the Sumo was not so lucky and had to struggle at the same point)
- We were not confident that they would not be swept away

As you can see, unlike flooding in a city, depth did not really matter in this case, it was the uneven terrain and the velocity of the water flow that led to the decision that the small cars should be towed across.

I would like to add to that -

1. Uncertainty - The Silver Swift video that you see where was the first small car that attempted the crossing. Rather than getting into a situation where the car is stuck midway and then trying to put on the towing rope we decided to play safe. In fact if you notice, we got into that situation where we did not succeed in the first attempt and even the bolero lost traction and i had to wait in the middle of the stream.

2. Front Overhang & Ground clearance - If you notice there was almost a 90 degree step on the way out. We were not sure if the front overhang & ground clearance of the swift will become an obstruction.

3. Good Anchor IF the Swift slips

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by KSM-Vtec

I would like to add to that -

1. Uncertainty - The Silver Swift video that you see where was the first small car that attempted the crossing. Rather than getting into a situation where the car is stuck midway and then trying to put on the towing rope we decided to play safe. In fact if you notice, we got into that situation where we did not succeed in the first attempt and even the bolero lost traction and i had to wait in the middle of the stream.

2. Front Overhang & Ground clearance - If you notice there was almost a 90 degree step on the way out. We were not sure if the front overhang & ground clearance of the swift will become an obstruction.

3. Good Anchor IF the Swift slips

I guess the swift lost a mud flap as someone was shouting that something fell off from the swift when it was surging ahead out of the water. Are both petrol swifts? One has been slightly modified i guess, any issues in such crossings?

[KSM-Vtec]

Yes the mud flap and the fog light cover fell off due to the climb on the exit.

Both the swifts are petrol

The Silver swift in the video has 205/55/15 section yoko s drive tyers (summer sport) and 15" after market rims. It also had a full front to back FFE but we put back a stock endcan to make the car silent for this trip. It had a conical KnN filter but we put back the stock setup for this trip for better protection from dust & water.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

I guess the swift lost a mud flap as someone was shouting that something fell off from the swift when it was surging ahead out of the water. Are both petrol swifts? One has been slightly modified i guess, any issues in such crossings?

[parsh]

Guys seriously I am just holding on to see how you guys made with those Swifts and Baby Alto in lap to the Grampoo. Our Innova recently went there in Oct start, Noida-Kaza-ChandraTaal-Manali-Noida route. HVK and Vivek had given good incites on the route and Dinesh's travelogue too proved quite useful. Although, the water was less, the roads were pretty non-existent and it was seemingly a Off-Road aventure for the low GC Innova.

Amazing thread all the way, been hooked onto it since the beginning and been a silent reader all through checking every day on the updates every now and then on this. What a feat guys.

[laluks]

Day 09
20th August 2011
Kaaza - Jispa

We slowly started the descent from Kunzum La.

The unfinished roads on the other mountain


Some views of the river






HVK waiting for others to catch up


The convoy slowly arrives


By 09:45AM we reached the fork where we have to take a detour to Chandrataal or continue straight to Batal


I was probing HVK can we at least go till where we can go and then decide? He says OK. Asked TS to joins us and asked all the other team members to wait at the fork till we return. We drove off towards Chandrataal.


continued...

[laluks]

Day 09
20th August 2011
Kaaza - Jispa

Initially the roads look good towards Chandrataal


After about 7Kms from the fork we had to turn back here


Boulder on one side and the edge of the road fallen off. Very dangerous proposition


HVK took some 20+ iterations to reverse the Scorpio in this narrow road, with me shouting over my throat and running back and forth giving HVK precise position of the front tyres.

HVK Scorpio ready to go back.


HVK seen looking at the river thinking deep


HVK quite happy to have gotten at least this far


The view of the river from where we turned back




Chandrataal - we will return back to you for sure.

We returned back to the fork by 10:30AM and continued together with the convoy towards Batal and reached Batal by 10:45AM. We stopped for a much deserved breakfast break here. 5 hours of drive and 86Kms drive from Kaaza.



continued...

[tsk1979]

Originally Posted by laluks

Boulder on one side and the edge of the road fallen off. Very dangerous proposition
Attachment 830301
.

Actually that bolder has been there since more than a year.
When I did chandertaal last year, we had to cross it with foodguards of the safari scraping the boulder, and one tire right at the edge of the cliff.
Harsh later did it, and boulder was still there.
Its sort of a permanent feature now.
At few other places also road has gotten very narrow, such that big SUVs scrape the sides while negotiating it.

[shipnil]

IPHE team you had mentioned that only BSNL mobile numbers worked in that region. Is there any restriction if it has to be a postpaid number? What about other operators?