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Old 3rd September 2012, 16:14   #406
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Quote:
Originally Posted by laluks View Post
Day 2
24 - July - 2012


Scorpio comes through the waterfalls!
Attachment 973739

continued...
HVK sir, you are truly the Indiana Jones from India

It is always a pleasure to read your posts and great snaps from Lalu too.

Common sense prevailing at Kashmir is also something nice to see and hear.
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Old 3rd September 2012, 18:00   #407
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Hi HVK,
When is Sinthan Pass get closed in winter? Early in winter (i.e. November itself) or later in Winter i.e. December, January around? When it gets open again after the winter? How about Land-slide scenario during the dry months?
BTW, a bit stupid question, what about routes to Pahalgam/Gulmarg etc which are the normal tourist circuit, during winter? Do they also get closed or they are all-weather?
Regards,
Kaushik
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Old 3rd September 2012, 20:18   #408
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

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Originally Posted by kaushik_s View Post
Hi HVK,
When is Sinthan Pass get closed in winter? Early in winter (i.e. November itself) or later in Winter i.e. December, January around? When it gets open again after the winter? How about Land-slide scenario during the dry months?
BTW, a bit stupid question, what about routes to Pahalgam/Gulmarg etc which are the normal tourist circuit, during winter? Do they also get closed or they are all-weather?
Regards,
Kaushik
The Sinthan Top road has been built in the last 2-3 years, and I doubt if there was any serious effort to keep it motorable even in early winter till now. I would expect it to be closed from end-Nov to mid-May, similar to conditions in Zoji la, although we need to see how things go this year onwards, probably the first year when there are proper roads across the Top.

This region sees heavy rainfall and expect land slides during Jul-Aug. As you saw from the photos of the Mughal Rally this year (screened in earlier post), there is lots of snow melt and resulting water crossings, slush & stones on the road.

Roads to both Pahalgam & Gulmarg remain open in the winter and the latter is a very popular skiing destination. It starts snowing in Gulmarg from mid-Dec onwards & I remember driving my Matiz on snowy roads on Dec 23, 2002 - here are some photos of that:


My Matiz on the road to Gulmarg on Dec 23, 2002
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-40329423703_0_alb.jpg

Gulmarg on Dec 23, 2002
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-53140523703_0_alb.jpg


Views from road to Sonmarg on Dec 21, 2002
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-88178423703_0_alb.jpg
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Old 4th September 2012, 19:43   #409
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

The roads looked pretty inviting - I really missed my Civvy
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9815.jpg

The recent tarring is evident
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9816.jpg

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Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9823.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 19:51   #410
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

The greens continued...
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9825.jpg

We were nearing the plains

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9826.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9827.jpg

Madam Safari
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9828.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9829.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 19:56   #411
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

We drove on - cant believe
JK has such wonderful roads
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9830.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 20:07   #412
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

Somewhere near Lisser, Agent Vinod and HVK asking for directions.
Agent Vinod had to go back to base camp as he was called back by the Commander . Agent Vinod had to abandon this mission to take up a challenging mission back at base. He bid us goodbye and continued his journey back to base camp.
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9837.jpg

As a token of our appreciation we presented him with a leaf of this tree
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9839.jpg

Though a bit sad that Agent Vinod was called back, we continued on our drive.



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Old 4th September 2012, 20:15   #413
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

We drove on
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9841.jpg

Thought for a moment the house was on fire
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9842.jpg

This fellow was the culprit

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9843.jpg

We were nearing Khanabal, Srinagar is another 55KMs

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9846.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 20:22   #414
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

We reached Khanabal
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9850.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9851.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9856.jpg

There is a message in this SUMO, did you find it?
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9848.jpg

Another Juggaad
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9858.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 20:28   #415
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

The Chinnar trees started showing up
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9857.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9860.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9867.jpg

Roads are getting widened
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9864.jpg

Srinagar is another 32KMs
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9865.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 20:35   #416
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

Srinagar is another 20KMs
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9868.jpg

This is the golden land (both side of the road) in which Saffron is grown
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9869.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9870.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9871.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9874.jpg

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Old 4th September 2012, 20:50   #417
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

Srinagar is just another 8Kms
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9875.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9876.jpg

Finally we reached Srinagar City by 13:00 hours

Some direction boards
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9878.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9880.jpg

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Old 5th September 2012, 13:18   #418
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Quote:
Originally Posted by hvkumar View Post
Tyari-Sansari

How about this one to jog you up today morning? A true walking-on-the edge experience! This is where hoped that I had a IMAX wiiiiide camera!

Tyari-Sansari 3 - YouTube

Note that the entire road is a climb and not flat as it appears due to be, it is a climb all the way

Or maybe this one.....

Tyari-Sansari 4 - YouTube

The "road" had loose soil, tyres can lose their grip, so you have to be careful to keep up the momentum, most of the driving in the Safari was in first gear - so said Agent Vinod - but in the Scorpio, I was doing 3rd gear mostly, occasionally 2nd & slipping down to first whenever there was a U-turn hairpin bend (yes, there were some nasties like that too!)

"Are these roads only for one way traffiic? If not how do you manage a situation where you have a vehicle coming down in the opposite direction"
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Old 5th September 2012, 20:09   #419
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

HVK took us to Shankaracharya Temple
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9881.jpg

A Goa registration - Its common that the vendors move to Goa when it is offseason in JK
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9882.jpg

No photography allowed at the temple. We spend an hour there.

The parking lot had a lot of vehicles
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9884.jpg

We returned back by 14:30 hours

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Old 5th September 2012, 20:14   #420
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Re: Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts

Day 5
27 - July - 2012

The view of Dal Lake
Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9885.jpg

Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9886.jpg

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Cliffhanger Himachal, Hidden Kashmir and a search for Mughal Ghosts-dsc_9904.jpg

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