[tsk1979]

Bring it on!
Its good to see a Laura tackle those terrains.
Waiting for you to get to the "actual ladakh circuit"

[F150]

Anshuman, awesome report. Laura 2.0 TDi DSG. I am waiting for your detailed report about the performance of the DSG in those terrains. How frequently was the AT changing gears etc.

Originally Posted by dkaile

If a Laura can do it why not a Superb! .

Saheb, looks like you are completely neglecting the falcon these days. Very bad

[Hatari]

Great pics. I think you have just given Skoda their 2013 calendar!

[arup.misra]

Excellent start anshuman

Every picture is worth a print. Keep it going. I'm sure a lot of us would be interested in knowing how the DSG fared in the mountains and how did it fare in the T-fort domain.

[Farukh]

Anshuman, this indeed is a great travelogue. Leh-Ladakh seems to be THE destination for BHPians. Laura's beautiful car and one of my favorites too. Just like many other people, I intend to do Leh-Ladakh from Hyderabad. Won't tell about the timeline, its flexible. rohittunga from Blore did this feat with his mom and 2 elderly aunts in a Linea. Guys like you never cease to impress me. The photographs gave me a virtual tour. Like somebody said "poster material". We also would like like to see a couple of pictures of you and fellow travelers. Keep it coming

[mempheS.D]

When a little pride glows in my heart, a mild pinch of letting a beauty with low GC coast on those roads makes me yearn for more. Bring it on.

Assuming you did not have to put up with any untoward incidents, since the car seems to be in great shape, I still hope it wasn't too much of a mess except the muck on the car.

Btw, I love the TBHP sticker on the windscreen. Had never thought of that before..

[mobike008]

Jaw dropping stuff Anshuman. Hats off to you for deciding to take your Laura on such tough terrian. I am sure each time the underbody scrapes or hits something, the heart jumps in the mouth. Doesnt it?

Excellent pictures too and waiting to see the real Ladhak and also will wait for the final post where you plan to outline the difficulties and performance of the car.

Planning to do a Ladhak trip ( via. cab) in late december and Jan. Would it be a dangerous time?

Rated a well deserved 5*.....

[RS_DEL]

You own a Fortuner as well. Then why this choice of taking a non-suv class vehicle to such a terrain? Was this decision based on some research of vehicle capability and terrain or simply on the basis of experience of others?

[pushkark]

Note from Mod: There are several spelling & grammatical errors in your posts. This negatively affects the board experience for other readers.

Kindly ensure that you proof-read your posts prior to submission. Also, it would be a good idea to use spell-checkers.

[rajeevn]

Great going, Anshuman. Crisp, clean and very pointed writing—and some excellent pictures. And great to see the Laura did it—I have one too, but don't have the heart (or the guts) to take it to the higher Himalayas. The Yeti is there to do all the grunt work in the mountains.

Thanks for beginning a great travelog, and keep it coming in.

[v&v]

Anshuman awesome shots. Your TL refreshes our sweet memories of Leh trip in 2010.
Did you go all the way to base of Thajiwas glacier at Sonamarg ?
Also i could not identify the location of the last photo in your first post.

[laluks]

Beautiful start. Lovely pictures.
Laura near the blue waters look really stunning.
Also the rough patch where Laura is carefully treading is a classic shot.

Waiting for the events to evolve.

[.anshuman]

Day 3









Went to bed at 2000hrs last and woke up at 0800 in the morning, that was 12 hours of sleep! My battery charged good enough to drive for 2 days non-stop.

Actually we wanted to leave early in the morning but out Attendant who also takes care of Army convoys advised us to start late. We were ready to leave by 0900hrs, we decided to have Breakfast at Sonamarg market since we were not sure about any eataries before Drass. Spent almost one hour to have Aloo-Pyaaj Paranthas.







There was a bad landslide at Zojila two days ago and it was closed for a day, few people lost their lives and 3 trucks were trapped under landslide. Our attendant warned us of really bad roads on freshly cleared section. Local cabbies even said our car won' be able to cross Zoji la. Going by others reports and travelogues Zojila has been one of the toughest passes this season and now these fresh slides!!





The section before Zoji la climb was smooth. Once the climb arrived, the patch was bad, really really bad considering we had enjoyed nice roads till now. The newly carved route had deep truck tire tracks making it impossible for our car(not suitable even for SUVs). Worst part was sharp rock edges all around, they might not do much harm to the underbody with careful maneuvering but tires sidewalls were at risk. Covered majority of the climb in 1st and 2nd gears, traction for most part was not an issue, finding the best approach required concentration. One slippery climb required us to back up a little bit, climb down, plan the best approach to attempt with some momentum and avoid any underbody hits. Traction Control light was working overtime for these slippery climbs, rocks were a little wet, may rains from previous night. Managed to cross without scrapping underbody.










I realised one thing, there would be no means to control unnecessary wheelspin in an Automatic transmission car without traction control, as there is no manual clutch to modulate. Overall Laura performed well, never missed Manual transmission. First gear in this DSG is very short, sort of a pseudo low range, slots in only when required, even at crawl pace car was at good 1500-1700rpm, a good almost peak torque spot.

Zoji la Top was well carpeted with cement roads. Sonamarg to Zoji la top took us exact one hour, we were at the top by 1100hrs. Descending from Zoji la was effortless, most of the section was good and freshly laid. The landscape changes dramatically after Zoji la, this is where Ladakh area starts. The greens start to shrink, replaced by barren, dry and huge mountains. The traffic on this road is sparse compared to the super busy Jammu-Srinagar stretch.

To be continued..

[rohittunga]

Hey Anshuman you've captured some amazing pictures. I'm so happy to see cars like yours and mine doing the Leh trip. This inspires so many people to do something which they thought would be impossible to do in sedans. That too fully loaded ones

[DieselDestiny]

Ladakh ina Laura, Sounds so surreal Anshuman!!
Own a Laura myself too and kind of afffirmed the tough car it is.
Way to go