[aviorp]

Originally Posted by arvind71181

Lovely travelogue and great pics. Finish the log sooner cant wait

Thanks arvind. I'll do my best to post as fast as I can.

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Wonderful travelogue there. Is it the same route that HVK and Laluks did but in opposite direction? Those cliff-hanger sections are pretty scary stuff.
Loved those Khajjiar photographs. That place is so beautiful, hope someday I'll be able to be there.

Thanks Kaushik. You're right, its the other way. Cliffhanger coming up today.

Khajjiar is and will be spectacular. Hope you do soon.

Originally Posted by motomaverick

Wow Avinash thats a lot of pictures for the Sach pass climb nicely captured the entire route till the summit. I am just wondering how the IPHE Swift team managed in the dark and fog on these roads, kudos to them!

So you were only two adventurous folks in the scorpio?

Thanks motomaverick. Appreciate you taking the time off and following this thread. Cheers.

If I remember it right, HVK and Bolero did the stretch in the night too. The road and weather was pretty much the same, including the fog, but unbelievable, how they managed to do it in the night and worse, how the swifts did it. I guess, they must have crossed the Bhoot ground around 12AM and evern surprised the bhoot

Mumbai Roadsters : Just in case, you all are reading this, take a bow! Total respect man.

Yes sir, just the two of us till Srinagar and then my wife joined us.

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Day 6 : Aug, 23rd

Route : Bairagad - Sach Pass - Khillar - Tiyari

Simply loved this. Completely worth going through rough, narrow roads

If I remember it right, HVK and Bolero did the stretch in the night too.

I prefer doing ghat sections at night too. I feel it is safer since all oncoming traffic is visible from kilometres away.

Cheers!

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by lapsi

Simply loved this. Completely worth going through rough, narrow roads

Thanks a lot lapsi

I prefer doing ghat sections at night too. I feel it is safer since all oncoming traffic is visible from kilometres away.

Trust me, there is a lot of difference driving in the night in a stretch like this, than in a ghat section. You don't want to be doing that.

[aviorp]

Descent from Sach Pass

Having done some of the passes like Nakeela/Lachungla and likes last year, I was under the impression that the descent would be slightly easier. Then, I got reminded about what HVK sir mentioned over the phone. He said, 'The descent is a lot tougher than the ascent'. I din't quite understand but after taking a couple of turns, I realized what he meant.

After spending sometime, we came across this guy and he wanted us to give way for his flock



I requested him to give some time to finish our photography session and he said something like, make it fast

I went looking from where this thing was coming from



We soon began the descent, after bidding goodbye to the summit



Few pics of the massive glacier,













This is pretty much how the road was. Its uneven, rocky and the slope made the situation worse. So, I drove real slow and tried to avoid breaking as much as possible, fearing it would wear out the break pads. I realized how slow I was, when we reached Tiyari



Bhoot Ground!



Here is something interesting I picked from the net.

Immediately below the pass is an open space known as the Bhoot (demon) ground (ground full of ice with a Glacier is ideal for ice skating and ice skiing). There is a heavy rock lying on one side of the ground, which is said to represent a Rakshas (demon). People believe that before the pass opens for travel the goddess turns the demon into rock to avoid any harm to travelers. When the pass closes she brings him to life to serve her. In support of this belief, it is argued that every year this rock changes its position.

Spooky!











We were heading towards Pangi!



Trademark roads!



Huge!



We then came across this beautiful stream!



Spent a lot of time admiring this beauty,



Bagatu check post from far



We reached the checkpost around 1PM





Saw the blue sky after a very long time

[Coooolcat21]

"Ladakh, can be addictive. One can never be satisfied with a single run to this mystic place."
Your opening line is so true and everyone who has travelled to this land will agree in total. I have been quitely following your log since the begining and enjoying my visit all over again thru your log.
Rated 5* Thank you for sharing,
Regards

[lapsi]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Trust me, there is a lot of difference driving in the night in a stretch like this, than in a ghat section. You don't want to be doing that.

I know and I love it and trust me that I do. I do not have 30+ years of driving experience for nothing

When I said ghats, I meant all mountainous roads, including Himalayas.

[arunu]

Super Pics,Thanks for sharing.

Its heaven on Earth for sure.

Wheres the Red beauty. Have not seen Dzire in action.

Pl upload some pics of Dzire also.

[doctorque]

Originally Posted by aviorp

If I remember it right, HVK and Bolero did the stretch in the night too. The road and weather was pretty much the same, including the fog, but unbelievable, how they managed to do it in the night and worse, how the swifts did it. I guess, they must have crossed the Bhoot ground around 12AM and evern surprised the bhoot

Mumbai Roadsters : Just in case, you all are reading this, take a bow! Total respect man.

Good stuff buddy. Great to see the places that we passed by but did not have a clue how the surroundings actually looked like. Guess will have to Pass Sach again to experience the beauty there is.

Appreciate your comments, only some one who has done Sach will know how would it be in a Swift at mid night.

A Big Thank You from the Mumbai Roadsters.

[sam003]

Really scary roads but I enjoyed it and truly loved the pics. One questions roads were wide enough to take scorpio and bigger vehicle too? Like Fortuner?

[aviorp]

Originally Posted by Coooolcat21

"Ladakh, can be addictive. One can never be satisfied with a single run to this mystic place."
Your opening line is so true and everyone who has travelled to this land will agree in total. I have been quitely following your log since the begining and enjoying my visit all over again thru your log.
Rated 5* Thank you for sharing,
Regards

Thank you so much. Appreciate it. I can imagine, how nostalgic it might be for you, when I get to Ladakh/Spiti sector. Cheers.

Originally Posted by lapsi

I know and I love it and trust me that I do. I do not have 30+ years of driving experience for nothing

When I said ghats, I meant all mountainous roads, including Himalayas.

Thats amazing sir. Hope you do this sector soon.

Originally Posted by arunu

Super Pics,Thanks for sharing.

Its heaven on Earth for sure.

Wheres the Red beauty. Have not seen Dzire in action.

Pl upload some pics of Dzire also.

Thanks a lot Arun. The Dzire went via Jammu and we will meet in Srinagar.

Originally Posted by doctorque

Good stuff buddy. Great to see the places that we passed by but did not have a clue how the surroundings actually looked like. Guess will have to Pass Sach again to experience the beauty there is.

Appreciate your comments, only some one who has done Sach will know how would it be in a Swift at mid night.

A Big Thank You from the Mumbai Roadsters.

Thank you so much for checking this doc. Appreciate it. Cheers.

[aviorp]

We had a long chat with the cops and one of them said the road ahead was much better. That kind of boosted my energy, along with Maggie

Hardly a km into the drive, she welcomes us



What did we do? Take a break, who cares!



White beauty!



Glaciers all over..



..and some weird shapes



A free wash!



Picturesque!





He goes to the temple only after a bath!



My Favourite!



Looks familiar? (Do I have to say the source ?)





Road ahead! Nothing new..



but these were new!









This thing reminded me of the game, Pac-Man!





Finally, we were on land! (We weren't flying so far but we sure did get a bird's view)



Close-up of the stream



Road Ahead!



The famous bridge!

[aviorp]

After crossing the bridge, there is a sign board that says 'Killar-6Kms'. We must have gone a couple of kms and then the road split into two. I had no clue which way to go and just took a left. However, I dint want to spoil the day that we had, so reversed and stopped at the junction for a while. Luckily, a sumo came by and we asked for the directions to Gulabgarh. He asked to proceed straight (so it was a left). He said, he was coming from Killar and it was around 4Kms from that junction.

We stopped by this huge stream,





The views couldn't have been better!



That's pretty much how the road was,



After this sign board, there is this check post. If I remember it right, that's the last check post of Himachal and we then enter J&K



River Chandrabhaga, I guess.



Sansari bridge, connecting the two states.



We are now in J&K



View from the bridge





After a short climb, there is a J&K check post. Unfortunately, we could not click pics in Satrundi or the other check posts except Bagatu, as the cops asked me not to.

First view of the crazy stretch,



He was all set!



Condition of roads? Don't ask!



Unbelievable! How did someone even build a road here?



This is it. The whole idea of doing Ladakh again was mainly to drive on this stretch. Few pics before I post the video.



What a welcome!







and what a valley..

[aviorp]

Here is the video. I know its quite a big one, but watch it for a couple of minutes and I'm sure you'll watch the whole video . Also, a surprise part included.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unRF7...&feature=g-upl

[motomaverick]

Originally Posted by aviorp

Here is the video. I know its quite a big one, but watch it for a couple of minutes and I'm sure you'll watch the whole video . Also, a surprise part included.

Wow that road towards the last part is really narrow and the overhanging hill is not helping either. But amazing road, you have to drive through this section to experience it.

[Driving_Nomad]

Awesome travelogue Aviorp! That video was just amazing!! It must be a breath-taking drive and each person sitting in the car must have been hearing each others' heart pounding I believe:-)

OT: It turns out that Badri was my sister's classmate at school and he told her about this trip. It is when she discussed about this with me that I turned my attention to this and I am like "How the hell could I have missed this thread??". Discussing about Team-BHP is a house-hold thing now and am loving it

Hats off to the entire team!!