[rkbharat]

Posting after long time, a quick summary from our drive to Spiti valley.

It was a drive pending for long time with family, I guess planned couple of years back but but got cancelled all the time. Last we attempted it in March 2013 as family, but a big stone and a bad land slide restricted us to Kinnaur and returned back sad,

But this time we were determined, motivated with all forces with us.

Day 1 - 28-May-2016 : Delhi to Rampur
A very casual drive with no drama on the way, except for a short but heavy rain while we were crossing the Narkanda to Rampur stretch. Our majot stop was at Narkanda for food.
We reached Rampur by around 6 Pm, and checked into our hotel with a clear car parking. It rained at night which kept me worried about the bad section between Wangtoo and Karcham and then to Powari.
Not many pics today, camera was comfortable inside the bag for the most of the day.



Day 2 - 29-May-2016 : Rampur to Nako.

While we started for the day, I was doing multiple calculation in my mind.
what if we get a bad stretch?
what if the Tapri section is completely closed due to last night rain?
What is we could not reach Nako? will we stay at Kalpa? Spillow or Pooh.

We will worry about it later, lets first have wonderful morning drive upto wangtoo atleast. Except of few small bad stretches and stone laden, wangtoo - Karcham section, we had no issues reaching Powari. Fortunately the petrol pump at Powari was functioning and that saved us from driving upto Peo to get the tank filled.

Lunch at Spillow around 2 Pm, means which we were very well placed to reach Nako by 6 Pm. Ka-zigs were crossed in jiffy, though it can scare the hell out of someone sitting on the valley side.

Nako we were at around 5:30, checked into the first hotel we saw, right as to hit the first cross section at Nako. 800 INR per night is a sweet deal, with a wonderful window view of Nako village.

But it was cold, second layer of cloths were forced onto to kids, which they didnt liked at all.














Day 3 - 30-May-2016 : Nako to Mud

It was a short drive, or relatively short drive

Out first hurdle was Malling nalla, which anyway was quite tamed, except that we had to wait right next to Malling because of the repair work.

As we got down from malling, its almost a drive in plains, crossing Chango, Sumdo, we took a diversion for quick look at the mummy of giu. It was quite windy at the top and clouds while almost threatening our plan to reach mud. While crossing Attargo we decided to skip Dhankar for now and drive straight to Mud crossing mikkim, Gulling and Sagnam villages on our way.

Night stay was booked at a good friend's place, Tara guest house. Cozy rooms and lovely view. But we had plans for camping, may be tomorrow, for today, we were hungry like a pack of wild dogs. We wanted to eat anything possible around us, Thankfully the lady cook of Tara Guest house prepared some lip smacking food for us, including Tibetan Pizza for kids




















Day 4 - 31-May-2016 : Around Pin Valley


Today was relax day after three days of non stop drive. There was no plan for today, we just drove around at few villages and upto sagnam and took pics here and there. We were back at Mud by 2 Pm and it was time for pitch our tent. Nandini, my daughter was very excited to pitch her own tent.

Night was windy, but thank to the land owner who gave us plenty of wood for the fire, we we quite cozy all the time we were sitting outside. Night was surely cold
















Day 5 - 01-June-2016 : Mud to Kibber

Mud to kibber was a very comfortable drive I had done couple of times in past, hence there was no need to hurry. We started around 10 Am from Mud, and reached Kaza by 12:30, filled up the fuel tank and we decided to skip Kaza and reach kibber straight. by 3 Pm we were at kibber, checked in at Tashizon guest house, which is the first thing you see as you arrive at Kibber. But before we settle down in the comfy of our rooms, we decided to give a short drive to one of my most favorite place in Spiti, the Tashigang palteau and Demul village.

What a delight it is to stand right on top of the world and watch the bird's-eye view of Kye monastery.

Night was spent inside the kitchen with some lovely food, noodles for kids :P

[rkbharat]

Day 6 - 02-June-2016 : Kibber to Kalpa

This for sure a very long drive for the day. Hence we decided to start early, and you can understand what does early means with kids. Nonetheless weather was with us, mountains were with us, roads were all clear and reached Nako in jiffy.

We tried finding some place to stay at spillow, but mostly it was full. We tried PWD rest house but no luck.

So it was a drive to Kalpa then. Reached there around 7 Pm amd checked into Kinnar Villa after searchng for rooms.
Not any pics today, these pics are from last day.






Day 7 - 03-June-2016 : Kalpa to Chitkul

A relatively shorter drive and my very well known territory , there was need for hurry today. But the only worry was that I hadn't booked any hotel for today, and trust me chitkul can get really touristy at times. Luckily we reached chitkul by 2 PM and found a room with Dada's Shehansha Hotel.

Evening was spent roaming around just doing nothing. For a change we decided to cook our own dinner today at room, Yes we carry full kitchen in our car :P












Day 8-9 - 04/05-June-2016 : Chitkul to Narkanda to Gurgaon

A usual return journey drive, with stay at Narkanda for night

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved to Travelogues. Thanks for sharing these beautiful pictures.

[rkbharat]

Few random pics

[Vikram Arya]

This is a great photologue Rajiv with some breathtaking pictures, great job indeed!

You sure have undertaken this taxing drive with quite an aplomb. I am sure your family too enjoyed this adventure. Can you please share as to which camera/lens combination did you use for taking these pictures?
I'm curious as some shots seem to have been taken with an ultra wide angle lens.

I did Shimla-Kaza in a petrol jeep in 1984 with my dad. We broke our journey in Rampur, Tabo and Kaza. It was a quick trip back then.

I wanted to do Spiti/Pin Valley this December when I was in India but had to drop the plan as I suspected that some of the passes en route would have been snowed out. I guess this trip will have to wait till next summer.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

[BB311]

That looks like an awesome trip Rajeev. A great travellogue with exceptionally good pics. If I decide to take this trip this year, what all preparations do I need to do before hand ? Is any advance booking required in hotels ?

[columbus]

RK
Great log and as usual superb photographs. I guess the fish eye is new addition to your lens line up. Put to good use here.
Can you post some info on spotting the Milky way. Generally what aperture and shutter speed you keep for milky way shots ?

Thanks

[namanchaudhary]

One word, Excellent!

Just a few questions if you dont mind? I've that there are practically no roads for a stretch of about 200 kms on way to Spiti? Didn't you face any problems in your SX4?

We ourselves are looking forward to a trip to Spiti once the weather permits but no one at home is an experienced mountain driver. Will it be a problem? I've seen some videos on Youtube, and they sent a chill down my spine :P

[Dieselritzer]

What lovely pics sir. Stunning. Kudos to your family to have endured such an amazing journey. A few questions:

- How many days would be needed if i do the same route from Mumbai, driving all the way to and fro.

- I currently drive a ritz, and i am soon planning to upgrade. I want to buy a car that would take me to such places too. Can this trip be done in an Ecosport?

[bullrun87]

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

What lovely pics sir. Stunning. Kudos to your family to have endured such an amazing journey. A few questions:

- How many days would be needed if i do the same route from Mumbai, driving all the way to and fro.

- I currently drive a ritz, and i am soon planning to upgrade. I want to buy a car that would take me to such places too. Can this trip be done in an Ecosport?

If you intend to do the same route as rkbharat you should add 4 days to your trip if you start from Mumbai. your iteniary should look something like this
day 1- mumbai to udaipur
day 2 - udaipur to delhi
day 3 - delhi to rampur/jeori/sarahan

This route can be done in any car with careful driving. I completed this in an alto without any underbody hits. With its 200+ mm ground clearance the Ecosport is probably one of the best vehicles for this trip.

[rkbharat]

Originally Posted by Vikram Arya

This is a great photologue Rajiv with some breathtaking pictures, great job indeed!

You sure have undertaken this taxing drive with quite an aplomb. I am sure your family too enjoyed this adventure. Can you please share as to which camera/lens combination did you use for taking these pictures?
I'm curious as some shots seem to have been taken with an ultra wide angle lens.

I did Shimla-Kaza in a petrol jeep in 1984 with my dad. We broke our journey in Rampur, Tabo and Kaza. It was a quick trip back then.

I wanted to do Spiti/Pin Valley this December when I was in India but had to drop the plan as I suspected that some of the passes en route would have been snowed out. I guess this trip will have to wait till next summer.

Thank you for sharing this with us.

Thanks Vikram
I used Nikon D800 and D810 with Nikon Trinity lenses

Ultrawide is the combination of Nikon 14-24 and Samyang Fisheye 12mm

You can very well do Pin Valley in Dec, we did it in February 2017

Originally Posted by BB311

That looks like an awesome trip Rajeev. A great travellogue with exceptionally good pics. If I decide to take this trip this year, what all preparations do I need to do before hand ? Is any advance booking required in hotels ?

Just keep a watch of the weather. Keep few backup days in hand, prepare the vehicle well. Booking is required in places like Kalpa and Kaza, you find the places to stay on arrival in remote areas

Originally Posted by columbus

RK
Great log and as usual superb photographs. I guess the fish eye is new addition to your lens line up. Put to good use here.
Can you post some info on spotting the Milky way. Generally what aperture and shutter speed you keep for milky way shots ?

Thanks

You are spot on Sir, I added a Samyang 12mm in last 2 years
I will try to post the details on Milkyway later
But generally for milkyway, I open the aperture wide and 25 second shot at 2500ISO

Originally Posted by Dieselritzer

What lovely pics sir. Stunning. Kudos to your family to have endured such an amazing journey. A few questions:

- How many days would be needed if i do the same route from Mumbai, driving all the way to and fro.

- I currently drive a ritz, and i am soon planning to upgrade. I want to buy a car that would take me to such places too. Can this trip be done in an Ecosport?

From Delhi to Delhi you can do in 8-9 days comfortably, Now you can add the drive time between Mumbai and Delhi

Ecosport can do it very well

Originally Posted by namanchaudhary

One word, Excellent!

Just a few questions if you dont mind? I've that there are practically no roads for a stretch of about 200 kms on way to Spiti? Didn't you face any problems in your SX4?

We ourselves are looking forward to a trip to Spiti once the weather permits but no one at home is an experienced mountain driver. Will it be a problem? I've seen some videos on Youtube, and they sent a chill down my spine :P

You are wrongs roads are very good, except 50-60 kms, I think a little hill drive experience is required.

Originally Posted by bullrun87

If you intend to do the same route as rkbharat you should add 4 days to your trip if you start from Mumbai. your iteniary should look something like this
day 1- mumbai to udaipur
day 2 - udaipur to delhi
day 3 - delhi to rampur/jeori/sarahan

This route can be done in any car with careful driving. I completed this in an alto without any underbody hits. With its 200+ mm ground clearance the Ecosport is probably one of the best vehicles for this trip.

Originally Posted by rkbharat

Thanks Vikram
I used Nikon D800 and D810 with Nikon Trinity lenses

Ultrawide is the combination of Nikon 14-24 and Samyang Fisheye 12mm

You can very well do Pin Valley in Dec, we did it in February 2017

[ptaneja]

Originally Posted by rkbharat

Just keep a watch of the weather. Keep few backup days in hand, prepare the vehicle well. Booking is required in places like Kalpa and Kaza, you find the places to stay on arrival in remote areas

Bumping up this thread - as I have just started preparing for this trip ! If all goes well, probably June 2018 it would be !

I would be planning this on Ciaz - what kind of preparation with regards to car is needed ? Car is about 30K kms run, would be about 40k max by the time I hit out. Any under body hits on the way ?

7 year old kid would be comfortable enough as in with AMS etc (he has been to Hatu peak/Naldhera/Narkanda stretch multiple times though )?

Finally, from Kibber, you selected the same route backwards - Kibber to Chitkul. Why not Kibber > Batal > Manali > Gurgaon ? Roads wise, which is better and doable ?

[TB16]

Originally Posted by ptaneja

Bumping up this thread - as I have just started preparing for this trip ! If all goes well, probably June 2018 it would be !

I would be planning this on Ciaz - what kind of preparation with regards to car is needed ? Car is about 30K kms run, would be about 40k max by the time I hit out. Any under body hits on the way ?

7 year old kid would be comfortable enough as in with AMS etc (he has been to Hatu peak/Naldhera/Narkanda stretch multiple times though )?

Finally, from Kibber, you selected the same route backwards - Kibber to Chitkul. Why not Kibber > Batal > Manali > Gurgaon ? Roads wise, which is better and doable ?

I wouldn't recommend the Manali-Kaza route if you are taking your Ciaz. That route is specifically for SUV's/good ground clearance vehicles. Thats probably the reason OP didn't take this route.

[BlackPearl]

Originally Posted by ptaneja

Bumping up this thread - as I have just started preparing for this trip ! If all goes well, probably June 2018 it would be !

I would be planning this on Ciaz - what kind of preparation with regards to car is needed ? Car is about 30K kms run, would be about 40k max by the time I hit out. Any under body hits on the way ?

7 year old kid would be comfortable enough as in with AMS etc (he has been to Hatu peak/Naldhera/Narkanda stretch multiple times though )?

Finally, from Kibber, you selected the same route backwards - Kibber to Chitkul. Why not Kibber > Batal > Manali > Gurgaon ? Roads wise, which is better and doable ?

You can have a look at this thread, this guy did the circuit in an Eon!

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...g-bonding.html

Regarding travelling in June, we did this trip in May/June this year and could not go to Manali from Batal as the route was still closed. This was second week of June. So I would suggest you to plan for the second half of June if possible. Here is the link to my travelogue if it helps -

http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travel...ndra-thar.html

[nilanjanray]

Lovely travelogue and great photos.

Camping was a great idea! Kids would cherish those memories, and grow up tough. Did you give any special medicine to them for AMS? Or were they fine, tough ones? :-)