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-   -   A trip up North in a quest for snow | Toyota Fortuner 4x4 (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/248099-trip-up-north-quest-snow-toyota-fortuner-4x4.html)

A bit of a background before we start off. My family consists of my parents who are senior citizens and me. We as a family love doing road trips so much so, that we did Mumbai-Kerala-Mumbai thrice in the past year. The last one being as recent as 20 days before this trip!

Meet our companion in all these journeys. My 2017 Toyota Fortuner!

I love going to mountain places and what better place to be in to see snow clad Mountains than Himachal Pradesh! I have been wanting to see snow and drive in snow since the time we bought the Fortuner. Finally, it materialized this year.

So, the plan was to head to Shimla or neighbouring places and continue upwards. We had shortlisted a few places but didn’t book any as I was not very sure as to how the plan would turn out to be. We only had a fixed deadline to be back to Mumbai by the 9th Feb. We thought of making the most out of the 9 days we had at hand, apart from Himachal my mom also wanted to see the Taj Mahal and visit a shrine in Jhansi, UP.

Our Itinerary roughly looked something like this:
Day 1-Mumbai-Jaipur
Day 2-Jaipur-Shimla
Day 3,4,5 & 6 Explore Himachal
Day 7: Himachal-Agra
Day 8-Agra-Jhansi
Day 9:Jhansi-Mumbai


If you notice I would be doing 1000+km on both first and last day, however we as a family are quite habituated to doing such distances regularly.

We weren’t sure about going for the trip till 3 days before the D-day as Dad would have to shift an important business meeting and was waiting for the confirmation.

Day -3:
We finally got the confirmation that we can go for the trip 3 days before our set date. Then we started our preparations. First thing being getting suitable clothes for the harsh winters. For us Mumbaikars even 20 degree is nippy and here we were going to be in minus temperature ranges. We headed to Decathlon and got ourselves gloves, Caps and shoes which would not get wet in snow or loose grip.

Next step was to prepare the car, gave it for 1,45,000km service got everything double checked and ensured everything is in order. I also arranged for snow chains just in case I need them. Special Thanks to Colonel Naveen (who is also a Bhpian) for having them picked up for me.

Day -2:
I was now looking at options to stay in Jaipur today and also book my first Hotel for Himachal. I first thought of not entering Jaipur and staying at the outskirts, as I did not want to get stuck in traffic at the fag end of a 1100km drive. However, due to lack of good options on the highway I decided to enter Jaipur. After speaking to a friend I decided that it would be better to stay at the city centre and move ahead the next day as I would have cut through the traffic at the night itself. Therefore, I booked Radisson Jaipur City Centre by giving them a call.

I prefer calling the hotel and booking the room when I am on a road trip than making full payment on online sites, gives me the flexibility.

Now that the Jaipur stay was sorted I now was searching for options for our first day stay at Himachal. We are members of Club Mahindra and wanted to use our nights as it would be lapsed in March as it is. I first thought of staying at Naldehra. However, it was a 12 hour drive again which would be taxing as we would have driven for 16 hours the previous day too. Also driving on hilly roads for so long at night would be stressful. So I zeroed in on Club Mahindra Mashobra. Booked the Hotel for 2 nights and we were set.

We were going to Himachal!

Day 0:
Finished all work at the factory, loaded my FasTag and did all the packing. Loaded up the car at night itself with all the luggage and went to sleep. Next day we would start our journey to the hills at 6am.

Day 1:
Mumbai-Radisson, Jaipur City Centre 1152km
Today would be the first day of our road trip! A trip which was in the making since 5 years!
Got up at 4:45am freshened up and left our home at 6:15am.

Since I travel on NH8 daily there was nothing new for me. We are not even scared of the dreaded Fountain Traffic as we face it every day!lol: However, we did not face any traffic that day.

I had done Mumbai Udaipur last year so was well versed with the roads till Udaipur. Post Udaipur there are 2 routes. One goes via Udaipur, Nathdwara, Beawar and Ajmer whereas the other route goes from Chittorgarh, Bhilwara and rejoins near Ajmer. I wanted to take the second route.

We made quick progress through out the day. Stopped for Breakfast at Surat. Picked up some Fafda Jalebi to have it on the go enroute Jaipur. We wanted to stop for lunch however, there are not much eateries on this route. The only ones on this route are near Shamlaji. We decided to have our snacks which we had carried from home and continue towards Udaipur.

Reached Udaipur around 4:30pm and google took us from inside the city rather than the by pass. We were now on the first route which was suggested by google. The problem with this route was there were lot of towns in between. Therefore the average speeds would be lesser than the other route.
I then decided to join the other route from Nathdwara and headed towards Chittorgarh. The roads were great all through out till Ajmer Higway.

Ajmer highway is a mess, with lots of potholes and truck traffic. Weaving through the dense truck traffic we reached Jaipur around 10pm and checked into the hotel around 10.30pm. With this our first day was complete.


The hotel room was comfy and we slept like a log post having our in room dinner.

All in all I would say that the roads could be much better. I sincerely hope that the Mumbai Delhi Expressway is completed soon. As Mumbai Jaipur at the moment is a mess!

Day 2:
Radisson Jaipur-Club Mahindra Mashobra 617km

We got up from a good night sleep, had break fast and left for Mashobra from Jaipur around 9:30am.


My mom wanted to explore Jaipur however we decided to head directly to Mashobra as it would have taken a lot of time and we would have not reached Mashobra.

The roads were decent, nothing great. With huge pot holes here and there.
We reached the Western Periphery around 12 noon. One of the best roads in the entire trip. The speed limit of 120 meant we could reach Murthal by 2pm. Had Lunch at Murthal and moved on.


Was in talks with Bhpian AceF355 to have a short meet on our way to Mashobra and met him and his beautiful family near Karnal. After getting some great tips from him about Himachal we carried on.


Reached Himalayan expressway toll, Zirakpur around 6:30pm and carried on towards Mashobra.

A good tip Rohit gave us was that diesel was Rs.79 in Himachal Pradesh as compared to Rs.92 in Chandigarh and Punjab. So we tanked up right after the Himachal Border.


The Himalayan expressway is under construction in a lot of places and there are many places where traffic is diverted because of which progress is slow. 100km takes 3 and a half hours.

We reached our Hotel around 9:30pm post driving for 12 hours.

Post Shimla, I saw the first glimpse of snow on the walls of the mountains and on the side of the roads in the pitch darkness of the night and my Joy knew no bounds:)

The temperature was around 5'c

Day 3
Exploring near by areas
Today was a rest day of sorts. The last night we came it was pitch dark and we couldn’t see what lied behind the windows. Come morning, we saw our first glimpse of the snow clad mountains. What a fun filled sight it was.



The first thing on the list was to try putting on the snow chains as we had never used them before. The 3 degree ambient temperature didn’t help either. My hands were freezing touching the ice cold metal chain.


Next, we decided to explore the neighboring areas today. We headed towards Kufri and Chail palace.

It was a good drive through the snow clad mountains. Stopped en route to take some touristy pictures and headed back to the hotel.

https://youtu.be/ELz-4Dj8jxg


Day 4
Mashobra-Chitkul 240km
As many of you would know Chitkul is the last village on the Indo-Tibetan border. And I wanted to visit the village to experience the scenic beauty of the Kinnaur valley. Kinnaur valley is extremely raw when compared to Solan Valley of which Shimla and all the touristy places are part of. If you want to see the raw Himachal Pradesh head to Kinnaur valley.

So we checked out from the hotel and headed towards Chitkul. The route was Mashobra-Rampur-Sangla-Chitkul.


https://youtu.be/iiKDdVfs4BM

We made good progress until a few km before Rampur. However, due to some construction work going on traffic came to a grinding halt. We lost almost 1 hour in this traffic jam. When we thought that the worst was over we again got stuck in Rampur as the entire town was out on the road to welcome some one. We lost another 1.5 hours due to the same. And these were precious day light hours which could have helped us cover a good amount of distance. We even pondered of stopping at Sarahan, where we had even booked a hotel at HPDTC,Srikand. But we thought of continuing towards Chitkul leaving it to fate as to what lies ahead of us.

By 5pm we reached Tapri. It was a quaint town on the foot hills of some of the most beautiful mountain ranges I have ever seen.


By 6pm I was on the treacherous Sangla-Chitkul road and it had started to get dark.

Day 4 continued
By 6pm I was on the treacherous Sangla-Chitkul road and it had started to get dark.

Now things had started to get a bit freaky.
It was getting dark, the roads were very treacherous with no boundaries with space just enough for the Fortuner to pass and I felt that my car lost 25-30% of power. My parents after seeing the roads started to question my overzealous attempt to go to Chitkul. Questions like “what was the need for all this? "aren’t we going to see the same mountains there too ?” , “why do you make such foolish decisions?” , “where will stay for the night, if the hotels are closed ?” were being hurled at me one after the other by both of them while I was negotiating the treacherous roads.


https://youtu.be/yBlBfG41Py0

https://youtu.be/5tsif7e6c6g

At one part of the stretch there was a wet patch on which the car skidded a bit as it was black ice and my dad just freaked out. I calmed him down by saying that I have switched to 4x4 and not to worry.

Continuing to Chitkul was now out to the question. We were reaching Sangla in about 2 km so we decided to stay the night in Sangla. Decided to check in at the first hotel we find. However once we entered Sangla it felt like a ghost town. There was not a single soul on the road and all establishments were shut and it was only 7pm at the moment.That’s when I got into panic mode for the first time. “What if I don’t get a hotel any where ?” I’m not heading back to Rampur on those treacherous roads again, this time I would be on the outer side of the cliff!”

Decided to check on Makemytrip. Most properties had the tag “check with property for bookings” that’s when I saw a Hotel which said it was open. I searched for the number online and called them to check if they were open. I got a callback from the property manager that they were open. I asked them whether they had blankets, hot water and most importantly accessibility.
The property manager replied in affirmative for food and blanket and said that the property is at a 300m walk from the parking area. Just out of curiosity I asked him if any one else is staying there at the moment and to my surprise he said that 12 rooms were occupied. I was shocked and pleased to here that. Now the hotel was around 7km from Sangla which would be another 20min of driving. I was constantly in touch with the Property manager all through out the route as getting lost in the Wilderness was the last thing I wanted.

I reached the hotel entrance and the care taker had sent 2 boys to carry our luggage. Parking on top was full but I managed to find a spot after the incline as I didn’t want my parents to climb the steep slippery slope. It was 3’C outside and we now had to walk around 300m in snow to reach the resort. Walking such a distance with luggage in our hand caused all the cold to run away.
We checked in to our room and came down for dinner. My dad forgetting to get his phone from the car and me going back down to get it back was the perfect end to the day! After walking for 1 km in the cold all I was not feeling cold any more.rl:

While dinner was being served I saw the group who were staying there having a bonfire. We had our dinner and retired into our electric blankets for the night. Although the temperatures dipped to -10’c at night we were all super comfy thanks to the electric blankets.


Day 5
Sangla-Narkanda 167km
Since it was pitch dark by the time we reached the hotel we had no clue as to how our surroundings looked like. We could just hear the river flowing full gusto right next to us. I got up in the morning and opened the window curtain however the windows were frozen. I therefore decided to walk go out and check the scenery.

And I was truly stunned by what I saw on all 4 sides of the hotel. The hotel was in the midst of Snow clad mountain ranges on all sides and below was the river Baspa flowing in full glory!



The care taker explained to me that mountain ranges were Kinner Kailash and another mountain range whose name I have now forgotten.


We had planned to check out from Hotel Batseri today itself as there was snowfall prediction in Sangla for the afternoon and we didn’t want to be stuck over here by chance it snows heavily and the roads are closed. So we were planning on going to Narkanda. When I was having breakfast I heard the group people also say that they were going to Narkanda. So I asked them where they were staying in Narkanda. They said they were staying at Tethys Ski resort so I too booked a room at Tethys via make my trip thinking I’ll have some company there.
Post breakfast we left immediately however the group started a bit later.



Hotel Batseri was the best hotel we stayed in during our entire trip. Right from the scenic location, to the food and the hospitality showered on us that too in such harsh weather with such a beautiful smile on their face truly deserves praise. I would whole heartedly recommend this place to any one who wants to go to Chitkul. It’s wonderful how the best memories are made by mistake on road trips!

We were now on our way to Narkanda. Yesterday's exhaustion from the traffic was still present. However, everything went smoothly. We were in and out of Rampur Bushahir in a jiffy. We decided not to stop for lunch and head on to the hotel directly.


In an hours time the group had also reached and I started chatting with their group leader Mr. Kabir Wariach who is also a winner of the Rainforest Challenge and an avid offroader. We discussed about our cars, modifications and many other topics. He was kind enough to invite me to the bon fire. We all mingled together and I made a couple of new friends there.

When I told them that I had come driving all the way from Mumbai just to see and drive in snow, they were all astonished. What shocked them all the more is the fact that I got my parents along !

Now even they started praying that it starts to snow so that I would not go empty handed !

By 10:30pm we could see small snowflakes around our bon fire area and we were all happy. Post a lecture on how a heart functions and the difference between a cardiac arrest and a heart attack by captain sahab we all called it a night.

It was pure coincidence that I met this group at Batseri. What could have easily become a nightmare for us turned out to be a blessing in disguise! That's the beauty of a road trip.

Day 6
Narkanda-Chandigarh 160km
I woke up around 6am as I could not contain my excitement to see snowfall for the first time in my life!
It had been snowing heavily through out the night and we could hear the wind blowing with great gusto.
We had decided to check out today from Narkanda and start our return journey back home.

I went out post wearing my jacket and shoes to see how my car was looking and to click the mandatory snow clad car picture.


I couldn't see the V cross which belonged to the friends I was speaking to yesterday night. So I messaged them asking whether they had left and again returned back to my room.

I again came out of my room post refreshing after 1 hour and found the friends and they had come out to reply to my message that they had not left. We then proceeded to take some pictures in the snow again. I asked them where did they park their car they said right next to me. To which I replied that there was no car next to me. They didn't mind that and we continued to click pictures. I again returned back to my room and got a text that the car was missing!:Shockked:

This was something shocking for everyone. The V cross was a rental car and was now missing. They enquired with the security guard who said that the car had left at night! My friends got angry as to how did they allow some one else to take the car and leave. They checked the CCTV and found that the car had been taken around 1:30am.

They then headed to the Police station to lodge a complaint.

It was already 10am by now and it had been snowing heavily since night. In order to avoid getting stuck we decided to leave. Another Thar from the group who was leaving got stuck at the entrance of the resort so I decided to put on my snow chains and air down my tyres to 20psi.


It was around 11am by the time I put on the snow chains and loaded the car with all our luggage.

https://youtu.be/3vYyFPzPKMM


We had now started our way back to Chandigarh. Our time in Himachal was now coming to an end.

I put my car in 4wd Low range and started the steep descent. The scenery around me had now completely changed from yesterday. Everything was now covered in a white blanket of snow.

https://youtu.be/nDACCmzhIQ4

Decided to go towards Thanedar a bit on the advise of AceF355 just to explore the snow drive. Drove for around 10km and then took a U turn back towards Shimla. There was around 8'' of snow on the road and I was the only car on the road except for one car who was returning back.


I drove with the chains till Theog then removed it as I could see the roads getting clear. However, after going a little bit forward there was still snow and ice on the road which was causing the car to skid even if I turned my steering too fast from one side to another, let alone braking. I did not touch the brake pedal at all and just relied on engine braking. Was driving mostly at 35-40kmph in third gear 4wd High. Used to down shift to second whenever approaching a curve. The worst part about skidding on these roads is that there are no boundaries on these roads so if you skid badly your car and you will end up in the Gorge. So was overtly cautious.I think from Narkanda to Shimla I must have tapped the brake pedal just 2-3 times.

A few videos from the dash cam
https://youtu.be/Kyni2EYnlPs

https://youtu.be/OupSRp4wZhg

https://youtu.be/gzTGrprSm24

Saw only Gypsies, Fortuners, Thars and Endeavours in the entire stretch.
The drive back was simply exhilarating. There were a lot of places where in there was a layer of ice formed and the car would loose grip. One such road was the descent from Kufri towards Shimla. I was driving at a higher speed and was caught slightly off guard at the turn. There was absolutely no traction at all. However, the Fortuner's Hill descent control worked like a charm and got the car under control.

We reached Shimla around 3 pm or so. I then tanked up my car and also increased the tyre pressure.

We were now on the Himalayan Expressway. We made slow and steady progress as it was raining. We reached Zirakpur around 7pm.

Met up with Colonel Naveen Dagar a fellow bhpian and Fortuner owner. Was lovely meeting him and discussing our mutual love for cars and Fortuner in particular. His Fortuner was immaculately maintained and no one would say it is 10 year old.


Post meeting up with him we headed to Holiday Inn, Panchkula and retired for the night.
With this our Himalayan Expedition had come to an end and our Home bound journey had begun. Tommorow we would be heading to Agra.

Day 7
Chandigarh-Agra 489km
We got up leisurely at 7am today as we had no fixed time to reach Agra. Being Friday, the Taj Mahal was shut for viewing so there was no point in rushing.

We left Chandigarh at around 10am and reached Murthal around 1:30pm. Post lunch continued towards the Eastern Periphery Highway and then joined the Agra expressway.

The roads were good all throughout. We reached our hotel Taj View by Taj at around 7pm. The main entrance of this hotel is shut due to Metro work. The roads are congested due to Metro work.

We checked in our room and went down for dinner. The food was delicious. Bought tickets for entering the Taj Mahal online and retired for the night.

Day 8
Agra-Jhansi-Guna 425km

We got up early today and went to see the Taj Mahal. We reached there at around 8am. Got a tour of the Taj Mahal, took plenty of pictures and returned back to the hotel for breakfast around 10am.



Post breakfast we checked out and headed to Jhansi. The initial roads from Agra towards Jhansi is completely chaotic with plenty of trucks driving hap hazardly. This traffic continues till Gwalior. Post Gwalior the road conditions improve significantly.

We reached St Jude Shrine, Jhansi around 4pm. Heard mass, said our prayer and were done by 6:30pm. We decided to drive a bit forward today so that we would have a relatively relaxing drive tommorow. Otherwise Jhansi-Mumbai is a 1000km plus drive. Post searching, I zeroed in on Guna, which was 190km from Jhansi. Found a newly built property in Guna by the name of Playotel, Guna and booked it. We left the Shrine at 6:45pm and reached Playotel, Guna around 9:30pm.


Checked into the Hotel and retired for the night. Tommorow was the last leg of our drive back home.

Day 9
Guna-Mumbai 877km
Today was the last day of our trip. We were ready to leave the hotel by 8:30am
Made steady progress till Bhopal post which the road traffic increased. However I could still maintain decent average speeds.
Crossed Indore around 12noon. Stopped for lunch just before Dhule. Not many hotels on the way.


Reached Nashik by 7pm. Mom wanted to go to Infant Jesus Shrine in Nashik so we took a small detour. To our disappointment the church was closed. So we headed towards Mumbai.

Stopped for Dinner at the expressway Foodcourt near Shahpur.

Reached home at 11pm.

Some Pointers for Future trip planners:

-Going to mountains is an extremely uncertain thing. The things which you had
planned to do might not be possible once you reach there, so improvise

-Be prepared to spend a couple of hours in traffic. If travelling with family put it
in their mind before travelling itself, that we may be stuck in traffic due n
number of reasons

-Carry proper equipment. I had carried a tyre inflator, Jumper cables, nylon
ropes, Tow rope, shackle and lastly snow chains. You may not require any of
these in your trip but better be prepared. If anyone from Mumbai requires snow chains, hit me up I shall lend it you.

-Those from hot climate regions such as Mumbai, Chennai go to Decathlon and
get yourself proper winter clothes including gloves and caps. We could enjoy
this trip only because we were layered up properly. Standing/ working in 0
degree celcius is impossible without the right apparel

-Do not underestimate the local Altos. These guys will leave you in the dust on the hilly roads. I wonder what suspension are they using ?! On a serious note hats off to them !

Special thanks to Manish aka bhp for constantly guiding me and encouraging me. Thanks alot buddy!
Special thanks to Rohit aka ACEF355 for guiding me so thoroughly throughout the journey
Special thanks to Col. Naveen Dagar for picking up the snow chains as well as for meeting up !

Lastly,I would like to thank God for giving us such beautiful memories and for safeguarding us!

That's all for now!

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to the Travelogues section. Thanks for sharing!

Going to our homepage today :thumbs up

Lovely travelogue. Very nice pics.

A query. Did you face any cop trouble because of the off road bumper? Such a modification is usually a invitation to get challaned left right and center in Delhi as well as in Chandigarh.

Brilliant travelogue. Driving up to the Himalayas is top of my list.

You drove to New York City while I took a boat ride to America :D.

Nicely done and well written Denzil. Kudos to your parents too for accompanying you in these long hauls, and I am sure the experience at Narkanda would have been sweet to say the least. Your quest for snow was long due and I am glad I could of some help fulfilling it.

Thank you for putting the write-up for fellow travellers - I would love to do for my travelogues too, but I am squeezed on time now a days despite the fact that my car's odometer has been constantly climbing. Cheers, beautiful pictures too.:)

Lovely travelogue. Driving up Himalayas is always a dream , especially for people from South. Nice to Fortuner doing its duties flawlessly. Superb pictures and videos :thumbs up.

Great Travelogue Denzil, has a good balance of write up, pictures & videos. Also thanks for not sharing any zoomed in food / meal pictures as I personally find it really distasteful on an Automotive forum. Glad to know & see the implementation of all the tips shared come handy in the entirety of your journey. :thumbs up

Your Fortuner is looking really handsome in the pictures with the Lift Kit & those new 65 profile KO2 SWL Tyres.

Thanks for sharing :thumbs up

Well written travelogue dear denzil, thats the reason a beast like fortuner is actually made for. It was amazing meeting you and your parents, had a lovely time. Wish I could have also accompanied you on this trip but Corona played a spoilsport. Nonetheless, we WILL head north together one day for sure. I also went to the exact place a week before you, uploading a pic from the same.

Spectacular travelogue mate, The Fortuner looks beastly and the quest for snow is finally completed.
Thanks for sharing :thumbs up

What a beautiful travelogue with lot of inspiring pictures. The Fortuner is such a beast and I'm sure it feels right at home at terrains just like these. It was nice learning about the technicalities of driving in the snow from your experiences. Kudos to you for uploading such crisp videos of most segments of your trip. It was inspiring to see the healthy 5 digit Odometer on your car, and looking forward to many such drives exploring our incredible India.