[Atul Kolekar]

You mentioned you guys carried spare injectors. By this time, everyone remotely interested in Duster should know of this issue. Just one query, did any failures happen on this trip? And if they did, how had you planned to get the codes in ECU? A basic scanner can read fault codes but cant program the injector codes as far as I know.

[Samba]

Originally Posted by ron82x3

Awesome, Samba da! Your writing was fantastic and thank you for sharing your experience.

Thanks Ron. Do pm me when you plan for a drive to Spiti, will share the contact details.

Originally Posted by katoom

One question - did you or anyone else at any point feel the effect AMS harshly? I had this notion that it could hit hard in extreme cold, wanted to check if it's really so.

Thanks a ton.
Actually all the adults were taking Diamox from 48 hours before reaching Kaza. None of us faced any difficulties. We drank loads of water too.
Bhpian Aray's son is 8 years old, and he was not taking any medication. He was fine all throughout except at Langza.
Langza is above 14,000 feet. That's the only place he was not feeling well due to lack of Oxygen. We gave him few puffs of Oxygen and brought him down to a lower altitude towards Kaza. He started to feel better and everything was sorted.

Originally Posted by Atul Kolekar

You mentioned you guys carried spare injectors. By this time, everyone remotely interested in Duster should know of this issue. Just one query, did any failures happen on this trip? And if they did, how had you planned to get the codes in ECU? A basic scanner can read fault codes but cant program the injector codes as far as I know.

You have asked a very valid question.
Even without coding the injectors will work, but the warning lights from the dashboard will continue to glow. The end result will be, the car will run on 4 cylinders, but the electronics like cruise control or the EPS won't work. In case even after fitting the injector, if the car still runs on three cylinders, keep the battery disconnected for 15 mins. The error lights will still glow & the electronics won't work, but the car will run fine on 4 cylinders.
This has been tried and tested on my friends Duster in Guwahati & it works. Without coding he drove back from Guwahati to Kolkata without any issues.

There was no injector issues with any of the 3 Dusters during this trip.
In case an Injector malfunctions, pour a bottle of Liquimoly injector cleaner and run for around 50 km, if lucky it may sort the issue too by clearing the debris.

[megazoid]

Breezy read and nice pictures. Saw you guys on your way forward somewhere between Tabo and Nako. The Dusters looked great in the light snow.

[KPR]

Great travelogue. Excellent planning. I'm planning to ride to Spiti this April mid/May 3rd week in my two wheeler. I might need your inputs in fine tuning my itinerary and stay choices.

Originally Posted by Samba

People drive their 4x4s and AWDs just to find Maruti Altos have already reached that place.

In pursuit of gold we miss diamonds.

[predatorwheelz]

OH MY GOD! What a fantastic travelogue this is. I spent an hour taking in the photos and the narration, then went back and looked at every photo once again. Someone at Renault is ruing the fact that they stopped the Duster altogether, when the machine was this capable.

Your preparation for the trip was adequate, as the little incidents on the trip proved. What the pics don't show is the mind-numbing sub-zero temperatures that you guys had to endure, and the sheer tenacity it requires to do such a trip with almost zero logistical support - except that of the companion cars. Now I'm inspired to do a winter Spiti trip at the earliest (which might be a reality should the other companion not back out) and buy my own 4wd/awd .

[Uprasenjit]

Wonderful as always. Great writing and pictures. I can understand the excitement and fun with driving on snow.
Interesting drive without snow chains, how deep were the snow and were they fresh ?

And how did the kids manage such a long trip ? Kudos!!

[Samba]

Originally Posted by megazoid

Breezy read and nice pictures. Saw you guys on your way forward somewhere between Tabo and Nako. The Dusters looked great in the light snow.

Thanks. You were on which car? I have the full dashcam footage from Pooh to Kaza from 11th Jan! I actually remember the very few cars we crossed on the way!

Originally Posted by KPR

Great travelogue. Excellent planning. I'm planning to ride to Spiti this April mid/May 3rd week in my two wheeler. I might need your inputs in fine tuning my itinerary and stay choices. In pursuit of gold we miss diamonds.

Thanks KPR. Please PM me for any details or contacts. I will be more than happy to share the details with you.

Originally Posted by predatorwheelz

Now I'm inspired to do a winter Spiti trip at the earliest (which might be a reality should the other companion not back out) and buy my own 4wd/awd .

Thanks a lot. Do keep showing him some fabulous pics of black Jeep Compass on snow, am sure that will inspire or motivate him enough to go for the trip!
On a serious note, just go for it, I bet you guys will have fun.

Originally Posted by Uprasenjit

Wonderful as always. Great writing and pictures. I can understand the excitement and fun with driving on snow.
Interesting drive without snow chains, how deep were the snow and were they fresh ?

And how did the kids manage such a long trip ? Kudos!!

Thanks Prasenjit.

The snow was 2 to 6 inch deep in most of the places. The deepest snow we encountered was about a foot or so. Yes they were fresh snow and had enough traction. We have driven on ice and black ice both, but those stretches were relatively lesser. On fresh snow driving was easy. Tackling ice or black ice was a bit tricky, but we managed it without any issues.
I used the 4wd lock just for 1 km stretch inside the Kibber village, barring that, the Duster was always in auto mode. Am sure that could have been done in auto mode too. But I didn't risk it.
In many places just for experimenting, I drove it in 2wd mode too. That was more fun!

Regarding the kid-

Originally Posted by Samba

Bhpian Aray's son is 8 years old, and he was not taking any medication. He was fine all throughout except at Langza.
Langza is above 14,000 feet. That's the only place he was not feeling well due to lack of Oxygen. We gave him few puffs of Oxygen and brought him down to a lower altitude towards Kaza. He started to feel better and everything was sorted.

[DriveTrain]

Was saving the masterpiece for a lazy Sunday afternoon read ! Absolutely stunning pictures , simply out of the world. Lalmohan has been well and truly white washed The pictures of the 3 Dusters in snow , looks like Ibexes romping around in their natural environment ! Thanks for treating us with an epic and jaw dropping adventure

[GhostRider28]

An epic travelogue, apt for a trip to cherish for a lifetime. Was saving it for the weekend to savour the Sunday evening after the TeamBHP winter meet!
Thanks for sharing the little details on the preparation, itinerary and precautions. The pictures have really brought the experience alive. Winter Spiti has been on my bucket list; no idea if the Duster will be around by the time when it happens!

[arun_josie]

Awesome travelogue Samba! It felt like I was traveling with you guys with snow all around . Lot of lovely pics of cars and you guys in snow. A wonderful treat for the readers.

[Potenza]

Absolutely fantastic travelogue. Loved the attention to detail and the crispness with which you have described the trip. There’s a lot to learn from the way you’ve written.

Apart from the detailed planning,scheduling, preparing cars etc which a road trip like this needs, one also needs to have a massive amount of commitment to drive to places like these. Beautiful as they are, things can get lonely, difficult and out of hand very easily at such places and hats off to you all for having travelled so far.

Good washrooms, especially for women are very difficult to find at more “normal” places. On holidays like yours its even more difficult. And for this reason a special mention for all the women in your group. Their commitment to this holiday is very very commendable

[haisaikat]

Thank you Samba for yet another mind blowing adventure drive narrated beautifully through excellent photos. The timings governing the conditions to drive and the terrain have jolted me in such a way that I finished reading such a mega travelogue in under 2 days and considering I am a slow reader I consider this an achievement.

Reading through this I realized in such extreme conditions anticipating what all things can go wrong is a mammoth feat. Suddenly one car out of a convoy of identical cars failing to crank up and whose troubleshooting involves deciphering OBD error codes is in itself a feat. Then next day you guys keeping the car engine idling overnight or be it turning around over black ice, the list seems to be long. And I am certain the added responsibility of everyone else in the group looking up at you for expertise and troubleshooting speaks of the courage needed. I am safely marking winter spiti drive as something I will never be able to visit, let alone plan.

Thank you for presenting such a wonderful read to all of us, wishing you continue enriching and inspiring this forum for ever. Rated well deserved 5 stars.

[tacho9000]

Excellent travelogue with lucid writing and absolute beauties of pictures. You guys had a gala time. One question though, since you were travelling with diesel vehicles, did you face any starting problem with temperatures plummetting well into the minus territories. Or just keeping the car running through the night got you through. Also, how did the tyres grip over the snow. I know those Wrangler AT's are good all round tyre but would love to know if you had any issue with them over the snowy roads.


Regards,
Subhra

[ABHI_1512]

Originally Posted by tacho9000

One question though, since you were travelling with diesel vehicles, did you face any starting problem with temperatures plummetting well into the minus territories. Or just keeping the car running through the night got you through.

You probably were too engrossed with the lucid writing that you missed that Samba clearly mentioned the whole cranking issue he faced and that he had to keep the car running through the night to avoid the same problem !!

[H0RSEPOWER]

Absolutely splendid trip report with some mind blowing photos! Great planning + driving + photographs! Kudos to you & the others in the trip for making it successful!