[jimnylife]

Going to be a long and detailed one, so please bear with me

I completed Spiti circuit in my trusted 2016 MY Celerio in June of 2019 with my parents without any hiccups as such. The itch to do it again, this time with friends was too high. For the trip with friends to happen, all the stars(read managers) of the friends had to align which eventually did and we were able to do the trip. Leaves applied, we started with the prep for the trip 2 weeks before departure. I was the trip leader here, and all responsibilities of bookings, logistics, routes etc was on me since I’m the most experienced one in the group in this field.

Preparations:
1. All hotels were booked offline on WhatsApp and calls and I’ve cracked the code to get much better deals offline than on the online platforms, atleast for stays in the remote hills.
2. Puncture repair kit, portable oxygen cans, snacks and dry fruits, first aid and general medicines- all stocked up.
3. Took the car for general checkup to my trusted garage nearby and got a go ahead. Only issue mentioned were the 8 YO tires which had some tread still left. Decided to take the risk since I was with friends so we could manage(more on this later)

Itinerary:

Day 1: Rampur Bushshr
Day 2: Chitkul
Day 3: Tabo
Day 4: Mudh, Pin Valley
Day 5: Kaza
Day 6: Chandratal
Day 7,8: Manali

The date of departure was coming up and excitement was over the roof. Our plan was from 22 June to 30 June,2024.

Day 1 - 22 June (Gzb-Rampur Bushahr)
Distance travelled - 490kms
Drive time: 5am to 4pm
Hotel- Crimson inn b&b home stay
Cost: 1200 for triple sharing.
Road Review: 95% smooth roads, any car can do it .

Left our homes in Ghaziabad, had breakfast at Prince Star Dhaba between Panipat and Gharaunda. Very heavy parathas with Dahi, tasty! Pretty much uneventful drive until Shimla where we were greeted with light showers and chilly weather which is what we wanted. Rolled down the windows and switched off the AC and kept pushing forward. Reached Narkanda and planned to have lunch at Negi Himalayan Dhaba but it was too crowded with a waiting as well. Decided not to waste time and ate at a local dhaba just opposite Himalayan Negi Dhaba and boy what a decision it was. Had Kadhi, Paneer and Rajma with Chapati and the bill came out to be just 350 INR. Amazing food and hospitality. As soon as we left, it started raining very heavily and we hurried into our car parked a few meters behind. Fueled up at the IOCL pump in Narkanda and moved on. It rained on an off until we reached Rampur where the weather was clear and cool. Checked into the Hotel. It’s okay for a group of friends to stay for a night but not recommended for people with difficulty in mobility since it’s 50 steps below the road. Rested for a bit and decided to go for a walk in the evening. Saw that we have a puncture on the rear right tire. Got it repaired, no issues. Sat at at Utsav Dhaba overlooking the Sutlej and enjoyed the sunset.

Hotel-


Rampur Bushahr:


Day 2 - 23 June (Rampur Bushahr- Chitkul)
Distance travelled - 120 kms
Drive time: 8am to 1-30 pm
Hotel- RR home stay
Cost: 1400 for triple sharing.
Road review: Can be done in any car, 70% smooth roads. Few sections need to be navigated carefully. Karcham to Chitkul is a narrow road, good hill driving experience preferred.

Took a leisurely start at 8am. Everyone was excited to drive on the Cliffhanger section which they had seen only in photos or videos. We crossed Nigulsari without issues. The road here is in a pathetic condition with half a foot of mud and dust and the car was sinking yet we managed to sail through somehow. We were lucky it wasn’t raining otherwise don’t know how we would have crossed that section. Nowadays we hear of daily landslides at Nigulsari and roads getting blocked for whole day at a stretch.
Stopped at the famous spot called the Kinnaur Gate for a few photos.




Kept moving forward, took a left at Karchamm dam and climbed uphill towards Chitkul. The road is narrow and without any safety barrier at many places. Since we were teaching when other tourists were coming down from Chitkul, we had to slow down, reverse at many places to allow vehicles to pass. I had been to Chitkul in 2017 when it wasn’t commercialised and I was amazed to see the development in 2024. Sangla looked like a proper hill town with markets, hotels and shops for all kinds of things. We moved forward and reached Chitkul at around 1-30pm. Being a Sunday, it was crowded with tempo travellers and taxis and finding parking was a task. I was again amazed at the sheer number of hotels that had cropped up in this remote area!
Lunch at Hindustan ka aakhiri Dhaba, 110 INR for unlimited thali, what else do you need!


Went to the riverside, spent a few hours, enjoyed the rain and then went back to rest. Had a sumptuous dinner at the hotel itself and called it a day.
Some more photos:



Day 3 - 24 June (Chitkul-Tabo) Adventure starts here
Distance travelled - 220 kms
Drive time: 6am to 8 pm
Hotel- Nirvana home stay
Cost: 1400 for triple sharing.
Road review: Can be done in any car, 95% smooth roads. Prior hill driving experience preferable.

Today some adventure was in store for us. When I cranked the car in the morning, the red Battery symbol stayed on. We thought that the battery must have drained due to the cold and decided to move on. Reached Sangla but the light did not go off. Found a mechanic and he disconnected and re-connected the battery terminals but the sign remained. He could not help us anymore so we decided to take a detour towards Reckong Peo and get it checked at MASS. As soon as we crossed Sangla, the music system started restarting on its own. All good until this point mechanically, we moved forward and to my surprise at a downhill hairpin bend, the power steering first failed and then the engine shut itself off. It was a very scary situation and I don’t know what wild have happened I had been carrying some more speed. I was able to park the car on the side using the momentum. Now the car failed to start at all, nothing was working. Sangla was 6kms behind us and we were in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately we had mobile service and called up MASS. Told them the symptoms and they deduced it may be a faulty alternator. Mind it, the car had always been serviced on time and it had showed no symptoms prior to this. Anyway they gave us the contact of an electrician from Reckong Peo market who said that he will come to our location and jump start the car and we would drive it to his garage and he will repair it. Charged 2000 for his services to come 35kms to jump start. He reached in 1 hour and jump started the car, we got in an drove towards Reckong Peo. To everyone’s surprise, midway to Reckong Peo, the warning light disappeared and everything started functioning normally. We didn’t wanna risk it so we told him to open up the alternator and check. He did that and observed that the coil in the alternator was worn out and it was due to this that when the car went over a few bumps sometimes it got connected and disconnected. We got the reason why the warning light disappeared
He painstakingly soldered aluminium on the coil and made everything work. I must say he was a very knowledgeable and genuine mechanic and he assured us we will reach home without issues. He charged 1000 for the repair, we thanked him profusely and left for Tabo at 4pm from Reckong Peo. We thanked ourselves for starting early that day.
We moved on laughing at the little adventure we just had and reached Tabo at 8pm in the dark. The roads were butter smooth and we stopped for photos at many points. Malling Nallah was okay to drive through safely, just a small patch was broken, nothing difficult.
Had dinner and crashed instantly.
Some photos:
Breakdown point:








Day 4 - 25 June (Tabo-Mudh)
Distance travelled - 90 kms
Drive time: 10am to 3pm
Hotel- Pin Parvati Hotel
Cost: 1800 for triple sharing.
Road review: Can be done in any car, 50% smooth roads. 50% dirt track

Day 4 started with us having breakfast near the Tabo Monastery laughing at the day that we had the day before. Explored the beautiful Tabo Monastery and then left for Dhankar Monastery. The climb to Dhankar is exciting has it has multiple steep switchbacks and each turn rewards you with amazing views. Parking was an issue but since we had a small car we were able to tuck it in a corner. This monastery is perched atop a hill and involves a bit of climbing as well. The views from the top are amazing, looks like a painting. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.









From Dhankar you don’t need to come down via the same route which you took while coming up, there’s a road that goes straight and meets the main highway a few kilometers ahead towards Kaza. Took a left turn towards Pin Valley and soon the roads disappeared soon and turned into a dirt track. The views got better as we went deeper into the valley. Soon the network went off and we realised we would be without network for the next 20 hours, one doesn’t get such luxuries in the cities. The road was easy but strewn with rocks, pebbles and stone chips of all shapes and sizes. Pin Valley is notorious for causing tire damages to even new cars and ours was 8 years old. Reached our hotel, parked the car, had a heavy lunch and went for a little trek. Mudh was filled with foreigners who were there for Pin Parvati and Bhabha Pass treks. We wandered around the village until sunset and then retired into our room for the night. We had plans to stargaze but our bodies had other plans and we ended up sleeping.
Attaching the pictures below:








To be continued.

[jimnylife]

Day 5 - 26 June (Mudh-Komic-Hikkim-Langza-Kaza-Key-Chicham-Kaza) Again adventurous day
Distance travelled - 140 kms
Drive time: 7am to 6-30pm
Hotel- Home of Mountains Homestay Kaza
Cost: 1300 for triple sharing.
Road review: Can be done in any car, 50% smooth roads. 50% dirt track. Narrow roads with no barrier at all, proper hill driving experience preferable.

We had to reach Kaza today and I was casually checking out the offline maps I had downloaded. I saw that we can save time by not going to Kaza directly but visiting Hikkim-Komic-Langza first. We drove to the main Tabo- Kaza road and took the uphill road towards Demul. It was a new road for me as well so were excited to drive on that. The road was metalled until about halfway after which it became a dirt road. It was some serious climb and we had to remove stones from the road at many points. didn’t struggle at any point though and the highest elevation we reached on this road was around 4900 meters as per Apple Watch. We did not meet a single person or vehicle on this route for almost 2 hours. It was scary as well as adventurous.
Finally reached Komic, where we had breakfast at “Worlds Highest Restaurant”. It was good to be among people after a nerve wracking 2 hour solitary drive through empty roads. Some photos:















Spent some time exploring the area and moved onwards to Hikkim. By the time we reached Hikkim, it was already peak time and we found a multitude of people around the post office taking pictures, and having fun. Didn’t feel like we were in Spiti, funny isn’t it? My friends bought a few postcards and posted them, I didn’t because I had prior experience that it doesn’t reach the intended recipient. Took photos and moved on towards Langza. Some Photos:









Here starts the adventure. As soon as we left Hikkim, I noticed bubbling on the steering. Got down to inspect the tires and didn’t find anything. Thought let’s go to Langza and we will see there. Upon parking at Langza, I noticed a huge gash on the front right tire, and my heart sank. I remembered what the mechanic had said about the tires back in the garage. So now at 4500 Meters above Sea Level we had to pull out all our luggage, take out the spare and fit it. We changed the tire and a crowd had gathered to see what 3 guys were upto in the middle of nowhere. All good now and we went to see the Buddha Statue. Some photos:

The dreadful puncture:


Buddha Statue:



Some golden advise given by the Taxi drivers at Langza- They told us to drive in the center of the road on water crossings on the Kaza- Chandratal- Manali highway so that even if we get stuck, people would come to help since they themselves can’t move forward without us being rescued from the middle of the road. They told that they had seen cases where people got stuck in water crossings with their cars on the side of the road and no one stopped to help since the way was clear. Food for thought.

Again, new happenings awaited us. While returning to Kaza, although I had been using engine braking extensively, I faced severe brake fade. Drove very slowly and carefully since we had almost reached our homestay. Our stay was in old Kaza. We were going as per Google and we came at a dead end. Realised that there used to be a road from there but now the property owner had put up a wall. Called up the Homestay owner and he was prompt in guiding us on Video call. We had to go down to the river bed and climb from there. It was a horrific drive and the underbody took multiple hits, it was a complete makeshift dirt road. All this while I was dealing with brake fade and the brake pedal was getting pressed fully without much effect. Had I known that I would have to go via this route to reach the stay, I would have never booked it. Anyway all is well that ends well and we checked in, rested for a while and then went off to buy a new tire since we now had no spare. Got to the only tire shop and guess my luck, only one tire was left for Celerio’s size. He charged 4300 for a tire whose actual cost was 3200 INR but we had no choice. The shop was so busy that we had to change the tires ourselves using the hydraulic jacks and electronic wrench. All of us got our hands dirty and it was a learning experience as well. We were wondering what all is left to happen on this day. We were to travel to Chandratal the next day and we didn’t want any adventures on that route without any mobile network.

After fixing the tire we went to Key Monastery and Chicham and spent the evening in the Kaza market. Photos:

[jimnylife]

Day 6 - 27 June (Kaza-Chandratal)
Distance travelled - 100 kms
Drive time: 6 am to 1pm
Hotel- Sakya Camp
Cost: 4500 for triple sharing( Breakfast and Dinner included)
Road review: 100% dirt track. High GC vehicle needed. Narrow roads with no barrier at all, expert hill driving experience required. Water crossings, stones, craters, you name it and you’ll get it here.

We started for the most awaited part of the journey. The road from Kaza to Losar is being widened due to which the full road was an off road. We did not see Tarmac at all on this day. We should have gone via Chicham but who knew. There were a few areas which we thought there was no way a loaded hatchback would pass. Very very slowly we crossed each of the obstacles with my friends being spotters and guiding from the outside. Photos:







On the way from Losar to Kunzum, there were 2 major water crossings which we crossed using momentum, no issues there. I will not lie, my heart sank seeing the depth of one of the crossings but a taxi driver gave confidence to drive through it in one go. We reached Kunzum La and took a few photos, spent some time there and moved towards more dangerous terrain. Photos from Kunzum La:





https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Teh...w?usp=drivesdk

The road deteriorated from Kunzum onwards. There were half foot deep craters and to add to the situation, it was raining lightly and there was slush. Had to drive down very slowly navigating the stones to protect the underbody. Finally we reached the road bifurcation which leads to Chandratal. 12 kms and it took us 1 hr 10 mins to cover that part. There were 3 major water crossings with almost knee deep water and we observed cars in front of us to cross those. The last one was terrifying to be honest. My friends had to cross all the water crossings on foot to reduce the load in the car. Hats off to them for their guidance and support! Nothing broken we reached our camp site successfully.

After settling into our camps, we decided it was time to visit the highlight of our trip- Chandratal, the moon lake. The road from the camp site to Chandratal parking is around 3kms and full of dust and huge craters. Reached in around 15 mins and started the trek towards Chandratal. Pro tip: Climb on the mountain towards the left of Chandratal and you would see a Glacier. We saw the lake changing colors in a matter of 15 minutes. Such a beautiful place to be. The night sky was a literal theatre. Never seen such a beautiful sky where the Milky Way was visible to the naked eye. Photos:


















Day 7- 28 June (Chandratal- Manali)
Distance travelled - 120 kms
Drive time: 9 am to 3pm
Hotel- Mountain Soujourn Camp
Cost: 2000 for triple sharing
Road review: 100% dirt track until Gramphoo. High GC vehicle needed. Narrow roads with no barrier at all, expert hill driving experience required. Water crossings, stones, craters, you name it and you’ll get it here.
Gramphoo to Manali 100% smooth wide roads.

Another extreme road drive today. Had breakfast in the camp and left for Manali. The water level in the water crossings this morning was half to what we had encountered around noon the previous day. The road was visible from the water which a good enough signal for us in a hatchback. Good enough reason to leave early on journeys where water crossings are involved. The road near Batal is literally a river bed and it was strewn with stones of all sizes. We had quite a few underbody hits here. There was an uphill climb which was full of craters and huge stones and again my heart sank. If I went slowly I won’t make it to the top. If I went fast, I would damage the car for sure. Told my friends to get off and guide.
Attempt 1- Went up slowly and stalled midway. Came down again and retried. Failed.
Attempt 2 - A taxi person told us to keep mometum and said that they’ll push if I get stuck. As much as I didn’t wanna do that, I had to do it as there was no other way and I was blocking the road. Came in speed and got stuck and the guys pushed and I got through with a few sidebody hits. Photos:






Heaving a sigh of relief, we kept pushing forward. The road kept throwing challenges throughout and we crossed without much issues thereafter. Finally we reached Gramphoo and saw tar roads after 2 days and what an amazing feeling of accomplishment we had. Checked the car and tires and everything seemed good.
Proceeded towards Atal Tunnel and suddenly we observed a strange noise from the tires. Stopped the car to see that we had a flat tire again in the darkness of the tunnel midway. We decided to atleast cross the tunnel and then fix the spare. Came out of the tunnel and again got our hands dirty to change the tire. What a luck that on the days where we drove on the worst roads we didn’t have a single puncture, but as soon as we hit Tarmac, we got a puncture. Definitely amazing stroke of luck for us.

[jimnylife]

Spent 2 nights at Manali relaxing. Watched India win the World Cup and took part in the celebrations. Return journey to home took 11 hours and was uneventful.

And friends, that’s how I decided to bid goodbye to my dear Celerio and bring home a Jimny owing to the July discounts.

[KarthikK]

Thread moved out from the Assembly Line. Thanks for sharing!

[Dibyendu Bose]

Fantastic account. Read all in one go and experienced all your excitement vicariously.
You guys are young…..and youth gives confidence to take a few risks, but probably you should have changed the tires as per the advice you got.

One aspect of the roads in the Spiti region has always foxed me. Why are the roads without crash barriers? I can understand them being narrow, single laned, where some to and fro movements may be required, but no civilized country keeps their roads unbarriered by design? Some portions may have lost their barriers in landslides, but work should be on to restore them. How much are these stretches without barriers? Are they significant enough to deter drivers from the plains not to take the risk! Need guidance on this aspect

[MyLife_MyCar]

Originally Posted by jimnylife

Our stay was in old Kaza. We were going as per Google and we came at a dead end. Realised that there used to be a road from there but now the property owner had put up a wall. We had to go down to the river bed and climb from there. It was a horrific drive and the underbody took multiple hits, it was a complete makeshift dirt road. Had I known that I would have to go via this route to reach the stay, I would have never booked it.

Please name the homestay where you stayed. It will help the fellow commuters to take it or avoid it as per their risk appetite.

[humyum]

Fantastic travelogue and its always fun to do such trips in a small simple car. Highly agile and fixable, not to mention can conquer anything because of the weight.

BTW, your alignment is out/something bent, your tyres are getting worn from the sides, please correct it.

[White bird]

I have seen a Kerala registration Celerio at Spiti with 4 adults and an infant. Obviously had driven from Kerala.

[fusetocar]

Great travelogue and well written.
I had a great time reading it and enjoyed the stunning photos. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun in your Celerio, with some patches of adventure along the way. After my trip to Ladakh in 2015 with friends, we had high hopes of doing the Spiti circuit, but it’s still just word of mouth. Please do share the names of the homestays and hotels, as suggested by one BHPian, as that could be a great help for fellow travelers.

[jimnylife]

Originally Posted by Dibyendu Bose

How much are these stretches without barriers? Are they significant enough to deter drivers from the plains not to take the risk! Need guidance on this aspect

Thank you! Pretty much the whole local stretch around Kaza (Chicham, Hikkim, Komic, Langza), and from Kaza to Gramphoo is without barriers. Karcham to Chitkul, there are barriers in some places but most of it is without barriers. You have to spot traffic ahead of you and plan the crossing point in narrow roads, while considering own safety as well as being considerate to incoming traffic. Having a spotter who is also a driver on the passenger seat who can look out of the window and guide you while you are on the side of ditch/river helps to a great extent. On the 12km patch to Chandratal, there can be multiple times that you have to reverse and to add to that you would be on the side of the deep ditch. Handbrake-clutch-accelerator sync needs to be on point which no margin for error. That being said, if you are able to do tricky maneuvers and play a little on the edge, then there is no reason to not go to these terrains just for the fear of no guard rails. A person with just basic city driving knowledge and no knowledge of suspension travel, engine sump location, judgement on whether to pass the tire or the center of the car over an obstacle, etc should avoid venturing into such terrain.

Originally Posted by MyLife_MyCar

Please name the homestay where you stayed. It will help the fellow commuters to take it or avoid it as per their risk appetite.

All the stays are named in the beginning of each day travelogue, please have a look.

Originally Posted by humyum

Fantastic travelogue and its always fun to do such trips in a small simple car. Highly agile and fixable, not to mention can conquer anything because of the weight.
BTW, your alignment is out/something bent, your tyres are getting worn from the sides, please correct it.

The absolute truth. Small cars and difficult terrains create great drivers. The car has gone for alignment/balancing as per schedule always. Something might have gotten wrong on this trip. Anyway, the car has now been sold!

Originally Posted by White bird

I have seen a Kerala registration Celerio at Spiti with 4 adults and an infant. Obviously had driven from Kerala.

Majority of locals use hatchbacks in these terrains!

Originally Posted by fusetocar

Great travelogue and well written.
I had a great time reading it and enjoyed the stunning photos. It looks like you guys had a lot of fun in your Celerio, with some patches of adventure along the way. After my trip to Ladakh in 2015 with friends, we had high hopes of doing the Spiti circuit, but it’s still just word of mouth. Please do share the names of the homestays and hotels, as suggested by one BHPian, as that could be a great help for fellow travelers.

Thanks! I hope your trip materializes soon All the stays are named in the beginning of each day travelogue, please have a look.