Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   Travelogues (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/)

-   -   Nagpur-Manali-Leh-Srinagar-Jammu-Nagpur:5.5K (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/travelogues/60391-nagpur-manali-leh-srinagar-jammu-nagpur-5-5k-2.html)

Yes Kumar Sir, At Nagpur we generally used to call this road as Chhindwara Road. It happened to be state highway but few years back it converted into NH status. It was in very dilapidated condition and people were not preferring that road some 4 years back.

But after Pramods run to Leh, I feel roads in that section improved and it is in drivable condition as of now.

Pramod would you comment on condition of Chhindwara road?

pramod, did you HDD crash due to usage at high altitudes. Most HDDs I have used explicitely mention the max operating altitude as 10,000 ft

@anujmishra: The road condition is quite good and you can maintain a healthy speed, plus there is lot of traffic in night too, so it seem safe to drive at least till Bhopal in night too.

@tsk1979: not sure about the cause, it may not be the altitude, the major cause might be the excessive shock as I hanged the laptop bag with seat and that might have caused HDD to crash.
------------------------------------------------

Day 3 Evening, while going toward Rotang, we rented the cloths for Snow and we made a mistake not to note the shop no, while returning I searched for an hour for the shop all along to return the cloth, but was not able to locate the exact shop, I spent lot of time showing the cloth to all possible shop but was not able to locate, later after lot of discussion with one of shop owner I returned the cloth to that shop with my hotel details and other information, he assured me about that they would trace the shop and return the cloth. I hope and assume that it get to the actual owner!
Day 4 [2nd June Tuesday] Started early in the morning to beat the traffic at Rohtang and carry onward, the initial plan was to stop at Jispa, as there was no confirmation related to the tent at Sarchu, I talked to few people in and around hotel and also to few people who where there in Leh[HVKumar shared the mobile with me] they said there were no tent as on 31st May. The plan was to reach Jispa and roan around Jispa and later start early to make it to Leh. All along the journey I was preparing myself to take the risk and go to Sarchu, I discussed with my wife and we agreed to move on till Sarchu. I came across few bikers from Mumbai and asked about the tent accommodation at Sarchu, they too were not sure but said possibly the tents may have started.
The road was in worst shape the only thing that we were seeing all along was just snow and snow, the Rohtang that we saw at day 3 was just a small snapshot, the complete move was playing now, there was nothing else apart from snow, at some places the Scorpio was touching the snow of both the side, there was no scope for the both the rear view mirror to be opened, it was touching on both the side, for the first time I was scared at the thought that I was all alone in this alien territory and no one to be seem on either side. I stopped at few location just to see if there were any vehicle coming, but most of the vehicle made a stop at Rohtang!
Jispa come and went and now there was no turning back, at one location I am not sure about the location I saw 2 biker at a nalla, the nalla was deep and wide enough for the biker to stop and negotiate that manually, I again enquired about the tent but they too didn't have any info related to tent. Now I was worried and tried to make it faster to Sarchu, so incase I don't find any accommodation I need to have time on my side to do something.
rest of the Journey toward Sarchu was uneventful and I was nearing Sarchu by 3 PM, to find a tent company putting tents[just 8 kms away from Sarchu as per the milestone], went there to find that this is the first day of the tent and they were just able to put the first tent and I am welcomed as the first customer. The temperature at Sarchu was quite low and we were for the first time feeling uncomfortable in the surrounding, I and wife were having mild headache, while my son was fine and he wanted to play all around the tent. The tent guy warned us of the temperature in the night and told us that temperature in the night will be in rage of -5 to -10 and everything will freeze.
As the day past we saw 2 more vehicle and people and felt good to have some company in and around. later on by night there were few more and they wanted the tent accommodation "as is" because only 3 tents were ready and all other were just not ready but they wanted the accommodation! By 9 PM the condition was getting worse the headache was more prone and breathless started, at that instance I thought game over may be I will have to return back, somehow we managed the night. The good part was my son was doing well he was able to sleep properly without any problem.
The tents were at a height of 4400 meter above sea level, I will update the exact GPS coordinate of the tent later.
Day 5[3rd June Wednesday] I was waiting for the morning so we can start early, by 5 AM I came out of the tent to start my Scorpio, but it refused to start, I was worried, I tried for few more time but it refused the start, there were a layer of snow everywhere on Scorpio, I didn't had any option other than just to retry, I was more worried about battery now, if I go of trying I would possibly kill the battery, whenever I tried hard there was black smoke from the exhaust. The other 2 vehicle too were Scorpio but they were old turbo one and by 5.30 or so each one come out to start their vehicle and they were able to do so, now I was too worried and went to get hot water to be poured over engine compartment, and lastly the hot water trick did work and the Scorpio came to life. It was almost 6.30 when we started your Journey toward Leh!

-Pramod

How did the Scorpio behave in the steep climbs up Baralacha la and in the heights of Sarchu and beyond? Power loss, engine stalls, black smoke.......?

I guess it is a redundant question - one does not have a choice - but would you recommend the tent resort (name and tariffs?) where you stayed at Sarchu?


You should "sweater" your front grille in such cold areas - I have seen taxi operators put a proper leather cloth over the front grille to insulate it from the cold. I have used newspapers (pushed in from under the hood) to cover the grille which helps in keeping away the cold, especially the winds, when parked overnight.

Manali-Leh is "The Ultimate Journey" for all BHPians. Its encouraging that more and more people are doing it & this keeps me encouraging to go for it sooner than later, before age catches up the best part of me.

Nice snaps Pramod, waiting for the rest of the journey details

Once Scorpio came to life its was able to negotiate without any difficulties, but I did face some problem, I will explain in detail, just to let you know, at the heighist point the Scopio "malfunction" light came up and refused to go, I had no choice but to continue, the best part, it did't go into limp mode, but there was a power loss, the climb that it was doing in 3/2 was to be negotiated in 2/1, later in Leh the error code that I figured out from the computer was "P163b" and the discription was "Paramanent governer deviation in PCR. Positive governer deviation above limit".

Sarchu tent is a must, I believe if you are going to this part, you must experience the Sarchu :D , the cost I paid inclusive of food was Rs1800, the location of this tent was just 8 KM before Sarchu, I am unable to recollect the name, but it started with Himalya and something, the accomadation was of type swiss tent[ attached toilet].

I did follow the same "sweeter" rule at sonamarg and the Scorpio came to life in first go, but it may also be due to the "overhaul" at Leh!

What does this error code mean?

What overhaul did you do at Leh? Are the mechanics competant to handle CRDe / Turbo engines of Scorpio. The Mhwak would be difificult to repair there?

=====

Himalayan Saga is the name.....

As soon as I got the mobile signal, I believe some 30KM before Leh, I called Mahindra help line and told them about the problem, within 15 minute, the area incharge called and told me about the service center in Leh would be contacting me, they did called and gave the exact location how to visit them. Once I started from that point the "malfunction" went automatically switch off. I was relieved but still went there and they checked the error code, that I already mentioned but the status of the error was healed, next while I was roaming around exactily when I was playing on Magnetic hill, the light again came on and went straight to them and called Mahindra, they assured me of all the help, an Mahindra engineer was on phone with the mech[there was only 1 mech and he too seem to be not that versed with mHack or CRDe] and instructed them to check all the air intake and vaccum system for any leak, they checked every thing as instructed and then they replaced the air filter, the worst nightmare for Mahindra, there came another mHawk from Haryana via Srinagar with malfunction light switched on [Mahindra engineer admitted that this first time this error code has been reported and they don't have any history or know solution apart from what they are trying], while check they figured same error code and all the process done on my vehicle was repeated and airfilter of that vehicle was also changed. change of Airfilter made this error code go away, I did't faced any more problem after that, I believe the mHawk is more prone to this type of problem, because 2 mHawk with similar enviroment had the same problem, so basically it was not a leakage problem but more of a airfilter problem that might have got chocked because of the excess "dust".

Anybody going to that region need to carry an extra "airfilter" and the first thing that need to be done is to replace that. I am of the opinion that day 5 early morning start might also be due to the same problem, because i didn't faced any starting trouble after that!

@Suman: Yes that the tent! thanks for the name


-Pramod

Is there a M&M ASC in Leh? If so, contact details will be appreciated.

Does this mean that if a car uses K&N flters (which have larger air apertures), you are asking for trouble?

yes i agree

cos i have seen lot of people getting into vehicle trouble like loss of pickup etc just due to a clogged Air filter.

Carry couple of them shdnt hurt anybody specially when on such a trip

Lehling Nawang Auto Service, it on the left side of the road going toward Leh Airport, this is ASC and they also have Maruti Showroom, basically they are Maruti Sales and Service plus M&M ASC.
The phone numbers are there in User Manual of Scorpio.

-Pramod

Wow!! Fantastic trip Pramods. Will be following the updates for sure.Should have been a pretty exciting trip. Is it that only SUVs/MUVs can tame that terrain? Can sedans also do that trip?

Bangalore - Nagpur can be done in 1 day? I thougt the roads are not that great.

Nainar

It is tough, but if you leave very early - say, 4 am - you can target crossing Hyderabad by lunchtime (before 2 pm) and proceeding to Nagpur to reach the next 8 hours. Distance is exactly 900 kms.

NH7 road widening is one all the way in AP, but once you cross into Maharashtra, the roads are fantastic. You can maintain decent pace throughout. But don't go into Hyderabad city which will delay you.

Awesome trip there, pramods. Can you post pics of the Leh - Srinagar stretch?