Team-BHP - Himachal Pradesh : "The Great Hunt for Snowfall" but found just snow

Quote:

Originally Posted by vkochar (Post 1698437)

Excellent Pics !! Just went through the entire photos in one go :)

Looking forward to the Amritsar part.

Thanks Vkochar, I have just reached Manali. So after i share the Manali, Rohtang Pass route and Solang Valley will come to Amritsar.

Keep an eye out for it !

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsar56 (Post 1698720)

Nice pictures Avi. The pics of the River Beas have come out really good.:thumbs up

BTW, how did you manage to fit in that makeshift cable car at the resort? It seems scary! :Shockked:

Thanks Nazim. That picture was for illustration purpose that only slim fellas can go over the river to other side where the cottage is situated. He clearly made me sideline and said, its not for big guys like me:D.

I had to hike through the backroute for more than 2kms to reach the cottage. There is a brief story of this backroute, will share when i am moving out of Manali

We reached Manali sometime late in the evening and checked into the hotel and freshened up and decided to visit the Mall road. That evening was good fun spending time eating chaat and other goodies on mall road.

Next day morning, we decided to head out to Rohtang Pass and Solang Valley. However, we know that we cannot go up to Rohtang as roads are closed down. So we decided to go up till whatever it was possible.

Enroute, we saw beautiful scenary and a huge air balloon with some passengers high up in the sky. You pass through those small shops who sell you warm clothes, shoes,ski boots etc.

And, lot of folks coming for first time hire that stuff ( like i did when i went for the first time). However, over time i realized that it is not really required.

@GD, it was indeed a tough thing for us folks from south where winters are almost non-existent.

But, I personally dont feel cold that much but, wifey is exactly opposite she being from Delhi has no bearance for even mild cold weather:)

This post outlines some fabulous snow covered Manali skyline. Please overlook the dirty sensors standing out like a sore thumb.

Now comes my favorite part where we actually saw tons and tons of snow. When we reached a certain point ( forgot the name of the place) there was a huge traffic jam on the rohtang pass route.

So we ditched the cab and hiked our way up for more than 3-4kms where we found a huge slope that was accessible via. walk/climb but those 4 kms were trecherous as there was so much snow, there was absolutely no grip with my sport shoes.

Well, i dont mind being honest, fell down a couple of times too:D

This was the moment we were eagerly waiting for during our holiday where we can spend a few hours immersed in that white beautiful thing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pulsar56 (Post 1699135)

cpics:

BTW, did you try the crude way of skiing?

Ofcourse,adrenalin was rushing to head and there was quite a few things that i did which can be termed as childish:D

While we were playing in the snow, we saw a chopper constantly hovering around us and then later came to know there is a chopper ride too.

I am sure it must be a fantastic view of the snow covered ranges from the top. Anyone knows how much they charge? I am guessing it could be about Rs.2k for a 5-10 minutes spin.

Some more pictures of that location where there were vendors selling peanuts to sandwiches to yak rides. Name it, it was available at such a high location. I wonder how they climb to such heights daily, reckon they have genes of mountain goats in them:D

I noticed the vendor who sells his wares from the toppest location sells more. Quite logical, you want to munch something and gaze around you from that heighted spot:)

In our excitement we had climbed roughly about 4kms to that glacier where there was snow in abundance. After spending more than 3 hours enjoying the snow and scenary, it was now the rough task of hiking it down.

We realized it was much easier hiking up than climbing down as the surface was darn slippery.

After some struggle we huffed and puffed our way back to place we got down from cab. We knew for sure that our Sardar friend has returned down the ghat even further as entire road was blocked with traffic going up and down the ghats.

Before embarking on another 2km-3km downward trek, we decided to grab some hot maggi. Oh Boy! Did we get refereshed after that or what !:)

After reaching the cab which as we guessed was almost 2kms down that traffic trail.

Our next stop was Solang Valley which is a short diversion away on Manali route. As some of you may not be aware, this place is popular for Para-Gliding as there is a huge hilltop which you need to first climb and take the jump from there.

They were quoting Rs.1200/head in begining and saw many people even paying out Rs.1000/head.

I negotiated with them to bring it down to Rs.650/head and wifey and Anupam who are absolute thrill seekers decided to give it a try. Even i wanted to try it out but, there was a long queue on the top and by the time my turn came it was getting dark and we were totally exhausted from the full day trip.

We also spotted a few locals on ATV's offering a ride for some price. We didnt check them out.

This place also offers some beautiful view of the snow capped mountains.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobike008 (Post 1702129)

I negotiated with them to bring it down to Rs.650/head and wifey and Anupam who are absolute thrill seekers decided to give it a try.
We also spotted a few locals on ATV's offering a ride for some price. We didnt check them out.

This place also offers some beautiful view of the snow capped mountains.

Wow, great negotiation skills, as usual :thumbs up. By the way, what is an ATV?

When I visited Solang Valley in Jan 2002, I took a pony ride to the top of a snow-covered hill, where there is a Shiva temple that is carved out of icy stalactites.

While there was fresh snow at the top, the final part of the path that leads up was treacherously slippery, so much so that I slipped and fell on the way down to the pony. Hurt my tailbone, and it took 3 weeks for the pain to subside. Thankfully, I was still able to move around and enjoy other places on the following days.

That was a lesson learnt the hard way---snow that turns to ice is really very hard and hurts when you fall on it. I fully agree with you that going down is far more tough than climbing up.