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Old 6th April 2010, 16:08   #16
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Chalo chalo. no gyan/q&a. just triplog and nothing more.
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Old 6th April 2010, 16:41   #17
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Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
Chalo chalo. no gyan/q&a. just triplog and nothing more.
+1 to this. Come on Tanveer, dont keep up hanging for long. Looking forward to read/enjoy the travelogue.
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Old 6th April 2010, 16:45   #18
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Oye already a prologue for the main event in summers? Story telling skills are improving and "if and when" you do write a professional travelouge remember some royalty will be due to TBH members too for all the encouragement being heaped upon you!
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Old 6th April 2010, 17:07   #19
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Onward....

Thankfully its not a few hours, just an hour.
We drink some delicious tea. The small shop owner is confused. She's never had to make so much tea, all thanks to the jam. But the beauty of it all is that tea is still 5rs.
In the plains, with such an opportunity, the rates would have become 10rs a tea, but not here.

Jam cleared, we trudge on.
The hordes are arriving, but we are still ahead. There is little traffic, and manali passes by quickly.
Soon, we are on the kothi highway. Time to have lunch, and move on.
We reach Gulaba quickly. The road is amazing. Smooth black tarmac, and we are hoping this lasts. But then you know, it never lasts, and Gulaba is where the dream run ends!
Some pics
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829064164_saf2jl.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829148539_uccxdl.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829067953_kyjj4l.jpg
Its quarter to 5 already, and we have maybe 2 hours of light.
We are hoping there is no traffic jam, and thankfully there is none, except for a few minutes of trouble as people take pics
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829070233_hqrvsl.jpg
Little after 5 we reach the marhi checkpost of BRO, which is eerily empty. There is no checkpost, and barriers have been moved away, and no BRO officer is in sight.
What awaits us is smooth black tarmac. Yes, you heard it right.
Time to step on it and go to Rohtang!
But alas, if wishes were horses, barely a km later the road ends, and I face the first obstacle of the day. A large water body in the middle of the road. I can either go through it, or try the slush on the side
I decide to tackle the known, and get bogged down.
Bad move, time for 4WD, reverse out and attempt again.
After that its mostly a very very bad road with rocks. In may we had a lot more snow, but now it looks like a drought time
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829072277_jrnrwl.jpg
finally at 5:30ish its time for the snow walls
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829150148_c4yujl.jpg

Exciting times ahead I guess....
TO BE CONT.......
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Old 6th April 2010, 17:12   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phamilyman View Post
Chalo chalo. no gyan/q&a. just triplog and nothing more.
Quote:
Originally Posted by f1fan View Post
+1 to this. Come on Tanveer, dont keep up hanging for long. Looking forward to read/enjoy the travelogue.
LOL have some patience. I will keep posting "Little by little". Do not blame my, I am really into oasis these days.

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Originally Posted by sudev View Post
Oye already a prologue for the main event in summers? Story telling skills are improving and "if and when" you do write a professional travelouge remember some royalty will be due to TBH members too for all the encouragement being heaped upon you!
Yup sort of prologue. Rohtang is always fun on its though, esp when its closed
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Old 6th April 2010, 17:26   #21
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Onward.... II

Soon we come across a BRO mini truck. Those guys frantically wave me to stop, and tell me roads closed. I ask them to let me go a little further, and since I am in a 4WD I allowed. They tell me clearly that even their trucks are having a tough time in the snow.

In my mind I am wondering, what snow.
But it did not take us long to find out "what snow".
The walls are shorter, but the stuff on the ground is pretty nightmarish.
Time to flick back into 4WD, and charge for it.
There is slush, snow slush snow and the full day sunlight has made mini rivulets now and then.
Add to that the BRO 4x4 trucks, and you have slush of epic proportions
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829076118_eqopyl.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829151634_hsvspl.jpg

Soon I come across another parked 4x4 truck. This one is bigger, and the officers inside are senior officers.
They are quite taken aback, and tell me that their snow cutting machines are blocking the road a short distance ahead. I ask them to let me go till their machines, and they tell me, go but remember, we will come back only tomorrow morning, so if you get stuck here, you will stay here for the night.
With that cheerful thought we trudge forward, and finally come across to virgin icy snow.
This snow is so thick and icy that there are not ruts, and even the tank treads of the snow cutting monsters can dent it.
On the bright side, no more continuous thudding from the bad roads.
I am kind of relieved that the diff will no longer be used as a snow plough
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829079854_thsqal.jpg

And finally close to 6pm we reach the point barely 2kms from Rohtang. The snow cutters are parked there. they are big and magestic. There is lot of snow, but thankfully the U turn point has been cleared by these monsters.
Time to get down, and soak the sights
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829082240_f6xxbl.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829085181_yh8khl.jpg

the big white elephant looks tiny in front of these
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-827594425_b2n3bl.jpg

Just look at these behemoths.
One look at the treads will tell you why is it that every year the road is reduced to smithereens. These cut the ice, and along with that cut the road.
These are the BHEL BD80s, the most powerful and formidable muscle of BRO. They are the mountain movers, They will go where nothing can go, no 4x4, no tank, no unimog. These will not drive over an obstacle, these will simply move it out of the way
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829086922_bemkul.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829088698_btqhpl.jpg

(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829090891_ynvktl.jpg

Apart from the BD50 small dozers, there are 3 of these BD80s on work at the pass. As I type this, the lead one would have reached the top, and BRO would be going onward to meet with their comrades clearing the snow from khoksar

We spend a few minutes there freezing. The safari guage says 1 degree, and thats with the engine heat. In reality its -2 or maybe lower.
(Photo)Log from the the land of summer snowwalls-829093303_sr5vml.jpg

Night is falling, and winds are picking up. If it gets really windy, wind will blow snow from the walls onto the road, making it impassable. Time to head back. The safari currently holds around 50 liters of diesel, and I do not want to find out whether it can keep us warm for an entire night.


So time to head back down
TO BE CONT...........
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Old 6th April 2010, 20:11   #22
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tanveer nice stuff man. You seem be having a ball of a time in the Himalayas with the White Elephant.

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They are quite taken aback, and tell me that their snow cutting machines are blocking the road a short distance ahead. I ask them to let me go till their machines, and they tell me, go but remember, we will come back only tomorrow morning, so if you get stuck here, you will stay here for the night.
Takes a lot of guts to venture into this kinda territory. What was the outcome after you got stuck ?
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Old 6th April 2010, 20:14   #23
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Tanvir, post up the rest of the log fast man. it's already almost an hour from your last post .
Those mean machines are really big, from the first pic(Safari was closer) I was thinking that they are not that big. But as I scrolled down and show the 3rd picture, oh boy, they indeed are monsters.
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Old 6th April 2010, 20:26   #24
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@TSK - Ok, now I understand, its much better than -15 & MX6, yes now I too love this snow & temperature. Surprise!!!! I'm beginning to enjoy the pictures of the snow too & here's a little thing that I can do with the rating on this thread. Hope that makes you
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Old 6th April 2010, 20:46   #25
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Mesmerizing stuff!

Can we have some larger-sized pics of this travelogue to use them as desktop wallpaper with your due permission? If not many, atleast that of the opening picture?

Keep up the good work!

Regards,
Jaspreet Singh
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Old 6th April 2010, 23:21   #26
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Man, if I ever knew of anyone who was posting crazy snow travelogues in this heat its you. Awesome travelogue (as usual) bro. Waiting for the next post.
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Old 7th April 2010, 08:02   #27
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Tanveer - You are one adventurous guy

Looking forward to the rest of it !!
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Old 7th April 2010, 08:21   #28
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Tanveer

Superb Travelogue as usual. You, your white elephant and snow make a heady cocktail..

Just a querry.... the BD80s are manufactured by BEML or BHEL. ??
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Old 7th April 2010, 09:05   #29
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Quote:
Originally Posted by columbus View Post
Just a querry.... the BD80s are manufactured by BEML or BHEL. ??
BEML is Bharat Earth Movers Limited & you can see this etched on to the machines blue in color in the above pics. BHEL is for manufacturing energy related stuff.
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Old 7th April 2010, 10:29   #30
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Yes its BEML. My bad about BHEL.
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