[BolBolero]

@CARvalho, Thanks. No major problems with the rear seat comfort and ride quality. But then again, all three of us are not very tall, so leg space as such was not a big problem.

@Sami316, Thanks man. The snaps don't do justice to the beauty! Updates coming soon!

@wanderonomad, totally missed taking pics at Jalori Jot! Thats a 500mm lens that Dinesh uses.

@ KPS, your message conveyed to Dinesh. Did you drive down to Manali from Bangalore?

@HVK, no pp right after Aut, till you reach the NH 22 at Sainj. Make sure tanks are full, cos the climb to Jalori Jot does burn up a lot of fuel. We were very lucky with the weather holding up at these places. I remember asking you the condition of the pass, and you were not too sure, because of the rains elsewhere in the region. Rains on these narrow, untarred roads would have made the going difficult!

[KPS]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

@ KPS, your message conveyed to Dinesh. Did you drive down to Manali from Bangalore?

We were a group of 9 guys largely Kodava's (people from Coorg) who did this biking trip. We called ourselves "Wild Boar Biking" after the famous Coorg Pork!
WE actually flew into Delhi, drove down to Manali and we were supposed to bike in Enfields from Manali to LEH. Since we could not get past Rothang, we drove back to Delhi and flew into LEH and continued our journey from LEH. We had a blast.

Cheers
KPS

[lordofgondor]

Nice travelogue mate. It's making me yearn big time to head to those places again.

Originally Posted by BolBolero

I remember asking you the condition of the pass, and you were not too sure, because of the rains elsewhere in the region. Rains on these narrow, untarred roads would have made the going difficult!

Well, crossing Jalori Jot is definitely interesting during the rains. Plenty of slush on those steep inclines is kinda testing. Crossed the pass during a heavy downpour in July 2007 and after snowfall in Feb 2010 with the car sliding away to glory. Just loved the feeling both times.

[BolBolero]

Day 9: 12th. July

After spending the night at the govt rest house, we left at around 7.00 am. Our destination for the day was going to be Kaza. The condition of the road was bad till we crossed Powari, again due to the work of the Karcham- Wangtoo Hydro electric project (Jaypee Associates). Powari is the last place you will find a petrol pump, before Kaza. Advisable to tank up here, before proceeding further. After Powari the condition of the roads improved considerably. Ofcourse there were a lot of bad stretches, but overall very much driveable. Hats off to the BRO/GREF once again for doing such a wonderful job of roadbuilding/maintenance!







Most of the bridges only permit one vehicle to cross at a time.



Passed a few places where blasting was being undertaken, for road widening purposes.




Breakfast halt at Powari.

Entry to Spillow.

Padmasambhav Monastery at Spillow.

Clearing of landslide debris.

Mati Dhang Durga Mandir next to Police check post, where all papers are thoroughly checked and details of the car and occupants are noted down. Foreigners require to have Inner Line Permits.




Twisting and turning roads.







The River Satluj alongside the road.

[wanderernomad]

Have they moved the inner line to Mata Dhang mandir than the Lippa check post or it was just a check point? Did you encounter another check post beyond spillow called as Lippa? That should have been some Kms before the point from where the road to that bridge branches off. also there is a firing range down below from the curve shown in the 3rd picture from the last one.

[ampere]

Wow! The river snaps are just awesome! Classic shots esp 69 and 72!
So is the snap where water gushes out of the dam.

Sutlej just looks awesome!

[sami316]

Amazing pics again. I would second Ampere on that, really liked the river snaps.

[ampere]

For a moment that projecting rock snap made me think you were on the Manikaran route on the Parvati river valley!

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Have they moved the inner line to Mata Dhang mandir than the Lippa check post or it was just a check point? Did you encounter another check post beyond spillow called as Lippa? That should have been some Kms before the point from where the road to that bridge branches off. also there is a firing range down below from the curve shown in the 3rd picture from the last one.

AFAIK, the ILPs were being checked at Sumdo, and there is a check post at Jangi beyond Spello (towards Sumdo).

[Dry Ice]

Whoaa man!! The snaps of water gushing out is scary!

What place is this? The first few snaps of your post give a very good idea about the energy this gushing water possesses. Amazing.

And special mention of the vehicle that got you there, very clean looking Bolero! (Don't take it literally, talking in general) Well taken care of. Experts here praise the Bolero no end for its 'chugging up the hill' quality. Hope it made your life easy!

Looking forward to the next installment.

[hvkumar]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

Whoaa man!! The snaps of water gushing out is scary!

What place is this? The first few snaps of your post give a very good idea about the energy this gushing water possesses. Amazing.

The water gushing out is at Karchcham, where Jaypee is building a hydel power plant. The water is a sluice pipe meant to divert water to the turbine.

[BolBolero]

@LoG, Thanks mate. Wonder how the Bolero would have performed in the rains, while climbing? Must have been a fun drive in the snow. BTW what vehicle were you driving?

@ wanderernomad, The board at the Mati Dhang checkpost clearly mentioned Inner Line Begins. So I assumed that the papers would have to be checked there! This was just after Spillow. The next check post was at Sumdo. No Lippi. Was not aware of the firing range. Maybe will visit it the next time I'm there!

@ ampere & sami316, Thanks guys. Satluj was awesome, but very very muddy when we were there. The 1st. pic of the water gushing out, I presume, was actually from the pipe after it had passed through the turbines. This was just after Karcham, Baspa II.
@ ampere, So now I will have to plan out the Manikaran trip!

@ HVK, Sir isn't Jangi before Spillow? At least that's what I have on my drive log. I may be mistaken. There is a check post at Sumdo too, where the papers are checked again.

@ DryIce, The water gushing out of the pipe is at Karcham, a part of the BASPA II hydro electric project, on the Satluj & Baspa Rivers, Kinnaur Valley, Himachal Pradesh.
The Bolero really performed very well and handled everything that was thrown at her! We kept up the clean appearance all the way to Rajasthan on the return leg!

[hvkumar]

Gautam, when you are going from Shimla side, first comes Spello, then Jangi Check Post. It is just 2 kms further ahead.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by BolBolero

@LoG, Thanks mate. Wonder how the Bolero would have performed in the rains, while climbing? Must have been a fun drive in the snow. BTW what vehicle were you driving?

Bolero, I believe has a nice low end torque. So it would have performed well I say.

Unfortunately, the snow had started melting by the time we're at the pass, so it was more like driving through slush caused by the snow melt water. But yeah, there were some snowy sections on the road. I was driving my Maruti Esteem both the times. A light car with good power output makes climbing those passes quite an adrenaline rush! Tried and took a couple of turns while drifting. Of course these weren't blind turns and I knew there was no oncoming vehicle.

Another thing that your mention of water gushing out of pipes reminded me of: I'd washed my car by making it stand below one of those pipes (a very small one though). Don't recollect the exact location, but it was somewhere around Kharcham. And after that, I somehow got addicted to doing this on my mountain trips!

EDIT: Eagerly awaiting the next installment mate.

[BolBolero]

Originally Posted by hvkumar

Gautam, when you are going from Shimla side, first comes Spello, then Jangi Check Post. It is just 2 kms further ahead.

In that case, would I be correct in assuming that the Jangi check post and the Mati Dhang Mandir checkpost are one and the same? I did not encounter any other checkpost till Sumdo.

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Bolero, I believe has a nice low end torque. So it would have performed well I say.
Unfortunately, the snow had started melting by the time we're at the pass, so it was more like driving through slush caused by the snow melt water. But yeah, there were some snowy sections on the road. I was driving my Maruti Esteem both the times. A light car with good power output makes climbing those passes quite an adrenaline rush! Tried and took a couple of turns while drifting. Of course these weren't blind turns and I knew there was no oncoming vehicle.
Another thing that your mention of water gushing out of pipes reminded me of: I'd washed my car by making it stand below one of those pipes (a very small one though). Don't recollect the exact location, but it was somewhere around Kharcham. And after that, I somehow got addicted to doing this on my mountain trips!
EDIT: Eagerly awaiting the next installment mate.

Esteem through slush! I just can't imagine being so low down, practically touching the road, with slush all around!
Would feel safer in the Bolero, atleast the slush is way down, below the doors!
Decided to keep the car squeaky clean and not wash it till we reached Bombay or let it get cleaned by the rains! (Did draw a lot stares while we were caught up in Delhi traffic on the way back)