[vardhan.harsh]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Splendid stuff in this log mate! And plenty of reminiscence for me to enjoy too.

The Johnson Cafe & lodge, great beverages, smoked salmons and "sticky" drives to reach Rohtang, Awesome. And thanks for reminding that I need to get back to the treadmill now.

Trekking from Ch'tal towards Ba'lach La would be awesome. BTW, there's another nice trek towards Chandratal that involves crossing the Hamta Pass and provides great views of Shia Gharu & Chatru glaciers. Pretty sure such treks are gonna be real testing ones.

Been too long since I went to them mountains, darn too long.

Yups, summers are round the corner, soon the greater Himalayas will be open to travel again! It's better you start the treadmill. Trekking from Baralacha La to Chandertal should be one awesome trip, one which i intend to someday too. sigh. I guess the Hamta pass trek starts at Batal, rather than Chandertal and ends at Vashishta (near to Manali) right ?

Originally Posted by fine69

Wow! This is really an inspiration for us delhites

Really amazing travelogue!! This is what I'd want to do on my 5 day trip but the lack of a 4x4 makes me skeptic :( I wish somebody would tell me that I COULD take my swift diesel here.

Thanks fine69. I'm telling you that one does not need a 4x4 to do this trip. All one needs is a decent ground clearance of the vehicle. If you are comfortable with taking your swift to Rohtang & down, this trip should be doable in a Swift. Heck, we took our esteem to Spiti some years back, although we increased the GC by about 20 odd mm just to be safe.

[tsk1979]

Safari 4x4 or 4x2 is actually not the correct vehicle for this route. I would suggest a M800 for this. Swift will also do, but the road before that from Rohtang is horrendous. Lot of water crossings.

We did this almost a month before Harsh, and guess what, the narrow section he posted was narrower earlier. I pushed the stone away a few inches using the foot guard, as there was no space on the cliff side.
Its the craziest narrowest road I have drive on ever, narrower than the Hatu peak climb. Now you can imagine.

when the mountain is in a jolly mood, rocks rain down near the waterfall. Makes it all the more interesting.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by vardhan.harsh

Yups, summers are round the corner, soon the greater Himalayas will be open to travel again! It's better you start the treadmill. Trekking from Baralacha La to Chandertal should be one awesome trip, one which i intend to someday too. sigh. I guess the Hamta pass trek starts at Batal, rather than Chandertal and ends at Vashishta (near to Manali) right ?

More info on Hamta Pass trek available here:

Hampta Pass- Chandratal Trek Via Baralacha Pass,Hampta Pass Trek,Hampta Pass Trekking,Himachal Chandratal Trekking Tour


Sounds pretty interesting. Would be filled with amazing vistas to say the least. Don't know how the body will react to such high altitude trek though! I guess one would need to be in a great shape to do such a trek.

And I've started daydreaming again.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Safari 4x4 or 4x2 is actually not the correct vehicle for this route. I would suggest a M800 for this. Swift will also do, but the road before that from Rohtang is horrendous. Lot of water crossings.

We did this almost a month before Harsh, and guess what, the narrow section he posted was narrower earlier. I pushed the stone away a few inches using the foot guard, as there was no space on the cliff side.
Its the craziest narrowest road I have drive on ever, narrower than the Hatu peak climb. Now you can imagine.

when the mountain is in a jolly mood, rocks rain down near the waterfall. Makes it all the more interesting.

Whoa, that would definitely make the drive pretty interesting. I guess a shovel could be a need of the day on that track? Any pointers on how to gauge if the mountain is in a jolly mood or not?

[vardhan.harsh]

Originally Posted by lordofgondor

Any pointers on how to gauge if the mountain is in a jolly mood or not?

If you see stones falling, the mood is quite jolly and interactive ;-). If not, the mood is pensive.

[tsk1979]

Usually, you never see the jolly mood. Its only when you hear a loud clang you realize that the missiles are coming.

[lordofgondor]

Originally Posted by vardhan.harsh

If you see stones falling, the mood is quite jolly and interactive ;-). If not, the mood is pensive.

Originally Posted by tsk1979

Usually, you never see the jolly mood. Its only when you hear a loud clang you realize that the missiles are coming.

So essentially one needs to keep a constant vigil on the slopes. But what if you traverse the road and it gets blocked after that? Is there any body which makes sure the road remains open for traffic?

[tsk1979]

Its the PWDs job.
At many places on major roads you have these signs marked with "Shooting stones".
Be careful there.
On minor roads, such signs are missing.
so basically if you see a katcha section with a recently cleared landslide, you watch out and keep vigil

[Sha]

Originally Posted by vardhan.harsh

Also, Sha (BCMT id) had mentioned that it had snowed and rained quite heavily a day before. We wondered if reaching till the parking lot would be possible at all, and were quite sure that a challenging 12 km were coming up ahead.

I have the same id here also.
You are lucky to see lake with clear weather not for us weather was looking too bad just reached near the lake board sign and it started snowing.
I have about 5-6 videos of 12km drive stretch i can post here if you do not mind.

[vineethvazhayil]

Lovely pictures and an awesome thread!

[vardhan.harsh]

Originally Posted by Sha

I have the same id here also.
You are lucky to see lake with clear weather not for us weather was looking too bad just reached near the lake board sign and it started snowing.
I have about 5-6 videos of 12km drive stretch i can post here if you do not mind.

Oh please go ahead and put those videos up.

Thanks for your inputs Sha. I wouldn't have had the confidence to go ahead had it not been for your inputs.

Originally Posted by vineethvazhayil

Lovely pictures and an awesome thread!

Thanks vineet.

[sami316]

Amazing pics Harsh...the pics do good justice to the beauty and serenity of the place. I could literally feel the cold and chill while going through your narration and pics. This would be an unforgettable experience for both of you. Would love to do this sometime in the future. Thanks again for the awesome pics.

[nanduchitnis]

Hi Harsh

Very sharp reflections. Loks like zero wind speed. An odd pic inverted will also look great!!

Rohtang roads the pits ! Cant they broaden the road considering the heavy traffic there?

Rgds

Cdr Nandu Chitnis (Retd)

[vardhan.harsh]

Originally Posted by sami316

Amazing pics Harsh...the pics do good justice to the beauty and serenity of the place. I could literally feel the cold and chill while going through your narration and pics. This would be an unforgettable experience for both of you. Would love to do this sometime in the future. Thanks again for the awesome pics.

Thanks Sami. Glad that you liked it. It's an awesome place and specially since they have banned vehicles from getting too close to the wetland. It's quite serene and peacful.

Originally Posted by nanduchitnis

Hi Harsh

Very sharp reflections. Loks like zero wind speed. An odd pic inverted will also look great!!

Rohtang roads the pits ! Cant they broaden the road considering the heavy traffic there?

Rgds

Cdr Nandu Chitnis (Retd)

Thanks you sir.
Actually the way i see it, due to the heavy traffic on this route it becomes increasingly difficult to work on the road. Add to that their misery of frequent landslides, especially after Marhi. The broadening work has already been done to a large extent with only a few small stretches that remain. The work to be done now would be to tar and maintain, the latter will be the most challenging aspect.

[supertinu]

Thanks for sharing the experience and the amazing pics Vardhan. The beauty of the lake and surroundings is spell binding. Especially the morning picture with still lake as good as a mirror its even more magical. With this i continue to dream of visiting this place some time .

[Sha]

Adding first video of chandratal lake drive video.

YouTube - ChandraTal Lake Drive-1