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Snow drive: An excruciating adventure with my Mahindra Thar

22nd October 2021, 19:12 by Dev Shah

The trick of driving in snow even in a 4WD without chains, is to not lose momentum, if you lose it, there is a fat chance that you will get stuck, and if you lose traction, the snow below the tyres quickly turns into ice making them spin freely without any movement.

BHPian akshay4587 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

Leg 1: Ambala-Chail; Encounter with a Blizzard:

Since it was raining and snowing most of the time, didn't get a chance to click many pics and videos, so sharing what I have.

It was a cold morning,and it had been a couple of hours since it was raining.

I was driving towards the gym in my Thar at 9:30 AM; just about when I was to enter the gymnasium gate, a sudden thought cropped up in my mind, the weather forecast looks good, and it might snow in the mountains later in the day. That was it; I decided in my mind, let’s go for a snow drive. I called up my close friend as he has a V-cross, and asked him if he would like to join for the drive; however he informed that his Isuzu had gone for service, but he can hop in with me, but we need to be back the same day by 8-9 PM, which was fine with me.

I quickly drove back home, picked up some heavy jackets, snow boots,snow chains, gloves, eatables etc.

Picked up my friend at 10:30 AM and we were off towards the mountains in search of some snow, little did we know what lay ahead of us. We called up a mutual friend in Solan who has a Thar and asked him if he would like to join in for the drive. He agreed and we caught up with him at Solan around noon, and it was still raining.

Next, we had to decide the destination; Narkanda was dropped as it would be a bit too much and we were skeptical about Shimla due to traffic and if it snows there, it will be mayhem due to 2WD’s on road. So, it was decided that we will head to Chail, since the road is secluded and if there is no snowfall there, we can head towards Kufri.

The two Thars:

We left Solan around 1 PM, and started driving towards Chail, about 30 minutes into the journey, the rain turned into tiny snowflakes, which ensured that it would be snowing higher up.

First glimpse of snow:

We kept moving at a steady pace, and took the right turn from Kandaghat towards Chail, which is about 35 kms from there, which may not seem much, but the road is very narrow and in snow it can get a lot tricky. 20 kms onto the road towards Chail, no snow, 25 kms, still no snow; At this point, we had started to wonder, if we had made the right decision.

Just as we were about 7-8 kms from Chail, everything changed; it started to snow, we were happy. The snowfall then turned heavy, and it was time for me to lock the hubs and switch to 4H. Slowly and steadily we kept driving towards Chail. Now the snowfall had almost turned into a blizzard. The snow on the road was getting deeper and deeper, however, the two Thars were trundling along comfortably.

Snowed out:

By this time, the snow on road was already at least 6 inches deep or more. We were about 2-3 kms from Chail, when we came across our first hurdle.

Stuck:

The trick of driving in snow even in a 4WD without chains, is to not lose momentum, if you lose it, there is a fat chance that you will get stuck and if you lose traction, the snow below the tyres quickly turns into ice making them spin freely without any movement.

For those who have been to Chail, you would know that there is a hair pin turn just about two kms from Chail near the green tax barrier, my friend was leading us, and he had to brake suddenly, as an Alto was stuck in the snow. That braking made him lose momentum and he got stuck. Luckily, I had managed to bring my vehicle to halt slowly.

Now to move forward, I had to ensure that I do not lose traction, else I would have got stuck as well.

Shifted to 4L and gently released the clutch, and I slowly inched forward and parked my Thar ahead after finding a flat patch with less snow.

At this point, we decided it would be wise to use chains since the snow had started to turn into ice.

Now Installing chains is not that easy; and with freezing temperatures and 8-10 inches of snow on road, even with gloves on, we struggled for 15-20 minutes and gave up. Meanwhile, we were able to move the other Thar out of the icy patch after rocking it back and forth. It was still snowing heavily and there was no chance that it would stop for the next few hours.

We reached a consensus that we will drive up to Chail which was about 2 kms from there, have a cup of tea, call it a day and drive back, since we had already driven in enough snow.

In heavy snow, driving for even 2 kms can be a tedious task and sure it was.

I was leading this time, and barely 700-800 meters from the spot, my Thar lost traction and slipped into a tiny ditch towards the mountain. We were 4 people in two Thars with one stuck in heavy snow fall and not a single vehicle or a soul in sight. 3 of us tried to push the Thar out while I was at the wheel, but it didn’t budge. It was stuck at such an angle that tow strap wasn’t an option. Times like these, you wish, you had a winch.

Moments before my Thar got stuck:

Team Maroon Thar:

World is a small place:

While we were waiting for someone to drive (which was highly unlikely) or walk past us, I notice a group of people at a distance walking towards us, it was still snowing heavily, and we were all covered up. As the group inched closer, I walked up to them and asked if they could help in pushing my Thar out of snow, and I could feel the reluctance. Then suddenly, one of them shouts, "Arey Akshay Bhai, is that you?". I was like yes, and he was an old friend from bcmtouring.com, who was working in a bank in Chail and was walking towards civilization as banks etc. would be closed for the next few days. Upon exchanging pleasantries with the group, who had of course now agreed to help us push the Thar out, we managed to move my Thar ourselves in a few minutes and decided to drive back from there.

The parting shot:

Return leg: Chail-Ambala, when 4WD owners turned into wood cutters:

It was almost 4 PM, when we decided to drive back, little did we know what lay ahead of us. Siddharth had informed us that a few locals had already driven ahead of us towards Kufri in Gypsies/Vcross/Thars, and they will be returning soon. We decided to wait for them.

Meanwhile, a couple of locals who were walking up towards Chail gave us the dreadful news that the road from Chail to Kandaghat was blocked as 18-20 trees had fallen and were blocking the road. This came up as a big blow, since this would mean that we could get stuck easily for 1-2 days. By this time, the locals had arrived in their 4WDs, and we reached a consensus that we will drive and see what lies ahead of us. Meanwhile, Siddharth being the local bank guy, had some contacts and arranged an axe for us. So we rolled off and a few hundred meters later, we came across our first blockade, it was a small one, and now that we were a group of 15-18 odd people, we managed to push the tree aside. We lost the axe while trying to cut the second or third tree. Luckily, Siddharth, our saviour had asked for a petrol-powered chain saw. With a tank full of petrol in the chain saw, and manpower of 18 odd people, we managed to chop 15 odd trees and covered the distance of about 35 odd kms in about 5 hours.