Ride to Spiti and Chandertal

Chanderjeet · 20-06-07, 05:20 AM

HIMALAYAS - SPITI VALLEY - CHANDERTAL LAKE
(13000 Feet and beyond )

Picture taken at Rohtang Pass at 11 AM. The weather turned from sunny to snowish in less than 30 mins of climbing. I may be looking like an eskimo but the multi-layered clothing did its job. Oh, and btw, if you notice, you can can see some really nice tracks beyond me which lasted for the rest of the trip.

The real adventure was trying to ride thru snow without knobblies.

The trail thru the spiti valley.

Taking a butt break..

Posiong. Picture that will be shown to grandchildren...

Riding in the valley untouched ....

Along side the Chandra river, we marched.....

Having an argument is just too stupid when the snow is beating down on you at 13000 feet.

Foreword:

I thought about doing another smallish run to Himalayas just to check out if my bike is ready for the big run to Leh and Ladakh. The original plan was to do Delhi - Manikaran - Jalori Pass - Delhi. Then something happened and i thought it would be better to take a trip to Chandertal Lake which is located in the really high mountains.

Day 1: Delhi to Chandigarh.

My friend came to my place and we started at around 2 pm with temp in upwards of 40' C. Too hot. Took too many water breaks and reached Chandigarh late evening. Bad karma struck when my helmet fell and the visor cracked. I had a bad feeling about this trip already..

Day 2: Chandigarh to Manali.

We stayed at another friends place and discussed the plan with him. He couldn’t resist it and after calling in sick at work he was ready to roll with us. We started from Chandigarh at around 8am and after riding for about 11 hours we reached Manali. The drive was pleasing which included riding alongside rivers, valleys and also crossing a 3 Kms long tunnel. After checking into a hotel, we went for dinner and city walk in the evening. Manali is a tourist heaven / hell (depending how you look at it). The place usually is overnight stay for bikers and a favorite family vacation city. Many would go to Rohtang and next morning which is about 51kms and come back the same day and live happily ever after. But we had to cross Rohtang La and go beyond the horizon....

Day 3: Manali to Chandertal (Back to Chhatru) (13,000+ feet)

The day had finally come to set out to the unforeseen territory. We packed up extra bottles of water, Instant Noodles and 12 eggs & butter (VERY VERY VERY BAD IDEA). The terrain was treacherous and unforgiving in simple words. Well off we went towards Rohtang after tanking up. The route is jam-packed with traffic and snarls are too common. Reaching Rohtang la took 4 hours and crossing the Pass itself turned out tough. In less than 3 hours we had reached height of more than 13000 feet braving Rain, sleet, snowfall, pothole, mud, sludge, slipping, sliding, extra weight, acute angles, rough terrain, icy cold water streaming in your shoes, little streams becoming big waterfalls, low visibility, clouds just under your ass. It was all happening. It really was. Worst of all, we didn’t care. We should have cared and put on our rain coats but we didn’t (BAD IDEA). After getting soaked and riding down from the pass, i had lost the feeling in my hands, my nose and my feet. Anyhow, we kept moving till the time we reached gramphoo from where you take a a nice road towards Leh and a downhill pebbled track to chandertal. A car driver pulled over and wanted to know about our trip and where we were from and stuff. Had a little chat with him and he gave a very helpful piece of advise. "If you don’t reach chandertal till 4PM then don’t push it. Just turn around." We double checked our supplies before moving. Status - Eggs broken (something told me it was a bad idea). Kept moving and wondering what to call the roads. Well, let me just say, if you ride to chandertal, then there is no road in this world that you will be scared to ride on. I can’t describe in words what it was like but i have attached some pics so that you can see with your own eyes. At times we were climbing a steep 30 degree incline with big rocks acting like stair and trust me a bike with less that 10 bhp and about 100~110 Kgs on board, it was really amazing how the machine performed. My two buddies were better with one riding a 350cc Royal Enfield and other one riding a 150 cc TVS Apache with no load. I was riding a 110 cc LML Energy. We kept going but now the weather was really upon us. Lashing with rain and after we had climbed steadily to quite some good height, the rain turned to snow. We kept moving riding thru snow storm, streams, rocks and the usual unbearable things. Even cross a glacier. We were only 19 Kms from Chandertal Lake when calamity struck. The road was blocked due to recent snowing. (it looked as if snow came down on the road just 2 mins ago). We tried crossing it but steep incline, no knobblies, and subzero temp kept us from crossing it. That marked the end of our trip. Suddenly from the other side came a car which came to a sliding stop as they did not expect us in that snow covered corridor. A guy came out to help and after 4 people out their man-power together, only then we were back to our way to Manali. But destiny had something else in store for us. The knees were numb and I stopped and popped my knees in front of the exhaust just get some heat to my knees. Didn’t work. Somehow managed to hop back on the bike and throttled it to the fullest, jumping over rocks and potholes, if this wasn’t running for our lives, then I don’t know what it was. I didn’t stop for anything, for the first time in my life I must have ridden like a pro rally biker. Standing on pegs, rear wheel sliding out of line and front suspension traveling full length that it the front mudguard broke away. There was one very ridiculous jump on which i would have usually slowed down, but I did exactly the opposite and gunned it, traveling at-least 4-5 feet in the air. Well, good thing was that the dhaba wasn’t too far and we reached just before the snow started falling really hard.

Day 4: Chattru to Chandigarh.

After surviving the night, thanks to the fire and the really hot tea, we packed up and started the return journey. This was going to be one gruesome day. With almost 350 Kms of riding in the mountains including some of the highest passes in the world, we had to cover 400+ to reach Chandigarh. We must have started at around 7 am and it took a while to gain the heat in the tires and the riding confidence. Once everything was on track we started gaining momentum and once again were crossing rocks and that entire traumatic tarmac with efficiency of a seasoned rider. Crossed Rohtang-la again but this time we stopped to check out the place. The motor-ski ride my friends opted was a rip-off (glad I didn’t do it). Drove down to the splendid valley of Gulaba where the horses run wild like stray dogs (sorry for the comparison but I guess you got the picture). The drive down hill was fast and at times too fast. We were stopped at Marhi by policemen for the same. After a word of warning from them, we next stopped at a place where they were giving helicopter rides to tourist. The problem was it too was a big rip-off. (I hate them for charging too much). Anyhow, we kept moving only to stop for food and drinks time after time. The 19 hours of riding in a day had taken its toll when we finally reached Chandigarh. What followed was a peaceful and dreamless sleep.

Day 5: Chandigarh to Delhi.

Not much adventurous riding this day. It in-fact is the most boring ride of my trips. Driving in plains for 250 Kms only stopping half way for some food. That pretty much sums up the day except for the fact that my buddy towed another royal Enfield bullet with his because the guy ran out of fuel. He father was some sort of big guy and he wanted us to stay at their place for the night. We declined courteously and entered Delhi at 9 pm. After some parting pictures we bid good bye to my friend and reached home. Ahh….what a trip this was. Something I will tell my grandchildren about.

Distance Covered - 1400 Kms
Total Trip Expense - $ 80 US
Danger Meter - 4 (on a scale of 5)
Recommended to go there - You bet. Go prepared.

The 3 Kms long tunnel

How it looks on google earth...

dipankar_24 · 21-06-07, 11:58 AM

Hey Chandrajeet looking at the snaps it looks like you guys had good amount of adventourous ride in the Himalaya. Also thanks for sharing the snaps they giv pretty good picture of what you people encountered on the ride.

When did you start & when was it concluded?

vickyr_88 · 21-06-07, 01:27 PM

Good god... Now thats what you call adventure !!!

please post more pics from this place... !!

HydroXidE · 21-06-07, 03:45 PM

So much snow at Rohtang !!!! .. OMG ! ...

Why is it that when guys from down south do a long awaited trip up north .. there's little/no snow ..

..

Neat pics man .. as always you make us jealous

hitanshu · 21-06-07, 04:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chanderjeet

Where was this? The max snow at rohtang, was about 1km before the top, this one:

I got a passing taxi wala to take my pic at this turn. Was real scary with that ice falling off all the time, but was still clean. Your pic has a place thats completely snowed under by 2:30pm. Interesting - was this where you guys decided to turn back?

Waise, why not attempt from chattru next morning? one more final try??

Chanderjeet · 21-06-07, 07:01 PM

Yes thats the place we returned from. We were running on a tight sched. (my friend had bunked his office so had to go back).

ArunKumar · 21-06-07, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HydroXidE

Why is it that when guys from down south do a long awaited trip up north .. there's little/no snow ..

..

considering the expense for the guys from south..its better they find 'all weather" Leh route soon!!

should learn from China..!!

Salil · 21-06-07, 09:28 PM

Nice pics and trip logs (I had read it on advrider)

Well, Chandertaal... seems to be a challenge. It eluded Yogesh as well, after HEks3, and you!

It would be much easier to read the trip log if you post pics small enough to not have to use horizontal scroll in order to read it. (Just a request.

)

gunindersandhu · 23-06-07, 12:03 PM

Hi Chanderjeet. Can you tell me when you did this trip i.e. how recent is it... snow at this time is good news for us since our ride starts in a weeks time... he he

darkside_of_d_sun · 25-06-07, 06:56 PM

Real nice...!!! The pics are amazing but BIG!

But contrary to the thread title, you neither rode into Spiti Valley and weather gods prevented you from Chandertal eh!

20-06-07, 05:20 AM	#1
Chanderjeet Pajama Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 35	Ride to Spiti and Chandertal HIMALAYAS - SPITI VALLEY - CHANDERTAL LAKE (13000 Feet and beyond ) Picture taken at Rohtang Pass at 11 AM. The weather turned from sunny to snowish in less than 30 mins of climbing. I may be looking like an eskimo but the multi-layered clothing did its job. Oh, and btw, if you notice, you can can see some really nice tracks beyond me which lasted for the rest of the trip. The real adventure was trying to ride thru snow without knobblies. The trail thru the spiti valley. Taking a butt break.. Posiong. Picture that will be shown to grandchildren... Riding in the valley untouched .... Along side the Chandra river, we marched..... Having an argument is just too stupid when the snow is beating down on you at 13000 feet. Foreword: I thought about doing another smallish run to Himalayas just to check out if my bike is ready for the big run to Leh and Ladakh. The original plan was to do Delhi - Manikaran - Jalori Pass - Delhi. Then something happened and i thought it would be better to take a trip to Chandertal Lake which is located in the really high mountains. Day 1: Delhi to Chandigarh. My friend came to my place and we started at around 2 pm with temp in upwards of 40' C. Too hot. Took too many water breaks and reached Chandigarh late evening. Bad karma struck when my helmet fell and the visor cracked. I had a bad feeling about this trip already.. Day 2: Chandigarh to Manali. We stayed at another friends place and discussed the plan with him. He couldn’t resist it and after calling in sick at work he was ready to roll with us. We started from Chandigarh at around 8am and after riding for about 11 hours we reached Manali. The drive was pleasing which included riding alongside rivers, valleys and also crossing a 3 Kms long tunnel. After checking into a hotel, we went for dinner and city walk in the evening. Manali is a tourist heaven / hell (depending how you look at it). The place usually is overnight stay for bikers and a favorite family vacation city. Many would go to Rohtang and next morning which is about 51kms and come back the same day and live happily ever after. But we had to cross Rohtang La and go beyond the horizon.... Day 3: Manali to Chandertal (Back to Chhatru) (13,000+ feet) The day had finally come to set out to the unforeseen territory. We packed up extra bottles of water, Instant Noodles and 12 eggs & butter (VERY VERY VERY BAD IDEA). The terrain was treacherous and unforgiving in simple words. Well off we went towards Rohtang after tanking up. The route is jam-packed with traffic and snarls are too common. Reaching Rohtang la took 4 hours and crossing the Pass itself turned out tough. In less than 3 hours we had reached height of more than 13000 feet braving Rain, sleet, snowfall, pothole, mud, sludge, slipping, sliding, extra weight, acute angles, rough terrain, icy cold water streaming in your shoes, little streams becoming big waterfalls, low visibility, clouds just under your ass. It was all happening. It really was. Worst of all, we didn’t care. We should have cared and put on our rain coats but we didn’t (BAD IDEA). After getting soaked and riding down from the pass, i had lost the feeling in my hands, my nose and my feet. Anyhow, we kept moving till the time we reached gramphoo from where you take a a nice road towards Leh and a downhill pebbled track to chandertal. A car driver pulled over and wanted to know about our trip and where we were from and stuff. Had a little chat with him and he gave a very helpful piece of advise. "If you don’t reach chandertal till 4PM then don’t push it. Just turn around." We double checked our supplies before moving. Status - Eggs broken (something told me it was a bad idea). Kept moving and wondering what to call the roads. Well, let me just say, if you ride to chandertal, then there is no road in this world that you will be scared to ride on. I can’t describe in words what it was like but i have attached some pics so that you can see with your own eyes. At times we were climbing a steep 30 degree incline with big rocks acting like stair and trust me a bike with less that 10 bhp and about 100~110 Kgs on board, it was really amazing how the machine performed. My two buddies were better with one riding a 350cc Royal Enfield and other one riding a 150 cc TVS Apache with no load. I was riding a 110 cc LML Energy. We kept going but now the weather was really upon us. Lashing with rain and after we had climbed steadily to quite some good height, the rain turned to snow. We kept moving riding thru snow storm, streams, rocks and the usual unbearable things. Even cross a glacier. We were only 19 Kms from Chandertal Lake when calamity struck. The road was blocked due to recent snowing. (it looked as if snow came down on the road just 2 mins ago). We tried crossing it but steep incline, no knobblies, and subzero temp kept us from crossing it. That marked the end of our trip. Suddenly from the other side came a car which came to a sliding stop as they did not expect us in that snow covered corridor. A guy came out to help and after 4 people out their man-power together, only then we were back to our way to Manali. But destiny had something else in store for us. The knees were numb and I stopped and popped my knees in front of the exhaust just get some heat to my knees. Didn’t work. Somehow managed to hop back on the bike and throttled it to the fullest, jumping over rocks and potholes, if this wasn’t running for our lives, then I don’t know what it was. I didn’t stop for anything, for the first time in my life I must have ridden like a pro rally biker. Standing on pegs, rear wheel sliding out of line and front suspension traveling full length that it the front mudguard broke away. There was one very ridiculous jump on which i would have usually slowed down, but I did exactly the opposite and gunned it, traveling at-least 4-5 feet in the air. Well, good thing was that the dhaba wasn’t too far and we reached just before the snow started falling really hard. Day 4: Chattru to Chandigarh. After surviving the night, thanks to the fire and the really hot tea, we packed up and started the return journey. This was going to be one gruesome day. With almost 350 Kms of riding in the mountains including some of the highest passes in the world, we had to cover 400+ to reach Chandigarh. We must have started at around 7 am and it took a while to gain the heat in the tires and the riding confidence. Once everything was on track we started gaining momentum and once again were crossing rocks and that entire traumatic tarmac with efficiency of a seasoned rider. Crossed Rohtang-la again but this time we stopped to check out the place. The motor-ski ride my friends opted was a rip-off (glad I didn’t do it). Drove down to the splendid valley of Gulaba where the horses run wild like stray dogs (sorry for the comparison but I guess you got the picture). The drive down hill was fast and at times too fast. We were stopped at Marhi by policemen for the same. After a word of warning from them, we next stopped at a place where they were giving helicopter rides to tourist. The problem was it too was a big rip-off. (I hate them for charging too much). Anyhow, we kept moving only to stop for food and drinks time after time. The 19 hours of riding in a day had taken its toll when we finally reached Chandigarh. What followed was a peaceful and dreamless sleep. Day 5: Chandigarh to Delhi. Not much adventurous riding this day. It in-fact is the most boring ride of my trips. Driving in plains for 250 Kms only stopping half way for some food. That pretty much sums up the day except for the fact that my buddy towed another royal Enfield bullet with his because the guy ran out of fuel. He father was some sort of big guy and he wanted us to stay at their place for the night. We declined courteously and entered Delhi at 9 pm. After some parting pictures we bid good bye to my friend and reached home. Ahh….what a trip this was. Something I will tell my grandchildren about. Distance Covered - 1400 Kms Total Trip Expense - $ 80 US Danger Meter - 4 (on a scale of 5) Recommended to go there - You bet. Go prepared. The 3 Kms long tunnel How it looks on google earth...

21-06-07, 01:27 PM	#3
vickyr_88 -J- Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Bangalore Posts: 193	Good god... Now thats what you call adventure !!! please post more pics from this place... !! __________________ \'04 P180 v1 - \'02 Palio 1.2 elx http://www.flickr.com/photos/fotocafe Dec 27st till 1st Jan - Its Goa again

21-06-07, 03:45 PM	#4
HydroXidE Senior Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Pune, India Posts: 125	So much snow at Rohtang !!!! .. OMG ! ... Why is it that when guys from down south do a long awaited trip up north .. there's little/no snow .. .. Neat pics man .. as always you make us jealous __________________ http://www.flickr.com/photos/sprotor/

21-06-07, 09:28 PM	#8
Salil Moderator Join Date: May 2006 Location: Noida, Delhi - NCR Posts: 2,739	Nice pics and trip logs (I had read it on advrider) Well, Chandertaal... seems to be a challenge. It eluded Yogesh as well, after HEks3, and you! It would be much easier to read the trip log if you post pics small enough to not have to use horizontal scroll in order to read it. (Just a request. ) __________________ Ladakh Spiti

23-06-07, 12:03 PM	#9
gunindersandhu Junior Member Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Mumbai / Pune / Bangalore Posts: 1	Dates of Travel Hi Chanderjeet. Can you tell me when you did this trip i.e. how recent is it... snow at this time is good news for us since our ride starts in a weeks time... he he

21-06-07, 11:58 AM	#2
dipankar_24 Member Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Mumbai, India Posts: 82	Hey Chandrajeet looking at the snaps it looks like you guys had good amount of adventourous ride in the Himalaya. Also thanks for sharing the snaps they giv pretty good picture of what you people encountered on the ride. When did you start & when was it concluded?

21-06-07, 07:01 PM	#6
Chanderjeet Pajama Member Join Date: May 2006 Posts: 35	Yes thats the place we returned from. We were running on a tight sched. (my friend had bunked his office so had to go back).

25-06-07, 06:56 PM	#10
darkside_of_d_sun Ze Dark Moderator Join Date: May 2006 Location: Notun Dilli Posts: 3,299	Real nice...!!! The pics are amazing but BIG! But contrary to the thread title, you neither rode into Spiti Valley and weather gods prevented you from Chandertal eh! __________________ Sweet Home Calcutta

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