Last week (Sept 9-19 2011) I had the wonderful experience of driving down from Bangalore to Leh. The drive from Bangalore to Manali was spectacular but it was the drive from Manali to Leh (a total of 470 kms) that was mind blowing and I never want to forget this drive and am blogging about it for my own memory. The drive varied from an altitude of 6,500 feet to 17,500 feet and goes through 4 high altitude passes and the terrain is so barren that there is no habitation. So here starts the roller-coaster drive that you will be in control of that includes high-altitude passes, bad roads, landslides, glacial melts, broken bridges etc etc...
2 days before: We started from Manali at 6 30 AM and headed to Rohtang Pass with Nirmal in the pilot seat. The drive was through some scenic valley and we drove between a coniferous forest on a well laid road. Rohtang pass was 50 kms away and we were very eager to cross the 25 km stretch as soon as possible having heard so much of the unpredictability of this stretch. It took us close to 3 hrs to complete this stretch with a traffic jam and a land slide. But the road was not that bad that came as our savior. Stopping at Koksar for a regular police check drivers changed and I took the pilot seat. We passed through Keylong which was the biggest town en route and stopped for our lunch at around 2 PM. The ride to Sarchu was supposed to be 4 hrs with Darcha being the last village before Sarchu. From Darcha it was just a distance of 120 kms and this stretch was just a pure bliss of combination of the worst roads and the best landscapes. We passed through the Baralacha-La pass at 16,500 feet and many streams that did give us a small experience of off-roading and also the first sight of our snow capped mountains.
We had selected Sarchu (16,500 feet) for the halt as we wanted to start into J & K on a fresh day and enjoy ladakh to its fullest. Sarchu was the border of HP and J & K. We found ourselves a couple of cozy tents and settled for the night. It was windy and really cold and we had to sleep with out thermals and our jackets on. It was a sleepless night with lots of tossing around in the bed.
1 day before: The morning started as always with me waking up the guys only to find both Sridhar and Nirmal were bitten by altitude sickness and were suffering from headache accompanied with nausea, dizziness and vomiting. Their bodyhad not acclimatised yet to the high altitude weather. They were keen to find out why I didnot suffer their plight (may be because I am a tough person both from inside and outside ;)) but were thankful never the less that there are at least one person to drive. So having already driven more than half the stretch the previous day I was delighted to be driving the entire day to Leh. We started from Sarchu at 7 AM and entered into J & K. We were headed to Pang. Immediately after the entry into Jammu one faces the Gata Loops - a succession of 21 hair pin bends lifting you 1,500 feet higher. After passing through two high altitude passes, Lachlung-La and Naki-La we were finally at Pang.
After Pang came the More Plains. at 15,000 feet no one would expect a desert like plain for a stretch of 42 kms. The BRO was laying roads and we were let to off road to reach the other end of the plains. It was a wonderful experience when you decide your own route and are not directed by just one path. After More Plains the climb for Tanglang-La, the second highest motorable pass at 17,582 feet started.
After climbing down from Tanglang-La we were greeted by small, beautiful villages (Man what a place to live). The villages would have been inhabited by not more than 250 friendly people. At places where we stopped for lunch and chai the locals were friendly and talking to us on the climate and the tourist season and were curious to know where we were from and how the trip has been so far.We finally reached Leh by around 4 PM
1 day after: The return journey from Leh was not very different. The guys were feeling ok and were up to take the steering wheel. We decided to stop either at Jispa or keylong for the night after having a bad wake up call after our night in Sarchu. We reached Sarchu at around 4 30 PM and thought we could make it to Jispa before night fall. But as luck would have it the bad stretch of roads put a pause to our plans and we had to drive slowly towards Jispa with very little natural light. And as if we had no luck when we reach Baralacha-La we were in for a heavy snow fall that made visibility less than 5 feet. With no place to halt and no other options we decided to drive at a snails pace with all lights on and our hands on the horn (It was Nirmal who was steering the car at a steady pace with so much care). We made it to Jispa at around 8 PM. Exhausted from the drive and our hearts beating at regular pace after the thumping race it had had we fell on the beds content of our achievement.
2 days later: Having crossed all the difficult parts it was only the Rohtang Pass that was left for this day. With me at the reigns again and the previous day snow fall and rains Rohtang pass roads were washed away and there was only slush on the roads. It took a lot of maneuvering to traverse the 25 km stretch. There were 2 instances when the car was stuck in the slush and many other instances when we were almost off the road and at a 45 degree slope on the cliff wall to let another car pass. Overall a terrific experience.
We finally reached Manali at around 1 30 PM.
2 days before: We started from Manali at 6 30 AM and headed to Rohtang Pass with Nirmal in the pilot seat. The drive was through some scenic valley and we drove between a coniferous forest on a well laid road. Rohtang pass was 50 kms away and we were very eager to cross the 25 km stretch as soon as possible having heard so much of the unpredictability of this stretch. It took us close to 3 hrs to complete this stretch with a traffic jam and a land slide. But the road was not that bad that came as our savior. Stopping at Koksar for a regular police check drivers changed and I took the pilot seat. We passed through Keylong which was the biggest town en route and stopped for our lunch at around 2 PM. The ride to Sarchu was supposed to be 4 hrs with Darcha being the last village before Sarchu. From Darcha it was just a distance of 120 kms and this stretch was just a pure bliss of combination of the worst roads and the best landscapes. We passed through the Baralacha-La pass at 16,500 feet and many streams that did give us a small experience of off-roading and also the first sight of our snow capped mountains.
We had selected Sarchu (16,500 feet) for the halt as we wanted to start into J & K on a fresh day and enjoy ladakh to its fullest. Sarchu was the border of HP and J & K. We found ourselves a couple of cozy tents and settled for the night. It was windy and really cold and we had to sleep with out thermals and our jackets on. It was a sleepless night with lots of tossing around in the bed.
1 day before: The morning started as always with me waking up the guys only to find both Sridhar and Nirmal were bitten by altitude sickness and were suffering from headache accompanied with nausea, dizziness and vomiting. Their bodyhad not acclimatised yet to the high altitude weather. They were keen to find out why I didnot suffer their plight (may be because I am a tough person both from inside and outside ;)) but were thankful never the less that there are at least one person to drive. So having already driven more than half the stretch the previous day I was delighted to be driving the entire day to Leh. We started from Sarchu at 7 AM and entered into J & K. We were headed to Pang. Immediately after the entry into Jammu one faces the Gata Loops - a succession of 21 hair pin bends lifting you 1,500 feet higher. After passing through two high altitude passes, Lachlung-La and Naki-La we were finally at Pang.
After climbing down from Tanglang-La we were greeted by small, beautiful villages (Man what a place to live). The villages would have been inhabited by not more than 250 friendly people. At places where we stopped for lunch and chai the locals were friendly and talking to us on the climate and the tourist season and were curious to know where we were from and how the trip has been so far.We finally reached Leh by around 4 PM
1 day after: The return journey from Leh was not very different. The guys were feeling ok and were up to take the steering wheel. We decided to stop either at Jispa or keylong for the night after having a bad wake up call after our night in Sarchu. We reached Sarchu at around 4 30 PM and thought we could make it to Jispa before night fall. But as luck would have it the bad stretch of roads put a pause to our plans and we had to drive slowly towards Jispa with very little natural light. And as if we had no luck when we reach Baralacha-La we were in for a heavy snow fall that made visibility less than 5 feet. With no place to halt and no other options we decided to drive at a snails pace with all lights on and our hands on the horn (It was Nirmal who was steering the car at a steady pace with so much care). We made it to Jispa at around 8 PM. Exhausted from the drive and our hearts beating at regular pace after the thumping race it had had we fell on the beds content of our achievement. 
We finally reached Manali at around 1 30 PM.
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