An Adventure Forced Down!

It was well past noon when we crossed the bridge over Spiti near Rangrik. The area across the bridge, as mentioned earlier, is expanding and getting filled up with new constructions. In the present state of affairs, Kaza is not able to handle the rush - not at least the kind of rush that we witnessed there. The natural equation of demand and supply is obviously at play and so the expansion.

Initial drive, though on a gravelled track, was fine with a flat gradient in the valley across Spiti River. We had no destination in mind but with the kind of time available in terms of daylight hours and also since we had saved a day overall, we decided to run for Chandertal. The drive was more or less lonely with countable vehicles on the road. Even upcoming traffic from the other side was not significant. All indications, thus, for availability of tents at Chandertal. Road after Hal Village began to climb and started becoming more winding.

 Some more moonscape (between Hal and Pangmo)

Slowly and steadily, road started getting a bit narrower, more rough and switchbacks started to appear. But given the past history of the road, it was OK. As we started to climb into Kunzum La, big chunks of ice started showing up along the road. Time to get down and do a 'touch-see' by Czia...

We were to come across more such ice-packs on the other side of the pass. A halt at the pass saw us paying obeisance at the temple, visiting the washrooms and filling up our bottles from the ever-flowing pipes bringing water from ice melt somewhere up in the mountains.

Kunzum La shows another beautiful facet of our belief system. Kunzum being the presiding deity of the pass, is a Buddhist Goddess. However, the suffix of 'Mata' aligns it with Hinduism because of the way deities are referred to in latter. Travellers, however, seldom care for such nuances and tend to take things at the face value. After all, beauty of the place is something that makes everything else take a back seat. Windy and nippy and yet friendly, it is a beautiful pass!

About five Kms down the road towards Batal, we turned right to take the road (gravel track in fact) to Chandertal that lay about 5 Kms away. Well, the surface was OK but road too narrow to give pass to other cars and, at places, even loaded bikes. After about a Km from the turn off, we came across a small jam over a nullah where a car had got stuck. The driver, in order to be on a safer side, had steered over an unseen boulder under the water, resulting in a jack up situation. With front wheel driven vehicle's front tyres helplessly rotating, situation looked grim, especially so when the ice cold water had steadily been increasing because of ambient heat.Took a while for the jam to clear up and Pearlie got the first opportunity to get clicked!!

Time was now running out but one had to stop every hundred yards to give way to oncoming traffic. One biker told us about non-availability of accommodation at Chandertal base camp. Same was confirmed by a foreigner biker but reason given was exorbitant costs being asked due to rush. Having covered half the distance and with not many points spacious enough to turn around, we pushed on. Chandra River down below looked more aggressive and well fed as compared with Spiti River.

The first camp on the left of the road was packed and so were the others ahead. Our only hope lay in the larger camp area across the nullah that divides Camping area into two, short of the final ascent to the lake on top. As we moved across the last camp and got into the curve that leads into the nullah, we came face to face with a bigger and more nasty jam. So much so that even bikes were stuck on the either side. With sun already running towards the crest line, time looked precious. But we were stuck with vehicles in front, to our rear and even on to our sides!

We stood waiting, waiting for the jam to clear but that never happened. With ground under our feet resting almost 14,000 ASL, we didn't want to spend the night in the car. Fuel (with 1000 INR ceiling at Kaza) was not enough to keep the engine running throughout the night and then take us to Gramphoo and beyond. A few more vehicles had passengers like us who had no booking and suddenly, such population started to swell. Decision was taken to get out back to Kaza-Gramphoo 'Highway'! But we were stuck.

There were, however, a few sensible souls around. A car that blocked the entry into a small space that could have allowed us to turn around, was found to be unlocked, with a AMS victim inside and keys in the ignition. That was a silver lining and about 20 minutes later, we were on our way out of the conundrum that had prevailed over possibility of getting a tent for past few hours.

There was a minimal traffic but the problem was while people getting out of Chandertal would be conscious of narrowness of the road, incoming first timers were blissfully unaware of the predicament that waited cars every few yards. Also, the incoming guys would be towards the river and the cliff and fear forced them to keep the safe margin, thereby, reducing the space even wherever it was available. As we reached the first nullah that had made us wait on our way in, we found a few cars parked across the nullah and road blocked again. But the reason was different this time. A group of cars, led by a XUV with two big stickers reading Mission Ladakh and Mission Spiti and a Boxer inside the car, had halted there to click the pics. I got down, walked up to the edge of the water and literally shouted over the noise of the water to put some sense into their heads. But they were too many and too clueless. Wasted 10 odd minutes in making them understand that while photography was good, road clearance was more important!

Once back on the 'main' highway, going got easier with absolutely no traffic and lot of ice on turns between Batal and turn off. While it appeared to be quite late in the evening, the clock showed 1700h or so. It was still daylight  when we reached Batal. A resthouse was the latest addition and dhabas have also multiplied from erstwhile lonely one. It appeared to be too early to call it a day and with ambien light almost guaranteed for at least two hours, we decided to carry on. The stretch ahead has been notorious for long and we didn't expect much either.

Ice melt throughout the day meant more water on the road. There were stretches where nullahs, descending from top, had simply decided to take the easier route by flowing on the road itself. There were gushing crossings and there were stream covered stretches running for a few hundred metres at places. Two SUVs crossed us from other side, thereby, giving us the confidence that water crossings were still negotiable. In a worst case scenario, I had planned to  wait out for water to reduce before crossing a point that might have become nasty. With such a contingency plan in mind, Pearlie moved on.

 Water levels keep increasing after noon right till short of midnight when levels start going down due to ice-melt pattern related to sun

Driving on this stretch, as is well known, involves driving through water logged patches, crossing streams and driving in the river bed. We did go through the matrix and took one single break as sunlight left the valley floor. We were about 18 Kms short of Chattru and reality of driving in dark became stark. A few quick pics, some recycling of water and a bit of stretching later, we moved on still undecided as to where would we stay in the night!

Chattru was crossed in dark. The tents were alive with passengers who had decided to take a halt on their way to Kaza and rightfully so. We were probably 20 or 30 Kms away from Manali, as my geographical orientation would tell me at that point, but that distance was the aerial one with mighty Pir Panjal standing in between. The road distance was about 100 Kms or so.

The going beyond Chattru became difficult and water became an issue. Nullahs had become very aggressive and one had to take stock on every bend before fording into water channels that looked ominous and obnoxious at the same time. Just short of Gramphoo, we crossed a group of bikers who had a car in the tow. We had crossed them near Rangrik earlier in the day. Given the water on the road, going would have been more tough for bikers!

At Gramphoo, a surprise awaited us. The road was freshly laid, black topped and empty. It remained so though traffic kept on increasing as we climbed up. A few Kms short of pass, road became slushy because of the ongoing widening work. But it was a far cry from olden times when it used to be hell on either side, from Gramphoo to Marhi.

As we approached the pass, again road became fantastic and even though ice walls welcomed us, the going became pretty good. Surprisingly, traffic from Manali side was considerable even though not too much. Czia had gone off to sleep short of Gramphoo and was still asleep when she was woken up to see the dreamy sequence of driving rough ice walls. Walls were not too high but night time had a magic of its own and we took the scene in at leisure but without stopping!

We must have crossed Rohtang around 2200h or so. Down below, we crossed the HP Police check post that regulates the upward traffic. Obviously, kindness was being shown to many since numbers of bikes and cars going up was reasonably high at that time of the night. We descended into Kothi and drove into the very first eating joint that we found. The place had rooms too but all rooms had been taken. As we sat waiting for the dinner, I saw lights being switched off one by one in another place just across and ahead. Instinctively, I rushed and came back with relief and smile on my face. My dash had ensured we would have a roof on our head for whatever was left of the night. Had dinner, checked in and found the room too well kept, comfortable, stylish and hygienic! 

It was a long day and gracefully, it had ended well though nowhere close to a place where we had intended it to! One must be thankful for His mercies and we certainly were as we hit the sack and drifted into dreamless sleep!