Gurkha ran for hours in first gear with 4H engaged to smoothly tackle the road/no-road conditions, even the engine temperature was always normal.
Bhpian dhrubojyoti recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
Hello everyone!
Here I am again with another high altitude snow drive experience with Gurkha BS6.2 5D. It was an impromptu weekend drive to North Sikkim this time.
The roads are very much non-existent throughout the North Sikkim region after the Teesta flash flood due to the cloud burst followed by Lhonak Lake burst at 17100 ft.
It was hell of an off-road drive for hours even before we could reach the snow points. It also rained when we crossed the washed off sections. Deep mud, slush, boulders, steep hairpins, streams; you name it and we crossed everything. The visuals of disaster after-effects and the remaining was scary, heart wrenching. However, after the overnight rain and snowfall in the upper regions, the morning became bright and sunny! We got to see absolutely frozen disneyland being in the only car that far. A few tourist vehicles reached till the snow point and we kept on driving further, around 30 km all alone. Gurkha kept on slicing the snow with its bash plate and the whiteland kept on unfolding. We also reached the cold desert at above 17000 ft and the world’s highest lake at 17800 ft the next day. Though it was a quick weekend drive, our heart and eyes were filled with the pleasure of witnessing the absolute beauty of mother nature.
On the second day, we also found a tourist vehicle stuck in snow for some time. A few other vehicles tried to recover it with rope, but failed. Then other vehicles started moving back from that narrow zone and successfully created chaos and piled up stagnant vehicles. After wasting a good amount of time witnessing the circus, Gurkha somehow managed to move forward by going on the ditch full of ice & snow, and reach the stuck vehicle. I was equipped with emergency and recovery items and the tow strap + shackle became the saviour. It pulled out the Bolero in two seconds and made the road clear to move forward.
We thoroughly enjoyed the unplanned weekend trip. We faced many challenges, mostly in terms of the road conditions, and had fun tackling all of them. We got to use the jerry can and tow strap in this trip. 4H is used in many places, rear differential lock in a couple of places. We are yet to use 4L, front differential lock and the snow chains in any tour.
High altitude performance was just it like it does in planes, not even the minute difference. Cold start in the morning at -6 degree was also fuss free. I just allowed the glow plug to go for 3 times and then it started in single crank. The DEF chamber and the fuel lines are equipped with heated line and that gets the job done silently. And yes, about the DPF regeneration, the very well negatively narrated phenomenon in various social mediums.. What’s that? I haven’t faced any manual regen indication ever in my 9 months of happy ownership. Gurkha ran for hours in first gear with 4H engaged to smoothly tackle the road/no-road conditions, even the engine temperature was always normal.
I have also found a facebook page displaying my journey story.
We have been enjoying the tank thoroughly. All occupants are questing for more adventure. Signing off with a few pictures of white disneyland..
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