At a downhill hairpin bend, first, the power steering failed and then the engine shut off. It was a very scary situation and I don’t know what would have happened if I had been carrying some more speed.
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Going to be a long and detailed one, so please bear with me.
I completed the Spiti circuit in my trusted 2016 MY Celerio in June of 2019 with my parents without any hiccups as such. The itch to do it again, this time with friends was too high. For the trip with friends to happen, all the stars (read managers) of the friends had to align which eventually did and we were able to do the trip. Leaves applied, we started with the prep for the trip 2 weeks before departure. I was the trip leader here, and all responsibilities of bookings, logistics, routes etc were on me since I’m the most experienced one in the group in this field.
Preparations:
- All hotels were booked offline on WhatsApp and calls and I’ve cracked the code to get much better deals offline than on the online platforms, at least for stays in the remote hills.
- Puncture repair kit, portable oxygen cans, snacks and dry fruits, first aid and general medicines- all stocked up.
- Took the car for a general checkup to my trusted garage nearby and got a go-ahead. Only issue mentioned was the 8 YO tires which had some tread still left. Decided to take the risk since I was with friends so we could manage (more on this later)
Itinerary:
- Day 1: Rampur Bushshr
- Day 2: Chitkul
- Day 3: Tabo
- Day 4: Mudh, Pin Valley
- Day 5: Kaza
- Day 6: Chandratal
- Day 7,8: Manali
The date of departure was coming up and excitement was over the roof. Our plan was from 22 June to 30 June 2024.
Day 1- 22 June (Gzb-Rampur Bushahr)
- Distance travelled – 490kms
- Drive time: 5am to 4pm
- Hotel- Crimson Inn B&B homestay
- Cost: 1200 for triple sharing.
- Road Review: 95% smooth roads, any car can do it
Left our homes in Ghaziabad, had breakfast at Prince Star Dhaba between Panipat and Gharaunda. Very heavy parathas with Dahi, tasty! Pretty much an uneventful drive until Shimla where we were greeted with light showers and chilly weather which is what we wanted. Rolled down the windows and switched off the AC and kept pushing forward. Reached Narkanda and planned to have lunch at Negi Himalayan Dhaba but it was too crowded with waiting as well. Decided not to waste time and ate at a local dhaba just opposite Himalayan Negi Dhaba and boy what a decision it was. Had Kadhi, Paneer and Rajma with Chapati and the bill came out to be just 350 INR. Amazing food and hospitality.
As soon as we left, it started raining very heavily and we hurried into our car parked a few meters behind. Fueled up at the IOCL pump in Narkanda and moved on. It rained on and off until we reached Rampur where the weather was clear and cool. Checked into the Hotel. It’s okay for a group of friends to stay for a night but not recommended for people with difficulty in mobility since it’s 50 steps below the road. Rested for a bit and decided to go for a walk in the evening. Saw that we have a puncture on the rear right tire. Got it repaired, no issues. Sat at at Utsav Dhaba overlooking the Sutlej and enjoyed the sunset.
Hotel-
Rampur Bushahr:
Day 2 – 23 June (Rampur Bushahr- Chitkul)
- Distance travelled – 120 kms
- Drive time: 8am to 1-30 pm
- Hotel- RR homestay
- Cost: 1400 for triple sharing
- Road review: Can be done in any car, 70% smooth roads. Few sections need to be navigated carefully. Karcham to Chitkul is a narrow road, good hill driving experience preferred.
Took a leisurely start at 8am. Everyone was excited to drive on the Cliffhanger section which they had seen only in photos or videos. We crossed Nigulsari without issues. The road here is in a pathetic condition with half a foot of mud and dust and the car was sinking yet we managed to sail through somehow. We were lucky it wasn’t raining otherwise don’t know how we would have crossed that section. Nowadays we hear of daily landslides at Nigulsari and roads getting blocked for a whole day at a stretch.
Stopped at the famous spot called the Kinnaur Gate for a few photos.
Kept moving forward, took a left at Karchamm dam and climbed uphill towards Chitkul. The road is narrow and without any safety barriers in many places. Since we were teaching when other tourists were coming down from Chitkul, we had to slow down, and reverse at many places to allow vehicles to pass. I had been to Chitkul in 2017 when it wasn’t commercialised and I was amazed to see the development in 2024. Sangla looked like a proper hill town with markets, hotels and shops for all kinds of things. We moved forward and reached Chitkul at around 1-30pm. Being a Sunday, it was crowded with tempo travellers and taxis and finding parking was a task. I was again amazed at the sheer number of hotels that had cropped up in this remote area!
Lunch at Hindustan ka aakhiri Dhaba, 110 INR for unlimited thali, what else do you need!
Went to the riverside, spent a few hours, enjoyed the rain and then went back to rest. Had a sumptuous dinner at the hotel itself and called it a day.
Some more photos:
Day 3 – 24 June (Chitkul-Tabo) Adventure starts here
- Distance travelled – 220 kms
- Drive time: 6am to 8 pm
- Hotel- Nirvana homestay
- Cost: 1400 for triple sharing
- Road review: Can be done in any car, 95% smooth roads. Prior hill driving experience preferable
Today some adventure was in store for us. When I cranked the car in the morning, the red Battery symbol stayed on. We thought that the battery must have drained due to the cold and decided to move on. Reached Sangla but the light did not go off. Found a mechanic and he disconnected and re-connected the battery terminals but the sign remained. He could not help us anymore so we decided to take a detour towards Reckong Peo and get it checked at MASS.
As soon as we crossed Sangla, the music system started restarting on its own. All good until this point mechanically, we moved forward and to my surprise at a downhill hairpin bend, the power steering first failed and then the engine shut itself off. It was a very scary situation and I don’t know what would have happened if I had been carrying some more speed. I was able to park the car on the side using the momentum. Now the car failed to start at all, nothing was working.
Sangla was 6kms behind us and we were in the middle of nowhere. Fortunately, we had mobile service and called up MASS. Told them the symptoms and they deduced it may be a faulty alternator. Mind it, the car had always been serviced on time and it had showed no symptoms prior to this. Anyway, they gave us the contact of an electrician from Reckong Peo market who said that he will come to our location and jump-start the car and we would drive it to his garage and he will repair it. Charged 2000 for his services to come 35kms to jump start.
He reached in 1 hour and jump started the car, we got in and drove towards Reckong Peo. To everyone’s surprise, midway to Reckong Peo, the warning light disappeared and everything started functioning normally. We didn’t wanna risk it so we told him to open up the alternator and check. He did that and observed that the coil in the alternator was worn out and it was due to this that when the car went over a few bumps sometimes it got connected and disconnected. We got the reason why the warning light disappeared.
He painstakingly soldered aluminium on the coil and made everything work. I must say he was a very knowledgeable and genuine mechanic and he assured us we will reach home without issues. He charged 1000 for the repair, we thanked him profusely and left for Tabo at 4pm from Reckong Peo. We thanked ourselves for starting early that day.
We moved on laughing at the little adventure we just had and reached Tabo at 8pm in the dark. The roads were butter smooth and we stopped for photos at many points. Malling Nallah was okay to drive through safely, just a small patch was broken, nothing difficult.
Had dinner and crashed instantly.
Some photos:
Breakdown point:
Day 4 – 25 June (Tabo-Mudh)
- Distance travelled – 90 kms
- Drive time: 10am to 3pm
- Hotel- Pin Parvati Hotel
- Cost: 1800 for triple sharing
- Road review: Can be done in any car, 50% smooth roads. 50% dirt track
Day 4 started with us having breakfast near the Tabo Monastery laughing at the day that we had the day before. Explored the beautiful Tabo Monastery and then left for Dhankar Monastery. The climb to Dhankar is exciting has it has multiple steep switchbacks and each turn rewards you with amazing views. Parking was an issue but since we had a small car we were able to tuck it in a corner. This monastery is perched atop a hill and involves a bit of climbing as well. The views from the top are amazing, looks like a painting. I’ll let the pictures do the talking.
From Dhankar you don’t need to come down via the same route which you took while coming up, there’s a road that goes straight and meets the main highway a few kilometers ahead towards Kaza. Took a left turn towards Pin Valley and soon the roads disappeared and turned into a dirt track. The views got better as we went deeper into the valley. Soon the network went off and we realised we would be without a network for the next 20 hours, one doesn’t get such luxuries in the cities.
The road was easy but strewn with rocks, pebbles and stone chips of all shapes and sizes. Pin Valley is notorious for causing tire damage to even new cars and ours was 8 years old. Reached our hotel, parked the car, had a heavy lunch and went for a little trek. Mudh was filled with foreigners who were there for Pin Parvati and Bhabha Pass treks. We wandered around the village until sunset and then retired into our room for the night. We had plans to stargaze but our bodies had other plans and we ended up sleeping.
Attaching the pictures below:
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