The second day of our ride truly gave us an overview of the road and weather conditions that lay ahead. We were still in Kinnaur and were supposed to ride on the Hindustan-Tibet road on Day 3, with Nako as the intended destination. It was snowing in Sangla while we were having dinner and guessed it would have snowed even more in Chitkul, the last Indian village before Tibet, situated 25 km from Sangla.
We woke up around 7 am in the morning to a view that was absolutely gorgeous! Our vehicles were all frozen and there was a good amount of snow and black ice lying around the vehicles. We had to wait for the sun to come out so that some of the snow could melt and we could start riding. Finally, around 9.30 am, we started our ride to Rakchham and Chitkul.
4-5 km into the ride, the entire Sangla valley was visible and it was absolute bliss. Chitkul does remain closed for the most part of winters because the road is unrideable. Snow and black ice on the road kept on increasing as we kept moving forward. Somehow, after a couple of extremely risky patches with no traction and a couple of falls, we were advised not to continue. However, we decided to take our chances and move forward. Seeing our stubbornness, Murli and Ghanshyam also came behind us :P
We made it to Rakchham and it was magical. We also got a view of the back side of Kinner Kailash from here (the front side is visible from Kalpa) and were just dreaming about how incomparable the view from Chitkul would be if we made it till there. One thing that we noticed at Sangla as well as in Rakchham is that almost everything is shut in winters and you hardly see anyone on the road. If at all you do see anyone on the road, they will be either be a villager or a soldier! :D
The road was becoming increasingly treacherous and uphill with heaps of snow on either side. It was taking us 10-15 minutes to cover one kilometer. And the risk of us getting stuck was continuously increasing. Even if we went forward, there was this fear of how we would return with such a steep descent. Our motorcycles got stuck in a few places and Murli and Ghanshyam were kind enough to help us out at each juncture. We were just about 6-7 km before Chitkul when we started seeing lots and lots of snow on the road and our motorcycles were simply not able to take the steep ascent and descent. That is when we decided to turn back!
The adventure that we had craved for when we started our ride was served to us on a silver spoon and we felt extremely fortunate to have ridden our machines till this point, even though the odds were heavily stacked against us ever since we left Rakchham. The combination of valleys and glaciers and the beautiful Baspa river make you feel as if you are in heaven. Driving from Sangla to Chitkul (well, almost!) was hands down one of the most adventurous routes I have ever ridden on.
We came back to Sangla well past noon and made a quick short trek to Kamru Fort, which is a 1000-year old fort and considered the oldest in Himachal Pradesh.
The ride to Karchham was on the same route that we had taken the previous day and here we were greeted by the Satluj river once again. Sangla and Chitkul are off the main highway and the return journey today felt exciting. The weather was clear, there was no sign of rain and the roads were dry. That was a huge relief!
The roads till Kalpa Turn were somewhat bad because it was under construction but beyond that all the way till Powari and Ribba, they were in very good shape- proper tarmac. We stopped for lunch at Ribba at around 3.30 pm. Unfortunately, due to some personal emergency, Ghanshyam had to reach Chandigarh urgently. That meant we were just 4 of us now- Sumit, Gopal, Abishek, and I. We wished them a safe journey, loaded all our luggage on the bikes and resumed our ride at around 4.30 pm.
The roads went from superb to good to bad to worse by the time we reached Spillow. Mountain blasting was in process for road widening and we were just waiting for the roads to open up somewhere between Spillow and Pooh. That's when we realized people were stuck here since 1.30 pm!! There was no way we could make it to Nako for the night because roads opened for vehicular traffic only at 5.45 pm. The nearest town, Pooh was about 15 km away and all of us thought it would be sensible to stop at Pooh to avoid riding in the dark. Finally, around 6:30 pm, we checked into a hotel and decided to head to Kaza the next day!
Another thing that literally blew our mind away was the fact that we had 4G connectivity, thanks to Jio, all the way till Chitkul!
A memorable ride day finally came to an end! Whatever happens, happens for the greater good :) And we had no regrets because this was by far the most exciting and testing day ever since I started riding a motorcycle! :) Alls well that ends well.
Stay tuned to find out what Day 4 had in store for us. Coming soon....
Route: Sangla - Rakchham - Chitkul - Sangla - Kamru Fort - Karchham - Ribba - Spillow - Pooh
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| The view that we woke up to! |
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| A blissful sight! |
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| The crew! |
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| Sangla valley |
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Just before Rakchham where we initially thought we had no chance of going ahead
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| You can see 4 peaks here. The third one from the left is Kinner Kailash |
The road was becoming increasingly treacherous and uphill with heaps of snow on either side. It was taking us 10-15 minutes to cover one kilometer. And the risk of us getting stuck was continuously increasing. Even if we went forward, there was this fear of how we would return with such a steep descent. Our motorcycles got stuck in a few places and Murli and Ghanshyam were kind enough to help us out at each juncture. We were just about 6-7 km before Chitkul when we started seeing lots and lots of snow on the road and our motorcycles were simply not able to take the steep ascent and descent. That is when we decided to turn back!
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| No caption needed! |
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This descent scared the shit out of me!
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| The beautiful valley and the evergreen Baspa river |
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| Exiting Rakchham while returning back |
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| Kamru Fort on the left |
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| View from the top of Kamru fort |
The ride to Karchham was on the same route that we had taken the previous day and here we were greeted by the Satluj river once again. Sangla and Chitkul are off the main highway and the return journey today felt exciting. The weather was clear, there was no sign of rain and the roads were dry. That was a huge relief!
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| Evergreen Baspa |
The roads till Kalpa Turn were somewhat bad because it was under construction but beyond that all the way till Powari and Ribba, they were in very good shape- proper tarmac. We stopped for lunch at Ribba at around 3.30 pm. Unfortunately, due to some personal emergency, Ghanshyam had to reach Chandigarh urgently. That meant we were just 4 of us now- Sumit, Gopal, Abishek, and I. We wished them a safe journey, loaded all our luggage on the bikes and resumed our ride at around 4.30 pm.
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| We again had the Satluj for company :) |
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Finally on the Hindustan Tibet road
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Another thing that literally blew our mind away was the fact that we had 4G connectivity, thanks to Jio, all the way till Chitkul!
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| Mountain blasting in process around Spillow |
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| "You are riding on the world's most treacherous road" |
A memorable ride day finally came to an end! Whatever happens, happens for the greater good :) And we had no regrets because this was by far the most exciting and testing day ever since I started riding a motorcycle! :) Alls well that ends well.
Stay tuned to find out what Day 4 had in store for us. Coming soon....
Route: Sangla - Rakchham - Chitkul - Sangla - Kamru Fort - Karchham - Ribba - Spillow - Pooh
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