Winter Ride to Spiti Valley - Day 6

Similar to Kaza, Tabo too was extremely chilly. The locals jokingly told us, "You need to have an iron heart to survive the weather here!" As the evening progressed, we did realize how true that statement was.

The Himalayas standing tall!

The previous evening had been the best of our trip, thanks to some amazing Spitian music and local food. Just before dinner, Sonam, the owner of our homestay, played the traditional Spitian guitar (it is known by some other name which I sadly cannot recollect now) and sang local Tibetan prayer songs for us. It was music to the ears, quite literally. As we started talking, he said that nobody apart from him the skill and expertise to play these instruments and therefore, he imparts this knowledge to children in local schools. He wished to keep Spitian culture and tradition alive for years to come. 

We were amazed at how he efficiently managed his passions while simultaneously running a beautiful homestay. For dinner, we had good home-cooked food. But what caught our attention was a conch-shaped steamed bread freshly prepared just for us. This Spitian bread, also called Timoh (tee-mow) in the local language is eaten with vegetables/dal here instead of roti/chapati.

After getting great sleep on Day 5, we were totally fresh when we woke up next morning. The sun was out and it seemed to be a perfect day to ride. The plan was to visit Kalpa to get a majestic view of the sunset over Kinner Kailash range and stay back for the night. 

Somewhere between Nako and Pooh

Quick halt for a picture at Khab Sangam, the confluence of Spiti and Satluj rivers

Fearing road blockage due to mountain blasting and wanting to avoid getting stranded, we decided to start early. The return journey was along the same road that we had ridden on during our onward journey. The rugged terrains and jaw-dropping valley views literally make you both happy and terrified. Certain stretches along the Hindustan-Tibet highway are dreadful, especially the roads between Pooh and Spillow, considered to be the most treacherous in the world. 

But the scenic beauty of gorgeous valleys, Satluj river, and snow-clad mountains more than makes up for the terrible road conditions!

Crossing Malling Nalla one last time!

We successfully reached Pooh by afternoon and were praying for the road to be open. As luck would have it, we did get stranded at three different places that set us back by around two hours! However, we had factored this time when we left in the morning and therefore the seeing the dream sunset at Kalpa was still very much possible. 

Fortunately, at one of these places where we were waiting for the road to open, a local taxi driver who overheard us talking about the road to Manali via Jalori told us that Jalori Pass had opened for vehicular traffic just 2 days ago. Sumit and Gopal, who initially thought of going ahead to Rampur, then decided to stay back with us on day 6! We had not yet utilized our buffer days, so time was on our side. The plan was made. All of us would head to Chandigarh via Jalori and not via the traditional route passing through Shimla and Narkanda. 

Looking back, the road closure essentially helped and we would no longer have to return to Chandigarh via the same route. We halted for lunch at Spillow around 4 pm and without wasting too much time, we decided to reach Kalpa as quickly as possible so that we could see the sunset over the Kinner Kailash ranges. 

As we were nearing Kalpa, we could see the picturesque view of Kinner Kailash mountain standing tall, completely covered in snow. Series of snow clad peaks one behind the other made us feel as if we were in dreamland!

No caption needed!

Sunset over Kinner Kailash

Kalpa seemed like a perfect leisure getaway with lush green highlands and the snow-clad Kinner Kailash mountains in close view making for a gorgeous backdrop. We also managed to visit the suicide point at Kalpa, a place that is bound to give you goosebumps because of the crazy vertical fall.

Suicide Point, Kalpa

Accommodation options in Kalpa were all closed and the only place that was open was extremely expensive! We, therefore, decided to stay at Reckong Peo, headquarters of Kinnaur district. After checking into the hotel, we finally take a shower after three days (haha I kid you not!). Thanks to Jio, we even got mobile data connectivity at Reckong Peo.

The beautiful town of Reckong Peo

The roads to Reckong Peo and Kalpa from Powari are in good condition but too narrow for two vehicles to cross each other at the same time! Another fantastic ride day came to an end and all of us were now excited at the prospect of crossing Jalori Pass and visiting the Serolsar temple and lake on the top.

After spending over two days in Spiti Valley, we realized how amazing it is to be close to nature and totally cut off from the rest of the world. Thanks to drastic changes in the landscape, Spiti transforms into an entirely different land in winter.

Stay tuned here to get all the details of Day 7 of our ride! 

Route: Tabo - Nako - Pooh - Kalpa - Reckong Peo