Upcoming trip to Spiti and Kinnaur and last year winter trip pics from leh

[Rockfella]

^ dont trash OP's thread yaar! i dont give a damn to Electra either. Lets chat in yahoo if u want....

Poor OP lol....

 

[titana]

hi superczar,

great pics :hap2:

I am planning to go to laddakh zanskar during mid feb.
been there before during summer, so wanna try a winter trip this time.
need advise regarding the roads, accomoadation, food and clothing etc.

thanks

 

[blr_p]

Unless you have prior experience of high altitude (and no, Ooty/Shimla/Manali don't count) and extremely cold weather, this is a trip best done in the summer months

Curious as to the reason you instead prefer to go there in the winter.

Catharasis ?

If it were me a good amount of skiing & snowboarding would be mandatory along with a vin chaud in a chalet or a 'chiuauha' on the slopes. (a pure rum concoction accompanied with pyrotechnics, nestled in a mound of snow (optional).

 

[superczar]

Catharsis?

LOL...

Perhaps the somewhat cheap thrill of doing something that's challenging enough to dissuade most others from doing it

not to mention that you have the added benefit of bypassing the thronging tourists (how ironic) that frequent these destinations during more welcoming times of the year

Skiing and snowboarding are a bit out of the question because most of these places are way too challenging to be handled even by the most adept skiers

(No, himalayan wild slopes are nothing like the dime-a-dozen snow blower filled slopes that dot the N. American North eastern seaboard)

and while you are on my favorite topic, let me grudgingly acknowledge the fact that the latter part of what you said is indeed one of the prime driving forces for me :lol:

PS: What's a chiuauha BTW, any linkies?

 

[Gannu]

PS: What's a chiuauha BTW, any linkies?

IINM its a breed of dog.

 

[superczar]

^^that's a chihuahua

What I was talking about is this

or a 'chiuauha' on the slopes. (a pure rum concoction accompanied with pyrotechnics, nestled in a mound of snow (optional).

 

[Grease Monk]

chihuahua actually. also a place (state, city not sure) in meceeco. Its that little rat that used to sit in paris hilton's purse.

edit: meh...i suck.

 

[blr_p]

PS: What's a chiuauha BTW, any linkies?

No linkies, just something i learnt when in France.

It was a college thing..and the same spelling as the mexican dog and the place it comes from.

A glass cup (we used a small duralex) but any tough glass or transparent container will work.

Plastic won't as it will prolly melt, the heat might even render it contents carcinogenic. Transparent looks better than opaque, we pinched them from the cafeteria.

Now fill three quarters with brown rum, we used a cheap generic supermarket brand, Carrefour it was. Think of it as a way to make cheap rum taste better

The rum needs to be made from sugarcane for better taste. Will have to be over 40% alcohol strength or it wont light.

A spoon to light the rum, dip spoon into glass of rum then light the rum in the spoon & pour slowly back into the glass so as to light the rum in it. If done properly you will see a small blue flame indicating the rum is alight.

Now get a metal fork and bend using the near part of it as the fulcrum to an angle of 60 degrees. This will act as a stand, the fork is placed over the glass and the handle tip rests on the table surface, you could hold it over but its easier this way.

Next up is (white) sugar cubes, again they must be from sugarcane. I tried it with ones made from sugar beet but they just charred and did not work as well.

Place a cube on the fork and the flame from the burning rum will caramelise it and melt it into the container, looks almost like a lava lamp which is why i suggested to use a transparent container, a cpl of cubes (to taste) should be good enough to take the rough edge off the cheap rum.

Once done, lift fork and plunge into glass,being careful not to touch the walls, a big flame should shoot up at this point, blow the flame out. You are done.

Now the 'inhaling' session begins

You will prolly want to wrap the hot glass in a towel for easy handling, place under open mouth and take a big whiff, pass along to others.

Once its done the round, take sips from it and pass along. The glass would still be hot, but we used an icecube to cool one of the ends, there's quite a trick here so you dont crack the glass but otherwise just decant into another container. Duralex seems to be quite tough, i'm not sure how you will fare with other glass brands, the last thing you need is for the container to crack from the heat. The more rum there is the higher the flame will burn and not get a chance to heat the walls too much but you also need at least an inch of clearance between the tip of the flame & the sugar cube to melt it.

You should now be ready to face the harsh winter climate in the mountains with added courage

 

[mallik]

Bravo blr_p ... repped !

 

[blr_p]

(No, himalayan wild slopes are nothing like the dime-a-dozen snow blower filled slopes that dot the N. American North eastern seaboard)

Only because they dont have the altitude (and perhaps precipitation) of the Rockies or the Alps.

-15C on a ski-lift dangling over the mountains (2-3km up) is common otherwise, tho i gather you will upto twice as high up.

There really isn't anything quite like bringing in the new year with the right crowd, on the mountains.

 

[superczar]

Returned back from the trip last Monday

Amazing fun

Will be posting the pics soon

Here is a Teaser



Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

Here is what the itinerary was

Day 1 - Chennai - Delhi : Reached early Morning - The Car rental guy was waiting at the airport and he handed over the keys after finishing the formalities in less than 10 mins
Day 2 - Fagu (2500M) - The roads upto Shimla were excellent, can't say the same for roads beyond there... Credit though to BRO to manage to maintain the roads despite the frequent landslides

Day 3 Kalpa - (3000M) (The HPTDC hotel in Kalpa is brilliant BTW)

Day 4 Sangla - Chitkul (3500M)

(We actually had to leave the car a couple of kms before Chitkul as couldn't get enough traction on a bend due to the hardened snow...Could have negotiated the bend by putting some clay under the wheels but all of us wanted to walk till Chitkul so that's what we did)

Stayed for the night in a guesthouse in Raksham (3200M) (Between Sangla and Chitkul).

Unfortunately, one of my travel partners was a guy from Chennai who had never experienced winters in his entire 27 years of existence and he started feeling really unwell in Raksham...

We had to cut short our Kaza (Spiti) plans due to this (the roads were open BTW) and we proceeded towards Manali via Jalori pass.. Spent the rest of our vacation in Manali doing day hikes beyond the tourist points and another day riding a rented bike around Naggar ..Now Manali wasn't all that bad but was not a shade on what Spiti would have been

Meanwhile, here is a thumbs up for the Toyota Innova

I was driving an Innova for the first time ( I have been a sedan driver all my life) and was a bit worried about the handling any dynamics of the vehicle, esp on hilly terrain

The vehicle absolutely did not let us down (except two minor niggles )

Handled atrociously bad roads with aplomb

handled well

was comfortable and spacious enough for 6 people

completely reliable..the guesthouse owner in Raksham was surprised to see the vehicle start in a single crank in the morning after a bitterly freezing night

The niggles:

-braking not confidence inspiring above 80, the rear displays a tendency to fishtail if brakes are pushed hard

-a MM Jeep/safari , perhaps even a good sedan would have been able to handle the frozen bend at chitkul without much ado but not the innova

 

[Metalspree]

Nice pics dude

 

[manu1991]

great pics dude