Manali - Keylong - Sarchu (4000 Mts Plus)
Trip Start
Aug 10, 2007
1
3
7
Trip End
Aug 19, 2007
Sarchu, Himachal Pradesh. india, India
Sunday, August 12, 2007
We crossed Manali and reached a petrol pump near Sangla road diversion. Our driver got his vehicle's tank filled up for it was going to be a long journey of 485 KMs. We took some photographs and started towards Rohtang Pass.
There are a lot of Military camps on road to Leh. Basically this road is maintained by Border roads organization which keeps this road as an alternate link towards Ladakh and Siachin Glacier. Since this road is mostly above heights of 4000 MTS , this road is submerged in deep snow for 9 months an year. BRO by its declared policy officially maintains this road only for 3 months.i.e. from June 15th till September 15th. We were traveling almost in the best time :-)
So we were on and first village past us was Marhi. I was carrying a Map of profile of Manali - Leh highway ( It is an highway, though i must say it is just a high - way) in terms of altitude and distance. So statistically Marhi was at height of 9000 Fts and we had to climb up 40 KMs more in distance and 4000 FTS in terms of altitude. Suddenly we had a rude awakening of hill travel in monsoons as we found out the road was experience a hill traffic jam.
It was almost 20 KMs past Manali and due to rain some part of road had washed away at a hair pin bend. A truck was trying to find enough momentum to negotiate the bend, but was failing each time. So we had all truckers joining hands to provide expert advice to their fellow kin. It is a very interesting thing about hill driving; it is almost touching to see camaraderie amongst hill travelers. They all would always try to play by rules and would always stop at help each other. It was going to be very helpful for all of us as we were going to find out later in the day. Coming back to 'the truck', after a prolonged effort, it found enough strength to negotiate the bend and open up way for the 'jammed traffic'.
I must confess some geography lessons taken in junior class were coming very handy now. Specially about change of vegetation from Tropical to Alpine and further turning completely as high altitude desert. On the way from Marhi to Kothi i could sense this transition from long high trees to one of marshland vegetation. Only grass was growing at Kothi which was our final stop before Rohtang arrived. We took some tea at Kothi and since it was very cold with slight drizzle we just launched ourselves towards Rohtang pass.
We reached Rohtang La at about 10 AM in the morning. It was still wet and the sight at Rohtang did not make for a pretty picture. Since the peak tourist season had just finished it was a very dirty area on the top. There were huts and small tents overflowing with garbage. In fact the only cemented toilet was in shambles with acute stench chasing everybody away. Though at some distance was Rohtang Top stone which seemed to promise something very beautiful.
Rohtang La (La - high pass) is located at the height of 13050 Fts and is breath takingly beautiful at its highest road point. It was almost surreal to see a majestic mountain range behind the pass which was our introduction to Mighty Greater Himalayan Range. We all allowed ourselves to be 'shot' by some high tech Cameras :-). My journey was actually starting at this point onwards. In all of my trips to Manali, i had never crossed Rohtang pass. It was getting very exciting.
It was continuous descend via hair pin bends till we finally reached town of Koksar which heralded our entry into Lahaul valley. As I could make out the whole terrain had changed. Air Tel had taken a break from services from here on. BSNL mobile networks was my only companion now though i was going to be hugely surprised in three hours from now.
At Koksar , since Lahaul valley is a restricted area, we were supposed to report to Police Checkpoint. I and my wife decided to take a stroll here. Koksar is situated by the side of River Chandra. River Chandra and River Bhaga meet at Tandi to give birth to what is called as Chenab in J&K. Atharva decided to click us, it turned out to be a good memory by the river side.
How could i have forgotten Bidan by this time. It was his birthday today. I thought to wish him but evidently as i found out he was fast asleep and it needed something very rough to make him awake. Mother nature then is always helpful in this regard, it had its plans reserved for Bidan.
At around 30 KMs from Koksar and some distance away from Sissey, we found out that our road had been washed away by a free flowing Nullah from a nearby mountain. A Tata 407 had got royally stuck between two stones on the road, and we had all the time in the world to go close to near by Chandra river flowing in its full majesty. We encountered some of our interesting fellow travelers on our Road to Ladakh. We had cyclists, motor cyclists for company. Since the road had completely given way to pounding Nullah, even they were stuck up just waiting for the mid size truck to pass.
Road finally opened up with passing of previously described cumulative wisdom of hill drivers. Since only Bidan was in the Jeep, we all decided to watch his reactions while our Jeep would cross the raging Nullah. It was priceless, Bidan had a million dollar expression and was being given birthday bumps by the craters formed on road by the onslaught of Nullah.
It was 12 noon when we reached Sissey and our vehicle got it first breakdown. It took our driver one hour to repair our vehicle with the help of previously described hill driver kinship.It was the time to indulge in a major shoot out of photographic kind. I met a traveler coming from Ladakh and inquired about the weather issues if any. He assured me about everything all right.
Soon we reached Tandi. Tandi is the final Petrol pump before Upshi in J&K which was 365 KMs away. It is also the spot where River Chandra meets with Bhaga to be known as Chandra Bhaga or Chenab as it is popularly called. We bid farewell to River Chandra and we were now on the left side of River Bhaga. It took us to city of Keylong which is capital of Ladakh district of Himachal Pradesh. This was the final town with a proper market before Leh. We took lunch at HPTDC hotel ChandraBhaga. Suddenly my Air tel phone rung, i was surprised, how could Air tel work here, it was supposed to have ended his network at Rohtang La. Looked like they had just installed their network only 20 days earlier. It was fascinating how Airtel was ready to match it setup with the might of BSNL. Fascinating stuff.
We left Keylong at 2 PM and reached Jispa at 3 PM. Jispa is situated on the banks of river Bhaga and it is located in a splendid valley of blue colored stones. It has a police check point with compulsory registration. I took this opportunity to indulge in some more photography.
Road after Jispa goes into complete ascent. Jispa is located at a height of approx 11000 Fts. Further 1000 FTS of elevation ahead we were greeted by a military township near a lake called Deepak Tal. This lake was important in our trip in two sense. First was its beauty and calmness and Second was the sudden change in mountain topography post this feature. We found out that mountains were suddenly changing their color and were acquiring shades of brown and red. It was now a continuous ascent post Deepak Tal where we continuously getting amazed by the lack of vegetation accompanied by a distinct lack of oxygen by now.
Indian Roads never cease to amaze you. It is equally true for people who build roads. Here at a relatively lower altitudes of Jispa and Deepak Tal we were traveling through a road which at some places could have been better identified as a dirt track. And here i was witnessing an astonishing sight, a road which i could have called as truly an highway and believe me it started at a height of 14000 Fts. This place otherwise which could have been identified only as an high altitude desert was also a witness to some high quality work done by Border Roads organization with its flagship project called Himank. Not only there were good in constructing roads, they were also good in providing clinchers as their safety messages. Sample this :- A message by the side of a hair pin bend :- " Be Gentle on my Curves".
We were now about to reach Baralacha La. Our driver had already warned us about the first onslaught of altitude mountain sickness at this pass. Baralacha La is situated at a height of 16600 Fts. It is the originating point of River Chandra and River Bhaga.
As i said earlier just before Baralacha La i could experience change in behavior of our fellow travelers. Just a glance toward Sarthak gave me my first worry signs, he was showing signs of uneasiness. I left him behind in the car and since everybody was very excited, ran along beside them towards the board detailing Baralacha La. It was very chilly and since it is a three way pass, wind had also picked up some speed. We clicked some photographs and came back to sit in the car. My wife called my name in a very feeble voice. I sensed some trouble.
She was showing classic signs of altitude sickness. Breathing very slowly and getting equivalent oxygen once in three breaths she was almost fainting. I sat beside her and reminded her of what Rahul had told us before we launched ourselves on this Road. I thought she gave a serious thought and in next 20 minutes she declared that she seemed better. However Sarthak was having slight trouble. I asked our driver to descend quickly till Baratpur (15000 Fts above MSL). We needed something to eat quickly.
Baratpur is a small tenting ground just 30 minutes away from Baralacha La. Most of the travelers realise their sickness only at this point onwards. We made a cardinal mistake here. Heavy Food!
It is a principle on high altitudes - Eat less and Drink more. Some of us indulged in binge eating and it was imperative that we were going to have trouble ahead. For now, the wind was very chilly now and temperature was dropping rapidly. It was 5 PM by now and we needed to rush to reach our camps before sunlight bade its farewell. It was time now for our main health scare.
Deepti - Sarthak had just got married last year. They were a very new couple on the trip and were enjoying every part of it till now. Deepti although young was not a very frequent travelers. Till now, she had taken enough precautions but it seemed that excitement of Baralacha La had exposed her to chilly winds accompanied by a drop in temperature. She had suffered cold-stroke. We made a dash for our night halt.
Sarchu is situated 40 KMs ahead from Baralacha La. It is located at a height of approx 14500 Fts. Good enough for high altitude sickness and equally difficult for somebody to recover from cold-stroke. We checked into our camp - Himalayan Saga - at around 8 PM. It was pitch dark and soon Deepti was showing signs of uneasiness.
AMS as described on a lot of web-sites has symptoms like Nausea, Loss of appetite, breathlessness etc. Although none of them were clearly visible from Deepti's situation but at that height it was difficult to make out anything. We contacted Nitesh (Camp Manager - Himalayan Saga), who coolly told us about the unavailability of a Doctor 150 KMs either way. However he confirmed us that Deepti was showing symptoms of cold-stroke rather than AMS. He actually rules out AMS completely. It seemed that our this night was going to be long drawn out affair.
Meanwhile four of the fit people ( I , Bidan, Kushal and Atharva) decided to take our Dinner at Dinner hall at 14500 Fts with each one taking a shot of Rum. And finally we all decided it was a good time that we fell asleep. Sarthak-Deepti however were destined to struggle with high-altitude for the whole night and we did come to know all about it next morning.
