manali - keylong or kinnaur ??

inshy

hi everyone,
i am new here. i am an engineering student based in delhi. i love visiting new places.
Me and my friends are planning to go for a trip in diwali holidays for around 4-5 days..(from 15th oct to 19th)
We have a plan to go for either manali- keylong or kinnaur..
sort of a confusion as we are unable to decide which one to go for.
Hope you guys will help me..



Moderator note: Hi Inshy, welcome to IM - but please don't post the same query more than once - that's multiple posting, and confuses us all (your other post has been deleted)

vistet

Your safest bet would be Kinnaur : Rothang has been out three times already in September.

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high road to ..

inshy

Thanks for the information vistet..
i hope you will clear some of my doubts..

1) could you give me more information on places to visit in kinnaur assuming i start towards kinnaur from shimla? Ours is a short trip(4 or 5 days)
2) is there any possibility of snowfall in any of those areas?Quite a few friends of mine are eager to see snow..
3)or could you suggest us any other tour plan which can be covered in these days in himachal pradesh??

vinathorat

For 1)From Shimla Kalpa,Sangla Chitkuland Sarhan is possible in 5 days.

For 2)May be no

inshy

thanks vinathorat,

1)but could you elaborate a bit more as i am almost a novice in matters of these areas..

2)could you suggest me any other tour plan for those days which involves snow??

hvkumar

You can take a bus from Shimla to Sangla either directly or via Rampur. I think there is also a direct HP bus from Delhi to Sangla.

Sangla is a nice place, and Chitkul even better. In fact, I think it a better idea to stay in Chitkul. You can trek around in the Chitkul area which is the Baspa Valley. Assuming you take an overnight bus from Delhi, you can spend 2 days in Sangla-Chitkul. YOu can go further to Kalpa (3-4 hours) or come back to Sarahan (3-4 hours).

You cannot see snow anywhere at this time of the year in Kinnaur Valley. Snow fall happens in Kinnaur only in late Dec/Jan.

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H V Kumar

vinathorat

inshy

thanks for your information guys..
it helped clear a lot of myths..
can you tell me is it possible to go to keylong from manali around 16th,17th october??

vinathorat

Yes you can do it from Manali

inshy

thanks again,

i have heard a lot about chandertal lake,
can you just clarify these questions?
1) can we visit chandertal lake around oct17th?
will the route be blocked?
2) since we are students, we cannot afford much. So what is the cheapest means to go there? if only taxis are available, can you tell us what they will charge for a group of say 6-7 guys?
Once again thanks a lot guys, i dont know what i would do without all your inputs!

vistet

Latest news here was that the road was not open up to Chandra Tal , and that the dhabas at Batal had closed - around the 29th , if I remember it right.

hvkumar

We tried to go to Chandertal in end-Sep, but the road was blocked by snowfall. Your being able togo there will depend on the snowfall - it may be clear in mid-Oct. But as vistet says, there will be no facilities en route.

Shared taxis run from Manali to Kaza and your best bet is to buy a seat in one of them - should take you 5-6 hours to reach Batal after which you will have to walk the rest of the distance (around 12 kms) to Chandertal.

I have driven to Chandertal in the first week of October before, the lake was almost dry and whatever water remained was already frozen.

inshy

thanks a lot hvkumar and vistet,
thnx to u guys ,we have finalized our trip:
1)we are leaving on 14th night and will reach manali by 15th morning( by the way, is hptdc delhi to manali non ac for 680bucks the best bet?)
2) we do the local site seeing on 15th
3) If chandertal route is clear, we go for chandertal( i read in other threads that we need to start early if we are to steer clear of the rohtangpass traffic jam) and camp there if it is possible( is it possible? ) or else return
if the chandertal route is not clear, then we go only upto rohtang pass and come back to manali( coud you suggest me any other decent spot if chandertal route were to be blocked?)
4) camp in solang valley on 17th if the route is blocked and enjoy stay in manali till it's time to leave on 18th aftnoon

Do you suggest any changes or have to add any things that i didnt??

inshy

[quote]Shared taxis run from Manali to Kaza and your best bet is to buy a seat in one of them - should take you 5-6 hours to reach Batal after which you will have to walk the rest of the distance (around 12 kms) to Chandertal. /QUOTE]
can you tell me roughly how much will it cost? if we want to camp there the night , do we need to take a car there?? can you give me those details??

vistet

You would need to gear up a lot to make this work : night temperatures in Leh now are around minus 8-9 degrees , and this more than seven hundred meters lower than Chandra Tal.Minus fifteen degrees sleeping bags , good tent , cooking gear etc.

Going directly from Batal will also maximize your risk of altitude sickness : note for example the description here - and remember that you are are in a worse position from both trekking up there , and with a pack.