shimla-manli via kalpa,tabo, kaza..need help

hi friends..
i am new to this forum..
need u r advise on this itenary we have prepared
22 Aug 10 Shimla ( Hotel Holiday Home )
23 Aug 10 sarahan (The Srikhand)
24 Aug 10 Kalpa (The Kinner Kailash)
25 Aug 10 Tabo (Tashi Khangsar Hotel/ Sonam Rabgey Guest House)
26 Aug 10Kaza (Hotel Sakya Abode 01906-222254)
27 Aug 10kaza (Sakya Abode 01906-222254)
28 Aug 10Manali (Hotel Kunzum)
29 Aug 10Manali (Hotel Kunzum)
30 Aug 10Manali (Hotel Kunzum)
31 Aug 10Delhi (Fly back)

Actually we(me & wife) were planning a leh-ladakh trip..had to cancel it due to floods there.We both r from south india so don't know much about the
1)terrain & wheather in these areas in late aug.is it good or will there be flood and road blocks in these areas?.
2)is the route given good..will it be hectic travel.full day in car???

Shimla – Narkanda – Sarahan
Sarahan – Reckong Peo - Kalpa
Kalpa – Nako – Khab - Tabo
Tabo – Dhankar – Lahlung - Kaza
Kaza – Kye – Kibber – Kaza
Kaza – Losar – Kunzum La – Batal – Chatru – Rohtang Pass – Manali

3)is the hotles in the list good (give suggestion about good ones in these areas).

4)places to visit in these areas..
5)From manali the best way to reach back to delhi?(is the hptc-volvo comfortable anybody travlled in that?)

Got all these(places)ideas from the IM's blogs...plz help us with u r suggestions..as it is a last minute plan..we r totally confused..

Few observations/suggestions:

1/ Kaza – Kye – Kibber – Kaza : You may add one more place to visit this day. (If you want to relax or spend more time at Key/Kibber, then that's ok)
2/ Kaza – Losar – Kunzum La – Batal – Chatru – Rohtang Pass – Manali: You may take a halt either at Losar or Batal and visit chandratal lake. However very basic accomodation available at these places. Also, Chandratal may be trekked thru Kunzum Pass and Batal both. ( When I see you are planning to spend 3 days in Manali, thought to give this suggestion to visit Chandratal)
3/ From Manali the best way to reach back to delhi?(is the hptc-volvo comfortable anybody travlled in that?): Yes, hptdc volvos are very comfortable.

Hi Majud, Greetings for the day....!!!!

Have heard thats the road to Kaza from Shimla, Rampur bushar, tabo is closed due to heavy landslide......& the news is that even the road from manali is also blocked due to landslide & a bridge has been washed out.....Just confirm the road status before going for that circuit....

Regards
Vinod Bhakuni

+1 to Vbhakuni,

Please take an informed decision and note in context of this year, Lahaul/Spiti is not actually an alternative to plan in last minute instead of Ladakh. Follow the road condition thread here and also keep eyes on IMD and few local newspaper. You would get a feel of ground reality there.

Cheers!!

I have spoken to a gentleman at Kaza the road from Simla is as of today not fully restored. But they are quite sure that next 2/3 days it will be opened. From Manali side it is open.

Being an apple season, Govt is trying their best to clear the road as soon as it can. Only issue is persistant rain and the eco system of the cold desert couldn't take this much rain as it usually receives snow fall only. The weather of 2010 is consistantly inconsistant, you can see it if you check from April onwards, all sorts of unseasonal rain, high number of western disturbances even when monsoon is active, put the metereologist in a confusing state. In case of dry weather for a few weeks much of things would get stable but that's what is not happening currently. Still ominous amount of clouds can be seen in the region which may result into another spell of heavy rain and lead to few more blocks. So better is to keep a close watch on weather and decide only if you get a couple of weeks relatively dry.

Thanks garfield_fly for your suggestions. Yes, we will definitely look at visiting more places from Kaza, but getting to Kaza seems to be a challenge now! :-(

Thanks vbhakuni/kshil - is there any specific website, where i can get the current status of roads? I will definitely check road condition thread (was not able to locate it).

Thanks a lot Samit.dey0208 - is there anyway you would be able to check early next week and let us know the prevailing conditions? We would really appreciate your help.

When you reach there, you would find, visiting side valleys from Kaza like Pin Valley/ Lallung/ Langza, Komic/ Kye,Kibber,Tashigang etc. would be even more difficult in a challenging weather. Pray for a good weather, that only could resolve the problem.

To get current status of road, check out threads in IndiaMike and BCMTouring Forum here

Also check out local news papers like
Himvani
Himachal Live
Tribune Himachal Edition (Change the date in the URL to get the specific edition)

Another must check is the IMD website for a close watch on regular weather.here.

Have a nice and safe trip.

Cheers!!

Thanks Kshil for all the links. Keeping our fingers crossed. I saw messages that Manali-Kaza is open, but Shimla-Kaza is yet to open. I have connected with vishesh(incrediblespiti team) and he said he is going to spiti and will confirm on road conditions by today/tomorrow.

Hi Majud,
Happy Independence Day.
Last year I crossed Kunzum Pass.
Sending some photograps of my trip.
Bhaskar
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhaskar...94648413/show/

vaskar - Happy independence day to you too. great photos. you're lucky as you seem to have travelled when weather gods were smiling :-) BTW did you take a cab or took your own vehicle. I'm trying for a scorpio/sumo and getting different rates from different folks.
Could you please guide me on what are the things i need to watch out for when i'm booking a cab for the entire trip?

Hi Majud, this area is prone to land slide and as these roads are lifeline to these places and mostly covering border areas, BRO is quite active to restore these roads, so what all you need is just a week of dry spell to get these roads restored but more important to observe is weather forecast, if again it rains, even a day of heavy rain can create havoc in the region and leads to multiple blocks. So atleast to me, more important is the weather in coming days than restoration of roads.

I wish you a safe and nice trip.

Cheers!!

Hi Majud,

Greetings for the day....!!!!

The recent news shows that the manali- Kaza & Shimla-Kaza is open....Manali Kaza is open for the all sort of vehicle but Shimla Kaza is open for light vehicle & however there is intermittent rainfall bt not heavy rainfall.....

Check out www.himachallive.com for road status....!!!

Regards
Vinod Bhakuni

Check out the link

http://www.himachallive.com/manali-k...-restored.html

Regards
Vinod Bhakuni

Thanks for the updates Vinod. That's a good news!!