Trip report : kinnaur spiti tour - april 2008

mountainlad

Intend to do a Sutlej-Baspa-Spiti-Chandra valley trip. Something like a Shimla-Sarahan-Sangla(Chitkul)-Kalpa/Recong Peo-Khab-Sumdo-Kaza(Ki & Kibber)-KunzumLa-ChandraTaal-Batal-Gramphoo-Manali-Kullu-Shimla thing.

Questions:
1. Best time of the year to visit both from an accessibility (e.g. Chandra Valley) and convenience/safety (e.g. a swollen Pare Chu sweeping away the bridges) points of view.
2. Time required for a moderately paced trip (ex-Shimla).

I have read the excellent article by nayan and few other travel reports here and elsewhere (thank you). I have also looked at suman350's thread on trip to Chandrataal; however, I felt it is more geared towards the specifics of her trip and that the information I seek may not belong there.

Dilliwala

1) June. Or October.
2) Hmmm, 15 days? 20? (that wud be moderate for me )

mountainlad

That was quick, thanks. Could you elaborate on #2 a little bit?

Dilliwala

Frankly, that was just of the top of my head, i.e. a rough guide, literally. The way I travel, I hardly ever know where I'm spending the night.
That's why 95% of the time I never book (and the other 5% is usually on the same day).
Ok, how I calculated basically - 1N Shimla-2N Sarahan-2N Baspa valley-2N Kalpa/Pio-3N Spiti valley-2N to/from Chandra Tal-3N Manali/Kullu. Obviously this is bare minimum IMO, specially considering travel time, therefore stretchable to 20 days.
My kind of rough guide.

voyager61

Hi! As for safety it's difficult to say that one month is better than another,anything can happen anytime. Best months in Spiti and Lahaul are definitely July and August, but in Shimla,lower Kinnaur and Kullu it's monsoon season.For a first recce of these places 3 weeks enough.

mountainlad

Thanks to you both.
DW, that's the way I like to travel too, but I strongly suspect my travelmates will be more timid
voyager, being a ("naam-ka") pahadi myself, I understand the mountain vagaries. The question was to exclude times with a higher likelihood/incidence (as you can make out by my reference to Pare Chu). Would July August not be monsoon season in the Spiti Valley?

Your information certainly helps in getting a very useful ballpark.

Do you think I could throw in Shoja (coming from Kullu to Shimla), or would that be cramming too much into a tiresome trip? My thought was to use Shoja as an R&R.

voyager61

Hi! From where does it come this Pare Chu paranoia? Because of the lake in Tibet? Alarming reports in the forum? It's much more likely that one day of rain disrupts your trip,causing landslides everywhere. Normally in Lahaul and Spiti monsoon has hardly any effect,specially in Spiti.I think you can put Shoja in your schedule.

Dilliwala

That's why I mentioned June - basically as soon as Kunzum and Rohtang open.
Altho if the news reports are accurate, Rohtang is supposed to open in April this time. Wait and see on that one.

If the idea is to go from Manali/Kullu back to Shimla anyway, then Shoja/Jalori route is eminently doable - it adds only a few extra kms to going down the main highways. Even otherwise it's not that huge a detour.

mountainlad

voyager, I guess you are correct - part of the paranoia comes from media reports in the last few years (reason enough for me to put off the trip for the last few years). The one day of rain bit was factored in when I said mountain vagaries.

DW, isn't Shoja on the Kullu-Shimla route (via Sainj)? Is there an alternate route you would be able to suggest from Kullu-Dehradun?

voyager61

Hi! Shoja is past Banjar,on the way to Jalori pass. Sainj is in another valley to the north,it used to be a nice quiet place,now devastated by the works of a hydel project.

mountainlad

I meant Aut - my mistake. I do see the Sainj Valley south-east of Aut.

Dilliwala

Yes, it's on the Kullu-Shimla route, the long way.

Quote:

Is there an alternate route you would be able to suggest from Kullu-Dehradun?

You mean Kullu to Dehradun? Yes sirrrr!
And how many routes am I allowed to suggest?
(I need to know your mode of transport too, i.e. public or private/hired).

That's one Sainj. You forget the other, at the end of the Jalori road near Luhri - the one you have to pass thru EVERY time you travel to/from Spiti.

To be clear (in light of ml's latest post) - Aut (leaving NH 21)-Larji *-Banjar-Shoja-Jalori Jot-Khanag-Ani-Luhri-Sainj (joining NH 22).

* side road to other Sainj.

mountainlad

The quickest (not necessarily shortest) one. Private transport.

That clears my confusion too, for my old Spiti Valley map showed one Sainj in between Rampur and Narkanda. Till I saw the other Sainj (adjacent to Aut as mentioned above) in a second map.

Dilliwala

Hmm, so no back-roads with great scenery?
All Indian citizens?

A couple of routes wud work actually, based on my knowledge of the road-conditions. I cannot tell you exactly wich wud be the fastest as I haven't been able to drive them all.

The good news is you don't have to forego the Jalori drive (as long as the pass is not closed - otherwise you might as well head for Mandi/Bilaspur/Dharampur/Nahan).

1) So, from Sainj (southern) you basically have to head for Sawra (junction - 1 km south of Hatkoti).
Either head up to Narkanda, then to Baghi and Rohru (more info here, read upto #83), then to Hatkoti/Sawra
OR
go upto Thiog, then Chhaila-Kotkhai-Jubbal-Sawra (this might be a bit faster).

Now, Arakot-Tiuni-Chakrata-Yamuna Pul-Mussoorie-Dehradun.
OR Arakot-Tiuni-Chakrata-Kalsi-Herbertpur-Dehradun.
(time taken will be approx same)
Note: only Indian citizens allowed to travel on sectors shown in bold.

This wud be the shortest/quickest option.

2) If however even one of you is a non-Indian citizen, from Tiuni you have to head north to Mori, down to Purola and Naugaon, then the conventional route along the Yamuna to Yamuna Pul, rest as above.

3) So then, a more efficient option wud be - from Thiog to Chhaila, then south to Sainj (no. 3 ).
Then Chaupal-Nerwa-Shalu Bridge-Minas-Shilai-Sataun-Rajban-Paonta Sahib (this is SH 1 of HP, good condition. Rajban-Paonta is excellent).
Head across the river to Dehradun.

mountainlad

Would like you to elaborate on that option too, s'il vous plait. I was thinking more on the lines of a time-crunch.

Mostly Indian citizens with Indian residence. For people like me would the passport suffice? Or would they ask to see PAN card and/or Voter ID too?