Spring breaks in with opening of high passes around Uttarakhand marking the start of riding season and thus we rode from Dehradun to Himachal this time to Chanshal pass that bridges Uttarakhand and Himachal at 12000+ft ASL. From well laid tarmac to hard grueling torn off roads, from bright hot sweaty sunny days to cold freezing nights, from clear skies to snowstorms and from zero to 600+kms on the ODO we went through all what the venture had to offer.
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| Ice walls enroute |
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| Raging storm |
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| Riding along Pabbar river |
To Chirgaon roads are mix of tarmac and offroads with lots of dirt and debris along the patchy road but post Chirgaon to Larot & Chanshal is a nightmare. Hard roads beaten and broken at several places take a good toll on your vehicle and you too. Speeds are low on that climbing terrain to 12000+ft ASL. Best done on Impulse and its fun once you are on the footpegs crouched forward clinged to the bars on a short gear at high rpms charging through the trail. The bike dangles across the heavy deep sand at some patches one might witness after Larot. The climb gets more steeper after larot and roads worsen up even but the landscape becomes more beautiful. The high meadows show up all snow laden. One might witness some snowboarding or ice skiing marks on the snow slopes of Chanshal.
With some exploring around we went on searching for a campsite to accommodate 8 bikes and 4 tents. Gathering wood for the night fire was another concern given the high altitude and the no trees. Down two bikers descend for few kms to gather wood qhile the other guys pitch up the tent and a lone guy in the corner searching for network. Meanwhile a storm and some raging clouds gather up towards the north-east of the sky engulfing the Himalayas approaching us and it minutes it gets all windy. High speed winds and fear of a snowfall or a windy storm made a fear creep in. Mixed opinions of descending to lower altitude or Larot came up. It was 6:30 by evening and sun was setting in the horizon calling for a firm decision to come up. None it was. With almost all the preparations done for the night camp majority of us decided to stay there itself.
It rained with snow for few 15-20 minutes and the sky cleared up in an hour so beautifully that no one could spot a cloud up in the sky. Stars came up bright and clear and wood was gathered up to lit the bonfire. Not windy anymore no one could ask for a better cold calm evening by the fire more. With food and a little booze all start to talk. I start to click some night skies. With few hours by and the day full of physical toll eyelids were heavy and one by one guys called it off to their respective tents.
I hate writing to be honest and on this note ill let the reading part finish here and let the pictures do the talking. Not as good they are but a mere attempt to capture the moments as much as I can. So to am up the night was cold and Im not able to sleep well in a sleeping bag so I didn't had a good sleep. Night was windy again with tent flapping and disturbing as I'm not a sound sleeper, I sleep alert as a dog. So I got up early too as nature called me into the bushes. The leftover cinders were fiery enough to keep me warm untill the sun came up the next morning. When we gathered all what we had, packed and off back to Dehradun via Hanol & Mori.
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| Camps for the night |
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| and the morning bliss |
