I think I would like to begin with a few FAQs. These were questions I alwez had about Spiti, reaching there and getting around. Of course I will be getting back to answering more questions when I write up my experiences in detail.... :) Most of the things I describe below are applicable in summer and winter but keep in mind that I travelled in deep winter and so my post is likely to keep reverting to that time of the year.... :)
Q. I am planning a trip to Spiti. When is the best time?
A. Ok most things you read about travelling to Spiti will tell you that the ideal time to travel there is either in May June season or September October season. Firstly understand a few things about Spiti. If you look at a map of Himachal, you'll see that the road to spiti is actually a long circular route which Starts from Shimla and takes the following route. Shimla - Theog - Narkanda - Rampur - Jeori - Wangtu - Recong Peo - Spillo - Puh - Khab - Nako - Chango - Samdu - Tabo - Attargu - Kaza - Losar - Kunzum La - Chhota Dara - Chhtru - Gramphu - Rohtag - Marhi - Manali - Kullu - Aut and back to Shimla. Now this route can be divided into 3 parts. Shimla to Kaza, Kaza to Gramphu and Gramphu to Manali. The stretch from Gramphu to manali i.e essentially Rohtang will be closed for atleast 6 months in a year. The stretch from Kaza to Gramphu especially Kunzum will be closed for atleast 8 months in a year all because of snow. So July to october happens to be the time when both the passes will be open so thats the best time to travel. HOWEVER, the implications are a little more than that. If you go in July, its likely to be a little warm and you are unlikely to see snow except at rohtang and kunzum top. It will be green in Kinnaur and spiti will be its usual Desert and Mountain colours. On the other hand if you go in late october, it will be a winter wonderland everywhere. Spiti will be WHITE and Kinnaur with the Apple orchards entering fall will be a beautiful Golden yellow to fiery red... So choose your time as per your likes but also keep in mind the next few questions about the seasons.
Q. So October is a great time to go then isnt it?
A. Be careful. Its not really as simple as that. You have to understand a few things here. 1. As the winter draws near, the length of daytime is reduced as we all know. In the mountains it reduces even more. This has a lot of implications in terms of temperatures and the freezing and thawing of snow as I will describe later. 2. The chances of a sporadic snowfall is very high resulting in blocked roads and if a road is blocked, rest assured that you are in for a stay of ATLEAST 5 days. 3. Towards the end of october, the temperatures in spiti valley drop, sometimes dangerously. As a result, the water in all the pipes freezes and all the hotels in the region, especially after Nako shut down. SO even if you find the roads open, you wont find accomodation. You can try homestay but it will be very difficult to find water even for brushing or daily necessities. and finally 4. The phrase "road is closed" means that the government officially stops road maintainance on Rohtang and Kunzum after the 1st of November. Nobody will put a barricade and stop you from going. After that if you go, its at your risk and if your vehicle gets stuck, the government wont help you out. Though before 1st november, its the government responsibility to help whoever is stuck for whatever reason. So you will likely find local Kaza drivers driving even after 1st november but remember they are far more experienced than you.
Q. I am planning to go on Bike. What do you say?
A. Well first understand the terrain before you set off on Bike. Even I thought I'd go on bike but the first time around I hired a Tavera. And that was a good thing because now I know going there on a Bike is not easy. Once you see the roads, you will be better prepared for it. First of all, it would be insane to go on bikes after october because the chances are you will freeze. After Nako, there are very strong winds even during the afternoon and the temperatures for most part are zero. In Kaza and beyond, expect the temperatures in the negative. In May June season, its reasonable to think of using bikes but better to use them via Manali and Rohtang. The reason i dont recommend bikes on the Shimla Rampur road is that all the way till 'AKPA' which is a near Puh, the roads are terrible. This is thanks to a large number of hydel power projects which are coming up on the Sutlej. So they have been blasting the mountains to build the dams. The roads are mud and dust and because of the diversion of water the roads are mostly slush. We covered this stretch at an average speed of 20 kilometres per hour in the four wheeler. The advantage of a two wheeler on the other hand is that you can stop wherever you want whenever you want and click photos. You wont have a nagging driver who keeps goading you. And please give up any ideas of driving a four wheeler by yourself unless you have prior experience of driving on the mountains and you know the terrain well.
Q. Will Kunzum and Rohtang be open?
A. The famous question. Honestly the road depends on the weather and so you won't know for sure till you reach Kaza. So dont break your head about it. Reach Kaza first and then find out from vehicles coming from the opposite direction or find out at the bus stand.
Q. I asked someone in Kaza if Kunzum and Rohtang are open and he said the road is condition is great. Yippeeeee. ?????
A. Beware before you ask local Kaza Drivers the road condition. For them, the road is bad ONLY if there is 30 feet of snow and the vehicle wont pass through at all. Anything else is negotiable. But when you go from Shimla, or Manali, you are likely to have a Shimla or a Kullu local driver as the case may be. They are less experienced in the ways of the mountain roads.
Q. I just saw a Kaza driver in a Sumo zoom past on an iced road on top of Kunzum at 50kmph. Road Hog!!!!
A. Nope. While we guys believe in driving slowly and safely on top of mountains, these guys have a totally different logic and they are totally right. You see if you go in October, in Kunzum, Rohtang and the sun is up in the skies for just about 6 hours. After that as it sinks below the mountain tops, the temperatures drop and the snow which had thawed begins to freeze once again making driving difficult an dangeous. So these fellows very smartly cover the distance from Kunzum to Rohtang in this small timeframe thus driving fast. But to compensate well for that, they have a sound knowledge of the road and remember every bend and have probably done that road everyday since they were born. Besides, they have very heavy loads most of the time and are carrying minimally 15 people. So their vehicles don't skid. Don't drive fast. But driving slow, you can still cover this distance well under 5 hours. Just plan your trip wisely. And don't waste time doing things like having snowball fights on top of Kunzum and stuff. Then you are likely to hit Rohtang only at nightfall. Secondly even though its is about 500 metres less than Kunzum, Rohtang is more challenging and dangerous because of the sudden unpredictable weather changes on top. So if you go in October or November, Don't spend too much time on top of Rohtang. This is because it will start snowing sudddenly and very heavily. If you remember recently, on 22nd october, there was a sudden snowfall on top of Rohtang in which some tourists died. Thats basically because nobody expected the snow to build up so suddenly in minutes and within minutes cars were majorly jammed.
Q. How much will be the cost of the trip?
A. There is no limit to how much you can spend. But a decent trip should be done within ten to fifteen thousand rupees per head if you go in a group. It will be more expensive if you go alone. This includes about 5 to 6 days of stay in different places, a four wheeler and food. Q. How much should I pay for the four wheeler?
A. Be ready for the guys to start quoting from 30,000 INR for an 8 day trip which was our case. But we eventually bargained and got it down to 24,000 for 8 days including Stay for 4 people but excluding food.
If you planning on a four wheeler without him arranging for accomodation, expect them to quote 3000 per day. But they will eventually agree for 2500 per day.
Q. Whats the cost of renting a Bike?
A. Well the first question is Where can you rent bikes. I've seen a whole bunch of guys in Manali and i heard that you can rent Bikes in Pathankot and chandigarh. You can even rent in Dharmashala but it would be difficult to include Dharmashla in your Itinerary unless you have a long leave. I saw many people in Manali ready to rent bikes for something like 600 INR a day. But please check the condiion of the bikes. One place which had decent well maintained bikes was renting enfields at 800 INR a day.
Q. What about communications?
A. Honestly Spiti was heaven for me mainly because I was cut off from the rest of the world. But for those of you who believe in staying connected, there is mobile networks practically everywhere. Up until Kalpa, you have good connectivity with all networks. As far as I remember Airtel is a little better than vodafone in R peo and Kalpa. Beyond that, only BSNL works. There are no networks beyond Losar up until Chhatru when you catch BSNL again and on top of rohtang, you'll catch all networks again.
Q. ATMs?
A. The last big place where you can draw Money is Recong Peo. No let me get more specific. Its Shimla first. After that its Rampur but the ATMs there are a little flaky. after that you wont find any ATMs till Peo and after that nothing till Kaza. So draw your money well in advance.
Q. Where to stay?
A. Throughout our trip, we managed to stay in decent and budget places. We stayed in a Hotel Trimutri in Shimla. Its a few metres ahead of the bus stand after the gurudwara. After that in Sarahan, there is a very nice but somewhat expensive HPTDC place called The Srikhand. And a bunch of budget places right next to it. The Srikhand has a nice view which the others don't. Oh I almost forgot, in Sarahan, The Bhimkali temple trust runs a temple guest house with decent rooms which are dead cheap. You can try those too but you need advance booking. In Kalpa, there are many options. We were put up at a place called The Shivalik. There is a New Shivalik which is also decent. If you are looking for an expensive best view deal, go for The Golden Apple. Our next stop was Tabo. We were actually booked in for a place called Tashi Khangsar guest house but the fday we reached there, they closed down and left for Shimla for the winter. Here is where your troubles are going to begin if you go in late winter. Water will be scarce so stock up in advance. There is a Monastic guest house which is open most of the year. You just have to use your charm with the caretaker lady to let you stay there and promise her that you need only a few drops of water for the next 3 days. Nako is much smaller than tabo but i heard there are some accomodations by the lake. In Kaza you will find lots of hotels but again same problem. YOu will not find any place with water unless you go early in winter or in may or june. You can alternatively stay at the Ki monastery. They will gladly welcome you and you can stay for a day or two.
Q. Words of caution....
A. Eyes to the Sky ALWAYS..... The mountains are not like the Plains. ONE singly stray cloud means the weather is bad. the weather is good only if the sky is totally clear. The great advantage is that you can go out at night and see the stars clearly and that means the sky is clear. You should be constantly looking towards Rohtang and southwards. The reason being if you see dense clouds Rohtang then you should be considering retreating along your footsteps from kaza rather than risk Rohtang. This doesnt mean that your road is absolutely safe before Kaza. The critical point before Kaza is Malling Nala. You will hit malling a little after Khab and before Sichling. Make sure you have company before you cross Malling. Malling is notorious as it remains closed due to slides almost half the month and this is not just in winters. Even otherwise. The Road from Nako to Malling and beyond till you reach Chango is in a good condition. Thats because this region hardly receives any rainfall. However even a small rain can be disastrous as the whole mountain is just mud and dirt. So be sure to do this stretch in clear skies and with company. Luckily you have good places to stay both in Nako and Chango.
DON'T be fooled by maps showing you names of towns. Most towns especially after Kaza and very very small. Hardly few houses and you are unlkely to find any sort of help should you need it. I'll give you a list of places you can halt and will find food and bed. Most of these instructions are for winters. Summers shouldnt be too much of a problem. If you leave Kaza towards Kunzum, make sure you can atleast reach Chhatru by sundown. You will find a rest house and a place to eat there just before the bridge over Chandra. If you go past Chhatru, there is no place to halt till you cross Rohtang to Marhi. Gramphu is existant on the maps but in reality its just a junction with a PWD guest house which is locked and abandoned in winters. If by chance you get past chhatru but cant get to rohtang or if the weather goes bad, At gramphu go northwards towards Keylong and you'll find some place to stay in Khoksar. After Rohtang its Marhi but then you aren't very far from Manali. You are thinking why am I making such a big deal of all thi but you will find in winters that the temperatures drop to zero by four in the evening and later go down to minus ten and twenty. YOu will be in deep trouble if you dont find a place to stay. Remember though that every place you find on the map with a name will have a PWD guest house. Although closed after octobers, dont hesitate to break and enter should you be in dire straits. Please dont go alone. I mean please take atleast one person with you who has a good local knowledge of the road and the weather. You will most likely find your driver is good enough but listen to him when he says the weather is getting bad lets move. These guys are experienced and speak for your good. Don't trust hotel and guest house caretakers who keep telling you the weather is great no hurry. You see if it snows and you get stuck, they will make a small fortune out of you ( and i am not kidding ).
Q. Clothing?
A. If you going in fag end of winters you will need plenty of warm clothing. A good pair of thermals is a MUST. Beyond Nako you will find that you will be wearing a couple of sweaters, a couple of trousers and two pairs of socks and gloves. A good sleeping bag designed for low temperatures will be very useful. Dont bother taking a tent. You will not be able to use it in winters. In summers a tent is very useful especially if you visit chandrataal lake. Please carry extra socks with you. My friend got his feet wet in october while trying to push our car which was stuck on top of kunzum and he nearly developed frostbite. Oh I have a huge section on the altitude and health and fitness which is coming up after this post so keep checking over the next few days.
For anybody requiring maps and any more details, feel free to mail me. I will gladly do anything I possibly can to help you out...
Have a safe trip and have a great time in the one place i believe is Heaven on earth :)
Ravi
alwez13@yahoo.com
