Shrikant Shimpi
Disk Brakes? no it's Ice Brakes !!!
This snap was click during my Ladakh Biking Expedition @ Zingzingbar near Rohtang pass on Leh-Manali highway (India). We were all 7 persons for the expedition & we had 6 bikes & we travelled through Jammu-Srinagar-Leh-Manali-Chandigarh-Delhi route. On our return journey to Manali from Tso Moriri Lake we stopped at Pang.
From Pang we reached Baralacha La Pass. Baralacha La which is 8km long pass & 16,040 ft. equal in height to highest peak in Europe. During our journey to the pass it was heavily snowing and there was glacier dropped on the road blocking us for few minutes, then we had to pass through roads where there were 20 feet high snow wall surrounding the highway . It reminded us of the song from the movie “Jab We met”. We had to halt our journey due to increase in the snow fall and diminishing light near Zingzingbar where we took shelter in a tent. In that extreme cold conditions we had a jolly time and feasted on egg omelet & hot tea .During night our guys tried their hands at cooking & our tent owner was resting. During nights the winds were gushing wildly & temperatures had dropped below (-5) degrees with heavy snowfall, in these extreme conditions we were sound asleep.
We were aghast to see our bikes fully covered in snow when we got out of our tent in the morning. Our bikes were snow clad with a layer of 8 inches of snow. It was etched in our mind for ever. We had a very unique experience of doing our morning chores in that area with snow as the water was freezing cold. This was first of its kind experience in our trekking life. We started to leave our tents in the morning to continue our journey but my friends had to toil very hard to start their bikes, in that respect I was blessed as my bike ‘Bajaj Caliber’ started in just 1 kick. My bike ‘Bajaj Caliber’ was oldest of them all & had completed 100,000 Km in November 2008. After struggling a bit all the Bajaj bikes started but one of our friend had a hard time starting his ‘Yamaha Gladiator’ bike .After pushing the bike for few Km and after changing the spark plug of that bike, to our relief it started. It is advisable to avoid adulterated petrol which is sold on the Leh- Manali Highway. After crossing through world’s worst road ‘Rohtang Pass’ we reached Manali at night.
Regards
Shrikant
Disk Brakes? no it's Ice Brakes !!!
This snap was click during my Ladakh Biking Expedition @ Zingzingbar near Rohtang pass on Leh-Manali highway (India). We were all 7 persons for the expedition & we had 6 bikes & we travelled through Jammu-Srinagar-Leh-Manali-Chandigarh-Delhi route. On our return journey to Manali from Tso Moriri Lake we stopped at Pang.
From Pang we reached Baralacha La Pass. Baralacha La which is 8km long pass & 16,040 ft. equal in height to highest peak in Europe. During our journey to the pass it was heavily snowing and there was glacier dropped on the road blocking us for few minutes, then we had to pass through roads where there were 20 feet high snow wall surrounding the highway . It reminded us of the song from the movie “Jab We met”. We had to halt our journey due to increase in the snow fall and diminishing light near Zingzingbar where we took shelter in a tent. In that extreme cold conditions we had a jolly time and feasted on egg omelet & hot tea .During night our guys tried their hands at cooking & our tent owner was resting. During nights the winds were gushing wildly & temperatures had dropped below (-5) degrees with heavy snowfall, in these extreme conditions we were sound asleep.
We were aghast to see our bikes fully covered in snow when we got out of our tent in the morning. Our bikes were snow clad with a layer of 8 inches of snow. It was etched in our mind for ever. We had a very unique experience of doing our morning chores in that area with snow as the water was freezing cold. This was first of its kind experience in our trekking life. We started to leave our tents in the morning to continue our journey but my friends had to toil very hard to start their bikes, in that respect I was blessed as my bike ‘Bajaj Caliber’ started in just 1 kick. My bike ‘Bajaj Caliber’ was oldest of them all & had completed 100,000 Km in November 2008. After struggling a bit all the Bajaj bikes started but one of our friend had a hard time starting his ‘Yamaha Gladiator’ bike .After pushing the bike for few Km and after changing the spark plug of that bike, to our relief it started. It is advisable to avoid adulterated petrol which is sold on the Leh- Manali Highway. After crossing through world’s worst road ‘Rohtang Pass’ we reached Manali at night.
Regards
Shrikant