On Day 5, after an early morning and quick celebration of a member’s birthday, we departed from Manali at 7 a.m. towards the famous excursion point called Rohtang Pass (4000m asl) which is open during the summer months as the rest of the year is covered with snow. The distance from Manali to Rohtang Pass was 51 km but the journey took exceptionally long owing to heavy traffic jam starting from Marhi (34 km from Manali) onwards. We hit the Rohtang Pass at about 12.45 p.m. The road journey through tight road as well as rough and steep terrain can be described as exhilarating with precipitous cliffs, huge glaciers, deep ravines and picturesque mountain views.
Our proposed lunch stop at Gramphoo had to be deferred because the dhaba was closed. We finally had to settle for a simple dhall lunch at 3.30 p.m. at a tented Dhaba at Chhatru. It was past 4 p.m. before we continued with our journey. About an hour later, we were told that the road was impassable to vehicles due to glaciers and we were requested to disembark from our vehicles and walk to our campsite. The vehicles had to return to Manali and arrangement would be made for vehicles to be sent from the opposite direction from Kaza town.
The following day, we trekked 15 km from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. under the blazing sun to our second campsite located after Batal to wait for vehicle support from Kaza Town. Along the way, we were taught how to trek over several glacier stretches that were covering the road. Our luggage and camp equipment from our first campsite were transported by horses and mules. Our proposed plan to trek to Chandratal Lake also had to be cancelled owing to the downtime.
After a good night rest, we ‘lepak’ away our time in the morning while waiting for vehicle support from Kaza. Meanwhile, we were told that our horsemen and the mules had left early that morning for Mudh, the starting destination for the Bhapa Pass. Needless to say, we were extremely glad to see vehicles arriving at our second campsite at 1 p.m. to fetch us to Kunzum Pass (4500m asl) and thereafter to Kaza and Tabo. Stopovers included Ki Monastery, Kibber Village (located at 4200m asl is the second highest inhabitable village in the world), 1000 years old La-Lun Monastery with hanging Buddha statues as well as Dhankar Monastery.
For the photographs, please refer to http://happytrekker.shutterfly.com/pictures/9869.
Next: http://happyotrekker.blogspot.com/2011/07/hp-bhapa-pass-trek-16-2062011-part-3.html
