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Manali-Leh status, June 25th

June 29, 2009

More to follow :  reaching the Rothang took six and a half hours before I could unload the mounatinbike and roll ( not really swim , the water was nowhere more than a foot deep the first four hundred meters )  down to Koksar.

A cannonball group two days later had the  same experience , in both cases  not from the road condition but the massive stream of vehicles going Manali-Rothang-Manali.

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Manali – Leh Road , May 28th

June 18, 2009

Manali – Leh Road Random Shots, originally uploaded by desoumal.

See desoumal´s other great photos in the link.

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Flickr

June 18, 2009

This is a test post from flickr, a fancy photo sharing thing.

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Manali-Leh : buses running

June 18, 2009

Latest bus report came from poster Amy on Indiamike , a Keylong-Leh run that actually went according to the HRTC timetable.

Above (soon) desoumal´s shot from May 28th.

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Manali-Leh white-out

June 2, 2009

Tanglang La , by hitanshu

Tanglang La , by hitanshu

Road reports start to trickle , and the first returnees from Leh  :  after more snow the Baralacha La remained closed up towards the end of May , people turning back to Keylong as late as the 27th.  Indiamiker hitanshu (photo above ) and Ashish describe one of the whitest opening scenes ever : 

“Suraj Tal was fully covered with snow. Only if you look at the notice board, you will come to know, that there is a lake here, otherwise its was all snow…snow.”

 

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Manali-Leh officially open , 2009

May 26, 2009

..within the last hours .

open2

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Manali-Leh : open…not

May 21, 2009

News less than an hour ago quotes BRO engineer SK Doon :

“The crucial 475 km Manali-Leh highway reopened for the traffic this (Thursday) morning. All types of vehicles can now ply on the highway” 

The official road marker , leh.nic.in , still shows the road  as closed. 

 

UPDATE , SATURDAY : The manager for leh.nic.in says it´s not a mistake : “Road is still not open as confirmed from BRO Leh”
UPDATE , MONDAY 25TH : Details start to sift in : the Baralacha La is not open, people camping in Darcha waiting for the road to open.
RE-update, evening : first vehicles have come in , one post describing the road as “atrocious” , “wait another week”. Biker going to Keylong suggests riding in the wee morning hours , lots of bulldozers still in full swing between Rothang and Koksar. 

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Jeeps running . Maybe.

May 17, 2009

Not exactly rock solid info , (one third hand report of a phone call to Keylong ) , but jeeps said to be running from Keylong to Leh since earlier this week , according to a post on bcmtouring.
Manali-Leh still officially closed.

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Rothang “closed again”

May 10, 2009

A number of vehicles bound for Lahaul on the Manali-Leh road had to turn back on Sunday after another foot of fresh snow on the Rothang La. News talk about  detoriating weather and snowfalls the last two weeks. Fair amount of snow already at Gulaba , just under three thousand meters , from the looks of The Tribune pic :

Gulaba

Gulaba

BRO says first goal is clearing the road in to Lahaul , no details on how far the work has progressed in the Baralacha La. 

UPDATE , FRIDAY 15th : (from a story on the Himachal elections in Spiti ) …the road link to the Lahaul valley through the Rohtang Pass opened again last (Monday) evening for small and emergency vehicles. People who migrated to nearby districts during winter can now come for voting,” Lahaul and Spiti Deputy Commissioner C. Paul Rasu said. 

 

 

Sources : The Tribune , IANS

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Rumors…

May 7, 2009

..and the official answer : 

im