Over the Rothang

Manali-Kaza , September 19th © Eva Forss

Roshni tweets from a single day cannonball run between Leh and Manali  on the 19th :

continuous snowfall that threatened to close all the passes, falling rocks etc

Twitter with it´s 142 character limit forces you to condense your language , the vikings would have liked it.

Swedish blogger Eva hit the Kaza-Manali road on the  19 th :

The beauty of all that snow …finally we realised all the work involved in removing all the snow , and the time needed for it . In several places avalanches had hit the road , towering high as houses..

Eva´s  blog   , with more photos , you´ll find at  Resedagboken (you can imagine my surprise finding someting in my mother tongue )

UPDATE: Posters on IndiaMike describe going over virtually snowfree Rothang & Kuzum La on the 26th and 30th.

“We are still stuck in Kaza ! “

The route between Manali and Kaza is still out , according to to to a e-mail quoted by IANS today :
“We are still stuck in Kaza! Yesterday (Wednesday), based on information given by the ADC’s office, we set out for Manali.”

“However, contrary to the information that the road through the Kunzum Pass and Rohtang Pass is open, we could not go beyond Kunzum and had to return,” Doongaji wrote.

“There were another 20-odd cars with us, who also came back. The telephone network continues to be dead.”

The main hurdle is said to be near Koksar , which is located at the northern base of the Rothang La. The chief of Lahaul & Spiti police ( who now seems to have counted in around 150 stranded tourists , among them 96 angrezis ) says the road should cleared to Koksar by Friday (tomorrow ) evening.Maybe it works out this time.

The road to Shimla is said to be cleared – except for ( you may have guessed it ) Malling , where people have started to walk across.

UPDATE , FRIDAY : IANS claims that both the Kunzum La and the slides at Koksar has been cleared , giving free access to Manali (or in the media hyperbole “150 tourists have been rescued”).

Manali Today .. Not Too Promising

“view from Dharma guesthouse” from twitpic (looks more like lower end of Vashisht).
Weather report says mostly cloudy (doh ! ) , possible rain and thunderstorms tonight.

UPDATE : Better weather , same crossed the Rothang and is now sunning in Lahaul.
Swedish blogger crossed the Kunzum & Rothang La on the 19th.

Spiti Update , September 15th

News today mentions 52 foreign and 24 domestic (Hi Lucid ! )  tourists unable to get out of Spiti , mainly staying in Kaza.The road between Gramphu and Losar has been  badly damaged in landslides , but the section to Chota Dhara is expected to be clear by tomorrow.  The Kinnaur route is also described as out ,but no details.

Source : Tribune , September 15th

Batal , September 19th

Guest writer cmm80  describes the beginning of the September events on the road between Keylong and Kaza:

“After a couple of hours on the bus, it started to snow.  I didn’t think much of it at first, as the snow started to cover the boulders, and then stick to the road.  Our bus driver didn’t seem the least bit worried, and we pushed along as the snow came down steadily.  To get to the Spiti Valley, we needed to go over the Kunzum pass, at 4550 m (15,000 ft).  As we began to climb up the steep road, drivers coming in the other direction warned us to turn back, but our driver just joked with them, laughing merrily, and pushed on.  Because our driver was so confident, none of us were particularly worried until we finally got stuck.  One of the turns was just too steep, and we had no choice but to turn back.

–

I pitched a tent with my friends Tomak and Yanka, though the first night was awful because we had to keep punching the snow off the top of the tent.  As the snow piled up, it made breathing a problem as well, since there was no ventilation.

The next day, we woke up to four feet of wet snow, and it kept coming down.  We found out we’d be there for quite a bit longer.

Read the full story , more photos  here

Snow over Rothang , Baralacha

Traffic was interrupted for some hours today as snow started to come down on the Rothang & Baralacha La passes on the Manali-Leh Highway. Bus traffic to Leh and Kaza has resumed.

First snow

Moderate to heavy rains today in Himachal according to The Tribune , turning in to snow in Lahaul & Spiti. Highest rainfall in Mandi (49 mm) , lower in Shimla (15 mm) . Manali 7 mm