Snow and rain..

One plus meter of snow at the Rothang pass today , thinning out to ten-fifteen centimeters at Kothi and Gulaba , i.e. the three thousand meter level. Rain in Manali.

Rothang re-opens , J&K bus strike ends

After being closed for more than three weeks , and bringing down fifteen dead ( last found on December 1st)  ,  the Rothang La has opened again. BRO have had seventy people and and a number of bulldozers going arond the clock (partly from the concern that the engines would be unable to start again once they froze ) to clear five to ten feet of snow between Koksar and Marhi. A large number of vehicles ( Tribune says , unspecified , “hundreds”) mainly based in Manali , will first be allowed to cross over to Manali , after that transports to Lahaul on the Manali-Leh highway can resume.

In Kashmir the Indian Air Force has started to airlift people between Srinagar and Kargil with Antonov AN32 planes , taking among others patients to Srinagar hospital.

On another note the bus traffic in Ladakh has been secured for the next season : the three  month long strike has been called off after what seems like a total victory for the SRTC drivers and conductors : all back  wages ( more than six months !)  will be paid and at the new terms agreed on earlier this year , and JKSRTC will be reorganised along the lines of the Himachal state bus line , that we all love and yearn for in our daily lives. 

Sources : Tribune , The Hindu , New Kerala . Antonov at Leh airport wikimedia commons picture.

Rothang closes : ten dead

Workers and Lahaulis have continued to foot it over the Rothang La on the Manali-Leh highway while snow cover was manageable , until the last days weather hit. Manali Mountaineering Institute rescue workers found two more bodies yesterday , one unidentified, bringing it up to a total of ten . Fifteen workers were rescued in time and treated for frostbite. The pass is closed indefinitely , with harder weather to come.
Source : Tribune , Times of India

Manali-Leh : CLOSED

Leh had it´s first snow yesterday , lasting a few hours . Higher up the Khardung La was blocked – and today the Manali-Leh Highway is shown as closed. IANS talks of heavy snowfall over the Lachulung La & Tanglang La. Daytime temperatures still around + 10 , night time -10.

Sources : Tribune , leh.nic.in

“Manali-Leh Closing October 31st”

The Border Roads Organisation today said that the Rothang and Baralacha La were expected to be impassable from snow soon , and that they will not try to keep the Manali-Leh Highway open after October 31st : BRO “would not be in a position to carry out snow clearance operation for evacuation in case of any accident or physical casualty.”

Source : Tribune

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.

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.

Rothang , Baralacha La open

The sun has reappeared in Himachal after four days of continous rain and snowfall and ensuimg landslides and snowlocked passes. BRO has just announced that also the Baralacha La has been cleared for light vehicles , and should be open for trucks and buses soon. No word on the Kunzum La yet.

UPDATE, MONDAY : Baralacha La finally cleared from three feet of snow.

New Snowfall over Rothang , Baralacha La

Baralacha La September 9th – photo by vikramkyy , see his other photos on IndiaMike here

The Manali-Leh Highway has been cut by renewed snowfalls according to the Tribune today which quotes BRO: Baralacha La has received more than forty centimers of snow , while the Rothang La received around twenty. Traffic is at a standstill at Bharatpur and Koksar ,and at Gulaba which have heavy rains.  There is also snow over the Kunzum La on the  Manali-Kaza route to Spiti.

Manali-Leh , northward traffic has been stopped at Darcha.

Leh-Manali , southward traffic has been stopped at Sarchu.

Manali-Kaza traffic has been stopped at Gramphu.

Kaza-Manali traffic has been stopped at Losar.

UPDATE, THURSDAY : IANS quotes police source saying that 140 people  , among them 22 foreigners , has been rescued around Sarchu , and that the road has been cleared again , including the Baralacha La. Shimla received the seasons heaviest rain , 59 mms , on Thursday.

Picnic Crackdown : Rothang Closes Tuesdays

In a bid to eliminate the gridlocks to the Rothang La closes for tourist traffic on Tuesdays .. sort of .

“No tourist vehicle will  be allowed beyond Kothi on every Tuesday between 9 am to 6 pm ” – but HRTC buses will continue to roll.

What this amounts to is a lock out of the day trips crowd – the shared jeeps bound for Leh  will have already already have passed the Rothang in the early morning hours , and the returnees will arrive at Manali in the evening.When I crossed last time it took sx and a half hours (!)  up to the Rothang . The frustrations of the Lahaulis has problably not been the main reason , but the mounting critique of the slow pace in double laning the road.

This will create  a slot for buses ( interesting to see if the private buses will slip by )  and BRO transports only.