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.
Manali – Leh Road Random Shots, originally uploaded by desoumal.
See desoumal´s other great photos in the link.
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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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.
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.
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
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
An army convoy was sent off yesterday towards Leh from Srinagar after the Zoji La was cleared : finally fresh fresh fruit and veggies for everyone, after the few trucks that made it to Leh around the 20th. Five snow cutters, eight bulldozers and two snow ploughs were involved in the clearing of the road.
At the same time the Rothang La opened by teams working from both Manali and Koksar. Additional work is required , BRO talks of a full opening of the pass by May 7th.
Both the Srinagar-Leh and Manali-Leh highway are still shown as closed on the official roadmarker.
UPDATE : Srinagar-Leh is now (later in the day) shown as officially open.
UPDATE , MAY 5TH : Heavy rains in Manali, and thirty plus centimeters of snow over the Rothang.
Sources : Tribune (J&K) , Tribune (HP), Daily Excelsior
Renewed snowfall has swept back the BRO to their camp in Gulaba , just under three thousand meters ,for a fourth time.Before the last three days snowfall the clearing of the Manali-Leh highway had reached Rahni Nullah , just under the Rothang La , and started chipping away at the forty plus feet of snow there.
Road open up to Gulaba , road clearing has started from there again today.
Source : The Tribune
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