@KURTRULES:excellent trip you had there.and some very nice pics of the trip.waiting for more if it is there with you.

Amazing Brilliant Stuff Kurt....
quick question, how was the weather through out any rains??

Thanks Guys!! Will be posting more today..

@born2lead: There was rain at chattru which delayed the ride for some time and mild snowfall at kunzum..

My best wishes to you brother. Hope you are able to complete what has just started as a thought in your big brain.

"Mera bhi dimag daud raha hai ab...." !!

Kurt bhai big respect for you
great place, great pics, great log, and great ride you have done... Truly splendid... (Sorry I had read the log only partially, will complete it soon )
Which camera have you used for taking these pics?

Truly a marathon
I have been contemplating this ride and i can't think of taking less than 5 days for this. You do it in three and with some time to spare

So continuing, I looked up this guest house named "Kesang Guest House" where an old comrade Puneet was staying for the past 3 days. Good rooms, loads of blankets and quilts to keep u warm and it was dead cheap : Only 100 a night for the room and all!!

Kaza is pretty ok. I mean, its the sub-district headquarters wherein you've got old kaza and new kaza. I put up in old Kaza,... a lotta Israelis whod' actualy taken the whole place to to themselves...All i could spot was Yak cheese sandwich, mutton momos (swear it was yak too!), a plethora of bullets all around and Marijuana in the air..everywhere!!

Talk about taking pot shots!!

I was reasonalbly tired after all that distance, so after meeting up with Puneet and the girl he was staying with, I decided to call it the day, but not after a good 3 mugs of locally made rice beer (which was actually very pathetic and gave me a headace till 12 am!).

Slept at 1..


Woke up at 6:30 .... Good thing was there was hot water available!... Bathing made comfortable..

Shot off to Key Monastary at around 7 30..

Early morning pics:









The key, too, is one of the oldest monastaries around. Good old Mr Priest showed me around and told me age old facts about the monastary..

Key Monastary:





30 mins later I was off to kibber ....

Some where between key & kibber







Kibber

@Kurt: Wonderful pictures. My memories are still fresh of that wonderful place.

"Arre tu!!", I exclaimed in astonishment as I saw Shamik (ID: dark_side_of_the_sun) coming up the incline from Kibber. What a coincidence, we meeting up 4100 m ASL, at the ex-world's highest village!

He was off to Chattru for the day, but finally decided to spend one more day in Kaza and ride off the next day with me. Had been resting in kibber for like 2 days. So we had breakfast and headed back to kaza

Ate food, played cards, had some good old kasol stuff along with Puneet and his friend and retired for the night at the guest house. A day to relax ..

The Guest House:



Claim of the world's highest petrol pump:




Was initially planning to go to Komic/Langza and Pin valley but then decided to leave them for next year..

No pics as such..

speechless after seeing your pics...
I just called and showed all these pics to my colleagues and told them 1 day I too will do it

Now Batal - Chota dhara was nothing but river bed. You bet, ride your bike on a rocky river bed .. They ought to put a sign up there somewhere..!!!

That said, this was my most wonderful and most memorable stretch of the entire trip... owing to the beauty around and awesome offroading!

Look for yourself ...












It took us 2 hours to cover the 16 km between batal and chot dhara!

At chota dhara





The road quality remained the same. But then again, for me, its the more the merrier ....

We encountered mild snowfall and then lots of rain at chattru which is another 15 kms away from chota-dhara. This delayed our ride by 1.5 hours ...

The Dhaba there:





Anyhow, when the rain did subside, it was 3:30. 9 and a half hours and manali still 80 odd kms away. No worries, we moved on.

Reached gramphoo and hit the manali - leh road ....

Now i was filled with disgust!! Slushy roads, melting ice, and lots and lots and lots ........ of tourists ... They had made there way beyond rohtang too!! Took an hour to reach Rohtang where desiel fumes and horse sh** greeted me!!

Stopped for a fag there and then moved on..

I reiterate, that one should avoid Rohtang during the tourist season ... Its a bundle of junk, thats all!!

Reached Manali after hoarding against long queues .... Took us around 2.5 hours to get from rohtang to manali!

Looked at the watch, it was 8

Looked at Shamik, he had made up his mind to stay back, and so had I.... to move on..

Bid goodbye, had a red bull and left Manali at 8:20 pm
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Time: 4 am
Location: Chandigarh
Total hours travelled in the day : 22 hours
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End of Story....

Ah, the 'Kunzum trail' picture and many other pictures are just priceless! Loved the whole set of pictures and the accompanied text. Was shocked to read that the tyre pressure dropped down to JUST 5 PSI. Did you manage to find out the reason behind this?

Also, looking at these pictures, I have already made up my mind of visiting Spiti yet again, in the coming few months and riding all the way to Kunzum and beyond to Chandrataal, if possible.

Thanks Kurt, for sharing these lovely pictures of a beautiful valley, and the text that accompanied your trip log. I am sure you had a wonderful time riding through some of the most treacherous route that the whole country has to offer! You are a TOUGH rider.

Thanks Aryan! I had real good fun

The reason behind the drop in pressure were the 7 cuts neatly crafted across the tyre periphery. Being a tubeless it held on!

Pictures are breathtaking man.... Kurt hats off to your riding skills... great man awesome stuff...congrats for your log and pics .... I dont know what to say... u were like riding most of the time of the day.... I hope your bum didnt get squared. ....hats off to you again buddy ..keep it up and keep them coming.... take care and ride safe

I am left speechless too. I love the part in Batal. The dhaba at Chattru has not changed in the past 3 years! Lovely reading through your log. I am only wondering when will I be going back. Spiti valley in 09 seems to be the "Hot" destination for a lot of riders.

And yes, I think in you, a new xBhp legend is born!