[locusjag]

Originally Posted by ringoism

But you wanted snow???
-Eric

Oh yes I want snow! And I get to vicariously experience all that through your updates.

I once lived in such a place for half a decade and even had a SUV to boot. But I found the chillness too numbing on my body's extremities (it's always the fingers, the toes, the nose, the lips and the ears that bore the brunt) - thus it came to be that I binge-watched Netflix and HBO Go in perfect whiteout conditions. Despicable me.

[Vikram Arya]

Originally Posted by ringoism

Okay guys, I was going through an old SD card and found pics from a trip last year that I forgot (or lacked time) to post then.

You want to be away from maddening crowds? Well, Manali may not be your place anymore. Even now in early March, a surprising number of tourists has turned up. They are working on a bypass for the town, maybe a new bridge or two and flyovers, and they say it'll be decided within a couple days whether the National Highway is going to be re-routed to just behind our once-sleepy village...

Safely extracted, we all breathed a big sigh of relief, and were not too sure we'd do it again. The pics hardly do it justice... it was S-C-A-R-Y...!

Will add the balance of the photos in a second post, as some glitch or the other is preventing my adding more here...

Thanks for your interest,

And do enjoy,

-Eric

Thank you Eric for sharing the pictures. This is just what I'd like to do on my next trip.

I was in the Palampur area couple of months ago & did a interesting/challenging drive that I will post about in the 4X4 Adventure section shortly.

Himachal probably has a lot of such hidden gems and it will be interesting to chronicle at least a few of these.

The only dilemma that one might face is whether making these details public will be in the long term interest. The rate at which new highways are being planned to connect the hitherto far flung areas (as mentioned by rdst_1) will result in a scenario soon enough that there will not be any place that remains "unexplored" and that is almost certainly an inevitability..

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by Vikram Arya

Himachal probably has a lot of such hidden gems and it will be interesting to chronicle at least a few of these.

The only dilemma that one might face is whether making these details public will be in the long term interest. The rate at which new highways are being planned to connect the hitherto far flung areas (as mentioned by rdst_1) will result in a scenario soon enough that there will not be any place that remains "unexplored" and that is almost certainly an inevitability..

At the moment the SC has banned ALL tree-felling in H.P. for any reason - including road improvements, etc. I suppose the ban will end too soon, people will demand their highways, railways, tunnels, whatever. They say it will be possible in the future to arrive at Manali from Delhi in something like five hours. Whereas if you want to protect a place, the best thing is to keep it inaccessible as possible.

I always struggle with that when it comes to the question of sharing such things here in the forum. I think at this point I tend to keep the "inevitability" in mind. With GPS / Google Earth satellite images, I'm finding out-of-state vehicles out exploring surprisingly remote places pretty frequently now. I figure that Team-bhpians are a bit more conscientious and socially-aware than the average tourist looking for his next party/drinking spot, and thus am a little more comfortable putting things up here... that said, still (after four years) haven't posted the Mizoram travelogue for fear of this very thing: beautiful, untouched places getting destroyed by filthy hordes of low-grade tourists. The whole Himalayan region is so beautiful, and so sensitive... best thing we can do is encourage the right sorts of visitors, the right sorts of right-minded operators. Keep trash bags in our cars, be absolutely intolerant of litter, even from our own passengers, encourage and practice and share safe driving practices, etc. And for God's sake, if anyone really feels the need to blast trance music, please don't allow them to do it at Chandra-Tal... or any other of the few places in India you can still find purity / serenity / silence.

-Eric

[wanderernomad]

Originally Posted by ringoism

Okay guys, I was going through an old SD card and found pics from a trip last year that I forgot (or lacked time) to post then.


Thanks for your interest,

And do enjoy,

-Eric

Rajgunda is the place that is beyond Barot. You travelled through Billing, that means its possible to do a full circle on that circuit?

Thanks.

[rdst_1]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Rajgunda is the place that is beyond Barot. You travelled through Billing, that means its possible to do a full circle on that circuit?

Thanks.

I wouldn't know for sure, but I think there is still some walking involved to get to Rajgundha from both sides, whether you are coming from Barot via Bara Gram or through Billing. It's definitely doable as a trek and many people do that every year crossing over to Barot from Billing. Eric would be better placed to give the answer though.

[Dry Ice]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Rajgunda is the place that is beyond Barot. You travelled through Billing, that means its possible to do a full circle on that circuit?

Thanks.

Originally Posted by rdst_1

I wouldn't know for sure, but I think there is still some walking involved to get to Rajgundha from both sides, whether you are coming from Barot via Bara Gram or through Billing. It's definitely doable as a trek and many people do that every year crossing over to Barot from Billing. Eric would be better placed to give the answer though.

Though I don't have the most latest answer. This is what the road looked like back in mid-2017 on the Bada Gram/Barot side. It wasn't possible to move beyond this point on 4-wheels.

Photo from here: https://goo.gl/maps/gQGQFWe551P2

[The King]

Originally Posted by ringoism

Soon after, was out in Spiti with a friend for several days, driving a 2016 Bolero with the M2DiCr engine.

Till I drove it myself for some hours out there and found it - despite some good points - a real let-down. Not as bad as the mHawk, but so very little low-end torque (as seems to be a curse upon most/all common-rail BS-IV engines). I couldn't believe the mighty DI had been so completely tamed! We struggled through stuff - even got stuck and were burning the clutch badly on that ridiculous sub-aqua concrete pipe at Chhota Dara - which the Marshal could have (and has) pretty much idled up over with complete ease.
-Eric

Recently, I was in "Chota" Shimla and luckily we got into some fun with M2DICR Scoprio as well, which had also displayed similar lack of low end grunt. The vehicle refused to climb the steep incline altogether, laden with 9 people onboard.

Originally Posted by Aroy

That is one of the problems of judging performance just from the Torque and BHP figures. There is a lot to say of the low end "Diesel Engine" torque in the good old DI engine. As they say, displacement is the king. What is really needed is a turbo charged diesel engine designed for high torque at low RPM, to cater to travel in hills and rough terrain.

Manufacturers should start giving "Torque curves vs RPM" [like in abroad] where one can get the real picture. For hill climb, one definitely needs torque band "Alive" start from idling to atleast 1800 RPM. This is where the MDI actually shines.

Originally Posted by DirtyDan

I would love to have a good running Marshall. I have settled for another Thar, a 2018 last-day-of-the-year purchase. Mahindra has cured the poor off the line throttle response and this thing goes uphill okay stock, but there is a re-map and some mods that are going to happen.

Makes me wonder, Did Mahindra actually subjected the production model Thar to actual real time road test in hilly areas. I afraid not !
From what I gather is, that they were always busy with on road performance rather than tuning the engine in giving enough low end grunt at lower RPMs for hill climb, not to forget the delay of engine response w.r.t accelerator pedal.

[DirtyDan]

A lot of us do "bad-roading" as opposed to "off-roading". If you ever wonder why we insist on good steering, front suspension, brakes and crisp linkages, here is why.

When you come to a slide, a washout, a road collapse like this you have a choice.
You can back up maybe 2 kilometer or more, which I have done, or you can find a place to turn around. Turning around on a narrow rough mountain road like this is flat dangerous. Likewise driving around or over a slide or thru a swift moving torrent. You want the vehicle to respond immediately and precisely to driver input. Imagine being on a road similar to this and a vehicle, bus or truck, comes around the corner at you. You want a vehicle you can control. Add mud and/or snow to this picture perhaps as well. Up in the mountains the drop off can be hundreds of feet. Communing with wild mountain nature is wonderful. Communing with the laws of gravity, not so much.

[AdityaDeane]

The first day I'm out in the hospital, and I spot your vehicle here already!

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by wanderernomad

Rajgunda is the place that is beyond Barot. You travelled through Billing, that means its possible to do a full circle on that circuit? Thanks.

From Barot the road runs only up to the edge of Baragram. No full-circuit because there is no bridge across the river that runs between Rajgunda and Baragram. The roads on either side do not run anywhere near the river at this stage either, though probably there are future plans for it.

The "road" when we went was passable via Billing all the way to Rajgunda village; However, we got stopped about a km before it due to a festival going on... locals had pulled big logs across the road and no motor vehicles were allowed, so as not to disturb the resident deity.

These sorts of unexpected obstacles are, of course, always possible.

-Eric

[ringoism]

Originally Posted by AdityaDeane

The first day I'm out in the hospital, and I spot your vehicle here already!

29 states, several territories, 1.3+billion people, and our cars end up parked 20ft apart from each other... very nice meeting you, look forward to some good times together, and as they say, "it's a small world".

Will take this opportunity to invite other T-bhpians visiting Manali to get in touch if you're passing through, one thing I've always liked about this venue is its ability to bring people together.

-Eric

[flotsam]

Originally Posted by ringoism

You got it... But you really should have stopped in for tea/coffee, you know! If the car's there, chances are we are too! I'll put that invitation out there for any other wandering t-bhpians who might pass through, too.
-Eric

Thanks. I can't seem to send you a PM, so forgive me for writing here. I'll be passing by again, next week. If I see the Marshal there again, I'll drop in.

[abhikb]

Originally Posted by ringoism

29 states, several territories, 1.3+billion people, and our cars end up parked 20ft apart from each other... very nice meeting you, look forward to some good times together, and as they say, "it's a small world".

Will take this opportunity to invite other T-bhpians visiting Manali to get in touch if you're passing through, one thing I've always liked about this venue is its ability to bring people together.

-Eric

Hello sir,

Just came across this thread and went through it in one shot. I really appreciate the way you kept the patience and spent time in building this beauty. Hoping to hit the mountains next year, will surely drop in if going by Manali.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Serves as a guide for people like us.

[ringoism]

Why we still have a 4x4:





Fresh snow last night - but wifey still had to get up and go to work (no posers here)! Being that there are only a couple 4x4's in the village, she undertook taxi duty for a carload of others headed her way, too.

I had ridden the Bullet 500 ("work bike") down to the shop yesterday on a then lightly snow-covered road - the grip wasn't the problem, the frozen throttle cable was. Walked home!

Up to a point - generally 2-3 inches of snow - a front-wheel-drive sedan with the right kind of tread pattern will suffice in this stuff...

Beyond that, there's not much to be seen out and about this place besides the Gypsies and Bolero Camper 4x4's...


Regarding the Marshal: What is leaving me utterly baffled at this moment is why now, after seven years with this vehicle, it actually seems to be improving mechanically - and that wholly apart from our own efforts. Besides replacing a few broken leaf springs earlier this year (our "road" in just horrible shape), getting a small radiator leak repaired a few weeks back, and replacing the rear door latch, no maintenance whatsoever has been done on it despite the daily use under pretty horrible conditions - In truth, don't even remember when I last changed the oil (odometer has never worked).

All these years, its one persistent hiccup has been on these cold, sunless mornings, when the venerable DI struggled to awake from its frozen slumber. Sometimes it just wouldn't fire consistently or often enough to actually start and run, sometimes would start but then stall due to air (or perhaps moisture) in the fuel lines... There were times we had to hand-pump the lines, times I had to crack open the injector fittings and bleed them, times we had to throw hot water on the injection pump, times we had to push-start it... Pump mechanic years ago had said the pressure's on the low side, recommended a more extensive overhaul that we never really had the time for...

But THIS year it's been starting every time without any dramatics, even on sub-zero mornings, even in the snow, even without the magically warming effects of 20minutes' sunshine... Lately, as the car approaches 20 years old (and is about as rough and rattly as ever and has a few rust spots beginning to peek through), we've been thinking a lot about a replacement - but part of me wonders how much we might end up regretting that. As in the human realm, an old, perhaps imperfect, but steadfast friend is to be valued; and while it is the creakiness and crankiness of advancing years, the limitations and obsolescence of thought and purpose that too often come to mind, we have seen with our own eyes the possibility of real improvements, too, in particular when sourced / rooted in things more "mystical" than an engineer could explain. May it be so with me as well... and long live the Marshal!

-Eric

[Kosfactor]

There was a Marshal Deluxe that my friend's dad in Ooty used to have, no power steering , but it had a comfy ride and incredible fuel efficient engine. Once the windows are up, you can barely hear the engine. It used to effortlessly go up and down the Ooty roads as if it was designed to do just that. Yours is a keeper!

It was replaced by a DI super Bolero , though this one was just as capable, it sure was noisy and uncomfortable. A far cry from the Mhawk Boleros of today.

The older versions of bolero camper has good power at low engine speeds and a comfy enough ride due to the longer wheelbase.

With BS6 it is going to become increasingly difficult to find vehicles with good second gear for the hills. An alternative is to swap final drive ratios that suit the hills.