Day 6 - Pangong Tso to Chang La to Leh
Inspite of the all night howling wind and freezing temperature, we all woke up to a beautiful sunny morning that brought the hues back.
After some photo ops, i got back on the road together with one of the groups from the camp while the other group went ahead towards Tso Moriri.
Took one last glance at the lake and noticed the weather turning, but didn't give it much bother.
The ride back was interesting again, but the sun was hidden behind a cover of clouds and it was getting colder
Half way towards Chang La, the sun was completely behind the clouds and the weather had turned very cold. I could see myself heading straight into those clouds on top.
I reached the check post before Chang La where the cop asked me to layer up more than I already was as it was snowing up there. Somehow that got me excited more than scared (little did I know the problems with two wheels on snow). When the first signs of snow appeared I was thrilled !
I kept going uphill getting more and more excited with the exhilarating views around me. I stopped almost every 2 mins to remove my double glows and take a snap.
The road for most of this way was maybe wet but not yet covered with snow. As I got closer to the Chang La summit, it changed from dry to wet to muck.
Since the Himalayan had served me more than well on every single kind of terrain including wet roads, I was super confident to ride in this slush. This confidence lasted only till the road started getting covered with snow. I was still pushing the bike on bends, as I had never ridden anything on snow before. I lasted hardly 30 secs once the snow covered roads started, and then came my first fall of the trip !
The rear tire slipped first and the bike luckily stopped without slipping over the side into the valley. The left side leg guard and indicator broke off instantly on impact. Luckily I was in gear and many layers so there was no scratch or injury on me.
I tried to pick up the bike and hardly went a few meters and almost fell again. This is when I realized that I can't ride the bike on snow with even both my feet on the ground. All I could do was push the bike uphill, luckily I had shoes that gave a good grip on snow. It had started to snow around me heavily by now. The altitude, blizzard, temperature started to get to me after a while. I could hardly push for a few steps without gasping for breathe.
I could hardly see ahead for even a few meters with the snow fall around me and fogged out helmet visor. It was so cold that I couldn't lift the visor for more than a few seconds. I started remembering the boards on Chang La that said tourists shouldn't spend more than 10 mins in this altitude. I knew I had almost been here for 40mins now ! I actually did for a few mins think I am going to die alone here in this weather.
Luckily after pushing uphill for a while, I reached a convoy of traffic that was stuck ahead of me, finally I was not alone !
Having a convoy helped as the 4 wheelers made a muddy path through the snow and I followed on the same trail. This meant I could ride the bike a bit with both my feet down, but still had to push where the tire didn't grip. The ordeal was not yet over, but having people around me helped. I also bumped into a few other stranded bikers, some of them falling around me just as I was while trying to ride in the snow. Somehow the RE OEM tires on bullets seemed to hold on better than other bikes, including my offroader. By this time I could also find the other group vehicle that had left with me from Pangong. I gave my luggage to them so the bike would get easier to push.
I reached the summit after a 2 hour long push up hill, the ordeal was over or so I thought.
Luckily there was no snow downhill, only wet roads and new streams that had broken some roads and were almost at knee level in some places. Also with increased speed on the bike after the first fall, I realized I had to manually hold the half broken leg guard with my leg while riding as otherwise it was scraping on the ground. I couldn't stop to fix it as the road between the snow was narrow and full of vehicles. I also had to keep up with the car that had my luggage (wallet/mobile), which meant I couldn't lose them.
The tire grip also changed a lot, the bike was now not gripping on any surface after having ridden on snow (For a bike called Himalayan, this sure was a surprise. I know someone at CEAT, to whom I wrote immediately after reaching back. She took it up with the Product team and it seems RE had briefed them with specs asking only for offroad tires, there was no mention of the bike model name; nor the fact that it might have some application in or around snow and cold weather. They promised me to take this up further).
After another harrowing 30 mins I somehow managed to overtake my friends vehicle. I got my bag back, and the driver (god bless him) also helped me temporarily fix the dangling bar (jugaad with some stuff we found on the road).
I bid my friends adieu and stopped at the first eating joint I could find. I ate to my hearts content and also ended up feeding 6 other boys with juice bottles when they came to me asking for some water (I am not normally a giving person). These experiences do change people !
I was around 50 kms away from Leh and I finished it in about 1.5 hours. The bike by now had completely turned into a rattler, not just with the fall but with all the terrain it had gone through in the last 800 odd kms in 6 days. I finally reached my hotel and just crashed in.