[asethi]

What a trip! And equally excellent travelogue with amazing pics!! Few days back I was drooling over Sujoy's Ladakh travelogue, and now this one literally adds icing (in fact full ice ) to the cake!
And nothing would have been better than the Thar in this winter terrain!

[mayukh42]

Great travelogue!

The photographs are excellent, some of the Thar pics are worthy of official Mahindra brochure material

[kannan666]

Awesome pictures and a beautiful narration to go with it, have been wanting to do this for a long time now and it is on my bucket list, thanks for sharing !

[haisaikat]

Superb travelogue and an adventure of a lifetime. The photos with the Thar with snow all around seems to be a photo on a massive white canvas. You let your photos do the talking. Loved it thoroughly. Rated 5 stars. Did you use any wide angle action cam for the clicks?

I must also say, having the right friends at the right places is a must after reading about your connections . Otherwise most people who buy Thar or a 4x4 have an ultimate goal in mind to be able to do Ladakh or Spiti in winter as majority of the popular tourist destinations in India do not need them otherwise. If I can get such a car on rent in Ladakh or Spiti, who bother buying one.

[sukhbirST]

The eerie silence on the roads did not deter you from driving on these high altitude roads. You have real guts and have brought glory to your experience. Congratulations on such a lovely trip with beautiful write up along with excellent photographs.

[satan]

Originally Posted by Aditya

Excellent travelogue - well written with superb images.

The Thar looks just so "at home" in the snow! So nice of Bijoy to provide you with the car. I too have known him for a long time now. Since this travelogue is about the Himalayas, I remember, well before he joined Mahindra, I had, by chance, met him in Ladakh.

Thanks Aditya. Yes Bijoy is indeed a gem of a guy and a fellow fan of the Himalaya

Originally Posted by Jaggu

Awesome trip and awesome share. Loved going through all the pics, so how did the Petrol AT Thar do in the hills? Would love to hear from you.

Thanks Jaggu. I will write up my impressions of the Petrol AT Thar once i complete the blog. In one sentence though - She is a Weapon especially suited to the Brutal Ladakhi winter

Originally Posted by Ace F355

What a trip! Take a bow my friend... Thar petrol is probably most suited vehicle for such a trip and these are some of the best pics I have seen of Ladakh in winter.

Thankyou for your kind words.

[/quote]Any particular reason you guys didn't do the Padum side, would have been quite a sight to see the Drang Drung and Parakchik in winters. [/quote]

Time. we were on a very tight timeline and wanted to see as many corners of Ladakh as possible. On a related note I did do Leh - Single La - Sirsi La - Padum - Shinku La earlier last August.

Originally Posted by Arshad YR

What an amazing travelogue sir. The pictures are droolworthy. I have had a crush on the new thar ever since it released and seeing your pictures of the thar in its element has made me realize that I badly want one XD

Thank you Arshad

Originally Posted by Kapany

How lovely!How was the Thar? How did it handle? What did you like about it what do you not like? Anything you wish you would have done differently?

Thank you. I will summarize my take on the thar later

Originally Posted by asethi

What a trip! And equally excellent travelogue with amazing pics!! Few days back I was drooling over Sujoy's Ladakh travelogue, and now this one literally adds icing (in fact full ice ) to the cake!
And nothing would have been better than the Thar in this winter terrain!

Thank you Ankush!

Originally Posted by mayukh42

Great travelogue!

The photographs are excellent, some of the Thar pics are worthy of official Mahindra brochure material

Thank you Mayur!

Originally Posted by kannan666

Awesome pictures and a beautiful narration to go with it, have been wanting to do this for a long time now and it is on my bucket list, thanks for sharing !

Thank you!

Originally Posted by haisaikat

Superb travelogue and an adventure of a lifetime. The photos with the Thar with snow all around seems to be a photo on a massive white canvas. You let your photos do the talking. Loved it thoroughly. Rated 5 stars. Did you use any wide angle action cam for the clicks?

Thank you! All pics were shot using Samsung Note 10 and a Note 10 lite by Vik and myself

[satan]

Day 7: Started off around 8am the next morning and headed towards Shyok village to make Turtuk and return to Diskit that evening. The road via Shyok was completely desolate and super pretty. It almost felt like being on another planet devoid of any other Humans with deafening silence broken intermttently by the sound of the wind and at times the Shyok river flowing slowly beneath a layer of ice.

Left to right - The owner of the Guest house @ Tangste, Taashi and Vikram


Some pics of the vistas between Tangste and Agham

[satan]

Day 7 continued: . Fuelled up at Khalsar and stopped at a dhaba for breakfast, where Vikram prepared grilled cheese sandwiches using the sliced bread from Nyoma (and cheese cubes I usually carry). After a sleepy Hunder we passed the military airstrip at Thoise and by 4pm we were at Turtuk. Approaching Turtuk the landscape reminded me of some scenes from Game of Thrones as the weather was overcast and we appeared to be the lone folks on the road

[satan]

Day 7 continued ... Since we had time we drove on until we reached the head of the road at Thang 2.2kms short of the Gilgit checkpost. We had to surrender our licenses at the army checkpost at Turtuk before proceeding to Thang. Locals were super curious to understand how a MH registered vehicle with 2 blokes had managed to reach up there in the midst of winter.















































Around 5pm we started driving back towards Hunder and reached the army operated punjabi dhaba at Thoise around 9pm. Stopped to have dinner and on enquiring we were told that Diskit would have very few guest houses and our best bet was to try Hunder for a night stay. We did just that and 15mins later we were staring at an organized board in the Hunder Town Centre listing out Hotels, Homestays, Guest houses and Camps. Unfortunately at 11pm at night it wasn’t clear which of those were actually open. So after roaming around the empty streets we finally ran into a local who pointed out the Shayok Guest House that was open to tourists during winter.

[Sudheesh]

Wonderful travelogue with droolworthy pictures. I am from the southern tip of India and this trip has been my dream ever since I started driving. One day my friend.. one day

[satan]

Day 8: We left the guest house after tea early next morning, visited the Buddha at Deskit and then started back the journey to Leh. Stopped enroute at the same Dhaba at Khalsar for breakfast and then proceeded onto climbing up Khardung. We passed a military convoy that had stopped to slap on chains to the trucks which was an indication of the road conditions up ahead. Although I was carrying snowchains (borrowed from a friend who owns a fortuner) we decided to first drive up and see howfar we could manage without the chains (and we did just fine). Approx. 6 kms from the summit we encountered snow on the road which kept getting more and more packed and slippery as we approached the top. The road in most places was fairly wide and devoid of any traffic either ways. So I had a lot of fun getting the Thar drifting sideways at 15kmph in 2wd by simply mashing the accelerator pedal in bits and spurts.

The signboard at Hunder




At the Diskit monastery




































Attachment 2270970

[satan]

Day 8 continued: We reached the top around noon, took the customary pics and then proceeded towards Leh, passing some of the Ice stupas along the way. Once in Leh we checked in at the Larookh and after lunch stepped out to walk around the market which was quite deserted and devoid of any tourists. That evening we were hosted by Vikram’s good friend and the owner of the Grand Dragon Danish. After exchanging some stories over dinner we finally called it a night and returned to our hotel.

For me, each time, the night before you return from Leh is like every Sunday evening when you know what lies ahead of you on Monday mornings at work. But such is life and all great things do come to an end and make way for newer adventures as did this epic trip.

My Impressions about the Petrol Thar

What I loved about this vehicle
• Compact size and relative light weight - perfect for the mountains
• Petrol engine – no brainer for locals living in the upper Himalaya like Ladakh with ZERO starting issues.
• Excellent build quality with no squeaks and rattles even after putting the car through its paces. Everything felt well screwed together especially the hard top. This veh had done 14k++ kms
• The HVAC unit in the vehicle kept the relatively small cabin very toasty and very rarely did I feel the need to put on multiple layers while driving as can be seen in most pics. Even at -20
• Superb driving position with great seats that offer excellent lumbar support – we clocked ~2,400kms within Ladakh over 6 days and were in the car for a min of 12 hours daily with negligible fatigue.
o Note that you can never compare the comfort of a sedan with a jeep
• Ability to munch up miles – the petrol engine is punchy and vibration free. Almost feels like an electric motor at times when taking off. Also has the tendency to creep up on unsuspecting locals walking along the road
• The slush box with gearing that’s very well suited for offroad driving. The reverse gear is even more responsive than my 4.5l twin turbo LC, no accelerator inputs needed at all. She just wants to take off
• MILEAGE. The typical “kitna deti hai?” question is bound to get asked especially on a petrol jeep. Surprise surprise!! The worst we got on the entire trip was 9.8 with nearly 50% of the time in 4wd high. The best was 11.9kmpl. All calcs full tank to full tank not as per the onboard computer which we found to be very conservative.
• I loved the Ceat Czars that come as OE footwear on the Thar. We went through some pretty rough terrain and they held up very well with no punctures
• Level of Kit and info available to the owner through the MID

Two things I missed in this Thar
• I am 6ft 1 and no dead pedal on the thar just meant me finding a comfortable position for my left leg
• Perhaps I couldn’t figure it out but I just couldn’t find the outside temp gauge on the Thar

To Summarize:
I’ve always been a Gypsy fanboy having owned all 3 variants of the Gypsy since 1993. In fact this weekend I am planning on viewing a 1995 Suzuki Samurai (SWB) here in the UK as a project vehicle for me and my son. However those 9 days in Ladakh with the Petrol AT Thar converted me. Enough said!!

Signing off now. Thanks for all the kinds words of appreciation and encouragement. Happy to answer any specific questions and help out anyone crazy enough to plan a similar winter trip to our beloved Ladakh

[satan]

Some pointers for anyone wanting to make a similar winter trip to Ladakh in no particular order
• Probably the most important piece for me on such trips is to have the right travelling companions who are like minded, spirited and easy going. I will usually classify friends/travel buddies into 5 categories

1. Ones that will decline upfront
2. Ones that will dissuade you from doing something like this
3. Ones that will be part of the plan and then eventually drop out
4. Ones that will show up and get homesick within a couple of days
5. Ones that will simply show up with minimal fuss and mental baggage

No points for guessing which ones you want to make such a trip with…

• Mental prep is key – Be ready to rough it out at local homestays, extreme cold, simple meals, very basic sanitation facilities, uncertain weather conditions and unexpected delays on the road
Once you have mentally prepared for the above everything else will fall in place

• Improvising on existing situations is always recommended; be it places to visit, accommodation to crash for the night or distance to cover to the next destination
As a thumb rule, plan less do more.

• Plan for exigencies – In addition to adequate food and water be sure to invest in and carry a rated sleeping bag at all times in the vehicle, for every passenger.
During the winter the roads are empty and recovery folks will take their own time to show up for any incidents or even landslides

• Without sounding pompous, this is an extreme weather trip and not everyone’s cup of tea
I would totally avoid getting kids and senior citizens along during the winter months to Ladakh

• There are times when you wonder why you put yourself through all this torture but in hindsight the crazier the action at that point in time/ more painful the moment, the more memorable it gets when you sit back and recount that memory

[MiKeMo]

Oh! My,my.I’m speechless. Simple, engaging narrative along with drool worthy photographs. I could identify few of the places I visited : Khardung la, Turtuk , places around Leh, just by looking at your lovely snaps. I wish I would be able to do such trip. Ladakh trip is always a step forward to one more such trip in that part! Hat’s off to you, and all the very best for many more such trips to you @satan!

[Rocketscience]

I always want to know how the car performs in such extreme conditions and most travelogues don't talk about the car much but just show off their pictures and their stories, which is fine but those pointers that you added are much appreciated.
Also as per my knowledge cars loose around 3% of power every 1000 ft of elevation and at the elevation you took your car to this must have piled up to be a significant amount, how much of a power loss did you notice? It should be somewhat lesser for turbo engines but then again those are electronically actuated turbos which compensate for that to an extent and I don't think many cars come with that.