Spiti Valley : The Thrilling Adventure


"Do you see the dark, damp patches out there", asked our driver, Amit, pointing to the hill on the other side of the river. "This is the place where the mountain caved in, trapping a convoy of 34 military trucks. People say that some of the trucks were carrying oil and the oil is slowly seeping up to the surface. They have not been able to dig out the trucks nor the people trapped inside." Our driver was full of such anecdotes, which he dispensed liberally throughout the trip, heightening Gayathri's anxiety. But I am getting ahead of myself. Let me start from the beginning.


We arrived in Delhi, were picked up by my friend Ramakrishna, whom I was seeing after a gap of more than 2 decades. He took us home, then drove us to Banjara Camps office, where we met Rajesh and Kavitha. Our adventure started in Delhi itself. We left Banjara Camps office a bit late and I was not sure when we will get to the railway station. Ramakrishan had a GPS system in his car and luckily for us, it worked, since Ramakrishna was not sure of the directions to the station. The stern lady, who spoke to us from the GPS console, guided us perfectly asking us to 'take a right at the next turn', 'now take a left' etc. We arrived at Delhi station around 10-15 mins before departure, quickly engaged a porter. As luck would have it, our platform was the furthest and so was our compartment. We got in with around 5 mins to spare. Rajesh called up asking if we were in the train as he was also not sure if we left his office early enough. Thanks to Ramakrishna and his GPS for getting us to station on time. We reached Chandigarh, from where the driver picked us up and drove us to Kairighat, where we stayed for the night.


The next day we wanted to take a small ride on the Simla mountain train. Having learned that the train would arrive at the next station in next 10 mins, our driver drove like a F1 drivers, taking the curves hard. Yet we missed that train. So we did the next best thing. We took the train that was going towards Kalka asking the driver to pick us up at the next station. Gayathri then told the driver that we have all the time in the world and not to worry about driving fast. 


The next day, we drove from Sarahan to Kalpa. The drive was good except for the dam site on the way. After we checked into the hotel, we went to a drive to a nearby village. The whole drive was a scary one. The mountains here had almost vertical sides and the depth was enough to give you vertigo. Amit stopped at one places, where there was sheer drop, informing us that this was the suicide point. When you get down and near the edge you can understand why it is called so, especially when your knees turn weak suddenly. Gayathri refused to come anywhere close to the edge and kept a safe 10 ft distance from the edge. As we drove on Ranjani asked, "Why is that place called suicide point? If you fall off from anywhere, you are gone." Harini replied, "Only from the point you will hit the ground straight, without hitting anything on the way." When we turned a curve we could see that what Harini said was very true. The mountain there was vertical and nothing to bounce off on the way down!! Amit, our driver told, "If someone is contemplating suicide, we must bring that person here. This is so scary that the person will immediately change his mind about suicide." 


Next day we started from Kalpa for Tabo. After travelling for some time, I saw a very fragile mountain on the other side of the river. It was as if the mountain was just made of sand and would collapse any time now . I pointed the mountain out this fact to Amit. To which he said, "Do you see the dark, damp patches out there? This is the place where the mountain caved in, trapping a convoy of 34 military trucks. People say that some of the trucks were carrying oil and the oil is slowly seeping up to the surface. They have not been able to dig out neither the trucks till nor the people trapped inside." He continued, "That was the original road to Tabo. Since that portion caved in, they have built this road. Landslides and mountains caving in are quite common here. Whenever I start from my house to Spiti Valley I am not sure if I will get back. So I never tell my parents I am going to Spiti Valley." I could then see why he was saying that since most of the mountains around that area seemed very fragile. We crossed a bridge and went to the other side and I was looking at all those mountains and it was not encouraging at all. It seemed that all the mountains were looking for the least pretext to start a landslide. There were enough rocks of varying sizes on each one of them and vegetation was completely absent. No signs of greenery around. We left it back in Kalpa. 

We proceeded further and then saw some people drilling on the side of the mountain. So we had to stop for a few minutes. There were a couple of people on the top who were doing the drilling part and a couple of guys below regulating the traffic. The guys regulating the traffic waved us on. Apparently they had not made this fact known to the guys drilling up. So a few meters away from us some mud and stone rained down. Our driver shouted, "Do you guys plan to kill us?" We passed that hurdle and after some more time saw a line of vehicles stopped at one place. Our driver stopped as well and checked what the problem was. 


We all love  waterfalls, isn't it. This problem also had to do with a waterfall. It was a nice waterfall, except that it was falling on the road. The flow of water was high and our driver remarked that sometimes this flow can wash away large trucks!! The place where the water flowed on the road was in bad shape as can be expected. The filled up the craters with some stones using a large earth moving equipment. Ranjani and I went to see this spot, which was not visible from where our car was parked. Slowly vehicles started moving and each one rocked and rolled as they crossed this hurdle. Our driver had one anecdote for this spot. "Once the flow was so high that we were stuck under this overhang here", he said pointing to an overhang. "We were here for two days. One Nepali fellow was serving tea for Rs.20/- and paranthas were costing Rs.50/- each." We were thankful we got out of that place, which was known as Tinku naala and a well known problem spot in the route.

We proceeded towards Nako, after having seen the sangam of Sutlej and Spiti at Khab. The mountains were again looking ominous. There were two types of mountains here. One type looked as if it was made of a single stone and other type looked as if it was a humongous file of sand!! It was mid day, the sun was hot and absolutely not a single soul or vehicle as far as the eye can see. Amit kept pointing to the road we will be taking, which looked as like a parting of hair. And the road ran so high that you were scared just looking at it. That there was no sign of any habitation wasn't helping either. 

We got to Nako and after lunch proceeded towards Tabo. Along the way is the most notorious of all hurdles, Maling naala. The way the driver spoke, this place is almost legendary in this area now. This was to be the most difficult and dangerous crossing. The driver stopped at a temple before the Maling naala, prayed and then got into the car. The Maling naala was supposed to be similar to Tinku naala, with water flowing on the road but more dangerous because of is location at a curve in the road between two mountains. It was an anti climax there as Maling naala was completely dry!!! Something which the driver did not anticipate. He more than made up for lack of excitement by his driving. Imagine this scenario. We are on a mountain road with no protection against crashing down, the road curves every 5 mts, the road is wide enough to let one and half vehicles simultaneously. In this road, our driver drove at around 50 or 60 kms speed, with one hand on the steering, his neck craning forward and up, his eyes focussed on the mountain above to see if any landslide is starting, and all the while turning the car left and right as demanded by the mountain. All the while me staring at the mountain side and the sheer drop below. "This area is very dangerous. At any point here a landslide can happen and we can be trapped." Apparently he has not thought about the possibility of us hurtling downwards. He then showed us a spot, on the left of which was a sheer drop, and told, "This is the place where once I got my car out of water and for a minute the car made it as if it was going to go down the side. I pumped my accelerator and got myself out of that mess but I was shit scared." After crossing Maling naala, we reached Tabo without any further incidents. Next day we left for Kaza. As we were approaching Kaza, we saw a couple of very dirty 'naalas' on the other side of the Spiti river. Gayathri asked what they were. Amit replied, "They are naalas." "Where does the road go?" "That goes to Pin Valley". Gayathri, who had enough of naalas, told firmly, "We are not going to Pin Valley."

After two nights at Kaza, it was time to head back to Tabo after lunch. The weather had dramatically changed. It was dark now with ominous black clouds hovering on the horizon, a stiff wind was blowing. In the valley ahead we could see some sandstorms starting and a light drizzle had started as well. Just as we were ready to head out, our driver made the suggestion, "The weather is bad. Shall we stay here today and head for Kalpa directly tomorrow?" We decided against it saying that we will turn back in case we encounter any problem. "The wind is the biggest enemy', said our driver. "This wind is the one which starts the landslides. Even if there are no landslides, stones will start falling. Can you also keep an eye on the mountain so that we know when something is happening." I said yes and started keeping an eye on the barren mountains. Even if I were to take my eyes off for a second, Gayathri would urge me, "Keep looking at the mountains". Our driver was also driving with one eye on the mountain. Our vigil paid dividends as I spotted a place where small stones started running down. I asked Amit to stop. He stopped and we could see one small stone after another come down, hit the road, keep going down and land in the river below. It was clear demonstration of the power of gravity, acceleration due to gravity and the Newton laws. Reasonable sized stones were rolling down and you can clearly see the pace they gather as they come down. If you are on the way, the wind-shield is gone for sure. Amit hurriedly looked for an overhang and got the car parked under one so that we were safe from falling stones. The wind stopped blowing after a dozen stones had rolled down. Amit put his hand out of the window to check if the wind has stopped blowing and the started. The problem was that once we crossed the point where the stones have rained down, the whole mountain held the threat of more stones falling down for the next half a kilometre!! And there were no overhangs around!! If stones started rolling down from multiple places, you were sure to get hurt, whether you stop or proceed. Luckily for us, no such thing happened and we got out of that place safely. The rest of the drive to Tabo didn't give us any heart attacks.


Gayathri had only thing on her mind from the time we reached Tabo the first time. How are we going to get back across Maling and Tinku naala. The fear was accentuated when the driver before driving out of Tabo said, "Bring lots of food. You never where we will be stuck for how long. It is better to have food handy." Very practical guy. Our first hurdle was Maling. There was some water in it but not much. We crossed this without a problem. Then our driver showed a spot next to the Maling naala and said, "That portion had caved in once. I stood here for two days at a stretch and had to go back because they couldn't clear the road." 


One of the main reasons to dread these naalas is simple. If you were blocked on your way back, you stay blocked!! Let me explain. There are two routes to getting to Spiti Valley (Tabo and Kaza.) One comes from Manali and remains closed during winter till first week of June. We were in Spiti Valley during May second week and hence this approach was not feasible. So the only way out was through these naalas into Kinnaur and if there is any landslide along the way, you were stuck in the Spiti Valley for days together. 

Tinku naala too behaved itself and we crossed that without a problem. Then we came across a line of vehicles stopped on the road. This time it was not a naala but the same old drilling problem. Without waiting for the signal to proceed some vehicles started moving and this led to a traffic jam what with the vehicles coming from the other side at the same time. Our car was stuck in a place where pebbles started falling on our car from the freshly drilled mountain side. Our driver shouted to the vehicle driver behind him to move and we reversed our car, not before a few more pebbles fell on our car, irritating the driver. (For his was a brand new Innova.) As usual, he had an anecdote for such incidents as well. "Once I was stuck in such a jam because of drilling. Two guys in a car, foolish fellows, went forward without waiting for the signal to proceed. A huge tree fell on the car crushing those fellows to death. I used to take huge risks on the road earlier. After that incident I have mellowed down."

That was the last major incident before we reached Kalpa to stay for the night. The drive from Kalpa towards Kalka went smoothly. The flight back home was smooth as well. It was as if all adventure stopped once we got out of Spiti Valley. Thus ended a 10 day trip to one of India's remote areas. This is not a trip for the weak hearted. If you need some adventure, this is the place to go. You need to do nothing. Driving till there is adventure enough.


P.S: After I came back, I called Rajesh to thank him for the arrangements. He informed me that a few days after I left Tabo, there was a landslide somewhere near Maling naala which shut down the road for two days. He had to direct some of his visitors to Shoja since Tabo was not reachable. We were lucky. Both to see the Spiti Valley and not to get trapped!!