Clouds, Night Fall & Rohtang Pass: My First Bike Trip to the Hills

My first bike trip crossing Rohtang Pass to Leh was a memorable journey worth reliving.

The only impossible journey is the one you never begin.

Tony Robbins

Bike journeys are adventurous, full of thrill that carry its own set of challenges, capable of taking away lives. But that wasn’t the spirit with which I decided to move along on my first ever bike ride to the mighty Himalayas.

Unlike the leisure of travelling in a car, bikes are all about responsible riding, taking care of your stuff and braving whatever mother nature throws in front of you. Near impossible was the answer I got from anyone I looked up to for some motivation. And when that didn’t turn up at my door, self-motivation became the only spirit that carried me forward.

I set out to conquer the hills, with my grit and determination and show the naysayers, that no destination isn’t out of reach. Well, especially if you’re loaded with money for fuel, food and shelter. Without them, you’re just dreaming in broad daylight.

Without going into great detail, I am writing this down to capture my journey that had almost everything and yes, a challenge which most people underestimate, Rohtang Pass. My trip started off from Delhi in the night, reaching Manali the next morning, after a 12-hour ride without halting anywhere.

First thing you realise while riding through the plains (till Chandigarh) is that, you can go at a brisk pace on the toll-laden highways, which are generous to bikers. These might be straight, bump-free roads but it’s easy to lose your touch with the bike and end up in a mishap.

This is generally the reason why you have so many accidents on highways. But once you make a quick, but safe, burst through the plains, now comes the point where, things get challenging, which requires more patience. Stay vigilant about the oncoming trucks (loads of them) and the local transport buses (stay wary of them) and you’ll be alright.

Respect nature and she’ll give it back to you. 

Some people learn this the hard way, especially when your braking or handling of the car/bike or bus goes awry and next thing you realise, you’re drifting down a cliff. This is applicable when your riding up to Rohtang Pass from Manali, which is about 51 km away.

But what really spices up the whole journey is the sudden climb in altitude from Manali to Rohtang Pass, which goes from 2,050 metres to almost 4,000 metres. This change can be dramatic in many ways and boy, the climb down from there to our next destination was a challenge, which was an understatement.

What made our journey treacherous was the incessant rainfall that ended up turning roads into slush pits, welcoming landslides with open arms (much to our worry) and riding in the night (not advisable for the faint-hearted) just made it a ride that need my attention every second.

Riding in a city like Delhi is no cakewalk, but compared to what the rains and slush offer, everything else is a piece of cake now. 

Downhill riding on a bike with rains accompanying all the way, is training that you’ll never get moving around in a city. That’s not all, hills throw up surprises every now and then, especially when a road has been crumbled by falling rocks, paving the way for water to stream down it.

Also, there comes a point where you’re dancing in the clouds, not knowing where the next left or right turn really is.

Keep the engine running at a steady pace, keep your balance on the bike and an eye on the rocks hidden underneath the flowing water and you’ll be fine.

Moving to the easier leg of my trip, the weather gods blessed us with some much needed sunlight, after three days of continuous rainfall. That’s when you realise all the battle with nature was truly worth it. In between all this, you stop by at the last fuel station for the next 365 Km, while inching closer to Leh in Jammu and Kashmir.

Before that, our halfway point was Sarchu and this 220 Km journey was covered going through multiple passes, the most prominent being Bara-lacha La which is at almost 5,000 metres.

Romancing the Snow

This was my first tryst with snow. Not only did I see it in real life for the first time, but also got a chance to play with it (not kidding). Once that achievement was unlocked, we set on to our destination.

Journeys are never about the destination they say, and I planned to preach it to the core. 

Gradually, we started coming down the hill and the snowy terrain was replaced with rough, patchy roadways. These weren’t as challenging as the first stretch of our journey but worth reliving nevertheless.

Big props to the Border Road Organisation (BRO) for building roads in places where it’s hard to just drive through.

Granted, the journey these days to Leh isn’t as challenging as it used to be. The nallahs have been covered with bridges built over it.

A majority of the roads have been laid and others are guaranteed to be done in the next year or so. You basically undertake this trip, to get mesmerised by the hills and nature.

But hang on, this isn’t the end of my story, because there’s another interesting part of the ride which remains. That’s the 21 Gata loops, which are a series of twists and turns that is quite challenging.

Once you cover that, you’ve got a small stretch of 20 Km to tackle before reaching Pang and crossing Tanglang-La Pass at 5,320 metres. The remaining portion (260 Km) of your journey to Leh can be easily made on the pristine quality roads on the plains that are easy to cover. From there on, you reach Leh in less time that you imagine.

Journeys after all, they are stories meant to be told.

PS: I did this trip on my one-year old Bajaj Dominar 400