This is the tenth post of the Manali Leh Highway series, in the previous posts of this series you have seen Himalayan Shepherds, Life of Changpa Tribe, Himalayan Rickshaw Run, Lahaul Valley, Maure Plains, Tanglang La, Naki La and landscapes of Leh and got a glimpse of this colorful land. Know about. Today in this series we will read about the first mountain pass of Manali Leh Highway.
The Truck accident on Rohtang pass (3980m)
The 40 feet high ice walls on Rohtang pass
The jam on Rohtang pass which is called pile of corpses
Rohtang Pass is the first mountain pass on the Manali-Leh Highway. Rohtang means "heap of corpses". Yes, you read it right, this pass is so inaccessible and difficult that till now there is no count that how many people have died due to this pass. The height of Rohtang Pass is 3980 meters and it is just 50 km away from Manali Town. There is a very good road to reach here, yet what is it here that kills people, let us know.
View of Madhi visible from Rohtang Pass
Firstly, this pass is above the tree line, there is a lot of lack of oxygen here, from above this pass connects the dry valley like Lahaul-Spiti, due to which the cold air coming from Lahaul attacks Rohtang. This pass is cut off from the rest of the world for the entire 6 months of winter. You will not believe that there is more than 40 feet snowfall in winter every year. Due to such altitude and snowfall, it is impossible to keep this pass open in winter.
The frozen mountain pass
For the people of Lahaul Valley, this is the pass which connects the people of Lahaul with the rest of the world. And in winter, when this pass is closed, in case of medical emergency, the local people set out to cross this pass. Due to this step he loses his life. Before winter, Lahauli and Zanskari people come to Manali valley by November so that they do not have to face emergency situation in winter. Every year these people go back to their home from Manali in March, their first stop is Madhi from where Rohtang Pass remains only 15 km and in this 15 km there are such strong snow storms that almost all the people lose their lives. Are.
It was our vehicle on this trip
In today's post we are going to talk about a truck accident. This truck was going from Mandi district to Leh. It had material for making an iron bridge. High walls of ice start from Madhi, the temperature here remains almost minus, hence it takes several months for the ice to melt. Everyone knows that glaciers move, they move very slowly but they move. The same thing happens here, the snow slowly moves from one side of the road to meet the wall on the other side of the road. Due to the sliding of the ice wall, the double lane highway becomes a single lane highway. Due to bad weather and single lane road, there are such long traffic jams that sometimes it takes even 3 days to clear.
The only ruined structure on Rohtang pass
You can see long traffic jams due to accidents
Tunnel in making
You can see long traffic jams due to accidents
Many times it has happened that there is a traffic jam, thousands of tourists are sitting in their vehicles and on top of that the weather gets worse. A blizzard begins and within a few hours all the vehicles are submerged in snow. In this way many tourists lose their lives. Due to the construction of a single lane, the load of the truck came on the spring of one side, when the spring could not take the load, it broke and the truck overturned. The truck was overloaded, hence it not only blocked the road but also spread iron parts all over the road.
Long jam
Thankfully, nothing happened to the truck driver and his helper. It took several hours for help to arrive, by which time this truck had created a huge traffic jam. We were also stranded here and were thinking that if help did not come by 5 pm, we would leave the car here and go to Madhi so that the dreaded cold night would save us from biting on this merciless pass. No help came till 5 o'clock so we came to Madhi on foot. Rohtang is such a bad pass that there is no light here, no mobile network here, no shop here, no hotel, no check post here, understand that this is no man's land. Whoever gets trapped here will lose his life.
Rallah waterfall seen from Madhi
By the next day the battery on all our phones was drained. The truck was removed from the road by the next morning. We went back on foot and returned to Manali in our car. Of course it sounds like a lot of adventures but it was not. The lives of about 1200 people were at stake. In the photos you can see signs of traffic jam and nothing happening on the pass.
Saga dugh the base of Patalsu peak (4250m)
Hanuman tibba peak seen from Saga dugh, Hanuman tibba is 5980m high
Disclaimer: All photos are clicked by me (himalayanwomb), all photos are clicked from canon 1100d, photos are edited in lightroom. This blog has been written in Hindi and translated into English, for which the help of Google translation has been taken. And yes I proudly say this post is AI free.