Three Hyderabadis’ icy Himalayan adventure

T hree Hyderabadi bikers — Pruthu Mehta (38), Khushal Thakkar (33) and Vijay Patel(46) had the time of their lives as they successfully completed an eventful 10-day trip to the majestic Himalayas braving snowy winds, and treacherous hairpin curves on icy roads in extreme winter recently. Driven by the unbridled passion to witness the breath-taking beauty of the snow-capped Himalayas, the trio along with their friends — Deepak Gupta (38), Manish Dhall (38) and Akshay Jain (29) from Delhi, began the journey by air from Delhi to Leh on February 24.

After taking time to acclimatise in the high-dessert city in Jammu and Kashmir, the group began a 10-hour arduous ride to reach Hanle Village, situated at about 250km from Leh. “It was a really difficult ride as we had to brave strong icy winds while riding through the tough terrain that had many sharp curves, in minus 8 degrees,” said Pruthu.

After spending two days amidst the breath-taking landscapes of Hanle, where they also visited the Hanle observatory and monastery, the group headed back to Leh. Then it was time to head to Kargil. On February 28, the team began their journey to the second largest town in Ladakh, which is at 218 km from Leh. To reach Kargil, the group had to cross two high mountain passes — Fotula and Namikla and struggled in the inhospitable and dangerous terrain with less food supplies.

“We also faced serious high-altitude sickness as breathing became difficult due to low oxygen levels and our visibility too was blurred. We couldn’t see the road clearly as we rode,” said Khushal. After struggling with the adverse climatic conditions, they finally reached Kargil on February 28 evening.

The next day, March 1, the team began riding towards Drass and on the way visited the Drass War Memorial built by the Indian Army. The entire terrain was under a snow blanket and it was all white as far as our eyes could see, recounted the members. Since, all roads were covered with snow, they had to return back to Drass, which is also one of the world’s coldest inhabited places, for an emergency halt. But soon they were back on the road and after enduring all odds, reached Pangong Lake via Leh on March 4.

The sight of the mesmerising frozen lake lifted their spirits. “It was a soul-stirring experience to ride on the surface of the frozen lake in temperatures below minus 20 degree. I can’t describe how wonderful it was. But soon I realised that we are taking a huge risk by riding on the surface of the lake. Most of us, however, felt otherwise. We spent a couple of hours at the lake and headed back to Leh on March 5 and had fun there catching up with some newly-made friends and savouring on the local cuisine.” says Pruthu.The team flew to Delhi the next day and after bidding adieu to their friends, reached Hyderabad on March 7. “In this adventurous trip we’ve made memories to last us a lifetime,” said Vijay, signing off.