This is an event called the Great Himalayan Running Festival. In this road running event, some people are running 480 km in 120 hours. I am volunteering in this event and this event is being organized on the Manali-Leh highway. The event started from Manali Market on June 23 and will end on June 28 at Shanti Stupa in Leh. In the previous post you read that we drove from Delhi to Solang Valley from where we spent the first day of the event at Rohtang Pass.
Today is the second day of the event and we are present in Lahaul Valley. Lahaul Valley starts after Rohtang Pass and extends till Baralacha Pass. From here the valley runs along the Chandra River while from the other end Bhaga River comes from Suraj Lake and the confluence of these two rivers takes place at Tandi which we will cross today. So far we have covered 90 km. The first cut off for the runners will be 140 km where they will have to reach in 24 hours. There are still 12 hours left for the 24 hour cut off.
This is Sissu village where there is a temple of King Ghepan, greenery, farms and since the tunnel has been built, it has become a tourist place. Potato, peas and cabbage are exported from here in large quantities. Making a living from farming is still the main occupation here. We stopped at Sissu and had breakfast, I had potato paratha with hot tea for breakfast. The photo of the breakfast must be in the mobile which I have not yet copied to the laptop.
Apart from 5 taxis, we have brought 3 of our own vehicles. One is a black Scorpio, the second is a black Isuzu and the third is a Toyota Hilux. Isuzu is about to reach Keylong, so two vehicles with us are serving hydration to the runners. Seeing a good frame, I park both the vehicles together and click some photos. Ghepan Peak and Twin Peak are shining behind the vehicles. The view of the valley is very soothing. Somewhere in these mountains is Tempo La mountain pass which is not used now. Earlier there was no road so the locals used this pass to go to Darcha and Zanskar.
The roads of Lahaul are good although it snows heavily in winters. Where there was nothing in the valley a few years ago, now we can see food trucks here, check posts of local police have been established at many places so that the number of vehicles coming and going can be noted. If I talk about numbers, there are 140 small and big villages in this valley and the population here was 31564 according to the 2011 census.
There is a unique confluence of Hindu temples and Buddhist temples here, there is a temple in Trilokinath in which both Hindus and Buddhists worship daily. Lahaul looks beautiful only in summers when greenery is spread here, otherwise Lahaul is a very desolate place, in winters this valley gets buried under several feet of snow, roads get closed, river freezes and most of the people of the valley shift to Manali or Kullu.
While performing our duty, we reach Keylong via Tandi where we fill the petrol tank of our vehicles from the newly built petrol pump. Now we have to go to Jispah from here and as per the new instructions, those volunteers who have been awake since last night will get a few hours of sleep. We have lunch in Keylong. Keylong is the administrative office of Lahaul Spiti. Here, above Keylong village, the Drilbu-ri Parikrama takes place which is famous only among the locals.
We reach Jispah by 4 pm and grab a room. After taking a bath, I fall asleep as soon as I lie down on the bed. Now the next instruction is that the cut off for the runners is 10 pm tonight so we have to get up and give them room and feed them if they want to eat. Understanding my responsibilities, I set the alarm on my mobile and go to sleep. I get up at 8 pm, have dinner and wait for the runners who can reach Jispa anytime.
Disclaimer: This post is originally written in Hindi and I have used Google Translator to translate the Hindi text in English. All the photos have been clicked by me from canon 77d (55-250mm) and edited on laptop lightroom app, post thumbnail created in adobe photoshop.
