Rohtang Visit and Paragliding in Solang Valley

Day-4:
10th November, 2011 Thursday.

The cab came 7am sharp in the morning. We geared up ourselves with warm clothes as we didn’t want to rent clothes. By 8am, we were in the cab. The driver told us that we have to take rented clothes before going to Rohtang Pass which we refused. He made some excuses that it would be dangerous and he might have to face a penalty. But I was confident that all of us were fully dressed so it was decided not to rent those clothes. But then the driver refused to go. We said its absolutely fine with us, return the money paid as advance and you may go, which he did.
We then left for Manali in our car. We had another driver’s phone number and booked a Tata Sumo for 1700Rs while on the way. We also told him in advance that we won’t take those rented clothes. He was ok with that.

While on the way to Rohtang, the driver (Neelu) told us that his father belonged to Kharkhoda village near Rohtak. He told us his parent’s love story. For some reasons, I don’t believe his story. The road was in good condition for first 10-12kms with sharp turns. It was getting bad to worse as we were ascending. Manoj bought some liquor and snacks on the way up. Neelu told us many ‘stories’ like magnetic mountain and his friend’s Jeep that had fallen into the valley.

We reached Rohtang in about 2:30hrs after covering a distance of about 45kms. The weather was very pleasant. We were considering ourselves lucky that the weather was not bad and were very happy that we didn’t bring those rented clothes. The panoramic view of the mountains was awesome. We left Rohtang after having some breakfast and pics in the snow.

While coming back to Manali, I enquired about paragliding. Neelu told us that paragliding was happening at two places in Manali. One such place was Solang Valley. He was absolutely sure that paragliding was happening around. I myself saw some paragliders down in the valley while coming. We had a short break at ‘Vyas-Kund’ (river Beas is supposed to originate from there).

There I checked my cell for networks and found weak signals of Reliance GSM. So, I phoned Mr. Kaushik to enquire about the status of paragliding. He answered me negatively. He told me that our lunch was ready and he would make a final effort for our paragliding after our arrival. But by that time, I started suspecting him of his intensions.
After returning to Manali at around 3:30pm, we decided to visit Solang Valley to verify Mr. Kaushik’s claim. The distance was only 11kms. There I enquired about every story which Kaushik had told. There was no accident, no casualty and paragliders were flying in the sky. My call to his number was initially answered by Monu, I asked Mr. Kaushik to make arrangements for paragliding. He asked me to contact Mr. Vinay and gave me his phone number (9816162737).

Mr. Vinay told me that his pilots had left from there and for Camp Heaven’s customers the time for paragliding was before 12 noon. I, then, told him the whole story and how we were misguided by Mr. Kaushik. I told him that we came from Delhi to Manali only for paragliding not for river rafting. I also told him that I won’t make a full payment to Mr. Kaushik. After listening me patiently, Mr. Vinay asked me to give the phone to any of the pilot there. Without wasting a single minute, that pilot told us to climb a straight mountain cliff. All the pilots there knew Vinay. He seemed to be a well known and reputed person there. That pilot and his two co-pilots started climbing the cliff along with their parachutes and equipments. It was the most awaited moment for me. I was the first one to go down. Adrenaline was rushing through my veins. I enjoyed my first maiden flight. After landing, I was experiencing a sense of accomplishment. The hard work had finally paid us dearly.



7pm, we were at the camp. I asked Kaushik to make the bill as we were checking out. We refused the dinner. He added 1100Rs more in the bill as extra charges for the half day which we refused to pay as he himself was responsible for such delay. After having a long argument, we finally agreed to pay him 550Rs more. We finally checked out at 9pm and left for Delhi. We reached home at 3pm next day.
Now I’m ending this journey here as I can’t write more than this.
Keep Touring :-)