Newark (EWR) to Bhuntar (KUU) to Manali, March 20, 2019

Made it to Manali last night. No hiccups. Could not believe how packed the DEL airport was at 2 am. Important information for anyone planning on skiing the Kuulu Valley is that my Mammut Snow Pulse 2 and Timbo’s Black Diamond Jet Force avalanche airbag packs made it the whole way (MMH-LAX-EWR-DEL United; DEL-KUU Air India) without incident. I had the regulator removed and the cartridge was empty per TSA guidelines. In fact, the only grief I got was at the Mammoth airport where the TSA agent called his supervisor over and said “that’s a torch.” I replied that no, it’s not a torch and the cartridge is empty. The TSA supervisor said she could see that the cartridge was empty and I was waived through.

Eastern Turkey
Skirting Iran and Pakiatan‘s airspace. The detour will require a refueling stop in Frankfurt upon return.
DEL at 2 am
KUU, deep valley with some rough roads to get through

Drive up from KUU (Bhuntar) to Manali was obscenely third world with painted people for Holi packing the road and pounding on the doors, cows wandering along the road, flooded areas,huge pot holes, and filth. I had to max out the atm’s daily limit with two different cards in order to get enough cash to pay for the Jypsy.

Very beautiful here and everyone has been exceptionally nice, especially the Jeep rental guy Ashkay who got us a sweet 4wd Jyspy with snorkel.

Manali is crowed and trendy. Goood cheap food and drinks, like 700 INR ($10 US) for a large beer and a full dinner.

4wd manual trans Gypsy with snorkel . No power steering.

Poured rain last night but weather is improving