There was another big problem: the snow on the road will soon become extremely dangerous “black ice” and driving will be impossible.
Our official leaves were limited and there was a chance that we may get stuck over there for many days.
The hotel owner started calling his friends to enquire about the road conditions downhill from Sangla, but unfortunately not even a single vehicle entered Sangla by that time (around 10 AM) from the only access road (Karcham-Sangla road). He was very caring and we sensed a warning in his discussions that if not today, we will not be able to leave Sangla for next 2-3 days atleast.
I decided to do a test ride till the market which was 1 km away, to which all agreed. There was almost 9 inches of snow on the car which took us around 20 minutes to remove.
Although I have a very good experience of mountain driving but this was my first time driving in snow.
As soon as we started, I had to apply brakes just after 100 meters and the car slipped and turned complete 90 degrees. Sharad and Prabal jumped out to hold the car from further slipping. It was a scary moment.
For the next 1+ km till the market, both of them were walking next to the car on either side pushing it on the middle of the road whenever it was slipping. It was a downhill road fully covered with snow and was very difficult to drive. By the time we reached the market, it was clear that we cannot go further down as the roads were very narrow and God knows what to do if a vehicle comes from opposite direction.
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