Photos of landslides on Manali-Leh road
Photos of landslides on Manali-Leh road
I have finally gotten the photos off my computer of the landslides we crossed on August 3, 2006. I was traveling on a private deluxe bus from Manali to Leh.
We camped at a tent city 6 kilometers south of Sarchu the night before. It rained heavily all night. The next morning we got on the bus early. We drove 2 kilometers up the road and saw this:
The unusually high rainfall overnight had carved a new channel in the delta fan on the side of the mountain. The water deposited rocks and cut away the edge of the road. The water is falling over the edge of the asphalt of the road which is covered with rocks.
By the afternoon a backhoe had arrived. It built a new road a few meters uphill above the asphalt road.
These monks give an idea of the scale of the channel. It is about 2 meters deep and about 6 or 7 meters across. It runs all the way from the top of the mountain to the road. It looks as if someone took a trowel and cut a perfect 'V' down the mountain. It would take days for a backhoe to move the amount of rock it moved in a few hours.
The bus crosses a repair to a landslide we encountered later. We crossed about six such repairs on our way. We got out of the bus each time it made a crossing. The mud was still soft and we were the first deluxe bus to cross.
Photos of landslides on Manali-Leh road
