Dominate The Snow

We ride two Bajaj Dominars to the beautiful Spiti Valley in winter!

- Sandeep Goswami

The stark whiteness of the cold Himalayan desert lay spread out in front of the riders, an endless vista of dazzling white snow and ice, mixed with the azure blue of the sky, and the pale turquoise of the Chandra River. Girdled by a wall of the highest and the most ragged peaks of the Himalayas lying in Himachal Pradesh, Spiti appears measureless, lifeless and ageless. The surrounding terrain is an antique geological canvas, with Mother Nature’s capricious forces having had a free hand at carving intricate patterns in the surrounding mud, sand and rock through the ages, leaving a fancy sand pillar here and an exotic rocky arch there. The high peaks surrounding it are a barrier for even the monsoon clouds, and the valley remains a cold, dry desert. An absolute sense of aloneness envelopes the traveller, the all-pervading silence almost deafening to the noise accustomed urban dweller. A land more secluded, more exotic and more ancient than the Spiti Valley is hard to come upon.

The decision to ride across Spiti in winter on motorcycles had not really been spontaneous. Though spontaneity does help one evade the mind’s inherent predilection towards comfort and safety. Riding on two wheels to snow bound mountains carries with it a heady mix of physical risks and pleasure. This ‘in your face’ physicality of motorcycling seemed to be perfectly in sync with the harsh barrenness of Spiti. And more so with the assumed capabilities of our steeds, the newest, latest and the best motorcycle yet from the Bajaj stables. So, there they were, two people on two Bajaj Dominars, riding the high road to the inner Himalayas. On a quest to experience the extreme Artic-like conditions from the saddle of a machine that can take such stuff in its stride and carry back photos and videos of the adventure to share.