Working in India (Part 3)

Also in my first months in India, a bunch of us ventured once again up the Satluj River, but we turned south near Karcham and headed up the Sangla Valley. It would have been March or April, probably, and there was plenty of snow left on the mountains, and even down in the valley itself. 

Sangla Valley.

One work-related scouting expedition had us looking for a potential new source of aggregate for our crusher plant, to add to our concrete. There was a source of river-deposited rock up one of the northern side valleys from the main Satluj valley, at a place called Katgaon, north-east of Wangtu. From Wangtu, we climbed the Wangtu-Kafnoo Road through several switchbacks.

Looking down at a washed-out bridge from the road above Wangtu. The watercourse in the photo is only a tributary to the Satluj, which runs left to right just outside of the top of this photo. Abutments for a new bridge we were building can be seen just beyond the wreckage of the old bridge.

One of the roads above Wangtu, looking east.

A small tributary stream.

On our way to Katgaon, we investigated the first of two potential quarry locations. It was scenic, but didn't pan out.

View from a potential quarry. Nice view, but it wasn't selected.

The second location we scouted, at Katgaon itself, required us to cross the river and do a bit of hiking.

Probably not at Katgaon itself, but this gives you an idea of the typical villages that seem to grip every moderately level portion of the hillsides in this area of the country.

We had to walk up what was literally a goat path.