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Rohtang Pass (el. 3978 m./13,051 ft.) is a high mountain pass
that connects the
Kullu Valley with the
Lahul and Spiti valleys of
Himachal Pradesh,
India. The pass is only open from June to September, has a
well-deserved reputation for being very dangerous because of
unpredictable snowstorms.In fact in the local language ,rohtang
literally means the "pile of corpses".
The pass provides a natural cultural divide between the foothills
and wet lowlands of northern India and its primarily
Hindu culture, with the dry desert uplands north of the first
range of the Himalayas and its mainly Buddhist and heavily
Tibetan-influenced culture.
There is a small temple at the top of the pass with a spring that
is the source of the
Beas River.
The road through the
Kullu Valley, past
Manali and over the Rohtang Pass to Keylong, and
Lahul and on to
Ladakh, has become very busy during the summer months as a
military route, because of the troubles in Kashmir which have meant
that the road from Srinagar to Leh is now less used. Traffic jams
(as pictured) are common occurrences caused by the inability of
military vehicles, trucks, and goods carriers to navigate the tight
roads and rough terrain, not to mention, snow and ice. |
