Lahaul Spiti Kinnaur

Spiti valley is located on the Tibetan border enclosed on the South East by Tibet, North West by Ladakh, and West by Lahoul and Kullu. Geologically and archeologically Spiti valley is a living museum. Spiti valley is high altitude cold desert and in its lunar landscapes are still stretches, where every other rock is fossils. Spiti valley is formed by the Spiti River, which rises on the slopes of Kunzom pass (4’551 m) and ends at the river confluence with Pare-Chu near Sumdo. The length of the valley is about 150km. En route, the Spiti River receives the water of many streams: Guindi Nala, Parilungbi Chu, Pin River, and Lingti River. There are two routes to Spiti valley, one over Rohtang-pass (3’978m/13’050ft) and Kunzom pass and the other via Shimla, Rampur, and Kinnaur.
Spiti was once a part of the West-Tibetan Kingdom of Guge in the early 17th century. Guge became fragmented and Spiti, along with Lahoul, came under Ladakhi rule. A vital link of the Great Trans Himalayan trade route from Lhasa to Kashmir and Spiti – Literally “The middle country” – found itself locked between the mountain range and International border, now a part of the Himalayan tribal sub-division of Lahoul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh.
Today more and more travelers, tourists, trekkers, geologists, and researchers are discovering this wonderful and last inhabitable world.