Cut-off by heavy snow for most of the year, Spiti remains mostly isolated, remote and hidden. Time stands still in the valley with its high altitude villages and centuries old monasteries perched precariously on the side of cliffs. The remoteness has kept Spiti wild and stunning. With few travellers making the journey from either Shimla or Manali, Spiti remains pristine and untouched.
Unlike Kinnaur Spiti is painted in shades of ochre with pockets of greenery. The road follows a contorted path with the Spiti River, rising ever higher with sheer drops down into the valley. It’ll leave you mesmerised and breathless.
In summer the skies are clear and a deep blue, the clouds casting long languid shadows on the mountains as they crawl across the sun. You can see for miles, the thin air creating an astonishing clarity.
The winding and ribbon-like 200 odd kilometres road that’s draped haphazardly from the provincial capital of Kaza to Manali is tenuous at best. A living road, sculpted and stretched by the elements, it’s an amazing ride through gorges and high passes, waterfalls and snowy peaks, across streams and rushing meltwater, over tarmac and rocks and gravel.
The road is craved into precipitous cliffs as it follows the path of the Spiti River. It’s hard to imagine that once this was seabed. And the forces that that split and shoved these seabed into some of the highest mountain are still very active.
As you leave Kaza the road passes villages and barley fields, flanked by mountains as you approach Lossar. From Lossar the road rises up to Kunzum La, at 4590 metres before plunging down to meet the river again.
The terrain changes when you’re 120km from Kaza. The mountains have suddenly become green. You’re leaving Spiti. Before you is Manali and the Rohtang Pass. The road clings to the mountainside and you have to navigate the melting snow waters that swamp the road.
It’s a challenging and an mentally absorbing road. It is tough in places, but the thrill of riding in this wildness is amazing. This road more than any in this vast mountain range embodies the wildness that is the Himalayas.
Mototreks 