Last night at Kaza was extremely cold, a bit difficult to sleep at first but after a while due to, may be fatigue, I slept like a horse. We had plans for Key Monastery & Kibber Village for the next day but all was dependent upon how the weather will play and if snowfall will allow us or not. (PS: Sorry for this delay in the post as I was on DoW Mega Meet for 10 days and hence, could not write & publish it. Now, will try to post this series ever 3rd day to wrap it up quickly :))
For the first time I experienced such a cold temperature but once the quilts settled the warmth, it was fine. Next morning I woke up with clear deep blue skies with whiteness all around on earth… What an amazing sight it was, unbelievably beautiful !! 🙂 🙂 … This day we did not had much to do except visiting Key Monastery, Kibber Village and traveling around Kaza. We wanted to give our ride a rest so we hired a local taxi from Kaza. Our breakfast came from Tsering bhai house and we were feeling blessed to have someone like him supporting us in these harsh conditions which we were not used to, cannot thank enough to him, his lovely family and motu bhai for it…
Taxi came right on time. It was a Sumo Gold run by Chhewang Dorjey: 094592-28584, an amazing driver I will say… We started in the whiteness of snow all around us in Kaza and we first decided to visit Kibber Village and then Key Monastery.
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About Kibber Village
Kibber is about 22 KMs from Kaza and is situated at an altitude of 4205 Meters. Kibber claims itself as the highest village in the world. However, there is another village about 7 KMs east of Kibber by the name Gette at an altitude of 4270 Mtrs, then Tashigang almost touching 4500 Mtrs and then there is Komic which is further higher in the range of 4500 Mtrs. So, I am not sure how true these claims are as I assume there might be more villages as well (may be in Tibet) which might prove these claims false enough but not known to us. Anyways, may be the second fact associated with Kibber being second highest village in Asia (Komic being highest) connected by bus service could be true. Anyways, you will surely enjoy the drive from Key monastery to Kibber where the road is not that paved but the views are nice once you reach Kibber. Spend some time in this timeless village as well to feel the culture around. The vistas surrounding the Kibber and Gette villages are all mountains of limestone rocks which adds more colours to this beautiful valley. You can see Chicham Village in the distance too where the road goes up to the point of gorge over which manual trolley is installed used by locals to transit from Chicham to the motorable road.
Coming back to the story, we reach Kibber Village soon as the road was fine though surrounding with snow all around. The cold wind blowing outside was cutting the senses on my face, nose was getting numb despite the sun being out. There was no space to take the car inside the village so had to walk till the end of the village in search of primary school and believe me that short walk in such cold and that altitude was taking toll on me :D… Here at Kibber Village, we had planned to execute the DoW Causes – GYAAN 500 for which I have already written a detailed account of our experience at the link: DoW Cause | GYAAN 500 in action at Kibber, Spiti Valley
As always it was a special feeling to mingle with kids of schools, see their smiles, hopes in the eyes, innocence at best… Gives real pleasure to mind as well as soul !! Dorje bhai and a local from Kibber Village was quite instrumental in finding the home in Kibber Village where school was running because in winters people offer their homes for aanganwaadis/primary schools to run with bukhari for warmth installed in the houses. A remarkable offering to the the society by such people… After having fun up there and saying bye to all the little kids, we descended to second destination of our day, Key Monastery.
I hope you liked this part of the Snow White Spiti Valley Travel Tale.
The Journey ahead…
Have you ever been to Kibber Village? Or are you planning a drive to Spiti Valley over it sometime soon and have any queries? Do share, in either comments section below or in Itinerary Advice Forum of DwD Community with all other devils 🙂 🙂
16 Comments
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Hello There,
I am planning to ride 2 up to kibber on a motorcycle in March. Leaving Delhi on March 21st and intend to reach Kibber tentatively by 25th. We will be spending a few days in Kibber going on trails to spot wild life etc,. What is your suggestion ? could you advice on some home stays in kibber if you know any ? anything that we must be aware since we are on motorcycles apart from the harsh weather ?
thanks in advance !
Bala, it will be quite freezing up there and roads will be deadly with snow slides and land slides during this time of the year as you can read in this entire travel tale. There will be home stays open in Kibber where you can stay. Start your day early in the day and in case weather is bad, try to avoid traveling.
during mid march to mid april is snow mountains r visible near traveling path at kalpa peo nako tabo kaza.pl guide respectively
Ritesh, conditions from Mid March to first week of April are not that good while travel to Spiti valley. The roads are in worse conditions and lot of landslides / snow slides happen during that time. Also, there are most hotels closed up there in Spiti Valley with no washrooms running as water freeze in pipes.
We travelled Kaza..Tabo…Kibbar..Chandratal during July end. Even in this period it was amazingly beautiful,and terrain was hostile as well.
Though these are things of past (at least for me on a 100 cc bike) but they are near to my heart still.
Thanks for jostling old memories..
Rajesh Patel
Glad to know that Rajesh that this story helped you cherish the old memories from Spiti Valley 🙂
Hi Dheeraj,
I know it is crazy but we are planning to go to KAZA in January 2015. Please suggest us something so that we can prepare ourself for the trip.
Regards
Nitin TYAGI
Nitin, it will be hell lot of adventure !! Be prepared with proper winter gear to keep you warm enough as temperatures will be freezing cold. I am not sure how you are planning to commute so cannot comment on that aspect. There will not be any wet toilets running, food will be quite basic and options of stay will be limited to homestays only. Go in there with some buffer days in hand because in case it snows, road gets blocked.
I have seen these pages for the first time and am amazed to find the material very informative and thought provoking.
We have traveled in these areas during 1995-97 on Hero Honda C D 100 bikes and there was no information available except some auto mag.
Any way those dtories somr other day…you are doing some fabulous work. Thanks a lot
Rajesh Patel…Aligarh UP
Wow Rajesh, would be glad to know about your experiences. thank you so much and I am glad you loved reading blogs of Spiti Valley on DoW 🙂
Hi Dheeraj,
When did you took these photos, in this month itself?
Ganesh, the photos says it: March 2014 🙂
Good write-up, Dheeraj Bhai. Spiti looks a lot different under snow. Well, the bug has started again.
Thank you Sai bhai, yeah indeed this is a different Spiti from what we saw last week 🙂
Spiti is so different from anywhere else in India, and winters bring out the difference even more. These snow capped landscapes are amazing….I was there in summers, now I need to plan a winter trip with you 🙂
Yes Prasad bhai, it indeed is very very different once it snows up there. The villages or plateaus of Langza / Komik are just mind boggling once it is under the snow.