Winter Ride to Spiti Valley - Day 5

What a day we had been through, absolutely incredible! Day 4 was hectic but totally worth it. Kaza was probably the coldest place of our ride yet, with temperatures hovering around -12 to -15 degrees at night and -2 to -8 degrees during the day. 

The beautiful town of Kaza at 5.30 am!

According to our schedule, we were supposed to visit Key, Kibber, Langza, Hikkim and Komic and return back to Kaza for stay overnight. However, after staying in Kaza for a night, we did not feel it would be worth our time to stay back one more day. We, therefore, decided to visit these high altitude villages and head to Tabo. 

Sumit and Gopal decided not to join us for visiting places around Kaza and said they would meet us at Tabo by evening. We left around 9.30-10 am for Key Gompa and the ride was thrilling, to say the least. I think these pictures will tell you gorgeous the views from the monastery were-

Can you see the tiny monastery?

Snow and black ice everywhere!

Entering Key Gompa

View from the top of Key Monastery

Backside view from Key Monastery

After visiting Key Monastery, we proceeded towards Kibber, a small village where the probability of spotting a snow leopard is the maximum. Unfortunately, we couldn't find anything but pug marks at a certain place while entering Kibber and there was no leopard in sight for miles! 

Approaching Kibber

Entering Kibber

Everything else was shut and a few locals helped us with directions to Chicham Bridge, the highest bridge in the world at 4037 meters above sea level. This bridge connects the villages of Kibber and Chicham and after almost 14 years of construction, was opened for use by the public in the second half of 2017. It was a sight to behold, especially because the bridge is above the Samba Lamba Nallah, which is almost 1000 feet below.

Between Kibber and Chicham

The highest bridge in the world

Beautiful, isn't it?

Returning back from Chicham

One section of the ride done and we began riding towards the trio- Langza, Hikkim (home to the highest post-office in the world) and Komic (highest village in the world), all located in line, one after another. First up was Langza, the fossil town, where we visited the Langza Buddha Statue.

Entering Langza jurisdiction

The eerily silent fossil town, Langza

Langza Buddha Statue

Another view of the Langza Buddha statue

Adverse weather conditions and presence of excess snow and black ice on the road meant we just fell short of Hikkim and Komic by a few kilometers. However, we convinced ourselves that despite the fact that we were hardly 5 km away, it was not at all worth taking a risk because there was not a single soul on the road. The only living beings we saw between Langza and Hikkim were a Tibetan wolf and Himalayan Ibexes! Strange but true. We managed to spot some of the rarest animals in Spiti (of course the snow leopard is a dream!) so overall what was missing was just a photograph of those 2 iconic posts- "world's highest post office" and "world's highest village!" With this, we decided to head back to Kaza.

Between Langza and Hikkim

Having fuelled up a couple of days back just before the turn to Reckong Peo, it was imperative that we tank up completely to avoid getting stuck. Though we were carrying jerry cans for emergency, it made sense to fill up when the facility was available. 

Kaza Fuel Station

Sakya Tangyyud Monastery, Kaza

Distances from Kaza to various places!!

We said goodbye to Kaza, had lunch and started our ride towards Tabo. Our return journey had begun. It was a smooth and relaxed ride and we managed to reach by 5 pm! 

Welcome to Pin Valley

Heading back to Tabo

Tabo Bridge

Stay tuned as we exit Spiti Valley and re-enter Kinnaur on Day 6.


Route: Kaza - Rangrik - Key Gompa - Kibber - Chicham - Langza - Hikkim - Komic - Kaza - Tabo