Shipki La Pass | 17 Jun 2025

Source: TH 

Shipki La Pass (3,930m) in Himachal’s Kinnaur district, along the India-China border has been opened to domestic tourists to boost borderland economies, enhance strategic connectivity, and promote cultural tourism. 

Shipki La Pass 

• Shipki La is a motorable mountain pass which marks a boundary post on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and is among India’s highest motorable passes. 
• The Sutlej River (Langqen Zangbo in Tibet) enters India through this pass, which historically served as a key Indo-Tibetan trade route.  
• The pass was earlier known as Pema La or Shared Gate and was renamed Shipki La by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) after 1962. 
• It has been a vital trade route since the 5th century, which ceased after the 1962 Sino-India War, post-Doklam standoff and Covid-19. 
• Shipki La facilitated India-Tibet trade, with imports like wool, livestock, yak products, religious items, and minerals, and exports of grains, spices, tobacco, timber, and metal tools. 

Mountain Passes 

• Passes are natural low points or gaps in mountain ranges that facilitate the movement of people, goods, and armies across otherwise difficult terrain. 
• They are formed by erosion, glaciation, or tectonic activity and serve as connectors between valleys or regions, historically enabling trade, migration, and military movement, with strategic, economic, and cultural significance.