Rohtang Pass

Subject: Geography

Section: Places in news

The name Rohtang means ‘ground of corpses’ due to the number of people who lost their lives while crossing this difficult mountain range. It is located on the Pir Panjal Mountain Range of the Himalayas and serves as the gateway to Pangi and the valley of Leh. The Rohtang Pass is a natural divide between the humid Kullu Valley, which has a predominant Hindu culture and high altitude Lahaul and Spiti Calleys, which are predominantly Buddhist.
It is a high mountain pass (elevation 3,980 m) on the eastern Pir Panjal Range of the Himalayas around 51 km from Manali.
It connects the Kullu Valley with the Lahaul and Spiti Valleys of Himachal Pradesh, India.
The pass lies on the watershed between the Chenab and Beas basins.
On the southern side of this pass, the Beas River emerges from underground and flows southward and on its northern side, the Chandra River, a source stream of the river Chenab, flows westward.