Go Zojila

IF you are planning your summer vacation on the basis of temperature charts in Himachal, and are still unable to find the cool quotient, get togged up for the cooler climes you’d love with awe. No, it’s not going to be Manali, Dalhousie and suchlike. Kashmir — the Zojila Pass — it shall be. The vast barrenness, snowy peaks and a feeling of being on top of the world draw you to the soul of the Himalayas. At an altitude of 11,649 feet, Zojila Pass is picturesque, fearsome, quiet and dominating. The long winter never ends. Its glacial snow sparkles under the summer sun. 

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Deep inside the Himalayan mountain range on the north-eastern edge of the Kashmir valley, Zojila is the gateway to Ladakh. To the west of Zojila is the Sonamarg meadow resort and to its east is Drass, a small township — the second coldest inhabited place in the world.

The road from Sonamarg to Zojila is a serpentine curve that laps around towering mountains, a journey that enthrals amateurs and adventure lovers. Until a few years ago, the Sonamarg-Zojila road was dangerously narrow. It is now widened enough to allow passage of Indian Army’s battle tanks. The pass is also the gateway to the frontiers with two neighbouring countries, Pakistan and China.

Deceptive weather

The temperatures are as fickle as the sunlight. On June 1, snow melted in the Kashmir valley. At Zojila, a blanket of thick snow beats the summer warmth as the long winter only changes its temperature from harshly freezing to mildly cold.

The highway from Kashmir to Ladakh is sliced through glacial snow at Zojila by hundreds of labourers who dig through the white wall for nearly a month to carve a road. The snow clearance is listed as “one of the most challenging tasks” undertaken by Project Vijayak of Border Roads Organization.

“Apart from the extreme cold climate, the troops involved in the task have to face danger of avalanches, landslides, snow blindness, frost bites and chill blains. The work requires highest level of physical fitness, mental robustness, courage and skill,” A K Dikshit, chief engineer of Project Vijayak notes on the official website.

This year the road at Zojila was reopened on May 12 after labourers dug through almost 40 feet of snow for a month. During more severe winters, the snow wall that blocks Zojila can be as high as 60 ft.

Tourist rush

Once Zojila is open for the summer months, all sorts of traffic moves through it — truckers who supply stocks to Ladakh region; soldiers who guard its frontiers with Pakistan and China; shepherds who walk their herds to nearby meadows; bikers who journey onwards to Ladakh’s beautiful landscape; and groups of tourists.

Jami, a 55-year-old shepherd who inherited a rigourous lifestyle of nomadic tribe Bakerwals, has been on the move for a month to reach Minamarg, a meadow downhill Zojila. “It is a hard life,” says Jaji, a resident of Jammu region’s Reasi district.

He, along with members of his family and 500 sheep and goats, is passing through Zojila at the same time as Anurag Mittal is. Mittal is an engineer from Delhi’s Karol Bagh, who is biking to Leh on a high-power motorcycle.

Unlike Jaji, whose inheritance takes him through Zojila every year, it is first time for Mittal, and he is flabbergasted as to how the pass can remain snowed in for six months every year.

Zero Point: Carnival of life

There is no natural habitation at Zero Point, a reference to a central point of the mountain pass. The freezing weather makes it almost impossible for any form of life to survive. However, man’s struggle to and thrive has given birth to a different sort of carnival of life at Zojila. The Zero Point is emerging as the new tourism spot and a daily stopover for hundreds of travellers.

From warm cups of tea to joyrides on hand-driven sledges to rides over steep glacial slopes on 600 and 800 cc snow-bikes, Zero Point is a new attraction. “On a good day, the daily collective earnings here can be around Rs 10 to 15 lakh,” says Mehraj-ud-din, a tourist photographer at Zojila. “This place has become a good source of income for almost 500 people,” he says.

For Zahoor Raina, owner and operator of one of the 13 snow-bikes, Zojila is home for almost a fortnight. A science graduate, Raina says business season is mainly limited to two months of the peak summer period. “After that, it gets difficult to live.” The previous season was extraordinarily good, says Raina. “I paid off all my debts, and still saved a good amount.” 

The government plans to construct a detour tunnel that would weather-proof the connectivity between Kashmir and Ladakh. The tunnel will be 14.15 km single-tube, bi-directional, and will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 10,000 crore.

The mountain pass and the road on its sides are also etched with histories of wars. It served as a gateway to a thundering war machine of the Army during the 1999 Kargil war. And many decades before that, in the winter of 1948, Zojila sealed its fate as the then highest point in the recorded history of warfare where tanks operated in a war.

Know the Pass

Temp Max: 10 degrees C (summers), can be less. Nights can be bone chilling

How to reach

Nearest airport: Srinagar International Airport. 

Distance from Zojila: 115 km 

Delhi to Zojila: Fly to Srinagar. Hire a cab and head for a 3-hour drive to Zojila

Chandigarh to Zojila: Fly to Srinagar. Hire a cab

Road connectivity: Good till Sonamarg, but Sonamarg to Zojila is bumpy

Rail connectivity: Available till Udhampur, Jammu (approx 300 km)

For bikers: The vehicle should be ready for a long mountainous trip. You should be a licensed and well-trained rider

Nearest hotel/motel

On Srinagar-Zojila road, good hotels and cheap motels are available at Sonamarg (90 km from Srinagar, 10 km from Zojila). 

On Zojila-Leh road, nearest and cheap motels are available at Drass, 35-40 km from Zojila.

What to wear: Keep woollens ready

Nearest ATM: Sonamarg, but get your stocks in Srinagar

Mobile connectivity: None

Tales of valour 

• War of 1948: Codenamed Operation Bison. In Nov 1948, Indian Army supported by Stuart tanks fought at Zojila and defeated Pak irregulars. Zojila was then the highest point where tanks had operated.
• Kargil conflict: In the summer of 1999, Zojila became a gateway to Indian Army's mission to reclaim mountain peaks of Kargil. Thousands of soldiers and war machines moved through the pass to Kargil for a bloody fight.
• Shutdown: Zojila remains shut for about six months every year. The pass gets walled by 60-ft snow and is reopened in late April or May. The shutdown snaps road links with Ladakh