Shipki La
Illustration depicting Sutlej river at Shipki La, ca. 1856
Elevation	3,930 m (12,894 ft)
Traversed by	India National Highway NH5
Location	Himachal Pradesh, India – Tibet, China
Range	Himalayas
Coordinates	31°49′55″N 78°44′02″E / 31.83194°N 78.73389°E / 31.83194; 78.73389
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Shipki La is a mountain pass and border post with a dozen buildings of significant size on the India-China border. The river Sutlej, which is called Langqên Zangbo in Tibet, enters India (from Tibet) near this pass.^[1] A spur road on the Indian side rises to an altitude of 4,720 metres (15,490 ft) four km southwest of Shipki La.

The pass is on the border between the Kinnaur district in the state of Himachal Pradesh, India, and the Ngari Prefecture in Tibet, China. The pass is one of India's border trading points with Tibet along with Nathu La in Sikkim, and Lipulekh in Uttarakhand. The pass is close to town of Khab.

Currently the road at the pass is used only for small-scale local trade across the border.^[2] Like other border passes along the India-Tibet border, it is not open for non-residents.^[3] Most people travelling between India and Tibet by land travel via Nepal.

Geography

Captain Robert Hamond, who travelled from Gartok to the Bashahr State via Shipki La in 1939, described his journey as follows:^[4]

The road from Tyak to Shipki is very dangerous and precipitous, sometimes consisting of a rather insecure scaffolding on the face of the cliff, hundreds of feet above the roaring torrent, and is suitable only for porters or goats as the path is often cut into the cliff and one has to bend double to proceed. After 4 miles there is a small village called Korang, and the Sutlej is crossed by bridge, the first since Toling. A mile farther on is Kiuk and, 3 miles past that, Shipki. ... The next day we found that it [our camp] was the other side of the village, and we passed it on our way to the Shipki La. This is the border village and there is a lumbardar (headman) here who speaks Urdu and can be very helpful. The Shipki La is 13,420 feet and is the border between Tibet and Bashahr State. As far as I know it is the lowest pass through the Himalaya and is open for a large part of the year: On the pass I rested and looked back to Tibet, just turning golden-brown in the morning sun. Above me towered the Leo Pargial, below me roared the Sutlej, and ahead of us was home and civilization.^[4]: 11

Sino-Indian trade

It was suggested NH 5 could be used as a route for land access to the Arabian Sea as the Karakoram Highway is much more treacherous for transport. This opening of the border at Shipki La is claimed to potentially increase trade on both sides of the border.^[5][1]