OVERVIEW :
Spiti Valley is situated in the northeastern part of Himachal Pradesh. It is a cold desert valley and located at an average elevation of 12,500 feet at the core Himalayas. The meaning of the name Spiti is- “The Middle Land.” The name of this valley is related to the geographical fact that it is in the middle between India and Tibet. The other interesting fact about this valley is - It is the least populated area in India. The population density is very low,i.e., 2 Inhabitants/ Square Kilometer. Earlier the whole region was divided into two parts as Lahaul district & Spiti district. Later they merged into one Lahaul-Spiti in 1960. The administrative headquarter of this region is Keylong. The whole area is stretched in 13,833 Sq. Km.
High Himalayan mountains surround the whole area. The Kunzum Pass cuts off Lahaul and Spiti at the elevation of 15,059 feet above sea level, which makes it amazing. Here the dominant religion is Buddhism and is similar to Buddhism followed in Ladakh and Tibet. During Winters, Spiti remains cut off from the rest of India for eight months due to heavy snowfall and harsh climatic conditions. This area experiences snowstorms for some brief time, especially from November to June, but due to the efforts of the Border Road Organization again, roads were restored.