Himachal in Winter 4/ The feel of heaven in Jot

As Madanji parked the Xylo, I was dumbfounded. I was actually not ready to believe what I’m seeing in front of me. A layer of ice! We risked touring Himachal Pradesh in this extreme winter in order to see this snow only. Finally we are experiencing it.

As I stepped down from the car, I was even more awestruck. The snow-covered Himalayan ranges were almost calling me. No, these are not the Dhauladhar, they are the pirpanjal ranges of Kashmir.

We finally got to know the surprise which Madanji was talking about. It was totally an ‘out-of-syllabus’ destination for us.

Let me first explain the fact that why I called it as ‘out-of-syllabus’ destination?

Whenever we go out for a tour, we try to know about those places by reading guide books and also taking notes, if necessary. So when we reach that particular place, we don’t find to be totally an unknown one. We feel as if we have just read about it a while ago. But the place where we are now, the Jot Pass, is totally an unknown place for us.

We started our journey from Naddi at 7am sharp. Our destination is Chamba. If you ask the direction from Naddi to Chamba in GPS, it will show you the road through Banikhet (close to Dalhousie). The distance is around 150 kms in that road. But Madanji told us that if the road permits he would go through Jot Pass. In that case, the distance will come to almost 120 kms. But the main problem here is the road, which generally remains close in the winter due to snowfall. 

So how can we know whether the road is open or not?

Madanji said that there is a place named Lahiru.From Lahiru Chamba can be approached in both the roads. There we can ask anyone about the road.

Shortly after leaving Naddi, we almost came down to sea level. The roads once again became plain, and the mountains were nowhere to be seen. While having our breakfast in Draman, we got the primary information that Jot Pass is open. Still we thought Lahiru will give us a better answer.

“Jot khula hai?” asked Madanji at a tea shop in Lahiru.

“Ha khula hai, jaiye,” the shop owner replied.

Our xylo started its upward climb. The road condition was not good. It was very steep. Lahiru was around 2,000 feet. In about 20 kms we will reach around 7,500 feet. So you can imagine how much we had to climb. As we almost reached the topmost point, we could see snow which is peeping out from the forests. We realized that we could experience snow in Jot.  

Finally we reached Jot Pass. As I stepped down from the car, I saw that we are standing in snow itself. It snowed here twenty days ago that has hardened into rock now. There were chances to slipping if we get careless.

We were actually at the top of everything. But to be frank, unlike other mountain passes Jot is located at a relatively lower altitude. The Pass generally doesn’t remain open in the month of December due to snowfall, but since it snowed less that year, it was open.

 There a quite a few viewpoints in Jot. We targeted to visit maximum number of viewpoints. There were extensive cold winds. We were almost getting blown away by the wind. Overcoming the wind, we climbed a few steps to reach the first viewpoint. 

Himachal Tourism is slowly starting to promote Jot as a tourist destination. As a result they have constructed these viewpoints. One of the viewpoints provides excellent view of the pirpanjal while we could see the Manimahesh Kailash Peak in the other viewpoint. Encountering a snowy terrain we reached the topmost viewpoint. The wind was really pathetic with some ghostly sound.

read more:  Himachal in winter 3/ In the Dalai Land

There is small bugiyal here, just beneath the topmost viewpoint. The forest department has constructed fence all around this bugiyal. Just got the feeling that there will be hotels here very soon. More and more tourists will start to throng Jot Pass. 

We were so mesmerised by the beauty of pirpanjal ranges and the trees of Devdar, that we didn’t realise the clock was slowly ticking away. Madanji called us and reminded that we have to proceed towards Chamba now.

As I was progressing towards our car, I suddenly remembered what Madanji told when we were just about to reach Jot. He said, “jot mein aap ko pura jannat dikh jaega.” Really we could feel the heaven in Jot. 

How to Reach

You can visit Jot on your way to Chamba from Dharamshala. But you have to depend on car to reach Jot, as very few buses ply on this road. You can also visit Jot staying in Chamba. It is 26 kms from Chamba.

Where to stay?

There are no places of accommodation in Jot, though there a few homestays in the nearby villages. To visit Jot you have to stay in Chamba. Apart from many private hotels Himachal Tourism has two properties in Chamba- Iravati and Champak. You can book them through the portal of HPTDC, hptdc.in.