Discovering the Kibber Canyon

We are constantly amazed on things we stumble across on our journeys, whether it is good timing (lunching monklets, Hindu processions) – or by a casual conversation with someone. In this case an Indian motorcyclist mentioned a rope bridge beyond Kibber village that stopped wheeled transport to the next village Chenai.

We carried on climbing from our overnight stop at the Kye Monastry and arrived at the village of Kibber (at 4000m altitude). Mid afternoon we went looking for the said rope bridge. What we found was an amazing deep canyon cutting through the laid back rolling plateau we were on. The ‘rope’ bridge was a cage and cable way spanning the canyon walls near the concrete pillars of a ‘to be built’ bridge and once the bridge is built the villages will be 30 mins apart by vehicle instead of 4-5 hours as they are now.

On the other side of this stomach churning span were some local women gesticulating and calling out to us. Despite a lack of Hindi, Spitian, or hearng anything over that distance we figured they wanted us to release the cage rope – for some reason it was hooked up.

We helped pull them across, and then their mates and then asked if they would mind pulling us back if we took the ride out into the abyss. Smiling and happy they loaded us into the wee cage and let us roll – amazing views down to the river and a fun experience. While hanging out waiting to be pulled back we spotted a tenuous trail heading down into the canyon – maybe tomorrows misssion.

Before breakfast next morning we biked back to the canyon, deserted our bikes and followed the exciting trail down into the canyon bottom. We went down the old zig zag trail we had spied from our ride in the cage, then had to get wet feet to walk back to the newer trail that is a dry foot trail. We watched people take the cage across high above us.

What a wee gem of a discovery – and a nice thing to do before breakfast and our return to Kaza.

On the climb to Kibber - village in background is only accessible by cage or via the canyon
On the climb to Kibber – Chenai village in the background is only accessible by cage or via the canyon
Kibber Village at 4000m
Kibber Village at 4000m
The hidden canyon of Kibber
The hidden canyon of Kibber
The canyon downstream of the cage
The canyon downstream of the cage
Helping pull the second group of locals across
Helping pull the second group of locals across
Cage coming across the span - top third of photo
Cage coming across the span – top third of photo
View from cage - note zig zag trail centre of photo finishing in traverse heading right
View from cage – note zig zag trail centre of photo finishing in traverse heading right
Descending the old track into the canyon
Descending the old track into the canyon
People crossing in the cage high above us
People crossing in the cage high above us
Minus bike and shoes
Minus bike and shoes in planet canyon
Joining the old and new canyon tracks
Joining the old and new canyon tracks
Returning to the main Spiti valley
Returning to the main Spiti valley
Return to the Spiti valley and fields
Return to the Spiti valley and spring planting in the fields