Chele La Pass

PeaksParo,Bhutan

The highest point any road in Bhutan reaches, a bare 3,988-metre saddle thick with tall prayer poles raised for the dead, Jomolhari on the skyline.

September·Quiet month

Aug–Sep

Nothing closes and the road stays open all monsoon, but August and early September sit under cloud and afternoon rain, the poppies are over and Jomolhari rarely shows; by late September the rain begins to pull back.

Year-round The manidhar flags, the wind and the drop into the Paro and Haa valleys are here every month; the flowers, the snow and the far snow peaks all come and go with the seasons.

Chele La is where the roads of Bhutan stop climbing. The saddle at the top, 3,988 metres up between the Paro and Haa valleys, carries thousands of tall white poles, and every one was planted for a person who died. The drive up leaves Paro in a long stack of hairpins through pine and rhododendron and comes out above the treeline with nothing on it but flags, a few stupas and the weather. From the tarmac the poles read as a texture laid over the ridge. Walking in among them, with the cloth snapping over your head, is what the drive is for. They are manidhar, raised a hundred and eight at a time for one death, each carrying a strip of cotton printed with mantras to the bodhisattva of compassion. The wind is understood to read them and carry the prayers on to the dead. On a clear dawn the northern lip of the saddle gives you the other thing. Jomolhari, 7,326 metres, and the spire of Jichu Drake stand out over the treeline. It is a skyline you can find but not stand on: Bhutan holds its high summits as the houses of gods and closed them to climbers. Cloud usually rises out of the valleys and takes both peaks by lunch. The air is clearest in October and November, once the monsoon has washed the dust out. Below the treeline the slopes burn with rhododendron in April and May, and blue poppies open among the rocks at the foot of the poles in June and July. A path drops off the ridge and takes you down through fir and juniper to Kila Goenpa: seven small temples and a row of retreat huts wedged into a cliff above the Paro valley. Nuns have held that ledge since the ninth century. Over the far side the road falls into Haa, which stayed shut to foreign visitors longer than any other valley in Bhutan, until 2002. Nothing up here is ever taken down. The flags are left to fray and bleach and rot off their poles, because the wind is still reading them.

Worth knowing

Good to know

Come up early — the ridge is usually clear at dawn and fogged in by mid-afternoon, and Jomolhari tends to show itself on clear mornings and be gone by lunch.
The saddle stands more than 1,500 metres above Paro — breathlessness and headaches are common at this height, so walk the ridge slowly and turn back if you start feeling worse.
Snow and ice close the road — from about late December to February the climb is the first route out of Paro to shut, so ask your driver before you commit the day to it.
You cannot go alone — Bhutan requires every foreign visitor to travel with a licensed guide and pay a nightly Sustainable Development Fee, and the pass is a standard half-day add-on from Paro.

Things to do

1
Walk into the forest of memorial flags
Thousands of poles crowd the saddle so thickly that the ridge reads as a texture from the road. Walking in among them, with the cloth snapping overhead, is the pass's defining half-hour, and each pole was planted for a particular person. A cluster of stupas and hand-turned prayer wheels sits just below the crest.
2
Scan the north skyline for the peaks nobody may climb
Walk to the northern lip of the saddle on a clear dawn and pick the two great summits out over the treeline: Jomolhari, at 7,326 metres, and the needle of Jichu Drake. Bhutan banned mountaineering above 6,000 metres, so this is a skyline you can find but no one is allowed to stand on. Come early — the cloud usually rises out of the valleys and swallows both by lunch.
3
Drive the switchbacks to the top of Bhutan's road network
The road climbs out of Paro through pine and rhododendron in a long stack of hairpins and tops out above the treeline, higher than any other road in the country. From the saddle you can trace the far side of it dropping west in the same folds into the Haa valley.
4
Walk off the ridge to the cliff nunnery at Kila Goenpa
A footpath leaves the pass and drops through fir and juniper to Kila Goenpa, where seven small temples and a row of retreat huts are wedged into a cliff face above the Paro valley. Nuns have kept the ledge as a meditation site since the 9th century. The walk down takes one to three hours and ends on the road, where drivers wait.

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Nearby

14 km