Shipki La

The pass that answers two questions at once. It is a trade route — one of the three designated India–China border-trade points, alongside Nathu La in Sikkim and Lipulekh in Uttarakhand — and it is a river gate: the Sutlej enters India here, having risen at Rakas Tal in Tibet.

The first Indian village below the pass is Namgia, and a few kilometres downstream at Khab the Spiti river joins the Sutlej. Candidates who remember only the height miss the point of the pass; what is asked is the combination — Kinnaur, Tibet, the Sutlej, and trade.