Looking towards Jelep La and the wool road

Jelep La was the great trade pass of this frontier. The route ran from Kalimpong through Pedong, Rhenock and Rongli, up past Zuluk and Nathang to Kupup, then over Jelep La into the Chumbi Valley and on to Lhasa. The British started a cart road to the pass in 1884, and by the early 20th century Kalimpong was the market where Tibetan wool met Indian buyers. Mule trains carried wool south and cloth, tools and grain north.

The pass also carried history. In 1888 Tibetan troops were pushed back over it after the fighting at Gnathang. Younghusband's expedition used it in 1903–04. In 1910 the 13th Dalai Lama crossed it in flight from Chinese troops, staying almost two years in Darjeeling and Sikkim. After the 1962 war it was closed, and unlike Nathu La it has not reopened for trade. Talk of reopening it comes up from time to time, but nothing has changed on the ground.

You cannot go to Jelep La; it is a closed border pass. From the Kupup area your driver can point out the ridge it crosses on the Dongkya Range. Below it lies Menmecho Lake, the source of the Rangpo Chu, which is also closed to tourists. Stand for a few minutes, look north-east, and picture a line of mules with bells on the slope, the drivers wrapped in wool against the same wind you feel.