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Seven months after the Manali-Spiti highway was closed following a heavy snowfall at Kunzum pass, the highway has been partially opened for traffic on Tuesday. Perched at height of 15,050 feet, Kunzum pass, the gateway to Spiti valley of Himachal had received around 50 feet of snow this year. This pass is the only route to connect the Lahaul valley directly with Spiti division of the same district. Due to closure of the pass, residents of the district were forced to travel around 800 kilometres to reach the other end of same district covering Kinnaur, Shimla and Kullu districts. The Manali-Koksar-Batal-Kaza (Spiti) route is one of the widely used adventurous routes of the world. Every year thousands of backpackers, mostly trekkers, mountain bikers and mountaineers use the route to reach Chandertal Lake, Kibber, Losar, Hansa, Komic and Chango. World famous monasteries like Kye, Tabo, Dhankar are also in Spiti valley of Lahaul-Spiti district. The panoramic Manali-Spiti highway provides a majestic view of Himachal’s largest glacier Bara Sigri. As the Rohtang pass was restored on May 28, around a month late than usual, the Kunzum pass too has been restored around two weeks later than usual due to record snowfall in past 20 years. Kaza is a most preferred station of foreigners. The 412 km-long Shimla-Kaza highway remains open for traffic almost all the year but the main road to Kaza starts from Manali which remains closed for six months every year near Rohtang pass and Kunzum Pass. This route being closed till late June this year, Spiti has bear huge loss. “At least 20 feet high walls of snow are still protecting the edges of highway at Kunzum pass,” newly posted executive engineer at PWD Spiti division Vipin Kumar said who faced such working conditions for the first time. He