The base camp for the Milam Glacier — 5 peaks above 6,000m visible from the main market, Bhotiya weaving villages, and the most remote valley in Kumaon Uttarakhand
Munsiyari is a small hill town at the head of the Johar Valley in Pithoragarh district of Kumaon Uttarakhand — at 2,200m on a high ridge overlooking the junction of the Gori Ganga and Sesar rivers, with a direct view of five Himalayan peaks above 6,000m including Panchachuli (the 'Five Hearths' — five summits of 6,334m, 6,904m, 6,312m, 6,334m, and 6,437m visible as a line of snowcapped summits from the Munsiyari market). The town is the last settlement before the restricted zone of the Johar Valley — the traditional trade route between India and Tibet via the Milam Glacier and the Unta Dhura…
The Johar Valley and Munsiyari were the heartland of the Shauka (Bhotiya) people — trans-Himalayan traders who made the seasonal crossing between the Kumaon foothills and Tibet twice annually (spring and autumn) for several centuries before 1962, carrying wool and salt from Tibet and grain, sugar, and manufactured goods back. The 1962 Sino-Indian War and the closure of the border eliminated this trade economy overnight; the Shauka families of the Johar Valley lost their primary livelihood and many migrated to the Indian plains. The remaining families diversified into wool weaving (for the Ind…