Semo La

Semo La
Tibet S206 at Semo La
Elevation5,565.1 m (18,258 ft)
Traversed byTibet Provincial Road S206
LocationCoqen, Ngari, Tibet, China
RangeGangdise Shan, Transhimalaya, Tibetan Plateau
Coordinates30°06′36″N 85°25′54″E / 30.11000°N 85.43167°E / 30.11000; 85.43167
Semo La
Semo La
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese桑木拉大坂
Simplified Chinese桑木拉大坂
Literal meaningSemo La pass (dàbǎn is a Uyghur loanword for pass)
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu Pinyinsāngmù lā dàbǎn
Tibetan name
Tibetanབཟར་མོ་ལ
Transcriptions
Wyliebzar mo la

Semo La (Chinese: 桑木拉大坂; Standard Tibetan: བཟར་མོ་ལ) is a mountain pass situated in Coqên County, Ngari Prefecture in the central part of Tibet and gives access to the Changtang region. It is found on the so-called Northern Route, north of Raka and south of Town of Coqên in Central Tibet. Travellers use this route as an alternative access route to western Tibet and Mount Kailash, especially when mud makes access by the more southern route difficult.

The road crossing the pass was once an old unsurfaced track travelled only by a weekly bus and trucks heading west to avoid the boggy parts of the south of the country. The construction of paved road through the pass, Tibet Provincial Road S206, was finished in late 2015.