NDA (II) 2024 General Ability Test · Question 105 of 141

Correct — C, 1 and 2 only. Zoji La lies in the Great Himalayan range (pair 1 correct), and the Banihal Pass lies in the Pir Panjal range (pair 2 correct). Pair 3 fails on the usual reading because Fotu La (Photu La) — the highest point on the Srinagar-Leh highway — sits in the Zaskar (Zanskar) Range, not the Ladakh Range; and pair 4 fails because Khardung La, about 40 km north of Leh, is on the Ladakh Range, not the Karakoram. So only the first two pairs are correctly matched. This item is genuinely contested — some published keys mark it (a) '2 only' or (d) '1, 2 and 3'; that split, and why, is set out below.

• (a)2 only — This drops pair 1, but Zoji La is genuinely in the Great Himalayan range, so pair 1 is also correct. (This is the option the raw store chose, treating Zoji La's range attribution more strictly.)
• (b)4 — Pair 4 is wrong — Khardung La is on the Ladakh Range, not the Karakoram — so '4' cannot be the correctly-matched set.
• (d)1, 2 and 3 — This over-counts by including pair 3. Fotu La is normally assigned to the Zaskar (Zanskar) Range, not Ladakh — though some sources, including Wikipedia's own Fotu La infobox, do list it under the Ladakh Range, which is exactly why some keys accept this option.

The western Himalayas run in roughly parallel ranges; from south-west to north-east they are the Pir Panjal, the Great Himalayas (with the Zaskar/Zanskar Range branching off), the Ladakh Range, and the Karakoram. Passes sit on particular ranges: Banihal on the Pir Panjal, Zoji La on the Great Himalayas, Fotu La on the Zaskar Range, Khardung La on the Ladakh Range, and passes such as the Karakoram Pass and Saser La on the Karakoram.

The difficulty is that range boundaries in Ladakh are drawn slightly differently across sources — Fotu La in particular is variously placed in the Zaskar or the Ladakh Range, and that single ambiguity is what splits the published keys three ways. The two unambiguous pairs are Zoji La-Great Himalayas and Banihal-Pir Panjal, which is why the strongest defensible answer is 'both of those, and no more'.

• Zoji La (~3,528 m) — Great Himalayan range; on the Srinagar-Leh road, links the Kashmir Valley with the Dras/Suru valleys.
• Banihal Pass (~2,832 m) — Pir Panjal range; historically carried the Jammu-Srinagar road (Jawahar Tunnel opened beneath it in 1956).
• Fotu La / Photu La (~4,108 m) — usually assigned to the Zaskar (Zanskar) Range; the highest point on the Srinagar-Leh highway.
• Khardung La (~5,359 m) — Ladakh Range, about 40 km north of Leh (NOT the Karakoram).
• True Karakoram passes include the Karakoram Pass and Saser La.

• Fotu La's contested range — Zaskar vs Ladakh — which is exactly what makes this item disputed.
• Assuming the very high Khardung La must be in the Karakoram; it is on the Ladakh Range.

Match a Himalayan pass to its range — watch the Ladakh / Zaskar / Karakoram mix-ups.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Which pass on the Srinagar-Leh road, in the Great Himalayan range, links the Kashmir Valley with Ladakh?

  • (a)Banihal Pass
  • (b)Zoji La
  • (c)Khardung La
  • (d)Rohtang Pass

  Answer(b) Zoji La — in the Great Himalayas, connecting the Kashmir Valley with the Dras/Suru valleys.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Khardung La, about 40 km north of Leh, lies in which mountain range?

  • (a)Karakoram Range
  • (b)Ladakh Range
  • (c)Pir Panjal Range
  • (d)Zaskar Range

  Answer(b) Ladakh Range — not the Karakoram, despite its great height.