Darma valley about 2,530 m
Sela Village, Darma valley: Height, Weather and the Road
Sela is a village in the Darma valley of Pithoragarh district, at about 2,530 m, 52 km by road from Dharchula. Grid power reached Sela under Vibrant Villages in November 2024, starting with one household.
Amar Ujala, 17 Nov 2024
Sela in numbers
- Height
- about 2,530 m (8,300 ft)
- Valley
- Darma valley, Pithoragarh district
- From Dharchula
- 52 km by road
- From Pithoragarh
- 141 km by road
- From Delhi
- 620 km by road
- Coldest month, January
- −8 to 5 °C
- Warmest month, June
- 11 to 19 °C
- Nights below freezing
- 154 a year
- Wettest month, July
- 630 mm of rain
- Stays listed here
- None found
Is the Darma valley road open now?
As of
Open in winter: the road to Dantu is driven by 4x4, with families in the villages
- Winter
- Families stay on in Dantu and Dugtu through the winter, and the road from Dharchula is driven in local 4x4s with hill drivers, in snow. Our Panchachuli Base Camp Expedition stays at Darma 360 in Dantu every Friday to 18 December, and at Christmas, 22 to 28 December. (Adi Kailash Explore's team in Darma, 6 November 2026)
- The road
- The road from Sobla reaches Dugtu and Dantu. It reopened on 8 September 2026, light vehicles first, after the monsoon had cut the valley off on 5 September. Earlier this year it closed for an avalanche between Baling and Dugtu (2 April) and for rockfalls at Pangbawe (7 to 9 June, 21 July). (Amar Ujala, 8 September 2026; Amar Ujala, 5 September 2026; Amar Ujala, 3 April 2026; Amar Ujala, 10 June 2026)
- Permits
- The district's online permit covers Adi Kailash and Om Parvat only, and no official rule for Darma is published. Reports differ on whether Indian travellers need one for Darma: carry government photo ID, and ask us for your dates. (The district's permit portal, checked 21 October 2026; AajTak, 14 June 2026; ETV Bharat, 3 April 2026)
The position changes with the weather and the district's orders. Ask us on WhatsApp where it stands today
The whole valley, its homestays and how to reach it: the Darma Valley guide
Weather in Sela now, and the next 7 days
The forecast is for the village's own height, refreshed through the day. Highs and lows are in °C; times are IST.
Selaabout 2,530 m
5°CClear
Now, 18:58 IST · wind 2 km/h
- Clear6° 2°Dry
- Light rain showers12° 0°2.8 mm
- Light rain showers10° −2°1.4 mm
- Mostly clear11° −5°Dry
- Light rain10° −2°0.8 mm
- Clear13° 0°Dry
- Mostly clear13° 2°Dry
Forecast for about 2,530 m, updated . Data from MET Norway (CC BY 4.0); the daily figures are worked out by us.
The valley's weather, 10 days ahead and by month: Darma Valley weather
Weather in Sela by month
Sela is coldest in January, when days reach 5 °C and nights fall to −8 °C on average; June is the warmest month, 19 °C by day and 11 °C at night. Nights drop below freezing about 154 times a year, on most nights from November to March. Snow falls on about 27 days a year, mostly from December to March. The monsoon brings 630 mm of rain in July; November and December are the driest months, with 27 and 40 mm.
| Month | Day °C | Night °C | Rain mm | Snow days | Frost nights |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 5 | −8 | 107 | 11 | 30 |
| February | 6 | −7 | 125 | 9 | 27 |
| March | 9 | −4 | 103 | 4 | 27 |
| April | 14 | 1 | 79 | 0 | 12 |
| May | 17 | 5 | 99 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 19 | 11 | 263 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 19 | 14 | 630 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 18 | 14 | 587 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 18 | 10 | 228 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 15 | 3 | 49 | 0 | 7 |
| November | 11 | −1 | 27 | 0 | 22 |
| December | 8 | −5 | 40 | 3 | 29 |
The road to Sela
Sela is 52 km by road from Dharchula, 141 km from Pithoragarh, 326 km from Haldwani and 620 km from Delhi, measured on OpenStreetMap's road network.
Where to stay in Sela
We have not found a listed stay in Sela itself; the nearest listed stays are at Nagling. Ask us on WhatsApp for where travellers sleep on this road.
Worth knowing about Sela
- In 1991 an army team walked 19 km from the Sobla road head to Sela. (Himalayan Journal 48)
Near Sela
The nearest places on the map, as the crow flies; the road is longer.
- Nagling, Darma valley, about 2,900 m: 4.7 km away
- Dar, Darma valley, about 2,100 m: 8.7 km away
- Baling, Darma valley, about 3,120 m: 8.8 km away
- Sobla, Darma valley, about 1,870 m: 9.2 km away
- Bon, Darma valley, about 3,260 m: 11.7 km away
- Son, Darma valley, about 3,200 m: 12.6 km away
- Dantu, Darma valley, about 3,150 m: 13.3 km away
- Go, Darma valley, about 3,200 m: 14.1 km away
Expedition 01, our 4x4 convoy from Delhi from 13 to 19 November 2026, drives this road.
Questions travellers ask about Sela
Sela stands at about 2,530 m (8,300 ft) above sea level, read from a 90 m elevation model at its map point.
52 km by road, measured on OpenStreetMap; from Delhi it is 620 km and from Haldwani 326 km.
Sela is coldest in January, when days reach 5 °C and nights fall to −8 °C on average; June is the warmest month, 19 °C by day and 11 °C at night. Nights drop below freezing about 154 times a year, on most nights from November to March.
Yes: snow falls on about 27 days a year, mostly from December to March, on the 1991 to 2020 averages.
We have not found a listed stay in Sela itself; the nearest listed stays are at Nagling. Ask us on WhatsApp for where travellers sleep on this road.
How we made this page
Every figure here comes from data and is filled in each time the page is built: the map point from OpenStreetMap node/6520244473 ('Sela'); the height from Copernicus GLO-90 via Open-Meteo at the point, rounded to 10 m (stop-altitudes.mjs); road distances from OpenStreetMap through the OSRM router; the weather from the Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis, 1991 to 2020, through Open-Meteo, set to the height of the place. If anything here is out of date, tell us on WhatsApp and we will correct it.
About Adi Kailash Explore
Adi Kailash Explore (adikailash.io) is a tour operator based in Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand, that specialises in one route: Adi Kailash and Om Parvat, the Darma valley and Munsiyari. It runs departures from Delhi, Haldwani and Pithoragarh, and its team files the Inner Line Permit for every Adi Kailash traveller at SDM Dharchula. It is recognised by Uttarakhand Tourism, certified by MSME, Govt. of India (UDYAM-UK-09-0012927) and verified on the NIDHI Portal, and was founded by Vinay Verma. Why travel with us
