Miyar Mufflers is an enterprise based high up in an isolated valley in Lahaul in the Northwest Himalayas where local women hand knit intricate, warming mufflers with lanoline-rich wool from their mountain sheep.

Its founder, Christina Noble, first visited  the Miyar Valley in 1974 exploring new routes for her trekking company. Entranced by the beauty of the Buddhist villages and embraced by the warmth of welcome by people, it is a place to which Christina, her family and her friends, have returned to regularly over many years.

Miyar Valley nestles on the far side of the Pir Pinjal range. Over the centuries people braved glacier crossings and the high passes of the Great Himalaya range to meet and trade with Zankskar and Ladakh to the North rather than with the plains of India.

Life here at altitudes of over 3,000 metres is hard. Wool, both yaks’ and sheep, has been  important to survive the cold and also as an export. But in recent times demand for raw wool has declined, contributing to the fragility of the farmers’ livelihoods.

The Rohtang tunnel, opened in 2020, now helps connect Miyar to Kullu Valley and the South. It  brings both opportunities and threats, Miyar Mufflers is a response to this.  Together with the women of  the Mahila Mandals (women’s organisations) in Urgos and Tchaling villages, Christina created an enterprise that combines the use of local wool with spinning and knitting skills to create warm and irresistible scarves and throws.