Thomas Manning, the first Englishman to reach Lhasa, visited Pagri from 21September until 5November 1811 and had this to say about his room in the town: "Dirt, dirt, grease, smoke. Misery, but good mutton."[5][4] The Pagri Fortress (Dzong) was located here and was important for the government as it stood between Tibet and Bhutan. Pagri was a staging area en route to Gyantse and ultimately Lhasa.
Phari Dzong in 1903 during British Younghusband invasion of Tibet
Phari Dzong, 1938
"Phari Dzong" sheet- topographic map printed by the US Army Map Service, Corps of Engineers, February, 1963
Climate
Owing to its extreme altitude, Pagri has an alpine climate (KöppenETH) that is too cold to permit the growth of trees, even though the altitude is still marginally too low for the formation of permafrost. Example Mount Fuji in Japan, Uelen in Russia and Longyearbyen in Svalbard Norway. The winter is severe in spite of the fact that no month has daytime maxima below 0 °C (32 °F), and also very dry and long, extending as late as May. Snowfall, however, is rare because of the dryness. Summers, during which the great majority of precipitation occurs, are cool even at their warmest and consistently damp, even though the Himalayas prevent falls from ever being heavy.
Climate data for Phari, elevation 4,300 m (14,100 ft), (1991–2020 normals, extremes 1971–2020)
