GREAT WORRIERS OF HUNZA

Comondo Muhammad Ayub Shaheed laid to rest in Hunza Pakistan

HUNZA, October 13: Muhammad Ayub of the Zarar company of Special Service Group (SSG) who was martyred in encounter with terrorists during the siege of GHQ Rawalpindi were laid to rest with military honours in his native village Haiderabad Hunza on Tuesday. Ayub was 30 years old and married two years back. He had a one and half year old daughter. His younger brother was also seriously wounded in Swat Operation against the Taliban.

The corpse of the martyred was brought to Karimabad Hunza through an Army helicopter where hundreds of people from all over Hunza along with the representatives of local administration received it.


Addressing to a huge gathering the speakers said that Ayub has added a new chapter in the history of the bravery of the people of Hunza. Colonel Feroz, Station Commander Pakistan Army said that about 30 soldiers from Gilgit-Baltistan have sacrificed their lives during the Swat operation. His heart is with the shaheed’s family, he added. Dr. Inamullah Baig while representing the bereaved family thanked Pakistan Army and the Government of Pakistan for providing all possible facilitation to bring the corpse to Hunza. He said the people of Hunza are always at the front line to defend the motherland.

Later senior civil and military officials beside large number of citizens participated in the funeral prayer of the martyrs. The floral wreaths were laid on the grave on the part of Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, President Asif Ali Zardari and regiment.

Talking to media, the father of Shaheed Ayub, Ex Hawaldar Muhammad Ismail said “he is lucky that his son has embraced the noble status of Shahadat while defending the motherland”. He said Ayub has followed the footstep of his grandfather who embraced Shahadat 1948. The brother of the shaheed said he will follow the footstep of his elder brother and will soon join his regiment after recovering from the injuries got during Swat Operation. He had also taken part in lal masjid operation.












NAZIR SABIR A GREAT MOUNTAINEER
  

Nazir Sabir

Nazir Sabir is a Pakistani mountaineer. He was born in Ramanji a small hamlet in Chiporsun, upper Hunza known as Gojal. He is the only Pakistani to have climbed Mount Everest and four of the five 8000m peaks in Pakistan, including the world’s second highest peak K2 in 1981, Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak in 1982, Gahserbrum 1( Hidden Peak 8068m ) in 1992 and he became the first climber from Pakistan to have summitted Everest on May 17, 2000 with Mountain Madness Everest Expedition led by Christine Boskoff of the USA.

Climbing career

Nazir started off his climbing career with a Japanese expedition to the 7284m Passu peak in Hunza in 1974. In 1975 he was part of a German Expedition as a trainee that attempted Nanga Parbat (8125m) and only went to 6700m up the S W Ridge. On July 17 1976 he made the first ascent of 6660m virgin Paiyu followed by Col. Manzoor Hussain and Major Bashir with the first Alpine Club Expedition.

In 1977 Nazir Sabir joined the largest Japan/Pakistan joint expedition to K2, attempting the traditional South East Abruzzi ridge. It was a huge expedition, using bottled Oxygen; this team had an army of 1500 porters and 52 members. However Nazir Sabir’s first assault team including four Japanese had to turn back due to snow storms from 8280m. Another attempt with the same team had to be abandoned again from 8150m when they had to come down searching for two missing colleagues who were found alive below C4. However they put six members of the team on the summit making the second ascent of K2.

Till then only two mountaineers of the 1954 successful Italian expedition had stepped on the K2 Summit. Nazir Sabir got the chance to climb K2 in 1981 by accompanying a Japanese Waseda University Expedition to K2 attempting the West and South West ridge rather than the usual Abruzzi ridge. The Duke of Abruzzi had, in 1909, surveyed K2 from all its sides. He felt that K2 could only be assailed from the South West ridge, which was to be named Abruzzi Ridge. The route to the Wes/North West Ridges of K2 is via Savoia Glacier. This is north of Godwin Austen Glacier and the traditional K2 Base Camp. It involves a difficult grade, ice and rock climb at higher elevations with winds at 100+ km/h. In 1978 the famous British climber Chris Bonnington made his first attempt on this route. Nick Estcourt, part of this team, was swept to his death by a slab avalanche above their Camp I.

Nazir, followed by Eiho Otani, reached the K2 summit on 7 August 1981. Nazir created history by successfully climbing K2's W/South West Ridge for the first time. He was the second Pakistani to stand on K2 summit and first via this route. A documentary film of the climb, "50 Day Struggle" shown all over Japan, made Nazir Sabir a house hold name in Japan. In due course Nazir had also picked up Japanese language and could speak it fluently.

Nazir Sabir in 1982, along with Sher Khan climbed with the famous Italian mountaineer Reinhold Messner and scaled Broad Peak (8047 m) and Gasherbrum II (8035 m) in one attempt. Both Gasherbrum II and Broad Peak were done in Alpine style in a period of just one week the fastest ascent of two 8000m peaks at that time!

Expeditions to the Killer Nanga Parbat

He made three attempts on Nanga Parbat. His first was in October 1981, two months after his great success on K2 when he joined his friends from the Sangaku Doshikai Club Tokyo lead by M. Omiya. They followed the First serious attempt route of A F Mummery. Nanga Parbat claimed its first of many victims when Mummery and two Gorkha Sherpas were killed by an avalanche. Nazir and the Japanese abandoned due to the heavy crevasses on lower part of the Diamir Glacier and avalanches after heavy snow fall that autumn.

Then he challenged the SS West side also known as Schell Route of Nanga on the Rupal flank in 1983 with Tohokeiryo Kai Club friends. As he was leading a pitch up a chest deep snow face around 7200m he fell 400 meters on top an avalanche along with seven Japanese colleagues nearly to the bottom of the face but barely survived as he stopped only 20m from the edge. One of the team members Shimura fell some 2000m down the face never to be found again. Nazir ended up with bruises all over the body and a sprained ankle while the team doctor Dr. Arai and Wakutsu had one broken arm each and the expedition leader Osamu Kunii had four ribs broken. Kunii also had a deep cut across his belly by the friction of the rope showing his intestines. The mountain took its toll and the expedition had to be abandoned.

Nazir lured his old time friend and one of the most accomplished Himalayan Climbers Doug Scott and his team to go on the same route of Nanga Parbat. Doug Scott , his son Michael, Aliester and Nazir free climbed and dashed to 7150m in a two day push from Base Camp at 3600. Doug got ill at the second bivouac around the same spot where they were swept with an avalanche in 1983 and had to abandon the Killer Mountain yet again.
Death of Brother

In July 1980, Nazir Sabir lost his elder brother, who servesd in the Pakistan Army SSG(Marines). He along with Shaukat Nazir Hamdani and Rasheed were buried under an ice avalanche while attempting Diran 7527m on this Army SSG Expedition while waiting out a bad weather spell in camp-3 thus ending the hopes of Nazir and his brother to climb Broad Peak the following year and many mountains together. The Expedition was lead by the famous Brig TM.

Everest Expeditions

Nazir Sabir’s attempt on the Everest leading the first Pakistan Expedition of ten plus a film team in 1997 resulted in failure due to very strong winds blowing across the summit ridge from 8630m on his first attempt and again from above 8500m on his two other summit bids he had to return with his five colleagues due to strong blizzards.

But on 17 May 2000, climbing in the company of his Nepalese Sherpa team and a Canadian on a full moon night to avoid high winds he reached Everest summit at 0730 hours becoming the first from Pakistan to get to the roof of the world. He first paid tribute to his many dead friends on the higher ground of Everest including Scott Fischer, Rob Hall, Ube Akira, Kobayashi, Yasuo Kato, Futagami and many more who gave their lives in love of these eternal higher heavens.

While waiting for Ben Webster of Canada and two other Sherpas he went on enjoying the most splendid moments of his life with his two Sherpa colleagues taking video shots of Ben and others climbing the last part of the summit ridge and the magical surroundings against the backdrop of the much blessed early morning sun approaching from behind 8462m Makalu, 5th highest mountain in the world.

He spoke to the base camp and sent the message of humbleness and happiness back home and to his closest friends who were watching his progress and counting steps up the last part of the mountain as he climbed through the clear night winds. He received hundreds of messages from across the country and the globe including that of Benazir Bhutto who was second to send in her congratulations from London where she lived at the time.

Political career

As a reward for years of services rendered to the people of Hunza, Nazir was elected as their representative to the Northern Area Legislative Council in the October 1994 elections and appointed Advisor on Education and Tourism to the government. Campaigning for the Hunza seat in the 1994 elections for the Northern Area Assembly, for a five year term, he defeated his opponent from the traditional Mir of Hunza family with a wide margin. He was appointed as Advisor on Education and Tourism for the Northern Area. He has remained a member of the Northern Areas Legislative Council and Education Advisor of the administration of the Northern Areas of Pakistan.

Honours and as environmentalist

For his outstanding achievements he earned the prestigious President’s Award for Pride-of-Performance [1] in 1982 and was honored with The Sitara-i-Imtiaz (Star of Excellence) in 2001 for his outstanding performance in mountaineering sports. His latest honour is the Presidentship of the Alpine Club of Pakistan, to which he was elected unanimously on October 10, 2004 and again for another term in 2007. Presently he heads the Alpine Club of Pakistan, which trains and prepares men and women from all around Pakistan to become climbers. Nazir Sabir is currently working as an environmentalist on the conservation of wildlife in his native Hunza Valley and across Nothern Pakistan including the Baltoro Glacier region. He is involved on the conservation 0f the 5000 years old world heritage of Juniper forests in Ziarat Balochistan in collaboration with the Chiltan Adventure. He has also been raising voice on environmental matters in the Siachen Glacier region and across the Karaakoram belt, opposing the Polo Tournaments at Shandur Pass and the Babusar Pass that is polluting the serene environment and is against the animal rights.

Business career

Nazir Sabir is operating an an adventure travel oufit which he is running under the name of "Nazir Sabir Expeditions" and is known for reliable adventure business. He has been actively involved in promoting Pakistan as a unique tourism destination " The Best Kept Secret " in South Asia and has traveled extensively around the world lecturing on the country’s cultural, historical and adventure potential.

International events

On the invitation of UIAA/IUCN (www.uiaa.ch/iucn/) he participated in the Indo Pakistan and UK Peace Climb in the Swiss Alps in 2002, organized to focus attention on environmental degradation in the Siachen Glacier area due to the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan.

He also attended the Int’l Congress on “Future of Mountain Sports” (www.mountainfuture.at) at Innsbruck (Austria) in 2002, centennial celebrations of American Alpine Club Salt Lake City in 2002, Sagarmatha Golden Jubilee celebrations in Kathmandu Nepal in 2003.

For over two decades he has been representing Pakistan and delivered lectures on the tourism potential of Pakistan at international forums and Alpine Clubs in Japan,USA, Australia, UK, Germany, Austria, Canada, Nepal, South Korea, Hong Kong, Tajikistan, Poland, Slovakia, Malaysia France and Italy. He was invited to be a jury member at the Banff Mountain Film Festival Canada in 1996, Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival (VIMFF) in 2002, Bratislava Mountain Film Festival in 2002, and was invited as chief guest at the Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival in 2006. He also participated at the Trento Mountain Film Festival in 2003.

As a photojournalist and naturalist Nazir Sabir has in his archives a collection of over 5000 slides of mountains and the culture surrounding them and he goes around doing promotional slide talks at universities and different platforms in Pakistan and around the globe.

Tales of Hunza

Tale of Shoon Gokur and Hoke Mamoo

There have been two significant (Shaman) bitans (sooth sayers/ divine sayers) in Hunza. Whose divine sayings have been presented as certificates of tales by our elders? One of the happening by these two Bitans which has been famous in the area is that during spring season both of these two soothsayers (Shoon Gukur and Hoke Mamoo) were brought to Altit village for dance in public gathering. While dancing they get into the state of mind where they can foresee and predict on coming events. Suddenly their eye sight caught an Aboque (multi colored cow) coming down from Karigadi Padi (a narrow steep way down from Baltit village to Altit. It is a far distanced from Altit polo ground where the public gathered.
O brother, “this cow has given birth to a calf” Shoon Gukur addressed to Hoke Mamo.

Yes! Hoke Mamoo nodded and added that this calf has a white dot at his fore head. Shon Gukur replied denying that its tail is white and attached with head so looks white. But Hoke Mamao was not ready to accept keeping his own will. Both of them went back to their houses.

The cow was owned by a farmer who was from Altit. Now both of bitans (sooth sayers) have to wait to the birth of calf at last cow gave birth to a calf and it was cleared that the end tail of calf was really in white color. So here the divination of Shoon Gukur was true and Hoke Mamo was defeated. People appreciated their knowledge and accepted both of them.

Monalum Dadoo

This tale relates to a person named Faqir. He had a son “Darbasho” who was a shepherd and his whole life had been in Shishper( meadow/pasture of Dirameting tribe) with his cattle herd. One day Darbasho was on his routine at a pasture with cattle. He took a nap on grass while cattle were grazing. He slept there and was enjoying, that he overheard some gossip with some voices.

Hello! Hello! 

He waked up suddenly and looked around him. A virgin girl was standing besides looking at him. “My father ordered me to reach here and you are ordered to follow me”, she said. Darbasho had no courage to ask that whose daughter is she and where she is taking him. He stood up unknowingly and followed her. They got Hanoman Moen which is a place in the middle at hill side. At beneath the hill a door was opening and the girl entered as Darbadsho followed her. When he entered the door a heavey /gaint with golden moustaches was sitting on a large bench.

There were a lot of virgins around him holding sitars (guitars) in their hands. They gave him protocol and the man nodded positively. He ordered to play stars, as they obey him and played a sweet rhythm. Giant man ordered Darbasho to dance, but he refused it. The giant man encouraged him not to worry that he is his grand pa. These all are my daughters and one of them is my wife. I had married with grant mother to Kasar (a person). The house where you are is my old palace said the giant man. Now you should dance with out any fear and tear. He danced and sat down. Monalum Dado ordered his wife to serve him the fat of ibex with Diram fiti (sweetbread) and asked him to eat. When he had the meal, Monalum Dado ordered one of his daughters to replace him from where he was picked. One of virgin brought him to Hanoman Moen where his herd of cattle was grazing still. Darbasho can’t courage to ask any word.

At evening he backed to his station where his other fellow shepherdess staying. Darbasho got unconscious reaching there. His fellows fetched water and treated and brought him back to conscious. The fellows inquired about the reason of his unconsciousness. Darbasho told all the story to them, the dance the meal and girls. This is a tale of old days, coming orally from one to other generations. Monalum Dado was a habitant of Shishper Nalah.

He got married with the grand mother of Kisar. The marriage said about, that one day grand mother asked to Kisar that either he liked to marry with “Bubuli” princes. I have listened that there is a man in Shishpar Nalah with golden mustaches. Bring him to me so we both would be married.

To fulfill the demand of his grand mother he went to the giant man at his residence. Because of Kisar a heavenly body and Kisar went directly there. He brought him at his shoulders. His grand mom was waiting on her roof of the house bothering her self. When she saw his grand son taking Monalum Dado she hurried happily to get down, but fell down from ladder. She broke her ribs and became ill. The treatment continued and when she fully healed, she married with Monalum Dado as Kisar too with Bubuli.After that in far years shepherded do listening a heavenly voice from Hanoman Moen in Shisper Nalah (Hassan Abad Hunza).

Quli Laskir and Danglathes (fairy) of Haring Gashang

It is said that Quli Laskir was a brave man and he was ready to stand against any calamity or disaster without any fear. One day it was Quli laskirs turn to water his fields during the night. So he set out to his fields, it was totally dark and he was alone but it was no any dread to Quli laskir. He was busy in watering his fields and was thinking difficult to change water from one to other field. During this time he saw a light in a far area, which was twinkling. After some time the light started coming towards him far from Gashig (a spot where fairy lived). As the light came close to him, Quli laskir surprised that what it is. When this light got close to him it changed its physic into a devil. No any where to him run away, because he was born to compete like these devils. Now he was in a range and attacked at once with out looking here or there. Both were fought for a long time and Quli laskir drag down the devil and griped over it. He took his knife which was tied with a strip at his waist and hit at the chest of devil without wasting the time.

Now he got courage and imagined that it had been end of disaster. Now he saw beneath nothing was under his feet. He searched around him but it was totally safe now, he couldn’t found any clue of devil. At last he thought that devil had disappeared, he abused the devil thinking the delay of disaster and minded his own way. When he completed watering his fields he came back to his house. It was some time to morning so he slept thinking till morning. In the morning he got up and told all the story happened with him during the night. In the rounded field he and fairy fought and he defeated Danglathes(a liknd of devil) and hit with his knife (khanjar). He told to his house members to see and bring his knife which would be dipped in the ground there. If the knife is not dipped in the ground it means he defeated by the devil. When house members saw in field it was really the knife was dipped in ground and the area was graved. Now Quli Laskir became popular in the whole area that he killed the Danglathes

Hunza photo Gallery

Mountains of Hunza

K2

K2 is the second-highest mountain on Earth. It is located in the Karakoram segment of the Himalayan range, on the border between the Gilgit-Baltistan region of Pakistan and the Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County of Xinjiang, China. However, those who climb K2 must acquire entry via Pakistan as the Chinese side is inaccessible.

Chinese authorities officially refer to K2 as Qogir; simplified Chinese: ; traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: Qiáogēlǐ Fēng. This name is derived from Chogori, a synthetic name made up by Western explorers early in the 20th century from two Balti words, chhogo ('big') and ri ('mountain').Other names include Mount Godwin-Austen,Lamba Pahar ("Tall Mountain", Dapsang, Kechu or Ketu (both derived from

Climbing history

The mountain was first surveyed by a European survey team in 1856. Thomas Montgomerie was the member of the team who designated it "K2" for being the second peak of the Karakoram range. The other peaks were originally named K1, K3, K4 and K5, but were eventually renamed Masherbrum, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum II and Gasherbrum I respectively.

In 1892, Martin Conway led a British expedition that could only reach up to 'Concordia' point of the Baltoro Glacier. The first serious attempt to climb K2 was undertaken in 1902 by Oscar Eckenstein and Aleister Crowley from the north side, but after five serious and costly attempts, the team could only reach up to 6525 meters. The failures are attributed to a combination of questionable physical training, personality conflicts, and poor weather conditions — of 68 days spent on K2 (at the time, the record for longest time spent at such an altitude) only eight provided clear weather.

Subsequent attempts to climb the mountain in 1909, 1934, 1938, 1939 and 1953 also ended in failure. The 1909 expedition, led by Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi, reached an elevation of 6,666 m on what is now known as the Abruzzi Spur (or Abruzzi Ridge). This is considered part of the standard route today; see the route section below.

An Italian expedition finally succeeded in ascending to the summit of K2 on July 31, 1954. The expedition was led by Ardito Desio, although the two climbers who actually reached the top were Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah. He had been a part of an earlier 1953 American expedition which failed to make the summit because of a storm which killed a key climber, Art Gilkey. On the expedition also was the famous Italian climber Walter Bonatti. He proved vital to the expeditions success in that he carried vital oxygen to 26,600ft for Lacedelli and Compagnoni. His dramatic bivouac, at that altitude with the equipment, wrote another chapter in the saga of Himalayan climbing.

On August 9, 1977, 23 years after the Italian expedition, Ichiro Yoshizawa led the second successful ascent to the top; with Ashraf Aman as the first native Pakistani climber. The Japanese expedition ascended through the Abruzzi Spur route traced by the Italians, and used more than 1,500 porters to achieve the goal.

The year 1978 saw the third ascent of K2, via a new route, the long, corniced East Ridge. (The top of the route traversed left across the East Face to avoid a vertical headwall and joined the uppermost part of the Abruzzi route.) This ascent was made by an American team, led by noted mountaineer James Whittaker; the summit party were Louis Reichardt, James Wickwire, John Roskelley, and Rick Ridgeway. Wickwire endured an overnight bivouac about 150 m below the summit, one of the highest bivouacs in climbing history. This ascent was emotional for the American team, as they saw themselves as completing a task that had been begun by the 1938 team forty years earlier.

Another notable Japanese ascent was that of the difficult North Ridge (see route information below), on the Chinese side of the peak, in 1982. A team from the Mountaineering Association of Japan led by Isao Shinkai and Masatsugo Konishi put three members, Naoe Sakashita, Hiroshi Yoshino, and Yukihiro Yanagisawa, on the summit on August 14. However Yanagisawa fell and died on the descent. Four other members of the team achieved the summit the next day

The first climber to summit K2 twice was a Czech climber Josef Rakoncaj. Josef was a member of the 1983 Italian expedition led by Francesco Santon, which made the second successful ascent of the North Ridge (7/31/1983). Three years later, on 7/5/1986, he summitted on the Abruzzi Spur (double with Broad Peak West Face solo) as a member of Agostino da Polenza's international expedition.

The peak has now been climbed by almost all of its ridges. Although the summit of Everest is at a higher altitude, K2 is considered a more difficult climb, due in part to its terrible weather and comparatively greater height above surrounding terrain. The mountain is believed by many to be the world's most difficult and dangerous climb, hence its nickname "the Savage Mountain." As of November 2007, only 280 people have completed the ascent , compared with about 2,600 individuals who have ascended the more popular target of Everest. At least 66 people have died attempting the climb; 13 climbers from several expeditions died in 1986 in the K2 Tragedy during a severe storm.

Legend once had it that K2 carried a "curse on women." The first woman to reach the summit was Wanda Rutkiewicz, of Poland, in 1986. The next five women to reach the summit are all deceased — three of them died on the way down, among them fêted British mountaineer Alison Hargreaves in 1995. Rutkiewicz herself died on Kangchenjunga in 1992. However, the "curse" was broken in 2004 when Edurne Pasaban summitted and descended successfully, and again in 2006 when Nives Meroi of Italy and Yuka Komatsu of Japan became, respectively, the seventh and eighth women to summit K2, both descending successfully.

For most of its climbing history, K2 was not usually climbed with bottled oxygen, and small, relatively lightweight teams were the norm. However the 2004 season saw a great increase in the use of oxygen: 28 of 47 summitters used oxygen in that year

There are a number of routes on K2, of somewhat different character, but they all share some key difficulties: First is the extreme high altitude and resulting lack of oxygen: in fact there is only one third as much oxygen available to a climber on the summit of K2 as there is at sea level. Second is the propensity of the mountain to experience extreme storms of several days' duration, which have resulted in many of the deaths on the peak. Third is the steep, exAbruzzi Spur

Carl Drew climbing ladders on Abruzzi Spur. Photo by Abdul AzizThe standard route of ascent, used far more than any other route, is the Abruzzi Spur[12][13], first attempted by Luigi Amedeo, Duke of the Abruzzi in 1909 (see the history above). This is the southeast ridge of the peak, rising above the Godwin Austen Glacier. The spur proper begins at an altitude of 5,400 m, where Advanced Base Camp is usually placed. The route follows an alternating series of rock ribs, snow/ice fields, and some technical rock climbing on two famous features, "House's Chimney" and the "Black Pyramid." Above the Black Pyramid, dangerously exposed and difficult to navigate slopes lead to the easily visible "Shoulder," and thence to the summit. The last major obstacle is a narrow couloir known as the "Bottleneck," which places climbers dangerously close to a wall of seracs which form an ice cliff to the east of the summit. (It was partly due to the collapse of one of these seracs around 2001 that no climbers summited the peak in 2002 and 2003.
posed, and committing nature of all routes on the mountain, which makes retreat more difficult,especially during a storm. Despite many tries there has been no successful ascent during the winter.

North Ridge

The North Face of K2Almost opposite from the Abruzzi Spur is the North Ridge[12][13], which ascends the Chinese side of the peak. It is rarely climbed, partly due to very difficult access, involving crossing the Shaksgam River, which is a hazardous undertaking.[16]. In contrast to the crowds of climbers and trekkers at the Abruzzi basecamp, usually at most two teams are encamped below the North Ridge. This route, more technically difficult than the Abruzzi, ascends a long, steep, primarily rock ridge to high on the mountain (Camp IV, the "Eagle's Nest", 7,900 m), and then crosses a dangerously slide-prone hanging glacier by a leftward climbing traverse, to reach a snow couloir which accesses the summit.

Besides the original Japanese ascent (see the History section), a notable ascent of the North Ridge was the one in 1990 by Greg Child, Greg Mortimer, and Steve Swenson, which was done alpine style (though using some fixed ropes already put in place by previous teams).

Nanga Parbat

Nanga Parbat is the ninth highest mountain on Earth. Nanga Parbat means "Naked Mountain" in English, parbat deriving from the Sanskrit word parvata meaning "mountain, rock", and nanga from the Sanskrit word nagna meaning "naked, bare". Known as the "Killer Mountain," Nanga Parbat was one of the deadliest of the eight-thousanders for climbers in the first half of the twentieth century; since that time it has been less so, though still an extremely serious climb. It is also an immense, dramatic peak that rises far above its surrounding terrain.

Location

Nanga Parbat is the western anchor of the Himalayas and is the westernmost eight-thousander. It lies just south of the Indus River in the Astore District of the Northern Areas in Pakistan administered Kashmir. Not far to the north is the western end of the Karakoram range.

Notable features

Nanga Parbat has tremendous vertical relief over local terrain in all directions. To the south, Nanga Parbat boasts what is often referred to as the highest mountain face in the world: the Rupal Face rises 4,600 m (15,000 feet) above its base. To the north, the complex, somewhat more gently sloped Rakhiot Flank rises 7,000 m (22,966 feet) from the Indus River valley to the summit in just 27 km, one of the 10 greatest elevation gains in so short a distance on Earth.

Layout of the mountain

The core of Nanga Parbat is a long ridge trending southwest-northeast. The ridge is an enormous bulk of ice and rock. It has three faces, Diamir face, Rakhiot and Rupal. The southwestern portion of this main ridge is known as the Mazeno Wall, and has a number of subsidiary peaks. In the other direction, the main ridge arcs northeast at Rakhiot Peak (7,070 meters). The south/southeast side of the mountain is dominated by the massive Rupal Face, noted above. The north/northwest side of the mountain, leading to the Indus, is more complex. It is split into the Diamir (west) face and the Rakhiot (north) face by a long ridge. There are a number of subsidiary summits, including North Peak (7,816 m) some 3 km north of the main summit. Near the base of the Rupal Face is a beautiful glacial lake called Latbo, above a seasonal shepherds' village of the same name.

Climbing history - Early attempts

Climbing attempts started very early on Nanga Parbat. In 1895 Albert F. Mummery led an expedition to the peak, and reached almost 7,000 m on the Diamir (West) Face, but Mummery and two Gurkha companions later died reconnoitering the Rakhiot Face.

In the 1930s, Nanga Parbat became the focus of German interest in the Himalaya. The German mountaineers were unable to attempt Mount Everest, as only the British had access to Tibet. Initially German efforts focussed on Kanchenjunga, to which Paul Bauer led two expeditions in 1930 and 1931, but with its long ridges and steep faces Kanchenjunga was more difficult than Everest and neither expedition made much progress. K2 was known to be harder still, and its remoteness meant that even reaching its base would be a major undertaking. Nanga Parbat was therefore the highest mountain accessible to Germans which they seemed to have a chance of climbing.

The first German expedition to Nanga Parbat was led by Willy Merkl in 1932. It is sometimes referred to as a German-American expedition, as the eight climbers included Rand Herron, an American, and Fritz Wiessner, who would become an American citizen the following year. While the team were all strong climbers, none had Himalayan experience, and poor planning (particularly an inadequate number of porters), coupled with bad weather, prevented the team progressing far beyond the Rakhiot Peak, reached by Peter Aschenbrenner and Herbert Kunigk, but they did establish the feasibility of a route via Rakhiot Peak and the main ridge.

Merkl led another expedition in 1934, which was better prepared and financed with the full backing of the new Nazi government. Early in the expedition Alfred Drexel died, probably of high altitude pulmonary edema,The Tyrolean climbers Peter Aschenbrenner and Erwin Schneider reached an estimated height of 7895 m on July 6, but were forced to return because of worsening weather. On July 7 they and 14 others were trapped by a ferocious storm at 7480m. During the desperate retreat that followed, three famous German mountaineers, Uli Wieland, Willo Welzenbach and Merkl himself, and six Sherpas died of exhaustion, exposure and altitude sickness, and several more suffered severe frostbite. The last survivor to reach safety, Ang Tsering, did so having spent seven days battling through the storm. It has been said that the disaster, "for sheer protracted agony, has no parallel in climbing annals."

In 1937, Karl Wien led another expedition to the mountain, following the same route as Merkl's expeditions had done. Progress was made, but more slowly than before due to heavy snowfall. Some time around the 14th of June seven Germans and nine Sherpas, almost the entire team, were at Camp IV below Raikot Peak when it was overwhelmed by an avalanche. All sixteen men died instantly, in what remains the worst single disaster to occur on an 8000m peak.

The Germans returned in 1938 led by Paul Bauer, but the expedition was plagued by bad weather and Bauer, mindful of the previous disasters, ordered the party down before the Silver Saddle was reached.The following year a small four man expedition, including Heinrich Harrer, explored the Diamir Face with the aim of finding an easier route. They concluded that the face was a viable route, but the Second World War intervened and the four men were interned in India. Harrer's escape and subsequent travels became the subject of his book Seven Years in Tibet.

First ascent

Nanga Parbat was first climbed on July 3, 1953 by Austrian climber Hermann Buhl, a member of a German-Austrian team. The expedition was organized by the half-brother of Willy Merkl, Karl Herrligkoffer from Munich, while the expedition leader was Peter Aschenbrenner from Innsbruck, who had participated in the 1932 and 1934 attempts. By the time of this expedition, 31 people had already died on the mountain. The final push for the summit was dramatic: Buhl continued alone, after his companions had turned back, and arrived at 7 p.m.; the climbing being harder and more time consuming than he had anticipated. His descent was slowed when he lost a crampon, and caught by darkness he was forced to bivouac standing upright on a narrow ledge, holding a small handhold with one hand. Exhausted, he dozed occasionally, but managed to maintain his balance. He was also very fortunate to have a calm night, so he was not subjected to wind chill. He finally reached his high camp at 7 p.m. the next day, 40 hours after setting out. The ascent was made without oxygen, and Buhl is the only man to have made the first ascent of an 8000m peak alone.

Gasherbrum

Gasherbrum is a remote group of peaks located at the northeastern end of the Baltoro Glacier in the Karakoram range of the Himalaya. The massif contains three of the world's 8,000 metre peaks (if one includes Broad Peak). Gasherbrum is often claimed to mean "Shining Wall", presumably a reference to the highly visible face of Gasherbrum IV; but in fact it comes from "rgasha" (beautiful) + "brum" (mountain) in Balti, hence it actually means "beautiful mountain."

In 1856, Thomas George Montgomerie, a British Royal Engineers lieutenant and a member of the Great Trigonometric Survey of India, sighted a group of high peaks in the Karakoram from more than 200 km away. He named five of these peaks K1, K2, K3, K4 and K5 where the K denotes Karakoram. Today, K1 is known as Masherbrum, K3 as Broad Peak, K4 as Gasherbrum II and K5 as Gasherbrum I. Only K2, the second highest mountain in the world, has kept Montgomerie's name.

Peak	metres	feet	Latitude (N)	Longitude (E)	Prominence (m)
Gasherbrum I	8,080	26,509	35°43′27″	76°41′48″	2,155
Broad Peak	8,047	26,400	35°48′35″	76°34′06″	1,701
Gasherbrum II	8,035	26,360	35°45′27″	76°39′15″	1,523
Gasherbrum III	7,952	26,089	35°45′34″	76°38′31″	355
Gasherbrum IV	7,925	26,001	35°45′39″	76°37′00″	725
Gasherbrum V	7,147	23,448	35°43′45″	76°36′48″	654
Gasherbrum VI	6,979	22,897	35°42′30″	76°37′54″	520

Broad Peak
Broad Peak (originally named K3), known locally as Faichan Kangri, is the 12th highest mountain on Earth. The literal translation of "Broad Peak" to Phalchan Kangri is not accepted among the Baltis.

Geography

Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif on the border of Pakistan-China. It is located about 8 kilometres (5 miles) from K2. Broad Peak was originally named K3 right after the naming of K2 but on closer inspection by a later party, it was discovered that the summit was over 1½ kilometres (1 mile) long, thus "Broad Peak".

Climbing history

The first ascent of Broad Peak was made on June 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, and Hermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by Marcus Schmuck. A first attempt by the team was made on May 29 where Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8,030m). This was also accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen or high altitude porters and without base camp support. On the same expedition, Marcus Schmuck and Fritz Wintersteller made a flash first ascent of Skil Brum peak (7,360m) on June 19, 1957 in pure Alpine style in 53 hours.

Hermann Buhl fell to his death when he and Diemberger attempted to climb nearby Chogolisa peak (7,654m) on June 27, 1957. In July 2007 an Austrian mountaineering team climbed Broad Peak for retrieving the corpse of Markus Kronthaler, who had died on the mountain one year before, from over 8,000 metres

Rakaposhi

Rakaposhi (Räkapoşi) is a mountain in the Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan. It is situated in the Nagar Valley approximately 100 km north of the city of Gilgit. Rakaposhi means "shining wall" in the local language. Rakaposhi is also known as Dumani ("Mother of Mist"). It is ranked 27th highest in the world and 12th highest in Pakistan, but it is more popular for its beauty than its rank might suggest.

Rakaposhi was first climbed in 1958 by Mike Banks and Tom Patey, members of a British-Pakistani expedition, via the Southwest Spur/Ridge route. Both of them suffered minor frostbite during the ascent. Another climber slipped and fell on the descent and died during the night.

Notable features

Rakaposhi is notable for its exceptional rise over local terrain. On the north, it rises 5800m in only an 11.5km horizontal distance from the Hunza River. There are magnificent views of Rakaposhi from the Karakoram Highway on the route through Hunza. A tourist spot in the town of Ghulmat (located in the Nagar Valley) called "Zero Point of Rakaposhi" is the closest convenient view point of the mountain.

• 1892 Martin Conway explores the south side of Rakaposhi.
• 1938 M. Vyvyan and R. Campbell Secord make the first reconnaissance and climb a north-western forepeak (about ,800m/19,000') via the northwest ridge.
• 1947 Secord returns with H. W. Tilman and two Swiss climbers; they ascend via the Gunti glacier to 5,800m/19,000' on the south-west spur.
• 1954 Cambridge University team, led by Alfred Tissières, attempts the peak via the south-west spur but only reached 6,340m/20,800'. Also, an Austro-German expedition led by Mathias Rebitsch attempted the same route.
• 1956 A British-American expedition, led by Mike Banks, reaches 7,163m/23,500' on the Southwest Ridge, above the Gunti glacier.
• 1958 The first ascent, noted above.
• 1964 An Irish expedition attempts the long and difficult Northwest Ridge.
• 1971 Karl Herrligkofer leads an attempt on the elegant but difficult North Spur (or North Ridge).
• 1973 Herrligkofer returns to the North Spur but is again unsuccessful due to time and weather problems.
• 1979 A Polish-Pakistani expedition ascends the Northwest Ridge from the Biro Glacier.
• 1979 A Japanese expedition from Waseda University, led by Eiho Ohtani, succeeds in climbing the North Spur. Summit party: Ohtani and Matsushi Yamashita. This ascent was expedition-style, done over a period of six weeks, with 5000m of fixed rope.
• 1984 A Canadian team achieves a semi-alpine-style ascent of the North Spur, using much less fixed rope than the
• Japanese team had. Summit party: Barry Blanchard, David Cheesmond, Kevin Doyle.
• 1985-1987 Various unsuccessful attempts on the long East Ridge.
• 1986 A Dutch team climbs a variation of the Northwest Ridge route.
• 1995 An ascent via the Northwest Ridge.
• 1997 An ascent via the Southwest Spur/Ridge (possibly the original route).
• 2000 An attempt from the East side (Bagrot Glacier).

Climbing routes

The routes wit

Distaghil Sar

Disteghil Sar or Distaghil Sar is the highest mountain in the Hispar Muztagh, a subrange of the Karakoram mountain range, in the Northern Areas of Pakistan or Gilgit-Baltistan. It is the 19th highest mountain on earth and the 7th highest peak in Pakistan. The mountain has an about 5 km long top ridge above 7400m with three distinct summits: (north)west 7885m, central 7760 m, and (south)east 7696m or 7535m

Climbing history

Distaghil Sar was first climbed in 1960 by Günther Stärker and Diether Marchart of an Austrian expedition led by Wolfgang Stefan. The expedition climbed the western part of the South face and continued over the southwest ridge to the highest summit. Three years earlier, in 1957, an English expedition had attempted to climb the mountain from the South and the West, but failed partially due to bad weather. Likewise, weather foiled a 1959 Swiss attempt over the southeast ridge. The highest, western summit has been scaled twice since in 1980 and 1982 over the original route. Two attempts over the daunting north face, in 1988 and 1998, were unsuccessful. The eastern summit was first climbed in 1980 by a Polish expedition over the east face, and was reascended in 1983.

Saltoro Kangri

Saltoro Kangri is the highest peak of the Saltoro Mountains, better known as the Saltoro Range, which is a subrange of the Karakoram. It is one of the highest mountains on Earth, but it is in a very remote location deep in the Karakoram. Saltoro Kangri lies in a region controlled by India on the southwestern side of the Siachen Glacier.

Notable features

Saltoro Kangri is the 31st highest independent mountain in the world. In addition, it rises dramatically above the valleys of Kondus and Saltoro (Pakistan) to the west of the peak (draining eventually into the Indus River). Due to danger from military operations, Saltoro Kangri is little visited. It is controlled by Pakistan from its eastern sides but on the western face it is controlled by India.

Climbing history

The mountain was reconnoitered by the intrepid Workman couple in 1911-12. The first attempt on the peak was in 1935 by a British expedition led by J. Waller, which reached c.24500' on the SE ridge.

A British university expedition led by Eric Shipton approached this peak through the Bilafond La via Pakistan with a Pakistani climbing permit. They recced the peak but did not attempt it. This expedition was inadvertently the first move in the deadly game of Siachen oropolitics that would lead to the Siachen conflict of 1984.[3]

The first ascent of Saltoro Kangri was in 1962, by a joint Japanese-Pakistani expedition led by T. Shidei. This piggyback expedition put A. Saito, Y. Takamura and Pakistani climber R.A. Bashir on top on July 24, following the S.E. ridge route.

An unexpected result of these two expeditions in a No man's land area could have been the cartographic aggression by the US, whose maps from the '60s began to show the Line of Control between Pakistani and Indian territory as running from the last defined point in the 1949 Agreement, NJ9842, to the Karakoram Pass (held by India), thus awarding the entire Siachen Glacier to Pakistan even though the boundary was undemarcated from NJ9842 northwards.

The Himalayan Index lists only one more ascent of the mountain, in 1981, and no other attempts.

h successful summits so far have been (see the timeline as well):

Historical places

   FONGKHAR (Shigar fort)

Shigar fort is built upon a huge rock therefore it is locally known as fongkhar, the fort on the rock. The Fongkhar is at a height of 2250 Metres, located in the emerging township of Shigar on the route to the Baltoro glacier and the famous 8000 metre peaks of K-2 Gasherbrum and Broad peak, 28 k/m from Skardu the principal town in Baltistan. The Fongkhar is located on the right bank of shigar stream, which divides Shigar into two main portions and flows into the Shigar river which then joins the Indus river near Skardu. The area in which fongkhar is built is called Nanglonpa in the lap of the rock tower on which the main stronghold of the Amachas (the ruling dynasty) of Shigar was situated and now only some ruins are left.

According to various writers and the present raja Hassan khan the 20th ruler of the Amacha dynasty constructed fongkhar. The Amacha dynasty has its origins in the Hamacha tribe of Ganish Hunza and it is most likely that a young man from Hunza with the name of Amacha came to Shigar using the then passageway across the Hispar glacier the Nunshik pass and the Arundo valley. Some writers believe that as the Hamacha tribe was massacred in Hunza some members of that tribe manage to flee to shigar where they gained power and got recognized as the Amacha in the 13th -14th century.

Hassan khan ascended the throne in 1634, and with the permission of the Moghuls brought various artisans including shawlweavers, carpenters, goldsmiths, stone- carvers from Kashmir to Shigar. The Fongkha was a huge cribbage structure of three stories built on a massive platform using the huge rock as its foundation. Now it is in a state of shambles and disrepair, the present raja Mohammad Ali shah did not have the wherewithal to repair and maintain it.

In 1999 the raja of Shigar gifted the fort into the public domain and AKCSP initiated emergency repair work in 99. This fort after restored will be used as and exclusive guesthouse and museum. The work will complete in the year of end 2003.   

Baltit Fort

Baltit Fort or Balti Fort is an ancient fort in the Hunza valley in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. In former times survival of the feudal regimes of Hunza was ensured by the impressive Baltit fort, that sit on top of Karimabad. The foundations of the fort are said to date back around 700 years, but there have been rebuilds and alterations over the centuries. In the 16th century the Thum married a princess from Baltistan who brought master Balti craftsmen to renovate the building as part of her dowry. The architectural style is a clear indication of Tibetan influence in Baltistan at the time.
The Mirs of Hunza abandoned the fort in 1945, and moved to a new palace down the hill. The fort started to decay and there was concern that it might possibly fall into ruin. Following a survey by the Royal Geographical Society of London, a restoration programme was initiated and supported by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture Historic Cities Support Programme. The programme was completed in 1996 and the fort is now a museum run by the Baltit Heritage Trust.

Historical Background

In olden times a number of small independent states existed in the history of Northern Areas of Pakistan. Among them Hunza and Nager were the traditional rival states, situated on opposite sides of the Hunza (kanjut) river. The rulers of these two states, known as Thámo / Mirs (Thάm=S), built various strongholds to express their power. According to historical sources (Ref: Tarikh-e-Ehd Atiiq Riyasat Hunza by Haji Qudrarullah Baig, Pub: S.T.Printers Rawalpindi 1980 Pakistan), the Hunza rulers initially resided in the Altit Fort, but later as a result of a conflict between the two sons of the ruler Sultan, Shah Abbas (Shάboos) and Ali Khan (Aliqhάn), Shaboos shifted to the Baltit Fort, making it the capital seat of Hunza. The power struggle between the two brothers eventually resulted in the death of younger one, and so Baltit Fort further established itself as the prime seat of power in the Hunza state.

The rich beauty of Baltit Fort can be traced to over seven hundred 700 years ago. Ayasho II, Tham / Mir of Hunza in the early 15th fifteenth century married Princess Shah Khatoon (Sha Qhatun) from Baltistan (In Moghul history Baltistan is called Tibet Khurd mean, little Tibet), and was the first to modify the face of Altit and, subsequently Baltit Fort. Baltistan meaning land of Balti people had a very strong cultural and ethnical relation with the Ladakh territory of India then. Consequently, the structure of Baltit Fort was influenced by the Ladakhi / Tibetan architecture, with some resemblance to the Potala Palace in Lhasa. Then additions, renovations and changes to the building were being made through the centuries by the long line of rulers of the Hunza that followed.

A veritable treasure house for ancient forts, the Northern Areas of Pakistan lost most of its glorious built heritage around the 19th century as a result of the destructive attacks by the Maharaja of Kashmir. However, in this regard people of Hunza were exceptionally fortunate to successfully defend against the invasions of Maharaja Kashmir four times. One of the biggest changes in the structure of Baltit Fort came with the invasion of the British in December 1891. Tham / Mir Safdarali Khan, ruler of Hunza his wazir Dadu (Thara Baig III), fled to Kashgar (China) for political asylum with their fellows and families. With the conquest of Hunza and Nager states by the British forces in December 1891, the fortified wall and watch towers of the old Baltit village and watch towers of the Baltit Fort on its north-western end were also demolished as desired by the British authorities. The British installed his younger brother Tham / Mir Sir Muhammad Nazim Khan K.C.I.E, as the ruler of Hunza state in September 1892

During his reign, Tham / Mir Nazeem Khan made several major alterations to the Baltit Fort. He demolished a number of rooms of third floor and added a few rooms in the British colonial style on the front elevation, using lime wash and colour glass panel windows. The Baltit Fort remained officially inhabited until 1945, when the last ruler of Hunza, Mir Muhammad Jmamal Khan, moved to a new palace further down the hill, where the present Mir of Hunza Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan (Current Chief Executive of Northern Areas) and his family are residing.

With no proper authority entrusted to care for it, the Fort was exposed to the ravages of time and over the years its structure weakened and began to deteriorate. His Highness Aga Khan IV initiated the restoration efforts for Baltit Fort in 1990, when Mir Ghazanfar Ali Khan the son of last ruler of Hunza, Tham / Mir Muhammad Jamal Khan and his family generously donated the Fort to the Baltit Heritage Trust, a public charity formed for the explicit purpose of owning and maintaining the Fort. The restoration undertaken by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture in Geneva in association with the Aga Khan Cultural Service Pakistan (Pakistan), took six years to complete. The project was supported by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture as the main donor through its Historic Cities Support Programme, as well as by the Getty Grant Program (USA), NORAD (Norway) and the French Government.

The restored Fort, resplendent in its regal glory was inaugurated on September 29, 1996 in the presence of His Highness the Aga Khan IV and the president of Pakistan Farooq Ahmad Khan Laghari. It is now operated and maintained by the Baltit Heritage Trust and is open to visitors. Preservation at its best, the Baltit Fort serves as a perfect example of culture restored and preserved for the future generations of the mountain people.

Awards and recognition

• 2005 Time Magazine Asia, Best of Asia Award
• 2004 UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Awards for Cultural Conservation Award of Excellence
• 2000 Tourism for Tomorrow Awards: Global Winner

Bibliography

• Baig Qudratullah, Tarikh-e-Edh Atiiq Riyāsat Hunza Pub: S.T.rinters Rawalpindi-Pakistan 1980
• Dani A.H, History of Northern Areas of Pakistan Pub: Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore Pakistan www.sang-e-meel.com, Reprinted: 2007).
• Biddulph John, Tribes of Hindoo Koosh Pub: The Superintendent of Government Printing-Calcutta India 1880, Reprint: Ali Kamran Publishers, Lahore-Pakistan 1995.

Altit Fort

Altit Fort is situated in the village of Altit, about 3 km from Karimabad. It has been built on a sheer rock-cliff that falls 300 meters (1000 feet) into the Hunza River, and is about 100 years older than the nearby Baltit Fort.

Karakoram Highway

The souls that paved the way for the modern tarmac road named the Karakoram Highway still seem to flicker amongst the sharp moving shadows of the unstable rocks and the almost countless but crumbly lucent glaciers that constantly threaten it's existence. There has always been a long pass into, and out of China over what is sometimes called the 'roof of the world' but in ancient times it was a very perilous pathway.

Extant writings, etched in a fourth century A.D. Chinese travelers diary, record ' The trail was very precipitous, and vertigo accompanied us as we edged along it...' The path was certainly narrow, and often clung to the sheer faces of the many deep resonant gorges that still confine their turgid, animated rivers. Even today, one can still see vestiges of an old crumbling trail high up above the present road. Although it is not the same trail that this particular merchant scrabbled breathlessly along, if one scrambles up to it and edges along it for a few meters, one can experience the same feelings of dizziness and danger that the diarist wrote about.

The new wide metal led road also winds along high palisade like cliffs in some places, and sometimes short sections of the tarmac rumble down into the river below or become buried under tones of rock and mud. However a modern traveler on this modern road will not experience the same fear or vertigo as the ancients.

The present highway is also popularly called the 'Silk Route' by many romantics because it approximates the trail of what was once one of the many silk, jade and spice carrying caravan trails that congregated somewhere near Xian, in China, and terminated in the vicinity of modern Syria on the Mediterranean sea coast. Like long lines of exploring ants, determined traders, merchants, and adventurers wore a path through narrow gorges, high grass sheathed valleys, across waterless deserts, around 6,000 meter - and higher mountains, and over raging rivers in pursuit of barter.

The passage of time hasn't altered any of these geophysical conditions, nor were the reasons for building this new road (apart from its obvious military significance) any different from the ancients reasons for undertaking such a hazardous journey. The new road was built to facilitate trade between China and Pakistan.

Tourist literature published by the Pakistan Tourist Authorities states that the road took twenty years to build. The pamphlets also mention the amount of earth moved, rocks blasted out of the way and more poignantly, the number of men and women, both Pakistani and Chinese who died in this great joint engineering feat.

Although the brochures write that it 'took twenty years to build', the road is in fact never finished! Because of the uniqueness of it's geophysical surroundings, constant natural activity frequently destroys sections of the highway. A small army of workers are on hand to reroute the road and join the new sections to the ends of the undamaged highway. The road in other words, is constantly being moved!

Put very simply, the road meanders through an area where highly active tectonic plate pressure is causing mountains to grow faster than the elements can wear them down! Swift flowing rivers and the measurable movements of glaciers crush, undercut and wash away the sides of these same mountains contributing to the constant rock falls and landslides that changes the face of the land almost daily! This uniquely accelerated geological activity can be felt, seen, and heard if one sits quietly on any high vantage point for a few hours. The road is in fact an observable reflection of man's incessant, but unequal struggle against nature's transcendental power.

Starting near Rawalpindi, the bitumen sealed motorway winds through gently rolling, sandy foothills for approximately one hundred and twenty kilometers before intersecting the Indus river. (Called the 'Sind' by the Urdu language speaking Pakistanis) it then twines along the Indus's arc north eastward to within forty kilometers of the town of Gilgit.

Between these two points, (about four hundred kilometers) the road sometimes takes on a 'roller-coaster' aspect as it dips into, and out of the Indus's wide river bed. The final dip is at this forty kilometers point when the road joins the Gilgit river and continues to within twelve kilometers of the town of that name, then swings North, crossing the Gilgit river to join the Hunza river. The town of Gilgit is twelve kilometers off the actual Karakoram highway and is reached by a fairly smoothly laid and slightly inclined tarred road.

Although the Karakoram Highway inclines upwards the whole way to the pass it's not until you get close to Gilgit that you begin to feel as if you are in mountains. Even so, the town is only at one thousand, five hundred meters (approx. five thousand feet) elevation and there is still a feeling of being in desert. The barren, dust laden and tan colored hills that surround the area give the impression of being made from sand, however, it only takes a ride of a couple of kilometers north from Gilgit for one to get the impression of being in 'real' mountains - very high, and very sheer mountains.

This is not to say that the actual road itself is steep - it's not, it's just that the demarcation between the almost sand dune like foothills, and the seemingly abrupt line of six to eight thousand meters high glacier and snow plaited mountains is almost overpoweringly awesome.

The road then accompanies the Hunza river through these mountains, climbing gently almost all the way to the 4,700 metre high Khunjerab Pass. Only during the last twenty-odd kilometers from the top of the pass will you find short stretches of consistently steep road gradients of six to fourteen degrees. At the top of the pass, two tall memorial stones show that this is the convenient dividing line between political Pakistan, and political China. Both countries respective customs and immigration posts are some kilometers away on their respective sides of the pass. Sust, the Pakistan customs post is ninety kilometres before the peak. Tax organ, the Chinese customs post and town of that name, is one hundred and thirty kilometers from the peak.

The pass also separates two differently named mountain ranges, the Karakoram range (on the Pakistani side), from the Pamir in China. Within these two massive ranges, there are other named but smaller clusters of rugged mountains, and a quick glance at a map can confuse one as there is no illustrated way that one can separate one range from the next.

On the Chinese side of the pass the road is given a different name by the Chinese, who call it, loosely translated, 'The Big Pakistan/China Friendship Road'. This continuation of the Karakoram is also smoothly finished and well graded. It scrolls up and down through generally wide valleys for approximately four hundred and fifty kilometers to the camel market town of Kashgar, which is in the mostly Taklamakan desert filled Chinese province of Xingjian.

As most travelers consider the Karakoram highway and the Big Pakistan-China Friendship Road to be one and the same, I have done so in this guide, with the exception that I refer to the Chinese road's by their route numbers. All Chinese roads have designated route numbers and periodic 'kilometer' markers tell you what numbered road, or track you are on at any given time, for example, the Chinese side of the Karakoram road is route number 314, and you can stay on this route half way across China.

The actual kilometer numbers on the stones don't seem to make any sense, and they certainly did not usually reflect accuracy as compared to both of our cyclometers, which always came out to within a hundred or so meters of each another at the end of every day. The numbers on the stones often showed a ten or fifteen kilometer difference to our daily total.

Ganish Hunza

Six kilometers (4 miles) beyond Aliabad, the KKH makes a sweeping S-bend down past Ganish village to the bridge across the Hunza River. Ganesh, on fertile flat and above the river, is guarded by an old watchtower and fort. The old craved mosque is also worth a visit. In the pool in front of the tower all the local children learn to swim. Until this century boys had to swim across the Hunza River to prove that they could escape or attack across the river when necessary. Until the British came in 1891, the men of Hunza used to keep a sword, gun, shield and a loaf of bread (which was replaced every eight days) beside their doors; when the drums beat the alarm from Altit fort, heralding the approach of raiders, each man would grab these things and run for the fort. (Presumably his family went too.)Like Gilgit Hunza was an important staging post on the Silk Route and was heavily traveled for thousands of years by traders going back and forth between China, India and the west over the Kilik, Mintaka, Parpik and Khunjerab passes. The most convincing proof of this lies in the inscriptions on the Ganesh rock, a sort of Silk Route guest book.

The rocks are immediately beside the KKH, between the road and the river, a few hundreds meters past the bridge across the Hunza River. The inscriptions are in Khraoshthi, Brahmin, Gupta, Sogdian and Tibetan. Among them is a portrait of the first-century Kushan King of Gandhara, Gonophores. Another inscription reads ‘Chandra sri Vikramaditya conquers’; the date of the inscription corresponds to AD 419. Chandra sri Vikramaditya was Chandra Gupta II, the greatest of the Gupta emperors, who ruled our most of India in the already fifth century AD. Most of the drawings are of hunting scenes with horses and riders shooting at ibex, ibex surrounded by horsemen, and men dancing around ibex. The ibex was extremely important to the people of Hunza, Afghanistan, northern Pakistan, and northern India, as it was believed to be the pet animal of the mountain fairies and symbolized fertility and prosperity. In the more remote parts of Hunza the people still perform ritual ibex dances: a holy man dons an ibex headdress and drinks ibex blood (or nowadays the blood of ordinary goat), then falls into a trance and proceeds to tell fortunes and answer questions about the future.