Treks :: Hunza Adventure Leaders

The Northern Areas, lying under the great mountain ranges of Himalaya ?Karakorum ?Hindu Kush ?Hindu Raj and Pamir, surrounded by high peaks of 6500 m to 8600 meters, is the most spectacular and fascinating region of Pakistan famous as paradise. The five districts of the Northern Areas; Gilgit, Diamar, Ghanche, Baltistan and Ghizer are run by DC's and concerned authority duly controlled from Gilgit (the capital of Northern Areas) by the Chief Secretary who is contorlled by the Federal Gov't in Islamabad.

The fairy land Northern Areas covering thousands of Square Kilometers features high snow capped mountain, surrounded by lashed green valleys, furtile plains, gushing rivers, eternal glaciers- high meadows and passes ?Pine devdar Forest with Juniper trees, fruit orchards and several spectacular views of natural disaster.

It is a favourite tourist paradise for trekking, climbing ?

skiieing?Jeep safaris-Rock climbing ?White water rafting-Cultural tours, Silk Route travelers ?Mountain bike tours horse riding, typical polo games and several other healthy activities. It is home to five of the eight thousand mountains of the world- K-2 (8611m in Skardu), Nanga Parbat (8125m in Diamar), Gasherbrum-I (8068m in Skardu), Broad Peak (8047 m in Skardu)& Gasherbrum-II (8035m in Skardu), another more than 50 above seven thousand meter peaks, seven of the famous Lakes (Sheosar Lake in Deosai Plains, Satpara Lake in Skardu, Katchura Lake in Skardu, Rama Lake in Astore, Borith Lake in Hunza, Rush Lake in Nagar & Kromber Lake in Kromber pass, and three of the world's longest glaciers outside polar region- Baltoro glacier (57 km long), Biafo Glacier (63 km long) & Batura Glacier (57 km long).

Geographically the area shares border with the Wakhan Corridor of Afghanistan to the Northwest, Xinjiang province of China to the Northeast, North West Frontier Province (NWFP) to the West and Kashmir to the Southeast.

The climate of the region varies from town to town. It is hotter in the center (Gilgit and Chilas) as compared to the towns and valleys in the environs in summer.

The Northern Areas are connected to the major cities of Pakistan by air and by road. PIA operates two new TDR flights (one hour duration) Gilgit every morning and a boeing air plane to Skardu (45 minutes) every day however all flights to Northern areas are subjecto to weather condition. While there are several companies operating land transportation from Gilgit, Hunza, Astore and Skardu to Rawalpindi.

There is a network of routes almost in all regions and there are intersting cross- region passes in the northern mountains of the Hindukush, the Karakorams and the Himalayas. Baltistan, Hunza, Chilas and Chitral present diversity of routes for trekking.

Trekking season is between May and October. Since 1954, when the Karakoram Range of Pakistan was opened to expeditions for climbing and more recently for trekking, the mountains and glaciers of the north have become an international playground. There are hundreds of peaks still lying un-climbed challenging the mountaineers and mountain climbers the world over. .

Gilgit, the capital:

Situated at an elevation of 1500m (5000ft) spreading over 14,680 square miles (38,021km. sq), -Gilgit-the capital of Northern Areas, lies on the foothills of Karakoram mountains. Gilgit was an important city through wich Buddhism was spread from India to the rest of Asia.It has been inhibited for thousand of years and was the ancient trade center like Kashghar from Ist century to 4th century. It also remained under Buddhist influence for several centuries before Islam was introduced here.

Gilgit is one of the two major hubs for all mountaineer expeditions in the Northern Areas of Pakistan. Almost all tourists to the Karakorams and Himalayas visit Gilgit before proceeding to the compaign. Tourists prefer to travel by air as travelling by road takes more than 18 hours while it takes only one hour by air.

Gilgit lies about 10 km from the main KKH which connects it to Chilas, Dasu Besham, mansehra, Abbotabad and Rawalpindi/Islamabad on the South and Karimabad and Sust on the South.

Trekking around Baltistan:

Baltistan (little Tibet) -an extremely mountainous region in the mighty Karakorams with an average altitude of 3350 m (11000 feet) to the north of Kashmir also bordering with Xinjiang in china- is inhabited principally by Balti Muslims of Tibetean decent who converted from Tibetian Buddhism prior to 16th century. It was an independant state but was occupied by King of Kashmir in 19th century. It was still occupied by the king when Pakistan and India gained independance. However, later on it was separated as, Skardu district and Ghanche district merged with Pakistan and district of Kargil merged with India to the north of Indian occupied Kashimr.

The Balti are Tibetean decent and their language (a sub dialect of Ladakhi) belongs to the Tibeto Burma family.

Skardu, the capital, borders Kargil district in east, Astore in South, Kashmir in south east, and Gilgit district in the west.A great deal of expeditions and trekking groups visit Baltistan every year. Skardu, the capital of Baltistan, perched at 2,438 meters above sea level in the

backdrop of the great peaks of the Karakoram mountain range, is always thronged with foreign visitors in summer. Trekkers and expeditions usually spend a night or two before the beginning of their campaign and on the way back to home to relax and for sightseeing. Kharpocho Fort (King of forts) a well-known fort constructed by Ali Sher Khan Anchan, who ruled from Ladakh to Chitral till the end of the 16th century, Buddhist Rock, the only surviving rock with Buddhist carving is located three kilometers away from Skardu on Sadpara Lake Road, across Sadpara Nullah, Upper Kachura (34 km), lower Kachura (Shangrila-29km) Lake and Sadpara Lake (8 km), are very famous for fishing and boating and the Deosai Plateau, a treeless wilderness at 4,000 meters, lies south of Sadpara, are the awe-inspiring places.

Baltoro is the well-known route for all the visitors who love mountains and glaciers. The route, begins from Skardu by jeep up to Askole via famous Shigar valley and then leads to the core of the beautiful mountains also called Concordia where from one can see all the snow-capped lofty mountains -K-2 (8,611m), Broad Peak (8,060m), Hidden Peak or Gasherbrum I (8,068m), Gasherbrum II (8,035m), Mitre Peak, challenging visitors to explore, standing in the surroundings. Tourists usually spend a whole day in Payju to get acclimatized and to see beautiful Payju peak. On the way up till Concordia, one can glimpse a number of other famous peaks from various stages where tourists usually spend their night. The way, then, branches off to three different important campaigns from Concordia. Some tourists take their way back via the same route while others catch the Gondogoro La pass to get Skardu. However, those who have still passion, ventures to See K-2 and Broad Peak base camp. Still others catch the way to G-1 and G-2 base camp. Most of the expeditions follow the Gondogoro La Pass on the way back to try to cross Gondogoro La to get Skardu. This journey is short and awesome yet subject to the weather conditions.

One of the famous ancient routes that connect Baltistan with Hunza is Biafo Hisper through Hisper pass (5354meter). This is an 8-12 days trek passes via the beautiful Snow Lake. The trek starts from Askole in Skardu and ends at Hisper valley in Nagar. Kanjut Sar (7762m) and Dastagil Sar (7885m) lie on this route closer to Hisper valley.

Trekking around Hunza:

Situated at an elevation of 2438 meters, the fairy tale

Hunza valley?s tourist season is from April to October. The temperature in May is maximum 27 degrees centigrade and minimum 14 degrees centigrade. The October temperatures are: maximum 10 degrees centigrade and minimum 0 degrees centigrade. However, one can visit Hunza round the year.

Visitors to Hunza are overwhelmed by the rigged charm, the fragrant breeze singing through graceful popular trees and the velvet like green carpet to wheat fields, set against the background of snow covered mountains.

Like Baltistan, there are also famous routes in Hunza. Hunza is further classified as lower, middle (central) and upper respectively. Tourists usually spend two or three nights in central and a night in upper Hunza to go around and to relax. There are some interesting day hikes and jeep safaris that one can enjoy in a day or two. In the environs of

central Hunza, there are also some worth seeing settings like Rakaposhi, Diran Peak, Ultar peak and the two famous forts that a tourist cannot help visiting them. Baltit fort (900 years old) is renovated for tourists and Altit fort (1400 years old) has its own glory.

Ultar glacier, lies behind Baltit, is an easy and spectacular walk along the irrigation channel. However, the hike up to the glacier is comparatively difficult enough. Likewise, starting from the bridge over the Hassanabad Nullah, the Hassanabad glacier is easier to get to. This is a two days trek along the edge of the glacier to the summer pasture to the slopes of Batura Glacier.

The Gulkin Glacier in upper Hunza lies right down to the road about one kilometer further to Gulmit valley. Jeep access is up to the Boreet Lake and the five days Patundas round trek starts from here that leads to Passu Bridge. Batura Glacier comes down from the left a little ahead of Passu is an 8 day trek with number of beautiful unnamed peak ranging from 7500m to 7785 m.

Near Passu Bridge a rough road to the right side of KKH leads to the isolated and unspoiled Shimshal valley. Jeep access, unlike past, is now up to the Shimshal is a 3 to 4 hours journey while it used to be a 3 to four days? walk earlier. There are beautiful day hikes up to the surrounding glaciers. Nine glaciers flow down from the south to the Shimshal river: four between the KKH and Shimshal village, and five between Shimshal village and the Chinese border.

Nanga Parbat round trek:

Nanga Parbat (Naked Mountain) is one of the mountains forming the Himalayas-world's highest mountain range in Asia- separating the indian subcontinent from the Tibetian Plateau. It was first climbed by an Astrian Climber Hermann Buhl on July 3, 1953 though climbing attempts started very early from 1885 but no one was succeeded.

The Himalayas are streached across six nations across the globe: Afghnistan, Bhutan, China, India, Nepal and Pakistan. Nanga Perbat, the Killer Mountain, second highest in the world is the western anchor of the Himalayas in Pakistan.This open zone mountain lies in the Diamar District of the Northern Areas on south of the Indus River. It is also known as one of the deadliest of eight thousanders of the 20th century. It offers a 10-day round trek doable from both sides (Chilas and Astore). The best season is from June to September. Both the treks start from Gilgit via Rupal valley (Astore) to about 4000 m in the south side and via Fairy Meadows, between 4000 and 5200m (Chilas), from the north side. There are several routes open from Fairy Meadows leading to some meginficient photogenic spots.

Trekking around Chitral:

At an elevation of 1128 m, former princely capital, Chitral town, is situated on the west bank of Kunar river at the foot of Trich Mir. Chitral district has Afghanistan on its north, south and west. A narrow strip of Afghan territory, Wakhan, separates it from Tajikistan. Chitral is favourite with mountaineers anglers, hunters, hikers, naturalists and anthropologists. The 7,708 meters Trichmir, the highest peak of the Hindu kush Mountain, dominates this 322 km long exotic valley.

The official Language of Chitral was persian but later on it was changed to Khowar by Kho tribe. Khowar is also spoken in Yasin, Gupis and Gilgit. Chitral was once an important point on ancient trade route between Afghanistan and Gandahara in Pakistan.

The tourist season in Chitral is from May to September. The maximum temperature in April is 30 degrees centigrade and minimum 16 degrees centigrade. In September, the maximum is 23 degrees centigrade and minimum 8 degrees centigrade

Apart from Trichmir (7705 meters) reigning over Chitral valley,

other peaks are Istornal, Bunizem, Saraghrar, Noushaq, Ghocharsor, Phal, Daser and Don, rising from 6,096 to 7,315 meters.

Trekking and hiking in the enchanting valleys of Chitral is a dream come-true. Some of the trekking routes are: Drosh-Madaklasht-Golden-Kuguzi-Chitral 48 km and Chitral-Shighore-Sassum-Ovir-Mroi, through areas of magnificent scenic beauty in the shadow of the Trichmir.

The ethnic Kalash tribe also inhabits in three tiny valleys (Bamburet, Rambur and Birir) in the environs of Chitral. They are believed to be the decendants of the wandering armies of Alexander the great. The limited number of the inhabitants in the Kalash valley has a language of their own. They have customs totally different from the customs in rest of the villages in the district.