OnTheRoad

The northward journey into the mountains of Pakistan continues, although I must turn back southward soon. I've been hanging out in the stunning scenery of the Hunza valley for the last few days, and just this afteroon have returned from a rather brutal hike. Together with a German friend, Micha, I climbed up to the Hon pass above Karimabad, which apparently has stunning views over the Hunza valley and a range of nearby mountains. We wouldn't know, of course, due to the inclement weather which set in soon after we set off for the second day of climbing at 6am this morning... By the time we hit the pass itself, visibility was measured in single digits and it was snowing. Seeing as I'd climbed here in sandals, the situation was less than ideal...

Still, as you can see from the photos, there was still much to be seen during the periods of time that it wasn't snowing and the climb was well worth it. Depending on which map you trust, we were somewhere between 4250 and 4600 metres (I tend towards the lower), which is the highest I've climbed yet. As a side note, remember that there are three sizes of photos on this site. It's worth remembering for these ones, as the preview sizes cut off lots of detail for heaps of these; the damn mountains are too big! To see the full size one, click on the larger of the two photos you can see when looking at a photo collection and a really large one will be displayed. I know this is new to some of you; feel free to back and enjoy all the other photos this way as well!

Karimabad, where I'm basing myself at the moment, is wicked enough itself though. Look through the photos to see the view I have from my "office", sitting at a table outside my room as I work drinking hot chai. I challenge any sky scraper dwelling office employee to beat that ;)

I did a much smaller hike the other day as well, just up to a memorial to Queen Victoria atop some cliffs above Karimabad. Apparently dedicated to Queen Victoria; there's nothing there to indicate exactly what it's for, so who knows, really. Going up was not so good (again, check the photos - I'm too lazy to link to the right one each time, they haven't even been uploaded while I write this, although they will have been by the time you read it), but coming down far exceeded my expectations. Initially I walked along a water channel, inches from large, almost-certainly-fatal and oh-that's-definitely-fatal drops, but eventually packed it in as too close to suicidal and decided to descend the way I ascended. Given that I'd climbed up a slope consisting almost entirely of large boulders, loose rocks, sand and scree, I wasn't looking forward to it. Soon, however, I discovered that one could almost ski down the slope (at a small risk of breaking the ankles) and the 45 minute climb was reversed in only five minutes of enjoyment. I was actually disappointed when I hit the bottom.

The small things in life, huh?