Northern Pakistan and the Karakorum Silk Route

While I was running as an executive committee member in my adventure club (NUS Rovers), I was involved in organizing treks mainly to Peninsular Malaysia and Sabah. For the further treks, we worked out an alliance with a company called Country Holidays, to organize the trek for us.

I remember there was one occasion where they were publicizing their treks, and one of the treks that they do is the 14 Day Karakorum Silk Route trek.

Actually, as listed in the itinerary, there is not much trekking – most of the days are spent driving. The time where you spend trekking is only from day 8 to day 12. here is an excerpt from the website about the trek:

From Gilgit, we drive about 4 hours to Jail, the starting point of your trek. Today is a easy trek for about 3 hours to Fairy meadow. Fairy meadow is set in alpine pastures on the northern slopes of Nanga Parbat (8125m) with breathtaking views of the snow-clad north face above. The Fairy Meadow, so named because of local legend that this beautiful alpine meadow is inhabited by fairies, is a wonderful setting from where exploration of Nanga Parbat is launched.

We spend the second day taking easy stroll through the meadows and pine forest to Beyal (about 3500m), where we base ourselves for the next 3 nights. On the third day, make a day excursion to Nanga Parbat Base Camp (3970m) for its stunning scenery. The forth day would be spent enjoying interesting walks around Fairy Meadow with commanding view. For the adventurous, you may attempt a non-technical climb to the summit of South Jalipur Peak at 5210m. On the last day, retrace your steps back to Jail where you drive to Chilas and overnight in Shangri-la Hotel or similar.

I think the really fascinating part of this trek is the scenery! From the session, I learnt that Northern Pakistan is a really mountainous - afterall, the world second tallest peak, K2 (8611 m), is located there! So, travelers get to enjoy the beautiful scenery even before they start trekking! However, the unfortunate thing for me (and people staying in Singapore or this area of the world) is the traveling cost... it's quite a bomb. The package will cost almost SDG$3000!