There’s no shortage of people offering tours, but I made my own plans. I rented a Toyota Hilux 4x4 for 4 days at $50/day, and they insisted I hire a driver because they didn’t trust me to drive solo (which in retrospect was wise of them because of language barriers, road conditions, police/military checkpoints, etc.). The driver quoted me a rate of $3/day (not a typo). I drove from Islamabad to Hunza and back in 3 days (I could only get one day off work, lol). It was way too much driving, but the trip was still incredible.
To make the trip extra fun, I had the worst case of food poisoning w/ diarrhea that I’ve ever had for the entire time. I developed that the night before I was scheduled to drive off. So in the morning I picked up some Imodium and baby wipes, and just stopped every hour or two. I somehow managed to avoid shitting in my pants, but I don’t know how. Nearly every bathroom in Pakistan, which might just be a hole in the ground, has a handheld bidet, which is a power washer for your backside. No matter how messy it got, I also walked away from a pit stop with a fresh backside.
Here’s some pictures of the traveling, sans pit stops...
Simply avoid eating food from outside anywhere besides KFC. No, not even McDonalds or Pizza Hut. Doesn't matter how fresh or clean the food or restaurant or bakery look.
I love meat and dairy - avoid these both things while in Pakistan (KFC is alright). Only drink canned cold drinks (Try to do as locals -- they prefer 'white' / transparent cold drinks over coca cola. Only drink boiled water (or mineral water from some large supermarket/pharmacy/hotel). And avoid eating salad after sunset -- don't know why, just don't.
If you can, take dried instant oats/ramen noodles/etc. and chuck them into bowl of boiled water. Fruits and veges are good - just make sure you wash your fruits such as apples and grapes thoroughly with cooled boiled water / mineral water before eating them.
Finally, if you do get diarrhea in Pakistan, DO visit the local clinic and get some medicine prescribed. It will help you feel better much faster then trying to 'brave it out' or relying on some simple medications from back home.
The locals where very friendly. When I was in the bus on the karakoram highway, we had a brief stop (bathroom break, food, etc). I was chatting with someone who was asking where I came from, when suddenly he snapped his fingers. A can of coke appeared on his hand, and he handed it to me, saying 'welcome to Pakistan!'.
As to the landscape, I still remember it many years later.
A truly extraordinary place.
> No matter how messy it got, I also walked away from a pit stop with a fresh backside. Here’s some pictures...
In SE Asia, we call it a "bum gun". Cannot live without it and you won't use TP ever again. Easy to order off Amazon.
Can I ask how did you safely organise a tour like that without getting scammed/putting yourself in danger? How did you get in contact with your driver?
If you want to go cheaper, search for rent-a-car services in Islamabad.
You probably wouldn’t be scammed or put in danger either way.
And more interesting for me was the drink cooler that is carved out of the glacier (at the bottom of the same steps). Genius!
https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMj_FbNF8VZduHZ5AaEDU9V...
The diarrhea is miserable, but the other part isn’t great either. I’ve often wondered if a bidet solves that.
A bidet probably diluted it well enough.
Any problems with passports, politics/etc?
+1 for those pictures! Incredible scenery
The north of Pakistan is where my grandparents come from. However, being an Indian I can't really visit the place easily....
I went with my wife to Pakistan last year. I have plenty of Indian family who visit Pakistan regularly. It can take 6 months-ish to get a visa though and it is very annoying, so I would not blame you for not wanting to go through the process.
By the way, as an American I can't visit India. I used to visit pre-2007, but since the Mumbai attacks (and further strict restrictions imposed in 2011 onwards) they no longer allow me to apply on my American passport and I've been rejected every time I try on a Pakistani passport.
The animosity in that region is so unfortunate and I hope it ends in the future. I've seen countless families kept apart because of it.
On a more serious note, I was surprised to learn how little travel there is between two countries right next to each other.
> In the 2015 newswire, Green quoted Dawa Gyalje Sherpa: "We are hoping as young climbers, to take climbing in Nepal to a new level. All of us have climbed much bigger mountains but always with foreign climbers. We want to show that we are not just porters on the mountain, climbing only for our livelihood, but we are interested in climbing because we enjoy it, too.... We are the young generation of Sherpa climbers but we are looking to the future of Nepal and Sherpas also."
Very interesting book for me. I knew (know?) very little about mountaineering.
Most of the "forgetting" seems to happen when it comes to communicating about larger, less notable expeditions.
What is somewhat sadder is the fate of the porters on which almost every expedition and trek, except the purest of pure self-supported alpine expeditions, still relies. These are poor people who are typically from the lowlands, acting as sole breadwinners for their families, doing difficult, dangerous manual labor at high altitude without beneficial genetic adaptations or decent clothing. There are some good small charities trying to improve their conditions, for example https://www.canepal.org.uk/
> Their names are just usually dropped when talking about it, which is a shame.
Reminds me of Amir Mehdi's story: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Mehdi#K2_(1954)
While on a cruise ship last July (well, 2019) I made friends with a Nepalese security screw and we talked about Nepal and their family occupations. It's very sad to hear of how disposably sherpas are treated on the vanity tours by unskilled foreign climbers. Basically the sherpas end up dragging along their clients and they face outsized risk on the way.
Apa Sherpa, one of the most prolific Sherpas, holds many records [2]. Interesting fact he was Sherpa to Peter Hillary (Edmund's son).
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Mount_Everest_records [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apa_Sherpa
This funding has historically not been available directly to Sherpas. That is partially because they did not have platforms to influence the purchasing decisions of a large audience (the main reason companies fund full-time climbers). And it’s partially because Western cultures tended not to value indigenous people the same way it valued their own citizens.
Both of those have been changing a lot in the past decade, and it’s nice to see younger Sherpas able to take advantage of that.
If you're not specifically talking about high-altitude climbing, then I'd argue this is wrong. There are famous *serious* climbers like Fred Beckey who managed to make climbing their entire lives on next to no income. Lots of serious climbers build up their rack from "booty" (taking material abandoned by other climbers in a range of situations, often bordering on questionably unethical), live in a van or a tent, hitchhike, etc.
After all it serves no purpose, requires development of new tech, money etc..
I don't think anyone doubts they couldn't have done it long ago were some local ruler to have made it a priority.
I wonder if they thought the original European 'explorers' to be completely mad.
So that leaves the question: the mountains were 'right there' and they had innate ability, so why didn't they 'just do it', and have the routes all mapped out for centuries already? Is I think the rhetorical question that unpacks a lot of things.
As Nepal develops further, I expect to see more of these sorts of headlines.
A modern (new age) expedition looks more like that (no Sherpas no help from others who don't climb):
http://www.alpinist.com/doc/ALP10/climbing-note-siegrist
Thalay Sagar with Stephan Siegrist and Rob Frost
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_mountains_on_Mars
I couldn't find a good visual comparison of Martian and Terrestrial mountains.
However, Olympus Mons has a very definite edge most of the way around, formed by escarpments up to 8km tall, that you'd have to get up before you get to the gentle slope. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympus_Mons
"First ascent of Olympus Mons without supplemental oxygen"
With the possible exception of the other teams on the mountain, I think all the big mountain climbers are psyched that it was the Sherpas to do it.
> There are around 20 climbers aspiring to summit, and claim a winter K2 summit. Some have acclimatized to Camp 3 but most have only reached Camp 1. Some will end their effort based on today’s first summit, and citing rockfall danger, others will still retain their motivation. We’ll see what the final K2 winter 2020/21 total is in a few weeks.
[1] https://www.mountainfilm.org/media/breathtaking-k2-%E2%80%93...
He was on the wrong end of "The Belay" on the second climb, but survived.
So the ultimate goal - climbing it in the winter, without bottled oxygen, remains open to others. It has been achieved on all other peaks, but requires many things to come together including huge amount of luck (but that's valid for any 8000m peak).
I would much rather see some elite, whatever the country, climb it in alpine style. The persons who achieve this can be rightfully titled kings of current high altitude mountaineering. Simone Moro, Nirmal Purja and few others have the potential.
He (and I'm sure the others are too) are some real-life super humans!
