Journey out - Heenreis

This morning they arrived in Islamabad at 4.30 (LT 7.30) and were able to continue to Gilgit by plane. In this way they were spared the Karakoram Highway. In Gilgit they did some shopping, had a meal and continued to Karimabad. The journey was swift. They have a comfy hotel and will stay in Karimabad until monday morning to acclimatize to the height. Karimabad is already at 3000m. The satelite beacon doesn't work at the moment. Probably due to a coverage problem.

Vanochtend zijn ze in Islamabad om 4.30 (LT 7.30) aangekomen. Ze konden met het vliegtuig verder naar Gilgit. De Karakoram Highway werd hen dus bespaard. In Gilgit hebben ze wat inkopen gedaan en geluncht en zijn dan verder gereisd per minibus naar Karimabad. De reis is vlot verlopen. In Karimabad houden ze op zondag in een comfortabel hotelletje een rustdag om te acclimatiseren aan de hoogte. Karimabad ligt reeds 3000m hoog. Momenteel werkt het satelietbaken niet. Waarschijnlijk is er een probleem met toegang.

Ann

Itinerary, in outline

This is our itinerary, in outline:

Day 1 - 5: Paris - Islamabad - Gilgit - Karimabad - Shimshal

Depending on whether we can get a direct connecting flight from Islamabad to Gilgit, this might go much quicker. If we don't fly, we will take the Karakoram Highway up north. I have done this trip in 1993 and it is a pretty exciting drive along the Indus. Not for the fainthearted. But I'd rather take the plane. Condition of the road to Shimshal remains to be seen as well. The village has only been opened to road traffic very few years ago.

Day 6 - 11: Shimshal to the snout of the Braldu glacier

First part of the trek, over the Shimshal Pass (4755m). The Shimshal Pass is a vast plateau where the Wakhi from the epynomous valley have their summer pastures. Theirs is the largest "cheptel" of Northern Pakistan: 1000 yak and thousands of cattle. The trek to the pass is not to be underestimated. David Hamilton, with whom I was in the Hushe Valley in 1993, did a Shimshal to Hushe ski expedition in 2004 and wrote of this first part of his journey: "I had foolishly assumed that the trip would not really start until we unpacked the skis at the snowline. I had underestimated the difficulty of the trek along the gorge of the Pamir-I-Tang river and over the Shimshal Pass. The heavily laden porters made light work of the faint paths crossing the steep cliffs and unstable scree slopes. The experiences mountaineers in the party found the trek amongst the hardest they had encountered anywhere in the Himalayas." Sounds promising ...

Day 12 : to the snowline on the Braldu glacier

Tough day of 12-15 km on the open, stony Braldu glacier. This is likely going to be one of the most testing days of the journey. We take our leave of the porters at the snowline. From here onwards we will move independently, on ski, with the pulkas. 

Day 13 - 17: on the Braldu glacier to Lupke La pass (5544m)

Our progress will be heavily dependent on the conditions. All going well, we can cover 10km per day. But it is equally likely that only half will take us 8 hours of hard work. 

Day 18-19: reserve days. 

If we are lucky we might take the opportunity to climb a 6000+ peak in the Lupke La area. Otherwise we will need our time to descend the steep slopes of the pass to the Sim Gang glacier.

Day 20-22: Snow Lake (5000m)

We will spend a few days moving over this vast plateau, confluence of several glaciers surrounded by mighty granite towers 2000 m high. 

Day 23-24: Descent of Biafo Glacier

Here we get to less exotic surroundings, the Biafo glacier being part of many classic treks departing from Askole. 

Day 25: Descent to Askole

A team of porters will help us to get down to Askole. Long day. 10 hours. 

Day 26-29: Askole - Skardu - Islamabad - Paris - Brussels

High valleys

Pierre Neyret, who will be guiding our expedition, has produced a beautiful book with Géraldine Bénestar. Two chapters are of direct interest to our journey: one on the precarious pastoral existence of the Wakhi people in the Shimshal valley (our starting point) and a chapter by Pierre on his previous ski-expeditions in the Karakoram mountains. Illustrated by beautiful pictures throughout. 

Prep weekend

A few pics from our preparation weekend in the Vanoise area, French Alps, end of March. We got to know each other, camped out at 2000m, tested the pulka (sledges), tasted some of the menus and did a tour with skis above camp. I'm an inexperienced ski tourer and lost a ski high on the mountain. Snow conditions were particularly rotten, truth be told. Anyway I'm not taking a spare ski to Pakistan so I need to be sure to hold on tight to them in the next four weeks.

Ready to go

That's it. We're more or less set to go. Tomorrow we're flying to Islamabad for the start of our month-long trekking linking Shimsal to Askole in North Pakistan. On the right an aerial picture of the terrain we will be dealing with. Our route takes us more or less diagonally through the picture. Return on May 23d.