This account is dedicated to the seven friends with whom I had the honour of crossing Skam La: Rizwan Bajwa Hasan Karrar Yasir Khokhar Raza Kazmi Hammad Qazi Hassan Zubair Ali Imran *** The following is still in progress and incomplete. I’ve typed out my journal entries for the most part unedited and what I [...]
I swore underneath my breath. The clouds had indeed been following us since Payiu. If they caught up with us, we were screwed. If the pass became unnavigable due to bad weather, we would all have to walk back down the West-Vigne and then the Baltoro which would take us about 6 to 7 days as opposed to the 2 days of trekking we would have to do once we were over the pass. Damn damn damn. My fever was getting worse, and my stomach had ditched nodding in favour of growling , screaming and raging. I wasn’t up for a 7 day walk down 2 glaciers and I was certain I couldn’t do the pass in my current condition either. Oh yeah, and we didn’t have food for 7 days. Short of a paralyzing fit, I could imagine nothing else that could give me the excuse I needed to avoid the pass tonight. Damn it.
“Is there lunch?” I asked, raising myself on my elbow inside my sleeping bag.
“Maggie noodles. It’s being prepared.”
I lay back waiting desperately for that one hot bowl of liquid. I was going to make it last as long as I could. But first I would hold it in my hands and feel the warmth. The soup/noodles took its time. I think Najam brought me a bowl after almost an hour – well it felt like an hour anyway – and I held on to the bowl, letting the warmth seep into my palms. And then my stomach growled. Crap. No pun intended.
Have to keep up with the times and after months of procrastination finally got around to facebook integration and an update of the theme and structure of the site. You can now login & register using your facebook account and share posts on your wall using the links on the site. I’ve also built a [...]
Welcome to Karakorams.com. Ours is a non-profit/largely non-partisan website on trekking in Pakistan. All the information you will find here is based on our personal experience of trekking in the region. Admittedly, we're not hard-core mountaineers but nor are we simply content with just traveling and visiting towns and villages in the Northern Areas. Our travelogues and resources will attest to our wide range of experiences in these mountains, mostly off the beaten track. Triumphs or failures, moments of glory or utter desperation, this is our life and these are our travels. And we love it.