Final Weeks in Pakistan

Yasin valley looking north to Darkot

Let's see now...at the end of my last post we (Rob, Alex and myself) had ended up in Skardu after an amazing jeep safari across the Deosai Plains. Skardu was a hub of activity with climbers from around the world preparing for their expeditions into the great Baltoro glacier area of 8000 m peaks. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not great for flying so we decided in the end to head back west to Gilgit and onwards to Yasin Valley. Alex was short on time left in Pakistan as well and we were keen to fly with him which also added weight to our decision to go to Yasin.

After a two-day epic journey we arrived to perfect weather on June 29. So began a period of great flying! The next morning, after a night at the Government Guest House in Yasin, we were up early for breakfast and started off with our porters on an hour and half hike up to takeoff. The sun was blisteringly hot and the going quite steep but we all arrived around mid morning ready to set up for our flight. Getting ready was a real struggle. Everything needed to be laid out according to an order of preparation. First the oxygen system needed to be fitted to the flight deck, then the radio attached to the harness, sleeping bag and mat fitted under the harness, warm clothing laid out to be put on just before takeoff, the wing and lines checked, over-mitts checked and ready for use..the list just went on and on (I was at least 10 kg over the weight range for my wing with all my gear!). The key was not to get overheated so it was imperative that once the warm clothing was on it was time to go quickly! There was nothing worse that overheating on takeoff and freezing at 6500 m!

Surreal mountains at Darkot

The whole process took me at least 20 minutes so I was finally ready to fly around 11.30am. The day looked great, a large cumulus cloud was forming directly above us so it was time to launch. A quick pull on the A-risers saw the wing rise smoothly overhead, check, turn and power run-off and I was flying...relief at getting away safely!

Soon we were hooked into our rising thermal which took us from 3000m to 6000m just below cloud base! Wow the view was spectacular. The whole valley opened up and our objective could be seen 30 kms to the north. There the village of Darkot lay snuggled in a surreal surrounding of high mountains and glaciers. Rob had circumnavigated the big Ghamubar Zom mountain to the south of the village in 2010 and I was keen to have a go flying in the area. The day looked great to do so.

An hour and a half later I arrived to Darkot and it was incredible. I flew over several glaciers, saw an avalanche take place, whooped with joy at being there and generally took in the breathtaking view. After a while it was time to return, which we all did, to land at our friend Adil's home (the local policeman) who had insisted that we stay with him as we had done in 2010. Again we were treated like royalty, food and drink arrived as we made ourselves comfortable after our four-hour flights.

However the day was far from finished. I was “selected” by Adil to be the Chief Guest of the final football match for the Valley (Rob and Alex politely declined the position). It was an amazing time at the match sitting and chatting with the dignitaries and I was definitely getting into this VIP stuff. Then at the end of the match and after the dancing and festivities I was introduced as “Mister Grey” the famous footballer from New Zealand and asked to say a few words to the crowd below. I can't remember exactly what I said but in the end I shouted out that football was alive and thriving in Yasin Valley much to the delight of the crowd! Wow what a finish to the day! Sleep came easily that night.

Bivy spot in the Ishkomen valley 4200m

We were on a roll now and the next day it was decided that we would attempt to fly east over the Asumber Pass (4500m) into the Ishkomen Valley and then if the weather permitted onwards to Karimabad in the Hunza Valley. The day was perfect as we launched again from the Yasin take-off. This time we crossed east and followed a long side valley leading up to the pass. There were no roads, only a faint discernible track far below that eventually petered out in the snow and ice over the pass. Fortunately we had plenty of height and made it safely across following down the glacier on the other side into the Ishkomen valley. After some time flying around and heading east onwards to the next valley pass we made a decision to return to the Ishkomen valley to bivy for the night. This pass was showing ominous signs of cloud over-development (thunder storm) so the only safe option was to retreat. From the east side we transitioned across to the west to a bivy spot at 4200m. We all landed safely in the late afternoon, organised our food and sleeping gear in a nice spot and got some snow melt in the pot for a welcome cup of tea!

View from vour bivy in Ishkomen

Socialising at the Shandur Pass Polo Festival

We were extremely lucky the next day awakening to a gorgeous morning. Our takeoff was only 50 m higher that our bivy spot as we waited for the right time to launch. Soon we were whisked into the sky quickly moving east to the pass that we had turned back from the previous day. This pass was more of a serious mission, it was extensive and completely covered in ice and snow... not a place to go down and land! I'm sure I was hyperventilating with tension for at least 15 minutes as I glided across the wonderland. Thank goodness we all made it across to the safety of the next valley. We were on our way! And within a few hours we were circling high above Karimabad, happy to have made our objective some 120 km from Yasin!

The next few days saw us bivy back to Yasin from Karimabad, then onwards 75 kms to the Shandur Pass for the famous high altitude polo festival. Here we meet up with other foreign pilots in the country (9 of us in the end) along with the local pilots from Chitral and Booni and Sajjad and other pilots from Islamabad. It was a great three day event, all we had to do was fly over the polo grounds to the delight of the crowds, socialise non-stop and have a great time!. Sajjad Shah did a fabulous job organising everything from the tents we slept in to the food that was prepared! It was especially great to catch up with him, Farhad, Sajid, Meraj, Gullam, Sadam, Babar, Mughtasim, Muzafar and all the other great Pakistan pilots!

Runaway goal at Shandur

After a hectic three days (and by the way the polo was superb!) we were back in the air for a return to Karimabad. Rob and I made it two days later, then Brad arrived the following day after epic flying which included a southern leg close to Nanga Parbat... a first! What a pilot! And then followed Pierre and Olivier (from France) along with Manzoor (our trusty jeep driver/guide). We had a happy celebration dinner that night with all of us back at our favourite base. By chance it was the Aga Khan's birthday celebration and we were thoroughly entertained in the evening with the Ishmali tradition of 100's of high altitude bonfires and tyres alight with diesel rolling down the mountainsides all to the music of the Hunza region...quite spectacular and very unusual!

Brad and Meraj at Shandur

Our two Scottish friends, Julian and Daniel, who we had travelled together with for the past two weeks had decided to carry on west from Shandur and had ended up in Booni for their first visit there. They had planned to fly in the Chitral area for a week or so.

Over this incredible flying period of 10 or so days I worked out that we had flown more than 500 kms, bivyed for 5 nights and had experienced the best flying ever.

Me happy in the air!

But the icing on the cake was yet to come. On my last flying day, July 12, I was able to fly high above Lady Finger (6000m), soar up Hunza Peak and then cross over the valley to Diran (7250m)... flying up and close to the mountain before returning after 4 hours to Karimabad... It was an unforgettable end to a wonderful two months in northern Pakistan! It was also a height record for me, climbing to 6879m... not quite 7000m but near enough!

Now I'm back in Rawalpindi waiting for my flight on the 17^th to Istanbul. I can reflect on my time here in Pakistan, what a wonderland northern Pakistan is. Unfortunately since 9-11 tourism in Pakistan has fallen away to a trickle (with the exception of climbing parties to the great peaks). Karimabad, which was once a thriving tourist trekking centre, is now a quiet sleepy village, pining for the good old days. But will the good ole days actually return? Perhaps if things settled down politically and the country becomes more stable and less corrupt then yes I do believe that Pakistan has a future with tourism. But the signs are not great; escalating sectarian violence and murder, blatant corruption within government, bad international press, border skirmishes with Afghanistan and India, American intrusion and subsequent disaffection, Taliban influences etc. all combine to paint a bleak future for an otherwise hospitable country. The average Pakistani just wants peace and prosperity as we all do! May Allah find a way forward for this country!

Well my friends, this is my last attempt at a blog....I hope you have enjoyed a bit of an insight into my last two months here in Pakistan. I hope I have painted a positive picture of the people and their country! This is an amazing place, and I for one will be back again flying in the big mountains!

Unfortunately I haven't been able to catch up with all of you with your news during my time in Pakistan so I wait eagerly for contact from you! I'll be in Eastern Europe soon, first in Bulgaria, then the Polish Open in Macedonia, maybe a peak into Slovenia and then on to Austria, Germany and finally Italy....should be a great two months to come...send me an email when you can...all the best from me...Grey

Notes:

Rob's blog is parakiwi.blogspot.com and Alex's blog is ayashko.blogspot.com

you can see all my flights on Leonardo:

http://paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/tracks/world/alltimes/brand:all,cat:0,class:all,xctype:all,club:all,pilot:0_17232,takeoff:all

Beyond Chitral

Flying near Passu

The NWFP, or Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan, is an overwhelming array of massive mountains, steep sided valleys, winding glaciers and humungous snow fields, speckled with raging rivers, placid lakes and billions and trillions of tonnes of loose rock ready to pour down on the unsuspecting traveler. Woe betide an earthquake in this region or a flood, like the one in 2010, a flood that wiped out bridges, villages and roads killing many throughout the Province. Anyone who travels by jeep in this Province and has a fear of falling should be fair warned that the roads (engineering wonders!) are terrifying at times and a nightmare to travel on. I say this with feeling as I have been constantly awed by how the roads carve their way around vertical cliffs, their edges often dropping hundred of metres, constantly aware of a certain death if the driver is in the slightest way inattentive!

Northern Pakistan has three unique mountain ranges that crash and crunch into each other. The Hindu Kush flows up from the west and curls over the northern border with the Wakan Corridor in an easterly direction. The Karakorum range (famous for its great mountains including K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum along the Baltoro glacier) thrusts itself to the north along the eastern border with China. Wedged between the two great ranges lie the mighty Himalayas, its jewel, near the end of the range, is the overpowering 8000m massif, Nanga Parbat, one of our flying must-does!

Another check point near Shandur (Dimitry)

Leaving our beloved Chitral behind we (Rob, Alex and Dimitry and myself...Glen had departed back to work by this time) set out on the June 6 making our way slowly northeast by jeep first to Mastuj, then onwards over the Shandur pass to Gigit far to the east. From Gilgit we headed north to Karimabad in the Hunza Valley, home to another giant, Rakaposhi (7778m). The trip took three days and we were pleased to arrive!

Lake Attabad

The road that we followed to Karimabad is the famous KKH, Karakorum Highway, completed in 1978 and currently under a complete reconstruction contracted to the Chinese. In Karimabad it was our intentions to fly far and high and bivy out when we could. Unfortunately the bivy thing didn't happen but we did manage some great flying; south to Rakaposhi,, north to Passu and its gorgeous glacier and east up the Barpu glacier to Spandec (aka Golden Peak). The weather overall was a bit disappointing, there was some massive cloud development which was pretty scary at times, cloudbase was lower than in 2010 but it was still a great time! When we weren't flying we were hiking and traveling around the area. One trip took us by boat across Lake Attabad to Paasu for the night to return the next day. It was interesting to fly later to Passu and further north seeing the area from a different perspective. The highlight for me was a six-hour flight, up close to Rakaposhi, watching my shadow trace along the snow and ice- awesome.

Nanga Parbat was calling to us so, with our driver Manzoor and his trusty jeep, we headed south on the 20 June to Tareshing nestled in the southeast of the mountain. This was a two day excursion, first back to Gilgit to meet up with Dimitry who had arrived earlier to organise an extension to his visa and then south to Tareshing. Alas the administration rules had changed and Dimitry was unable to get his extension, much to his and our disappointment. Almost unbelievably we had to say goodbye as he headed back to Islamabad and onwards to Turkey. It was a sad moment for all of us as we had all planned to fly together for the next month.

Tareshing is a small mountain village located at an alttitude of 2920m. It is seriously in the backwaters of Pakistan, life is pretty simply, farming is its core and I can imagine the winters are long and cold. We found a nice guesthouse but without electricity and not much water it was pretty hard going. After three days we were ready to move on. Fortunately the weather cleared for one great flight and although we never really saw the top of the mountain while we were flying the sheer size of it made us feel very small indeed.

Near Rupal village

On the second day in Tareshing (which was not flyable) Rob and I had an opportunity to walk up to Rupal, the village at the base of the Rupal glacier (the Rupal face is a one of mountaineers' great walls... made famous by Reinold Messner). This village was even more primitive than Tareshing and we both felt that nothing had changed here over the centuries. Women toiled in the fields and the men lolling around not doing much. The villagers lived in primitive mud brick huts, chickens and goats and the odd cow ambled around as we passed through narrow pathways. The fields however were lush green and contrasted dramatically with the harsh mountain backdrop. Unexpectedly we were offered a cup of mountain tea and homemade local bread by a kindly gentleman which was very nice. We left the village with a good feeling.

Alex and I rugged up

The following day we made tracks southeast to the Deosai Plains National Park, an incredibly high plateau |(+4000m). We were on our way to Skardu, entrance to the great climbing arenas of K2 , Broad Peak and Gasherbrum and the famous Baltoro glacier. The air was thin and the temperature freezing. We had to rug up with all our flying gear to keep warm. The weather once again had deteriorated and snow began to fall as we trundled along slowly. Little did we know that the road had only just opened up for the summer season!

Deosai Plains

Then in the early afternoon we arrived to a big river crossing. Two National park rangers flagged us down for a ride further on. Their four wheel drive vehicle had drowned in the crossing having just made it across before dying. There it was to the left of us by the river, an apt reminder that this was not going to be an easy crossing. I had my doubts but Manzoor was in charge and we began to cross. My thoughts quickly turned to what we would do in the event of a possible catastrophe. It was at least 20 kms back to anything that resembled civilization and I had visions of stumbling along sodden wet and freezing cold having lost all our possessions....not a pretty thought! The water rose up along the side of the jeep as we plunged forward. Rob who was in the front seat suddenly yelled that water was coming in under the door! The front wheels lost their traction for a moment and the front edged downstream. We held our breath as we clung on tight. Water was all around us. Would the engine fail? Was the river going to get deeper? Fortunately the jeep held its line as Manzoor struggled to maintain control. Then just as suddenly we were out of danger and breathing a sigh of relief, we had made it across safely!

Rob cooking up a storm of pancakes in Karimabad

Eventually we left the Deosai Plains on a long downward journey that lead us to the town of Skardu. There we languished in the Conchordia Motel where it seemed that all the climbing parties stayed. The hotel buzzed with climber talk while we checked the skies. Sadly the skies didn't clear and after a few days we made the difficult decision to head back to Gilgit. Alex was short on time left in Pakistan and we felt that the flying was going to be better back in the area that we knew quite well. So here we are now in Gilgit and so ends my second blog from Pakistan.

Black and White girls cover up in Pakistan

Hope you are all well and happy....my very best to you for now....Grey

Sand dunes in Skardu!

Flying high over the 'pinnacles' north of Passu

Chitral Pakistan

High over the Hindu Kush

Chitral Pakistan Update 30.5.12

Well I have finally found a way to host a blog (spot adventures is off line at the moment so I created this one) so I can fill you in with events, and there have been many!, here in Chitral. We (as in Alex from OZ, Glen and Rob from NZ and Dmitry from Russia) arrived by plane from Islamabad on the 16^th. We were very lucky indeed to get this flight in as there hadn't been a flight to Chitral for the previous 10 days much to the disappointment of Rob and Alex who had arrived a week early then we had. The flight first landed at Peshawar to pick passengers and then onwards up and over the high Lowari Pass into Chitral Valley, Chitral town lies at the head of its valley and the airport only allows one shot at the runway. There is no room for error, fortunately we landed safely to be greeted by the friendly airport manager who amazingly gave us permission to land our paragliders on the runway and the local paragliding pilots who kindly gave us a lift into town and our guesthouse, the Chinar Inn. The Chinar tree is famous in Chitral, a huge and mighty tree that lives for many centuries.

Shai Mosque Chitral with Trichmir in the background

Our first stop in town, however, was to register with the police and there our troubles began. Times have changed significantly since we were here in 2010. Last year there was a border skirmish in which 30 Chitral Scouts (Pakistan army) were killed in a night attack from Afghanistan on 2^nd May, the same night that Osama Bin Laden was attacked and killed by an American force in Abbotabad. So as a result of that attack, the Chitral area is now considered a security zone and paragliding just didn't fit under the security measures in place, namely individual guards attached to every foreign visitor. As well, according to the DPO (district police Officer), we didn't have the correct permits to be in the area let alone paraglide, so we were left devastated with the realisation that we were not going to be able to fly.

Meeting with Farhad discussing our dilemma

Two days later a small miracle occurred as we were literally loading up a hired jeep to take us east to Karimabad where there weren't any security measures in place. Word was sent to us to come along to the Police Station where we would meet again with the commander who had some good news for us. Seems that Sajjad Shah in Rawalpindi, Prince Farhad here in Chitral, the Minister of Tourism and no doubt the head of the Pakistan Army and others I am sure had worked some magic and given us the necessary permission to fly! We were absolutely delighted of course to be allowed to fly and happy to not have to endure a two day trip to Karimabad!

The team (LR) Dmitry, Rob, Alex, Grey, Glen

Dmitry and Glen at the Summer Palace TO

So on our forth day in Chitral the weather cleared (it had been raining so we hadn't been able to fly anyway), the land cruiser was ready for us as we loaded up our wings ready to travel to the TO at the Summer Palace high over Chitral. You can imagine our consternation when FIVE police guards showed up to escort us to the take-off, there just wasn't enough room in the vehicle! After some time things got sorted out and only one armed guard came up I guess to make sure we got away safely. Anyway we were under strict instructions to report to the nearest police station if we were to fly cross country so I guess the guard's responsibilities ended after we launched.

We managed a couple of days flying in the Chitral township, cloud base was low and it was windy. It was beginning to look as if we might have arrived too early in the season. Then on the third day of flying we managed to get away for our first big flight to the town of Booni to the north. Rob and I managed the 60 km flight, Alex landed in the village before Booni and Glen and Dmitry landed back in Chitral.

Rob and I were treated like royalty by the local Booni pilots. Turns out that most of them funny enough are related to the royal Chitral family anyway. First Barber(famous here for getting sucked up from launch into a serious CuNim and landing 20+ kms away) and Mughtasim met us at the local football grounds and loaded us onto their motorcycles back into town for refreshments. We ended up staying with Musafar, the president of the Booni club, in his lovely home where we were fed and watered.

Shai Quila Fort

The next day we were driven up to the local Booni site called Zani Pass. It's a high takeoff at 3400 m and just getting ready to launch with all our gear nearly killed me. It's incredibly complicated getting ready what with an oxygen system, huge amounts of warm clothing, checking radios, gps, spot devices, water system, bivy gear, the list goes on. Then of course one needs to get ready to launch and pray that you don't stuff up cause you are totally breathless and weak by this stage. Of course I stuffed up and it took some time to sort it all out before I was airborne. What a relief to be flying, all the troubles of take off instantly forgotten, as I cranked into the first thermal, the panorama expanding with each flying circle... up up and away. Everyone managed a descent flight with Rob and I and Mughtasim landing in Booni after several hours and then returning by local van/bus to Chitral.

The rain returned again for three days 24-26th. There wasn't so much to do in the rain, walking, talking, playing cards, eating, sleeping the days drifted by. On the 25^th we went saw a local polo match in honour of the newly crowned King of Chitral. We unfortunately missed his coronation that morning but amazingly Rob and I along with some of the locals (Zahid, Gullam, Sajid and others) had a chance to take tea in the palace/fort with the new King the following day. The new king. King Mullik, is aged 28, graduate LLB and MBA (USA). His father had died unexpectedly last year and so it is his turn to be the King of Chitral valley. Rob and I were delighted to be given a grand tour through the fort. The fort dates back to the 1300s and is filled with an amazing collection of historic pieces. The photos, documents and paintings are incredible.

Main Street Chitral

I was very interested in the photos looking for any of Colonel Younghusband, who in 1895 as commander of a small British regiment came to Chitral, lugging heavy wheeled cannon over the Shandur pass from Gilgit to the east, to free the small garrison of British surrounded in the fort by local insurgents. The insurgents had even dug a tunnel under the fort in the hope of breaking in only to be blown up by the Brits inside who used dynamite to blow up the tunnel. Younhusband's regiment set up their cannons high along the west side of the valley, where the present day Governor lives, and managed to repel the opposing forces by blasting them with cannon balls. The skirmish was over with Younghusband the hero. Younghusband, incidently, went on to lead British forces in the evasion of Tibet, an affair that didn't go well. He was also as a master of the The Great Game, as a British Indian spy in the north of central asia regions on the lookout for possible Russian invasion intentions... all most interesting!

Sadly I didn't see any photos of Younghusband, but there was much to take in, including photos of Prince Phillip visiting, correspondence with the ruler of India during Partition, 1947, and many more photos that I knew captured important events. The fort dates back to the 1300s so there is plenty of history. Both Rob and I were privileged to see this fort from the inside as it is usually not open to visitors.

On the 27^th the weather cleared and we were flying again. This time we set a goal of landing at Zani Pass, where we had previously taken off from. We were intending to vol bivouac (fly sleep). It was a great flight back toward Booni but this time we travelled along the west side of the valley passing Trichmir (7778m), an incredible mountain massif covered in snow and ice. What a sight as we passed by. Amazingly four of us landed together high at Zani Pass. Glen elected to land at Booni \(as he didn't have a sleeping bag). It was a beautiful starry night wrapped up tightly to keep warm. Rob boiled some water so we had a hot drink and with a small amount of food that we had brought we had dinner.

Waking up early to the sunrise on top of a high pass was sureal. For a moment I didn't know where I was thinking this was a dream. We had breakfast of sorts and slowly walked up to the takeoff in preparation for flying. Glen and the local pilots from Booni came up, but their vehicle broke down so they launched from a lower site. What would the day bring as we launched our wings?

The decision was made to fly as far east as was possible following the road to Gilgit. Cloudbase was better with it rising to above 5000m but with mountains higher it would be a matter of climbing up out of valleys and crosiing where possible into other valley systems. Three of us , Rob and Alex and myself, flew over the \Shandur pass east for another 30 km before landing at Teru, a small village which fortunately had a guesthouse. Dmitry and Glen elected to fly back towards Chitral. Teru village is incredibly high in the nountains at 3200m. It is completely isolated in the winter and extremely remote in the summer months. A single Natco bus plies past on its way from Gilgit to Mastuj daily, other than that there is hardly any traffic on the dirt road.

Hike up from Teru

We were faced with a dilemma; a grueling two day return to Chitral by bus/jeep/van OR a hike up the valley to a high point to try and fly back. It was a no brainer, we organised porters for the morning and after a good night's sleep we were up and hiking at 8 am the next day. We found a suitable spot to take off at 3700m after an hour and half. It was going to be touch and go, with one shot to catch a thermal otherwise it was going to be the bus in the after noon, not something we wanted that's for sure.

Rob with goat? on TO at Teru

Amazingly we all found our lucky thermal which lifted us away and on track west to Mastuj first, then Boni and finally Chitral. It seemed impossible that we could fly this route into wind for the last third but we did, it, a 92 km straight line flight, 118 km with turn points, all three of us landing after five and a half hours. We made it back without the horror two day return by vehicle! I had a smile a mile wide, it was a great flight 6250 m was the high point and never less than 4000m until the end....and the scenery? Absolutely magical.

so if you want to have a look at these three flights in 3d on Google Earth click this link to Leonardo and select the flight and then click the Google Earth icon to see the tracks...select the last one on the 29.5.12 if you haven't much time.

http://paraglidingforum.com/leonardo/tracks/world/alltimes/brand:all,cat:0,class:all,xctype:all,club:all,pilot:0_17232,takeoff:all

If you want to see my SPOT shared page which gives you a real-time update of my track (if I'm flying) then visit , password is findhammy....(the track stays on the page for 7 days)

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0FNWHrnv0Qoo8H2ZYOpCrK1aWR5tYjVDO

So I hope you've enjoyed my story for the past two weeks. We are staying in Chitral until the 7^th and then heading east to Yasin Valley for a few days and then on to Karimabad in Hunza valley. I'll try and do another blog soon with what's been happening politically here in my next update....hope you are all happy and well....cheers Grey