4880m above sea level
How a motley crew managed to climb a mountain pass they didn’t intend to.

Why does one climb mountains? Have you looked up and thought yes, I’d like to climb that mountain one day. Curiosity? Imagination? Fear? What drives a human to climb a mountain? A profound question to which the answer is only found in experiencing the pain and the eventual relief of climbing a mountain.
There is no one way to climb a mountain, many have developed methods, tools, techniques to help aid the process of climbing yet what is fundamental in climbing any mountain is the will to climb. From the moment you believe you can climb it, it is possible, given any circumstance.

The preparation
As with any trek, preparation is the key to a happy trek. We weighed in our options for the route, sourced a local of the valley we were supposed to descend into, calculated approximately the number of days it would take to walk the route and the approximate amount of food we’d need.
We chopped up our tomatoes and made them into a paste and kept it in a bottle. Our two dozen eggs were treated similarly, and kept in a bottle. Both decisions backfired on us as after the second day both had gone off, reduced to a vomit inducing mixture.
With all the food taken care of we took care of all the camping and trekking equipment — tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, boots, socks, jackets, sunscreen, medicine. All packed and we squeezed everything into our bags, distributing the weight amongst us.
The ascent
If you’ve ever looked at the summit of a peak and guesstimated how long it might take to climb it, you’re most likely wrong. It is a gruelling, arduous challenge to keep one foot in front of the other, for hours on end. Ultimately the key to reaching the top is having a sense of calm, being persistent, taking your time and not letting the mountain take the advantage.
Trekking the first and second day had been relatively easy as we crossed Deosai. Crossing a number of small glaciers we arrived at the base camp and found ourselves at a cul-de-sac, the only way was through a debatable mountain pass. Our guide at this point was confused as to where we were, and developing a headache left the decision where to climb from up to us.

Using Google Maps to locate where we were relatively we plotted a route to our destination and approximated where we should climb across into the next valley. Camping overnight at the bottom of the pass we slept right below some loose rock, highly inadvisable as they are prime candidates for abrupt landslides. Overlooking the risk, we set up camp and started boiling some water for a much needed cup of tea.

As we woke up we were greeted with clouds that hugged the mountains, completely masking the pass we were supposed to cross. Thankfully, as the sun rose higher the clouds cleared, making it safer for us to cross over.
This mountain pass is completely rock, snow and ice, we jumped across large boulders making sure we placed our feet correctly on landing, and carefully walking up the small packs of snow. Reaching nearly 5000m it took us roughly an hour to climb up from our base camp, where we celebrated with a hot cup of kahwah, danced and just took in the spectacular view in front of us.


The descent
We were hoping for the descent to be a breeze, it turned out to be anything but. Our first problem, getting down the other side. With no proper ropes or crampons we were ill-equipped for the descent on the glacier. Improvising with our camping ropes we fastened ourselves to each other and slowly made our way down the slope, carefully creating footholds with our boots for the person behind us.
Then came the boulders, this time the gaps between them much wider and sitting precariously on loose rock, where you could hear the ice water gushing underneath, ready to take the rocks away any instant. We hastily made our way to a safe place to sit down and have some noodles for lunch.

Our path got steeper as we went further towards Sadpara. We encountered some local shepherds who were tending to their sheep, goats, yaks and cows. They informed us we made the right decision to come the way we came as the original pass we had meant to cross had a glacier on the other that had crevasses of more than a 100ft deep. The guide’s headache was a blessing in disguise.



Exhausted, our knees weakened, we arrived in Sadpara village at 6pm and were collected by our jeep. Relieved, we sat on some comfy seats, relaxed and spoke about the recent events of the past three days as we were driven to the warmth and comfort of our homes.

We totalled 30km of trekking, descending more than 2500m from the pass over 3 days, consumed endless cups of tea and kahwah, caught our own fish by hand, danced and sang on the mountain pass. Everything added up to make for an unforgettable trek with my newfound friends.
This trip was made possible with the help of Ghangchan Travels based in Skardu.
