KARIMABAD is a village in the Hunza region of northern
Pakistan. It’s on the Karakoram Highway, part of the historic Silk Road, and offers spectacular views of numerous 7000 meter (over 21,000 feet) mountains. If any of the winding streets are level, they must be known only to the locals. You find yourself always walking up or down – usually up and often steeply. Children scamper past you, and older residents easily stroll past. At over 8,000' it's easy to get out of breath quickly. Then you look up, and up, and see a spectacular peak against brilliant blue sky. "Wow" escapes from your mouth one more time, and you wonder if you're breathless because of altitude and exertion or just because of the sheer joy. That happens again and again.The cultures of Pakistani and northern Indian are similar in many ways, starkly different in others. A cow woke me up this morning. Actually, the sound woke me - one very loud MOOO. A look outside revealed the cow. Having mooed its last, it was being butchered on the lawn 30 feet from our door. Imagine the scene: Majestic snowy mountains dramatically rising over 20,000 feet against a brilliant blue cloudless sky. And before the mountains, the peaceful orchards, streams, houses and lanes of the village. And then, a luscious, fruit-laden apple tree on the edge
of the hotel lawn. And under the tree, a cow: a cow being pulled, stretched, skinned, disemboweled and dismembered by four sweating men, the cow's life blood pooling on a tarp beneath. Just awakened from sleep, I stood, mutely, trying to make sense of the scene. Brad watched for a minute, then said, "You can tell you're not in India anymore."The pix taken a day later is the view from my room looking past Brad's hammock, then to the killing ground, the apple tree, the peaceful orchards, streams, etc.
Yesterday we met 3 Aussie guys who are on a bicycling trip along the Silk Road, starting in Kyrgyzstan, then China, now Pakistan. Two of the bikes had small, single-wheeled trailers that carried camping and other gear. The third bike used to have a trailer, but it broke loose coming down a hill and flew off a cliff. The guys aren't deterred. This morning at breakfast we also met Peter, a thin, not very athletic-looking Brit in his 40's who was sent here by an English outdoor organization to attempt a yet-unclimbed peak. He's climbed in this area before, going back 20 years, and has climbed numerous high peaks. He came within 50 meters of this summit, but, after a rolling, bouncing uncontrolled descent through the snow, in the dark, decided he could leave that peak for someone else, probably younger.
Small world- Peter, Brad and Freddy have at least one friend in common, a Welsh climber turned paraglider. Peter said he'd like to try it. Good timing. In addition to his solo paraglider (“wing” for short), Brad also has a tandem wing, which can carry two people. Brad got the tandem so he can share his passion with others; in this case Peter. The weather looked promising, so the four of us hiked up (always up) over an hour to the Eagle's Nest, an upscale guest house/restaurant, for a pre-flight breakfast. Our time to hike up and eat would be time for the sun's heat to generate thermals, areas of warm, rising air. You’ve seen birds circling in thermals to gain altitude. Paragliders do the same.
Paraglider: What is it? (Skip this part if you already know, but for those who don’t, here goes.) A paraglider is a free flying very efficient parachute. It doesn’t have a rigid frame (that’s a hang glider) and it’s not towed behind a boat (that’s a parasail). The pilot is in a harness that allows her/him to run for take-off and landing and to sit comfortably during flight. The harness attaches with 2 carabiners to risers that attach to multiple lines and connect to the canopy. The canopy is two layers of fabric sewn together to form cells that are open at the leading edge and closed in back. The paraglider moves forward in flight, filling the cells with air and giving the canopy stability. Two handles (toggles or brakes) and weight shifts allow steering.
A paragliding lesson: Paragliding is weather-dependent. With no thermals or updrafts you just glide down. It's not bad, but is short and not much fun. On the other side, strong or gusty winds can make it too dangerous to fly.
We waited, had lunch. It was a great view from Eagle's Nest, looking down at Karimabad and the river valley below and looking up and all around at the snowy mountains. And we waited some more. Another paragliding lesson: Be patient.The right conditions didn't develop. It’s better to accept the situation than to force a flight into
unsafe conditions, so we hiked down. It was a lesson in patience, but not a wasted day. The hikes were beautiful and the exercise felt good.Pix: Brad near, Peter far, walking along a water channel on the way back down.
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