Shimshal Pass Trek

Trip highlights

• The pastures at Shuwerth

  Stone huts occupied through the summer, mostly by the women of the village, at nearly 4,800 metres.

• Shimshal village itself

  No road until 2003, and the home of several of Pakistan's leading mountaineers.

• The Shimshal gorge road

  Three to four hours of jeep track cut into a canyon wall — a drive people remember as vividly as the walk.

• Distaghil Sar and Kanjut Sar

  Seven-thousanders on the skyline from the pass, and almost no other trekkers anywhere in the frame.

Dates & availability

Dates not working? Every trip here also runs as a private departure — tell us your window and we will build it around you.

At a glance

• 17 days, Islamabad to IslamabadSix days on foot from Shimshal and back, with a day at the pastures and a free day in Hunza.
• Shimshal Pass, 4,735 mThe village's summer grazing grounds, ringed by Distaghil Sar, Kanjut Sar and the Shimshal watershed.
• Steep paths, no glacierShepherds' tracks rather than ice — relentless ascents, some exposure, no rope or crampons.
• Small groups, maximum 12Licensed guide, cook, kitchen crew and porters, engaged in Shimshal itself.
• Pakistan's highest settled valleyA village that had no road until 2003 and has produced a remarkable number of the country's climbers.
• Hotels and a village guesthouseIslamabad, Chilas and Karimabad in hotels; Shimshal in a village guesthouse; tents on the trek.
• July and early AugustTwo departures, timed for when the yaks and the herders are actually at the high pastures.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrival in Islamabad

   Met at the airport and transferred to the hotel. Trek briefing and kit check in the evening, then dinner together.

2. 2Day 2Islamabad to Chilas

   A full day north on the Karakoram Highway, about 460 kilometres, through the Kaghan valley or up the Indus gorge depending on the season. Night in Chilas.

3. 3Day 3Chilas to Karimabad

   North past the confluence of the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush and up the Hunza valley, with Rakaposhi filling the windscreen for much of the afternoon. Night in Karimabad at about 2,400 metres.

4. 4Day 4Karimabad to Shimshal

   Up the Karakoram Highway past Passu and its cathedral ridge, then off it onto the Shimshal jeep track — three to four hours of road cut into the wall of a gorge, hundreds of metres above the river. Shimshal at 3,100 metres. Night in a village guesthouse.

5. 5Day 5Shimshal — village day and acclimatisation

   A day here on purpose, both to acclimatise and because the village is half the reason to come. Walk out to the fields and irrigation channels, visit the school, and meet the porters who will walk with you. Several of Pakistan's best-known climbers are from these few houses.

6. 6Day 6Shimshal to Zardgarbin

   The trek begins with a steep pull out of the valley on a shepherds' path, five to six hours, to camp at Zardgarbin at about 3,700 metres. Hard work from the first hour — this trek gains height on foot rather than by jeep.

7. 7Day 7Zardgarbin to Wuch Furzeen

   Five to six hours on, climbing steadily with some narrow and exposed sections of path along the valley side. Camp at Wuch Furzeen at about 4,200 metres. The peaks of the Shimshal watershed begin to line up ahead.

8. 8Day 8Wuch Furzeen to Shuwerth

   Four to five hours up to the pastures at Shuwerth, about 4,700 metres, on the Shimshal Pass plateau. The stone huts here are occupied through the summer and the yaks graze on the flats. Camp beside them, and if the herders are up, the evening is theirs as much as yours.

9. 9Day 9Shimshal Pass — a day at the pastures

   A full day at 4,700 metres to walk out onto the plateau, up to the pass itself at 4,735 metres, and to the lakes on the flats. Distaghil Sar and Kanjut Sar stand on the skyline. There is nowhere else quite like this: a working summer settlement at nearly 5,000 metres, in the middle of the Karakoram.

10. 10Day 10Shuwerth to Wuch Furzeen

    Turning for home — four to five hours back down to Wuch Furzeen, with the height coming off quickly and the walking much easier for it.

11. 11Day 11Wuch Furzeen to Shimshal

    A long descent, six to seven hours, back down the path to Shimshal. Hard on the knees and easy on the lungs. Settle up with the porters at the village.

12. 12Day 12Shimshal to Karimabad

    Back out along the gorge track and down the Karakoram Highway to Karimabad. Hotel, hot shower and a bed, with Rakaposhi opposite.

13. 13Day 13Karimabad — a day in Hunza

    A free day. Baltit Fort, the 700-year-old seat of the Mirs, and Altit Fort below it, older at around 1,100 years; Attabad Lake; or the Duikar viewpoint above Eagle's Nest for sunset over Rakaposhi, Ultar Sar, Diran and Golden Peak.

14. 14Day 14Karimabad to Chilas

    South on the Karakoram Highway along the Hunza river and the Indus, stopping at the confluence viewpoint. Night in Chilas.

15. 15Day 15Chilas to Islamabad

    The last day on the highway, through the gorge and out into the plains. Night in Islamabad.

16. 16Day 16Islamabad — contingency and a day in the capital

    Held in reserve for a closed highway, a washed-out Shimshal track or a day given to the weather. If it is free: the Faisal Mosque, the Margalla trails, Saidpur village, or Rawalpindi's bazaars with a guide.

17. 17Day 17Departure

    Transfer to Islamabad International for your flight home.

Good to know

This trek has no glacier and no technical ground, and people sometimes read that as easy. It is not. The route gains about 1,600 metres from the village to the pastures on shepherds' paths, the ascents are steep and sustained, and several sections of path are narrow with a long drop below them. If exposure bothers you, tell us before booking. What it does not ask for is rope work, crampons or crevasse skills, which is why the minimum age is lower here than on the Baltoro traverses.

Go for the village as much as the pass. Shimshal is a genuinely remarkable place — no road until 2003, a school and an irrigation system the community built itself, and a mountaineering record out of all proportion to two thousand people. We stay in a village guesthouse rather than camping, and the porters are engaged in Shimshal, so the money for this trek stays in the valley it is walked in. Ask your guide about the women's yak herding at Shuwerth before you get there; it will change what you look at when you arrive.

The departures are timed for when the herders and the animals are actually at the high pastures, which is roughly July to early September. Come outside that and you get the plateau without the thing that makes it extraordinary. The jeep track through the gorge is also weather-dependent and occasionally washes out, which is what the contingency day at the end is for.

The two lists above are what we commit to. Confirm anything that matters to your decision with us in writing when you book.

Questions about this trip

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