A dangerous road trip, a glimpse into the adventure !

[Wanderlust]

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=1735358330016778

 

[Maarkhoor]

@Wanderlust
Bro you open two threads with one pic and one video, my sincere advise Pls open thread when you have enough material to offer others for view and comment.

 

[Pakistani till death]

This is the road rather the path to fairy meadows from where you can see nanga parbat. Quite easily the most dangerous road in the world. Top gear did an episode on a road a bit similar to this in bolivia. Would have loved an episode on karakoram highway and this!
Pakistan zindabad :p

 

[Wanderlust]

@Wanderlust
Bro you open two threads with one pic and one video, my sincere advise Pls open thread when you have enough material to offer others for view and comment.

No I didnt, but advice well taken. Wont post unlesss something super interesting.

This is the road rather the path to fairy meadows from where you can see nanga parbat. Quite easily the most dangerous road in the world. Top gear did an episode on a road a bit similar to this in bolivia. Would have loved an episode on karakoram highway and this!
Pakistan zindabad :p

no bhai this is not feary meadows way, this is shamshal.

 

[Maarkhoor]

No I didnt, but advice well taken. Wont post unlesss something super interesting.

I am not saying you should refrain you can post whatever you like but want to say at least some stuff that some one can view or read threads based on single pictures wont generate much traffic.

 

[krash]

This is the road rather the path to fairy meadows from where you can see nanga parbat. Quite easily the most dangerous road in the world. Top gear did an episode on a road a bit similar to this in bolivia. Would have loved an episode on karakoram highway and this!
Pakistan zindabad :p

Nowhere near being the Fairy Meadows jeep track. The Fairy Meadows track is barren with the road built by placing piles of rock and dirt to widen and level the original track due to the sheer gradient of the rock faces. This is the jeep track leading to the Shimshal Valley. Its green, less precipitous and the road is carved into the side of the mountain.

ps: Neither of the above are anywhere near being the most dangerous road in the world :p

 

[Wanderlust]

Nowhere near being the Fairy Meadows jeep track. The Fairy Meadows track is barren with the road built by placing piles of rock and dirt to widen and level the original track due to the sheer gradient of the rock faces. This is the jeep track leading to the Shimshal Valley. Its green, less precipitous and the road is carved into the side of the mountain.

ps: Neither of the above are anywhere near being the most dangerous road in the world :p

WTH, then which road doo you think is most dangerous? fairy meadows being a track to nowhere.

 

[koolio]

Nowhere near being the Fairy Meadows jeep track. The Fairy Meadows track is barren with the road built by placing piles of rock and dirt to widen and level the original track due to the sheer gradient of the rock faces. This is the jeep track leading to the Shimshal Valley. Its green, less precipitous and the road is carved into the side of the mountain.

ps: Neither of the above are anywhere near being the most dangerous road in the world :p

I am just wondering krash have you travelled on this route to shimshal Valley, I have seen this video on YouTube and some Indians are claiming it's in Himachal pradesh just curious to know.

 

[krash]

WTH, then which road doo you think is most dangerous? fairy meadows being a track to nowhere.

Hehehe Assuming perfect weather conditions and if we are talking about regular/popular/frequent routes (not counting barely jeepable tracks leading to remote villages or drop-off points towards remote climbing routes e.g. the Hombroq track from Khaplu) then the jeep track from Shigar to Askole would take my vote any day.

Don't get me wrong, the stretch from Raikot till jeep point towards Fairy Meadows is seriously scary. It holds no pretence as it rapidly rises behind the Shangrilla hotel from the get-go only to level off behind the mountain on a track barely the width of a jeep with a vertical drop of only around a couple thousand feet on your left with the jeep actively trying to rock you out and over the edge But I had done this too many times before so I had fun with it.

The Askole ride? You see the same thousand+ meters of vertical drops here too but the difference is that the track is very loose dirt and rock which does give away every now and then and your jeep does slip towards the edge (courtesy the markedly less stable mountain sides here, which is saying something since all of our northern mountain countrysides are highly unstable). And then the track just vanishes completely and suddenly you find yourself off-roading (climbing up and down landslides, rock slides, crossing rivers, everything) on a cliff-face! So many times your jeep is at angles around 30-40 degrees, side to side, trying to cross rock and dirt mounds with two wheels off the ground and the cliff edge inviting you. Too often you have to get out of the jeep so it can pass the next obstacle. Oh and jeeps climbing above you or descending behind you let loose rocks (small ones if your lucky) and soil which do tumble down and hit your vehicle. And where the really scary bits end after about an hour or so on the Fairy Meadows track, this stretch lasts about a good day.

I am just wondering krash have you travelled on this route to shimshal Valley, I have seen this video on YouTube and some Indians are claiming it's in Himachal pradesh just curious to know.

I'm sorry, my guess was Naltar not Shimshal, my bad. I've been to Shimshal twice and as far as I can remember that route is a very narrow gorge with just barren rock cliffs and the greenery is confined to the valley floor further up the road. This route looks nothing like it. This is the Shimshal road,

I could very well be wrong about it being the Naltar route as well. I just watched it again, one of the guys says something about the van and I'm pretty sure you can't take a van to Naltar. But it's definitely not the Fairy Meadows track. Could just as well be in India.

-----Edit------

Found it!

It indeed is in India, some Pangi Kishtwar place.

 

[koolio]

Fairy meadows road is still ranked as one of the most dangerous roads in the world, Not too sure If I would feel comfortable travelling on that road, Fairy meadows road and Shimshal valley road need to be widened and paved as this will boost tourism by far margin, Fairy meadows is a heaven itself and Im surprised why this road has not been given due consideration. Thanks Krash for finding the video, so its in IOK.

 

[Wanderlust]

Hehehe Assuming perfect weather conditions and if we are talking about regular/popular/frequent routes (not counting barely jeepable tracks leading to remote villages or drop-off points towards remote climbing routes e.g. the Hombroq track from Khaplu) then the jeep track from Shigar to Askole would take my vote any day.

Don't get me wrong, the stretch from Raikot till jeep point towards Fairy Meadows is seriously scary. It holds no pretence as it rapidly rises behind the Shangrilla hotel from the get-go only to level off behind the mountain on a track barely the width of a jeep with a vertical drop of only around a couple thousand feet on your left with the jeep actively trying to rock you out and over the edge But I had done this too many times before so I had fun with it.

The Askole ride? You see the same thousand+ meters of vertical drops here too but the difference is that the track is very loose dirt and rock which does give away every now and then and your jeep does slip towards the edge (courtesy the markedly less stable mountain sides here, which is saying something since all of our northern mountain countrysides are highly unstable). And then the track just vanishes completely and suddenly you find yourself off-roading (climbing up and down landslides, rock slides, crossing rivers, everything) on a cliff-face! So many times your jeep is at angles around 30-40 degrees, side to side, trying to cross rock and dirt mounds with two wheels off the ground and the cliff edge inviting you. Too often you have to get out of the jeep so it can pass the next obstacle. Oh and jeeps climbing above you or descending behind you let loose rocks (small ones if your lucky) and soil which do tumble down and hit your vehicle. And where the really scary bits end after about an hour or so on the Fairy Meadows track, this stretch lasts about a good day.



I'm sorry, my guess was Naltar not Shimshal, my bad. I've been to Shimshal twice and as far as I can remember that route is a very narrow gully with just barren rock cliffs and the greenery is confined to the valley floor further up the road. This route looks nothing like it. This is the Shimshal road,

I could very well be wrong about it being the Naltar route as well. I just watched it again, one of the guys says something about the van and I'm pretty sure you can't take a van to Naltar. But it's definitely not the Fairy Meadows track. Could just as well be in India.

-----Edit------

Found it!

It indeed is in India, some Pangi Kishtwar place.

shamshal kia kernay gai the?

 

[krash]

Fairy meadows road is still ranked as one of the most dangerous roads in the world, Not too sure If I would feel comfortable travelling on that road, Fairy meadows road and Shimshal valley road need to be widened and paved as this will boost tourism by far margin, Fairy meadows is a heaven itself and Im surprised why this road has not been given due consideration. Thanks Krash for finding the video, so its in IOK.

TBH almost all the roads in our north our pretty dangerous, the road to Chitral, the one connecting Shandur with Ghizar, the one from Khaplu to Hushe, I could go on forever. Even the paved ones are hair raising; most of KKH and the Gilgit-Skardu road.

The thing is that these areas are super remote and the access routes are very unnatural. Couple that with the highly unstable nature of our mountains. Building and then maintaining roads on these routes would be a headache unmatched ever before. I've seen a perfect newly built mettled road vanish in 6 months. I mean most of the people thought that the KKH could never be built. So since there's not a lot of regular traffic in these areas and the fact that it would be extremely difficult and expensive to maintain a road there, the routes are left as jeep tracks, which too are by no means easy to build and maintain (most of them are maintained and at times built by hand). As far as the tourism is concerned, I honestly believe that these jeep rides help in making the trips more touristy, they are a fundamental part of visiting our north. Quite a lot of the locals depend on the jeep services too. For example, the Naran to Saiful Malook track can be built and maintained without a lot of problems but it still remains a dirt track because hundreds of locals' income depends on seasonal tourists hiring their jeeps to see the lake. These jeep rides add to the romance of taking a trip there like nothing else and I personally love them.

shamshal kia kernay gai the?

The first time I just tagged along with a friend from Karimabad since I had 4 extra days after returning back from a Rush Lake trek and the second time was for a Manglik Sar attempt.