Attar and Ghamubar Pass Trek: Unspoiled Adventure in Hindukush Pakistan

City tour of the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In sharp contrast to the ancient and historical cities and towns of Pakistan, the Federal Capital Islamabad is a new city modeled on the pattern of many new and modern western capitals. Half day city tour of Islamabad. Overnight at a hotel or guest house.

Rawalpindi – is a bustling town strategically located between the Punjab and Azad Kashmir. It has a strong colonial influence and possesses a large military cantonment with the headquarters of the Pakistan Army. It is the sister city of Islamabad, and is essentially the older sister of Islamabad. To locals, Old bazaars, such as the Raja Bazaar, retain their oriental character, with artisans who still create in the old-fashioned way: designing jewelry, pounding out copper and brass items, fashioning cane baskets, hand-carving walnut furniture.

Ten hours driving along the Naran and Kaghan Valley or on the 8^th wonder of the World the Karakorum Highway which is worth to enjoy the diverse towns, cities and villages with unique culture of the people along Hazara and Kohistan regions of the Khyber Pukhtun Khawn Province formerly it was North West Frontier Province and the mighty Indus River flows down from the Karakorum and Himalaya Mountains. In route we stop at ancient rock carvings close to Chilas of left by travelers, pilgrims, traders on their way to Sub-continent and Central Asia. It dates back to 5000-1000 BC the purpose of their journey on the rocks in different languages.

Five to six hour journey starts from Chilas after breakfast to Chatorkhand Ishkoman from Chilas. On the way we will stop for the view of Nanga Parbat, the Junction of three Great Mountain Ranges of Karakorum, Hindukush and Himalaya along with meeting of Gilgit and Indus River. Lunch in Gilgit and continue to the west of Gilgit on the Ghizer Road, along the Ghizer River with spectacular views of the villages on the both side of the river. We will arrive Chatorkhand Ishkoman for overnight stay in Royal Guest House with beautiful Garden. You will enjoy the amazing food of the Guest House.

Two hours’ drive and the trek begin. It is an interesting of 4 to 6 hours trek with the views of white-topped peaks of 5000 to 6000 meters. The first two hours on an easy jeep road takes you to Hundis. At about 3000 meters, Hundis is the highest winter village, surrounded by fields of barley but too high for fruit trees. The views North up the Mathan Tir Valley showed jagged peaks. There is bridge which to the west from the Village which leads to another trek to Darkot over Punji Pass of 3 to 4 days.

 You will follow to the North along the river of Mathan Tir passing through many huts with local people who spend their summer with cattle welcoming you with cup of tea if you get close to their huts which is an interesting culture of mountain communities of the Northern Pakistan and it is a great opportunity to discover their culture and living standards.

Most of the people like to go on such treks that add to their joys of holidays. You pass undulating juniper scrub with occasional cedar, pine and Rowan trees and wild rose bushes. We will pass a couple of settlements high above the path and it is gentle walk to reach Mathan Tir a beautiful summer village with green ground camping site at the side of Attar river with clear spring water to drink and cook at about 3,600 meters.

It is a three to four hours dynamic walk passing through very beautiful summer villages along the Attar valley. There is path under the shade birch trees and views of surrounding snow-capped mountains of the 6000 to 6600 meters waiting for Summit and names because the local are not aware about the joys of climbing Mountains and still many of them without names. Some of the Italian were here since the year 2000, and enjoyed climbing on these amazing mountains and gave them new names and discovered their local names, still many of them are un-named and waiting for Summit. After walking of 4 hours you will reach Attar Lake the locals call it Barri (means big) a beautiful campsite with clear water at about 3800m meters. There are some summer huts about 500 meters to the lake. It is wonderful place to have a rest day her and Explore around. There is some rock-climbing wall very close to the camping site and enjoy if you have enough time for a free day to enjoy the real natural beauty.

Exploring the surrounding if you have rock climbing experience the best place to enjoy it here. Here we offer several days to enjoy adventure holidays hiking, climbing alpine, peaks, walking to lakes and glaciers walks. This is the best place to spend multiple days if you are are interested in.

Join us at Discover Pakistan and explore the magic of Hindukush alpine peaks, lakes, glaciers, forests and the art of nature.

Today we will walk about 3 to 4 hours beside lake for one-hour stream flows from ice and snow of the mountains with colorful flowers all along the way. You will reach to grassy campsite with wild onions. The views of the mountains back and ahead give immense happiness. If you are interested to do afternoon Climbing, there are some spots that offers an opportunity on 5000 to 6000 peaks nearby your camp. Overnight stay in tent.

The climb to the northeast to the top is a steep-allow 4 to 5 hours to reach to the top. The last part to reach the pass is a gentle approach and you reach the top that offers exciting view to both sides. Sometimes there is snow in the early or late in the season on the pass I mean if you are there around the month of May and at the end of September. Within a one to one and half hour you reach to a beautiful campsite of the Yasin side with clear spring and views of narrow valleys down. Your porters celebrate the success by running down towards the campsite and welcome to the other side of the pass. You will camp here on about 3,800 meters in beautiful lush green campsite. Stay night in a tent.

  It is an easy walk of about 4 to 5 hours down wards and come across the summer huts of Bohrek, Momosil and Silling Harang with people of Darkot as the people like in the Ishkoman will be very happy to see you and welcome you with tea and local dishes in there huts. You must not deny the offers that is a unique culture of the mountain communities of North Pakistan. After walking 3 hour you will reach to the beautiful village of Darkot the last village of Yasin Valley. It has about 350 houses. Explore the historical village and overnight stay in tent.

Darkut has historical background about Russian invasion to the sub-continent, Tibetan rule in the Little Blore and place of murder of the British Geographer George Hayward in 1870 here.

Darkot is the junction point of 4 amazing trekking routes to Ishkoman, Broghil and Thui Valley over majestic mountain passes. 

An exciting hike to Ghamubar takes us along the beautiful villages of Darkot and Ghasum with fantastic views of Ghamubar Peaks ahead that are above 6000 meters still untouched. Ghamubar Lake in the snout of the glacier has a great attraction for nature lovers. The water falls, site stream, juniper trees and wild roses are heart-touching. The porters from the village will make a fun singing and dancing during the hike. We will walk along the right side of the glacier and sometimes get on lateral moraines. We will reach a beautiful campsite with willow bushes and grassy flat in the under the shade of the Ghamubar Peaks. The star-watching at night is a tradition of the locals gives a sense of nature. The night in the camp is awesome.

This trek starts hard ascending steeply towards the pass about three hours on scree steep with clear view of the Ghamubar pass. The views back to Darkot and surrounding are fascinating and a life time experience. Looking from the pass towards Thui Valley are heart touch straight ahead you will see Thui-1 (6666 meters) the highest peak in this region. Then from here we are dropping down all the way to Gohicho Kutu a summer pasture of Thui people. From the pass a glacier flowing on our left down to our next campsite. This site is also called Ghamubar on Thui side. Ghamu is Glacier in Brushaski Language (Spoken Yasin Valley) that gives the name for both sides because there are about 4 km of glaciers.

A smooth hike takes us to the village of Thui along serene landscape and sharp rocky peaks along the valley. The views are awesome we will meet local in some parts of the hike working in the fields of barley and collecting fire wood for the winter. It is an interesting last day of our trekking to one of the largest villages of Yasin Valley with Brushaski speaking inhabitants in well planned houses. We may stop for a while and drive one hour to proper Yasin. There are some good hotels to stay and have hot shower after a week-long trek. We will have the traditional meals in the evening. Overnight stay in hotel.

In the morning we have our breakfast no need to be hurry to wake up. After the breakfast we leave towards Gilgit. A scenic drive through charming villages of Yasin, Gupis, and Punial valley crossing the. We will definitely stop in some places on the way for pictures and snacks to enjoy the nature. Overnight stay in hotel. This evening we will say good bye to our trekking crew with a farewell dinner.

If the weather condition allows flying to Islamabad it is again an hour flight otherwise, we will drive to Naran Valley over Babusar Pass 4100m that is another great experience. The Naran and Kaghan Valleys are the hub for domestic tourist because it offers several gorgeous picnic spots for soft tourism likers. The journey is full of stunning highlights with lush green plateaus, waterfalls, side stream, springs, Lulusar Lake, Kanjut River and many more throughout the journey.

If the yesterday flight operates then we will take a brief visit of Taxila archaeological sites.

Taxila: Sightseeing of ruins: Jaulian Monastery, Taxila Museum. Taxila is only about 30 kilometers from Rawalpindi, a little off the main highway. Steeped deep in history, the excavations at Taxila take you back 2,500 years into the world of Buddha, Alexander, Asoka and of course the Emperor Kanishka whose imprints are visible to this day. It is here that the world's most interesting civilizations took roots. It is here that you find endless images of Buddha. You find these in stone and in stucco. Important stages of Buddha’s life are depicted in the numerous panels that have been uncovered here. This great man of peace is depicted in exquisitely carved sculptures and statues glorifying him and his life. Each one of these sculptures is a collector's pride & visit truck & bus painting workshop.

Transfer to Islamabad International for home flight

We wish you a safe journey with unforgettable memories with Trips Nomad Adventure!