Weekend away part 2 - Lake Saifal Muluk (again)

We took another trip up to Lake Saifal Muluk, a popular tourist destination. Last time it was entirely covered in snow, we had it all to ourselves, and we had to walk.  Make sure you view the panoramas at full size.  Really.

This time the road was open, so our Land Cruiser joined by other jeeps.

It was only when we reached the summit that we could appreciate just how many!

Lake Saifal Muluk from the jeep trail.  Click for the full glorious bigness.

And from further round the lake.  Click for large version.

These chaps followed us for a while trying to sell us a ride
on a horse.  That didn't seem like a bad idea for the river
crossing part, but first we had to show willing to keep on
walking in order to get the price down.  Worth Rs50 (36p).

While we were crossing it was cloudy and getting a little chilly.  3/4 of the way
round, the sun just started to peek through...

...until it looked like this:  the silhouette of one mountain range superimposed on
the other.  (Click to see full size.)

And then this happened.  The rain spots on the camera lens are an occupational
hazard of rainbow weather.  (Click for the big version - it's certainly worth it!)

Malika Parbat ("Queen of Mountains"), while at 5290m small compared to the
8000m-plus peaks further north, has a reputation as an extremely difficult climb
- and you can see why.

Holidays part 3 - Shogran

First things first - yes, we're fine, despite our close proximity to recent news headlines. Things have seemed pretty quiet so far, but we'll most likely be staying in for the next few days at least until we have more of an idea of the public mood.

Continued from part 1 & part 2.

So, on to the more spectacular stuff! After our disappointment at not making to Hunza, our Plan B was to hire a guide with a jeep who would take us up the Kaghan valley for a few days.

Looking down on Mansehra from the bypass.

View from the balcony of our hotel room at Shogran.

After checking into our hotel, our guide took us on an expedition in the afternoon,
starting with a jeep ride as far as the jeep could get - the bit I'm  standing on is a
steep hairpin bend covered in a couple of feet of snow.

Traversing a snow bank.  There's a jeep track somewhere under this lot.

Sam spent a fair amount of the trip not looking down.

Sri, where nomadic shepherds bring their flocks in the summertime.
(click to view large version, then cross your eyes and match up the pictures to see
in 3D - easier than magic eye anyway!)

The less tired explorers charge on to the next summit, leaving the others to amble
down at a gentler pace.

Paya* - at just about bang on 3000m we're merely 2.23x higher than the UK.
(*or Paye, or Pae - in this country spelling of words using the Latin alphabet
is largely up to the speller, as long as it roughly looks how it sounds!)

180° or so from Paya - click for full size.  The pointy one on the sawtooth ridge
about 2/3 of the way across the image is Malika Parbat (Queen of the Mountains),
the highest in the valley at 5290m - though that's small fry for this country...

Starting the descent.  Deep snow if good fun for this part.
Lower down there was a bit of a short cut - see video below:

A quality piece of road-building.

For those not determinedly not looking down, here's the view
out the side of the jeep.  You can see a long way down, at
angles of 60-80° below the horizontal.

Looking down the Kaghan valley from above Kiwai, where the road to
Shogran joins the main road to Naran and beyond.

Malika Parbat in the sunset.  More to come soon...