Skip to content

Blood, Sweat & Scree Dust

Tom Amaral

Banff, Alberta-based mountain trail runner

View Full Profile →

Follow Blood, Sweat & Scree Dust on WordPress.com

Pages

About Me
#Mountainporn

ARCHIVES

Instagram

"Jeep is more better than cycle in mountain areas," said Taqi, a trekking guide and high-altitude porter from Hushe. He kindly offered to drive me back to Gilgit, which allowed me to avoid retracing 150kms that I'd already ridden and 250kms that was subject to huge delays due to construction. Then our trip was subtly extended, first to the hot springs in Chutran, then to Askole, starting point for expeditions to K2, Broad Peak, etc. After spending four days in a Land Cruiser, however, I started to get a little anxious. I realized that sightseeing, without physical effort, was to me rather meaningless. At last, Taqi proposed we drive to the Chinese border, through some of the finest parts the Karakoram Highway has to offer -- something hundreds of tourists pay good money every year to do. I had to politely decline. I knew it would ruin it for me, and when I inevitably got around to riding that part of the KKH it would never be the same. I enjoyed our time together and our conversations, bridging the gap between Balti and North American societies, but it was time to cut the tie. I needed to be independent. #pakistan #gilgitbaltistan #askole #karakoram #dieselpower #toyota #landcruiser #mountains #adventure

Hushe is a place that took on an almost mythical quality before I came here. While hardly unknown to tourists and climbers, there still seems to be relatively little info on the internet about it (and if something isn't on the internet, does it even exist?) Hushe more than exceeded my expectations, both in terms of landscape and in terms of people: the valley is lined by row after row of immense granite spires which splinter along ridgelines into even more improbable knifeblade towers. At the head of the valley lies 7800m Masherbrum; beyond that, the greatest concentration of eight-thousand meter peaks in the world. Meanwhile, in the valley exists a both simple and complex system of subsistence farming which seems unaltered for centuries. And with my arrival came the warmest and friendliest welcome I have experienced while in Pakistan, and that's saying a lot. I'm still pretty sure this place is Shangri-La ❤ #hushe #hushevalley #pakistan #gilgitbaltistan #karakoram #ghanche #shangrila #ig_pakistan #bikepacking #biketouring #cycletouring #selfpowered #mountains #fitness #adventure #diy

Pakistani Canmore 🤷🏽‍♂️ #skardu #gilgitbaltistan #pakistan #karakoram #ig_pakistan #bikepacking #biketouring #cycletouring #adventurebybike #selfpowered #mountains #fitness #adventure #diy

Deosai is the second highest alpine plateau in the world with an average altitude around 4100m. It is home to many species of wildflower, ibex, wolves, Himalayan brown bears and snow leopards. PRET-TY RAD!! #pakistan #deosai #gilgitbaltistan #karakoram #bikepacking #biketouring #cycletouring #selfpowered #mountains #fitness #adventure #diy

"In my opinion, you will not travel to Deosai Plains by bicycle," said Irfan, but I'm not sure whether he was just sad I was leaving his home in Astore. . "Deserted" "Bad weather" "Too much bears" "Impossible" These were the things I heard about travelling across Deosai by bike. It's hard to argue with the locals, skeptical about the ideas of a crazy white guy, but one thing I've learned is that you have to go check it out for yourself. And I'm glad I did because I realized a ten year dream of visiting Deosai, and wouldn't want to do it any other way than by bike (suspension would be nice though). #pakistan #deosai #gilgitbaltisan #karakoram #bikepacking #biketouring #cycletouring #selfpowered #mountains #fitness #adventure #diy

"You are foreigner but I feel this is your country," said Mumtaz and my heart swelled. It was four in the morning in my hotel room as we imbibed hash cigarettes and milky chai as the muezzin called to prayer. Everything felt fucking surreal. At last we hit the highway to catch my fourth and final flight to Gilgit, regional hub of the Karakoram Mountains and inshallah the start of my #selfpowered adventure... #pakistan #gilgitbaltistan #karakoram #travel #type2tourism #bikepacking #mountains #fitness #adventure

February 14, 2014February 15, 2014 Tom AmaralAlberta, alpine, Banff, Banff NP, Canada, Canadian Rockies, mountain, Mountain running, mountaineering, mountains, Rockies, running, scrambling, trail running, ultrarunning, winter

New signage on Sulphur Mountain.

Happy Valentines Day Banff! My first true mountain-town love…

♥

Share this:

Twitter
Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Post navigation

← Previous Post

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Enter your comment here...

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Email (required) (Address never made public)

Name (required)

Website

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out / Change )

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out / Change )

Connecting to %s

Notify me of new comments via email.

Notify me of new posts via email.

Blog at WordPress.com.

%d bloggers like this: