Today has been a long day of travel.
We had a mid-morning flight booked with Pakistan International Airways. Though not on Europe’s “safe list of airlines,” we were impressed by the airline and the service. The flight felt safe, well-managed, and we were well looked after by the cabin crew.
The flight to Skardu is known as one of the most spectacular in the world. We were really looking forward to seeing the peaks of some of the world’s highest mountains. As it turned out, it was a bit cloudy, and we only caught glimpses as we flew the 45-minutes.
On board, we were served spicy sandwiches, soft drinks, and tea. The service and flight were smooth, if not as spectacular as we had hoped. That was until we landed in Skardu. The plane had to perform some tight turns to line up. The wings seeming to skim the valley sides on landing. The pilot, clearly an expert, guided us in with ease. We touched down, excited, feeling that now our journey had begun.
The airport is quite basic and you catch a rusty old transfer bus and are dropped off at a tiny building where there’s a small carousel. As you wait you can see the luggage arrive on a truck which is then ceremonially dumped on to the floor before it is chucked on to the belt!
John and the boys spotted the famous climber Chhang Dawa Sherpa who conquered the 14 8000m peaks as well was one of the team to be the first to climb K2 in winter and went to say hello. A legend, he was incredibly friendly and took an interest in our little adventure.
We were met at the “gate” (or the door to the tiny hall) by our guide Murbak and the co-owner of Deosai Tours (another brother), who would be running the trip for Epic Expeditions. We were greeted warmly, with flowers around our necks, and had the obligatory photo outside the airport.
All six of us, with our luggage, squeezed into a Land Cruiser and headed into Skardu town. We’d decided we might be a hundred dollars or so short in local cash and wanted to grab more for any “just in case” moments.
We were warned that ATMs might not work with our cards, but we didn’t believe it. We’ve traveled all over the world to remote and far-flung places, and our cards have always worked. We tried both Visa and Mastercard at the first ATM: “service not available at this time.” We tried again, then another, and so on—about 10 different banks, with each one showing the same message. We use a Barclays credit card (VISA) and a Starling cash card (Mastercard), but nothing worked. It was working for locals, so it must have been our banks. We contacted them later when we got Wi-Fi, only to be told that there had been no attempts to withdraw cash and that everything should be fine. Well, we can tell you now, they don’t work in the Karakoram (they did work in Islamabad).
Giving up, we headed to the hotel, though not before checking in with the local authorities to obtain our permits. It felt a bit like an interrogation as they asked John questions about our intentions and our hiking experience.
All the running around town had tired us out. The air was cooler than in Islamabad, but still warm, and we were all exhausted by the time we arrived at our hotel.
We stayed at Mountain Lodge Skardu (https://www.dewanekhas.com/). All our accommodation was organised by Epic. Up here, the hotels are basic; however, we had a fan, a stunning view, and the rooms were clean, basic, but comfortable—just what we needed.
As the sun started to set, we headed up to the hotel restaurant and enjoyed a great meal. Portions are huge, so don’t order too much! As the sun dipped below the horizon and the call to prayer began, we truly felt that we’d arrived—filled with excitement and a bit of trepidation for the journey into the Karakoram ahead.
From this point on, it’s back to basics, tough journeys, and the raw wilderness of the mountains.
Family Russell-Smith Travel 