Milford Sound

One of New Zealand’s best-known tourist attractions, Milford Sound attracts about 500,000 visitors each year, and features rocky cliffs, cascading waterfalls and dense forests.

Angel Falls

The highest waterfall in the world, Angel Falls is located in Venezuela, along the border with Brazil. The waterfall boasts a height of more than 3,200 feet.

Vesuvius

It is the only volcano on Europe’s mainland to have eruped in the past 100 years, but Italy’s Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in 79 AD. The explosion and its aftermath destroyed the city of Pompeii.

Halong Bay

Because of its abundance of precipitation, most of the islands of Halong Bay are uninhabited. Located in Quang Ninh province, Vietnam, it features thousands of limestone karsts and isles in various sizes and shapes.

El Yunque

Puerto Rico’s 28,000-acre El Yunque National Forest is the only tropical rain forest in the United States National Forest System.

Grand Canyon

This well-known and frequently visited U.S. National Park runs a mile deep, averages 10 miles wide and was carved out over the past 6 million years.

Mud volcanoes

It is estimated that 300 of the planet’s estimated 700 mud volcanoes are found in Gobustan, Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea. In Azerbaijan, eruptions are driven from a deep mud reservoir which is connected to the surface even during dormant periods, when seeping water still shows a deep origin.

Puerto Princesa Underground River

The subterranean river, located in the Philippines, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and winds about 5 miles into the South China Sea.

Amazon

This 1.7 billion-acre jungle makes up more than half of the rainforests remaining on the planet. The Amazon is situated in nine countries: Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guyana, Peru, Suriname and Venezuela.

Cliffs of Moher

One of the most visited tourist sites of Ireland, the vertical Cliffs of Moher tower 650 feet high and plunge abruptly into the churning Atlantic Ocean.

Matterhorn

At 14,690 feet, the Matterhorn is not even the highest mountain in Switzerland, but it is one of the world’s most photogenic, rising up on four elegant faces to a craggy peak along the Swiss-Italian border.

Komodo

Indonesia’s Komodo National Park was founded in 1980 to protect the endangered Komodo dragon. Attacks on humans by Komodo dragons are rare, but the animals have a fearsome reputation because their sharp teeth and poisonous saliva can kill a person within days of a bite.

Sundarbans

The Sundarbans delta, located in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India, is home to the largest mangrove forest on the planet. “Sundarban” literally means “beautiful jungle” or “beautiful forest” in the Bengali language.

Kilimanjaro

Kilimanjaro National Park was inscribed to UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1987. Mount Kilimanjaro is the tallest peak in Africa, rising 19,340 feet in the air.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Mountain climbers photographed by Jimmy Chin, while scaling some of the highest peaks in the world.

Here’s a photographer who will go to great heights in his search for the ultimate picture. Jimmy Chin, probably the world’s greatest adventure photographer, has travelled the world with highly-skilled mountain climbers, scaling huge peaks and even skiing down the face of Mount Everest.

Conrad Anker reaches for his next gear placement, 2,500 feet off the ground on the Pacific Ocean Wall of El Capitain, Yosemite National Park, California.

Jimmy has built up a portfolio that documents his work in some of the most inaccessible and extreme situations imaginable. Jimmy is the go-to man for adventurers and publications such as National Geographic and Outside Magazine.

Yuji Hirayama climbs in Turkey in April 2009

His travels have taken him to the tallest freestanding sandstone towers in the world, the Hand of Fatima in Mali, to the highest sheer cliff face on the globe. “The climbs up the Hand of Fatima which is 2,000 feet and Naga Parbat which is just over 15,000 feet were spectacular,” said Jimmy. “The Hand of Fatima and the Kaga Tondo in Mali, is a personal favourite of mine. That shot sums up the bravery and tremendous ability of these climbers, who allowed me to join them and to experience the same dangers that they face”.

Cedar Wright and Kevin Thaw climb the south buttress of Kaga Tondo on the Hand of Fatima in Mali on December 20, 2002.

To work with Steph Davis as she became the first woman to free climb El Capitan’s Salathe Wall in Yosemite National  Park, was an honour and a privilege. “I am always concerned with finding the right spot and the right shot, so sometimes I forget to appreciate the skill of my fellow adventurers, but I am aware of how my life has been changed by my ability with a camera”.

Steph Davis free climbs the Salathe Wall of El Capitain in Yosemite National Park, California, on November 4, 2005. Steph is the first and only woman to free climb the Salathe.

Steph Davis leading the crux "Boulder Pitch" on the Salathe Headwall in Yosemite National Park on November 4, 2005.

Of all his adventures though, his ascents of Everest stand out as his most physically demanding and rewarding. “You do wonder – when you are at 28,000 feet, the height that aeroplanes cruise at, when you are struggling to draw breath and every limb aches – why do I do this?”

Kit and Rob DesLauriers with Dave Hahn on the South Summit of Mount Everest on October 4, 2006.

“But of course once you reach the summit and realise that there is nowhere you could stand taller on Earth, that’s why I do it. On my 2006 expedition to Everest me, Kit and Rob DesLauries decided to speed up our descent of the mountain by skiing down its south east ridge. To say that was fun and frivolous is a bit of an understatement”.

Kit DesLauriers hiking through the Khumbu Icefall of Mount Everest on September 18, 2006.

Pushing himself hard in training between jaunts, Jimmy’s life is a constant whirl of planning, travel and photography. “I lose anywhere up to 20 pounds on location with adventurers like Conrad Anker or Brady Robinson,” said Jimmy. “So I need to replace that lost weight and muscle by training hard when I am back in the States between jobs. And as I get older it is far more important for me to be doing this and taking my conditioning seriously”.

Jimmy Chin climbing the Pacific Ocean Wall in Yosemite Park, California.

Jimmy Chin on Mount Kinabalu, a World Heritage Site in Borneo, on April 25, 2009.

Granite towers reflected in a pool on the Karakoram Mountains in Charakusa Valley, Pakistan. This image was taken on August 10, 1999 during Jimmy's first major climbing expedition.

Dean Potter, one of the greatest high line walkers in the world, walks on a one-inch thick piece of webbing over a 500 foot deep chasm at Canyonlands National Park in Indian Creek, Utah, in January 2007.

Kasha Rigby, Giulia Monego and Ingrid Backstrom approach Redommaine peak before their first ski descent in October 2009 during the Shangri La Expedition, in the Himalayas

Kasha Rigby climbing Redommaine peak before the first ski descent in October 2009, during the Shangri La Expedition in the Himalayas

Conrad Anker traverses an alpine ridge deep in the Waddington Range on Mount Combatant, Coastal Range in British Columbia, Canada

Renan Ozturk on Mount Meru in Garwahl Himalaya, India, on September 14, 2009

Jimmy Chin climbs Mount Meru in Garwahl Himalaya, India

Popularity: 7% [?]

Mr. Hassan Sadpara become the second Pakistani to summit world’s tallest Mountain, Mount everest 8848m, on Monday 12 may 2011 630am PST. He along with other four team members had left for the base camp on 3rd of April.

Note: His above image was taken on top of Gasherbrum in 2006.

Mr Hassan was born in small village of Sadpara, near beautiful Sadpara lake, about 7 kilometers from Skardu in Baltistan.

Mr. Hassan previously summit all five 8000m peaks in Pakistan and all without supplementary Oxygen!

• K2, 8611 m in 1994
• Nanga Parbat (8126 m in 1999
• Gasherbrum I (G-1) (8080m) in 2006
• Broad Peak (8051m) in 2007
• Gasherbrum II (G-2) (8034m), in 2006

Popularity: 2% [?]

Question:

My name is Irfan I am from Karachi, I wanted to do a trek of Concordia this year but my initial findings over internet discouraged me financially and logistically, the organised tour operators are charging in range of USD 2,000 I only found one (Baltistan tour) who is willing to take me and my wife for Rs.80,000 per person, he will provide a group of 7 porters and guide. Some tour operators suggested that if one organizes porters and guides on his own then they can give him a real tough time especially when they find out that they are taking first timers and would try to cheat you in every way possible and inexperienced guides can be a serious threat as your life is at a higher risk when your are up in mountains.

I felt so unprepared both in terms of knowledge and finances that now I am charting out a plan B, which involves flying into Skardu by air and then travel across deosai towards Gilgit and then approach Kaghan valley from North instead of travelling on KKH, the well know route is from Babusar Pass, which opens in July, what other alternate routes are available if you find out that Babusar is closed,

I have heard that there is another route known as batogah pass which starts from inside of Chilas and takes you to Gitidas, and yet another one from Deosai to Kaghan valley, have anybody heard of these routes before what would be the road conditions like. If Babusar is closed would u find these routes also closed, what about security issues in terms of wildlife, landslides, robbery etc please forgive my ignorance but I take it that these are not that well known routes because of some reasons what would they be.

I want to do this tour in 10 days is it really possible to enjoy all of it or would it be like a roller coaster ride, I appreciate that all of these places are worth spending weeks or may be months but I really dont want to miss out anything in this short period, however I am looking forward for input from experienced people what to cut off or how to plan everything.

Also when would the best time be to visit these place in terms of avoiding landslides

over to you guys

would really appreciate your help

Irfan

Answers:

Going through tour operators for any trek is generally expensive as they have to keep their margin and all. People who manage the concordia trek by themselves are generally able to manage it in less than half of the lowest that has been quoted to you (and of course the cost is always subjective). However, nobody will recommend you to do that trek with your wife without any prior trekking experience. You have made the right decision to start thinking about plan B. I will recommend you to include some short trek in the itinerary as well like Dudipat that will help you evaluate yourself for the big ones.

Butogah pass is an alternative to the Babusar. Basharat and his friends explored this along with much of the Northern Pakistan in their Unimog last year. Details can be seen at the link below. If Basharat reads your question himself, he can better guide you with details…

http://www.pakwheels.com/forums/4×4-clubs-off-roaders-suv/143564-team-unimog-punga-2010-elevation-14200ft-via-babusar-sheosar-burzil-minimerg-butogah

Try to wrap up your trip till mid July so as to avoid the rainy season.

Umair

Thank you for the reply and the link, looking forward for some more feedback.

what would u say about the road conditions of Batogah as compared to Babusar in terms of being the alternative of each other, they are very close to each other but still would it make any difference, i mean if u find babusar closed then almost certainly would the batogah also be closed or there is a chance that u might find any of them alternatively open.

I understand that the road conditions are a lot dependent on snow fall and each year it differs, what are the conditions like this year when can u expect the babusar and batogah to open this year, so that I can plan accordingly.

Also is there a (jeepable) road link to Kaghan valley directly from Deosai, on google maps they are showing a road very close to Line of control but not sure to use it even if its inside Pakistan, i presume it must be for defence personal only, or is there a trekking route without taking u back to KKH connecting somewhere from maybe Noorinar pass, how long would it take to trek it and how tough would it be, seems a bit radical but hey I am just a novice dont know what I am talking about.

thanks again

Irfan

The plan B sounds really good but as you said its dependent on Snow Fall, Last year we were unable to cross DeoSai in late July due to heavy Snow and situation is not different this year, Snow fall news from DeoSai kept on coming from Chilam Chowki till April, let’s hope it melts earlier in this season.

Chilas-Butogah-Gitidas is one of the toughest motor-able off-road trek of our North region, most beautiful as well. its not a maintained road and used by locals to supply glacier ice to Chilas from Butogah Top. It was opened prior Babusar last year, let’s see what happens this year. It may look adjacent to Babusar in the maps but it consumes at-least 4-5 additional hours, and I would recommend to do this in a convoy of at-least 3 vehicles so can you help each other if get stuck and start as earlier as possible. From safety and comfort perspective Babusar is recommended, Butogah is a trip of its own!

Also make a Plan C (incase Deosai is closed), you can cover Skardu-Shigar-Khaplu, drive to Gilgit-Hunza-Nagar-Hooper, explore Nultar while coming back from Hunza and then take the flight from Gilgit to Isloo.

Regards
Basharat

thank you for your reply and some really nice suggestions for plan C, in what kind of time frame can this be done are 10 days enough to explore all these areas as per Plan C

I really envy unimog, I feel so tempted to buy one but the diesel prices are really killing these days, needles to say distance from KHI to ISL is about 1600 km one way, I dont know the consumption but I think the diesel could cost almost half the price of the unimog itself. traveling is becoming really expensive these days.

Irfan

Popularity: 3% [?]