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Merry Christmas 2013

Three expeditions to attempt Nanga Parbat this winter

ISLAMABAD, Nov 20: Undeterred by its reputation of killer mountain and the unfortunate death of climbers in late June, expeditions were returning to capture Nanga Parbat this winter.

All three expeditions from Poland, Italy and Germany had got permission to climb the world’s ninth highest peak from the western end of the Himalayan Range ending in Pakistan.

Simone Moro, a respected name among the mountaineers, is leading the Italian expedition. He is known for his first ever winter ascents of three of the eight thousanders (peak above eight thousand metres), the Shisha Pangma in China in 2005, Makalu, on the border of Nepal and China in 2009 and then the Gasherbrum II in Pakistan in 2011.

German climber Ralf Dujmovits who is also attempting the Nanga Parbat this winter was also arriving into Pakistan with the Italians and the Poles in December.

In 2009, he became the 16th person in the world to have captured the peaks of all the 14 eight thousand plus mountains in the world. His wife Gerlinde Kaltenbrunner, an Austrian mountaineer, became the second woman to climb the fourteen eight thousanders in 2011, and the first woman to do so without the use of supplementary oxygen or high altitude porters.

Member Executive Council, Alpine Federation of Pakistan, Karrar Haidri explained how Nanga Parbat was always more attractive for mountaineers than the other four eight thousand plus peaks.

“Since Nanga Parbat is situated in the open zone, far from the border, the climbers cannot hire a liaison officer from the armed forces. This saves the expeditions some $3, 000 to $3, 500,” said the official explaining how accessing the mountain was also the easiest, compared with the other four days hike from the road to its base camp.

Karrar Haidri elaborated on how the government reduced the royalty fees by five per cent in the winter from December to February only against the $7, 000 from a seven-member team in the summers.

Five expeditions attempted to summit the eight thousanders in the last winter December-February 2012-2013.

Although the Poles were successful by becoming the first ever climbers to win Broad Peak in March 2013, only two climbers returned safely to base camp to tell their story. The other two died above the 7, 000 meters death zone. The body of one of the climbers was recovered later in the summer. The other was believed to have fallen in a crevasse.

Nonetheless, the AFP has proposed to the Gilgit-Baltistan Council to wave off fees for all climbers whose attempts to Nanga Parbat were abruptly cancelled after the ten mountaineers were killed at its base camp in June, 2013.

“It is a fair thing to offer to the climbers who had to go through a difficult experience. The AFP will propose this at the GB Council meeting when it meets next week,” said Karrar Haidri.

Read more on Dawn News: http://www.dawn.com/news/1057491/three-expeditions-to-attempt-nanga-parbat-this-winter

China - Pak border closed for the winter season

The Pakistan – China border at the Khunzhrav National Park (misspelled in official documents as Khunjerab) has been closed for traffic. As part of the 1985 border protocol, the road remains closed for almost five months during the severe winter. The road remains inaccessible and unusable due to several feet of snowfall during the winter season every year.

The road will reopen in the month of April for trade and traffic. The Pakistani traders in various cities of Xinjiang province have been asked to return by the 3rd of December, 2013.

Road trade between the two countries has diminished drastically due to closure of the strategic Karakoram Highway, near Attabad village, in upper Hunza Valley, since January 4, 2010. (Pamir Times)

Beautiful Hunza valley!

Massacre near Nanga Parbat: PATO demands arrest of terrorists behind tourist killing

Islamabad: The terrorist attack near West Face of the Nanga Parbat mountain is a conspiracy aimed at destabilization of Pakistan’s economy. If the government and law enforcing agencies act fast the terrorists behind the massacre can easily be arrested, because it would take anyone at least 18 hours to get out of the region. Around 250,000 people’s lives in Gilgit-Baltistan will be affected directly if the tourism industry cripples.

These views were expressed by Amjad Ayub, President of Pakistan Association of Tour Operators (PATO), at a hurriedly called press conference here in Islamabad. Also present at the press conference were Ashraf Aman, Ghulam Nabi Raikoti, Karar Haideri and representatives of other tour operating agencies.

Responding to a question, Ayub said that enemies of Pakistan, who are “well-known”, are behind the incident, without giving any names. However, he said that it is highly unlikely for any local to be behind the massacre, “because their lives depend on tourism”, he said. He further added that access to the terrorist hit region is very difficult and the passes through which people can move in our out of the area cannot be crossed by ordinary people.

He also rejected the impression created by a segment of the media that the terrorist attack took place in Fairy Meadows.

Terrorists last night killed 9 foreigners and one Pakistani at a camp established near the Base Camp of the West Face of Nangar Parbat, also known as Diamer Face.

It was also decided that a candle-light vigil will be held tomorrow in front of the national press club in Islamabad to express solidarity with families of the murdered tourists.

For more information please visit Pamir Times official page www.pamirtimes.net 

Massacre near Nanga Parbat: IG and Chief Secretary of Gilgit-Baltistan suspended

Islamabad: Chaudhary Nisar, Federal Interior Minister, has suspended the Inspector General of Police and Chief Secretary, reacting to the massacre of nine foreign tourists and their Pakistani guide near the base camp of Nanga Parbat mountain. He made the announcement today while addressing the national assembly.

He said that the security lapse will be investigated and the causes will be found out. (Pamir Times) 

Terrorism: 9 foreign tourists and their two Pakistani guides killed by militants near Nanga Parbat

Updated at 05:51

“Government of Pakistan will make arrangements to transport the dead bodies to respective countries. Senior minister of the federal govt will accompany the bodies as a mark of respect”, said Chaudhary Nisar, while talking to the media, flanked by Chinese and Ukrainian ambassador.

Updated at 05:45

Dead bodies of the murdered tourists have been flown to Islamabad. Tight security measures have been taken around the Chaklala Air Base. The bodies will be sent to their respective countries, tonight or tomorrow, an official of the GB govt told Pamir Times.

Updated at 05:40

People are condemning the terrorist act, asking the government to take strict action against the terrorists. You can also join www.facebook.com/thapamirpage to share your reaction to the heinous act of terrorism.

Updated at 03:50

The dead bodies of the victims of terrorism in Diamer are now being shifted to Chaklala Airbase, in Islamabad. Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan, Syed Mehdi Shah, and members of his cabinet had come to Gilgit airport while the bodies were being sent to Islamabad in C-130 military plane.

National Assembly of Pakistan has condemned the terrorist attack near the base camp of West Face of the Nanga Parbat mountain.

A dead body is being taken out of an Army helicopter in Gilgit

Updated at 03: 19 PST

Dead bodies of tourists killed at a site close to the base camp of the West Face of Nanga Parbat are being shifted to Gilgit, in an Army helicopter.

Updated at 3:05 PST

Chief Minister Gilgit-Baltistan has convened a meeting of the regional cabinet at 3pm today to discuss the security situation.

According to some sources two Pakistani guides have been killed in the incident, taking the number of deceased to 11.

Updated at 1:43 PST

Tehrik-e-Taliabn Pakistan’s Ehsanullah Ehsan has reportedly claimed in a phone call made to the BBC and Reuters that a sub-group named “Junood-e-Hafsa” has carried out the attacks.

Updated at 01:30 PST

One Chinese tourist has, reportedly, been safely evacuated from the area.

Pakistani Interior Minister has said that the Federal Information Minister, Parvez Rasheed, will visit China along with the dead body of the Chinese tourist.

Islamabad, June 22: Ten tourists, including 5 Ukranians, 3 Chinese, one Russian and a Pakistani national, have been killed by unknown gunmen near the basecamp of the Diamer Face of Nanga Parbat, in Diamer District of Gilgit-Baltistan region.

“Generally the expeditions take this route, if they are trying to climb the Diamer Face (also known as West Face”, a local guide told Pamir Times. He said that expeditions reach to this area through the Bunar Nallah (stream).

The tourists were, reportedly, trying to climb the Diamer Face of Nanga Parbat.

Nanga Parbat is also known as the Killer Mountain, due to the fact that a very large number of climbers have lost their lives in avalanches and other natural incidents, while attempting to scale the 8 thousander.

It is for the very first time in the region’s history that mountaineers and tourists have been killed in such a heinous and brutal manner.

The region’s deputy Inspector General of Police, Ali Sher, has told the media that the entire region has been cordoned off and search for the assailants is underway with the help of choppers. He vowed to bring the culprits to justice.

Local tour operators have declared the tragedy to be a national tragedy and the last nail in the coffin of the region’s already ailing tourism industry.

The brazen terrorist attack has exposed yet again the regional government’s inability to protect the lives of innocent people. Last year around a hundred people were killed in different terrorist attacks and acts of sectarian violence in Kohistan, Diamer, Gilgit and the Babusar pass. 

For more information please visit the official page of PAMIR TIMES. www.pamirtimes.net  

Upcoming Adventures!

TOURS
Hunza Summer Trip (20 June, 05 July, 20 July, 07 August)
Hunza & Skardu culture and sightseeing tour (01 July, 18 July, 20 August, 01 Sept, 10 Sept)
Fairy Meadows tour (25 May, 05 July, 10 July, 15 July, 25 July, 03 August, 10 August, 12 August, 15 August, 25 August, 05 Sept, 15 Sept)
Hunza Autumn Tour (10 Oct, 23 Oct, 15 Nov)

JEEP SAFARI
Deosai Jeep Safari (18 August)
Gilgit-Baltistan & Chitral Jeep Safari, 05 Sept

TREKKING ADVENTURES!
K2 Base Camp & Gondogoro la pass trek (15 July)
Nanga Parbat Base camp trek (15& 30 July)
Patundass/Shishper Base camp trek (20 July)

Fixed Departure for Fairy Meadows Tour 2013

1st group for Fairy Meadows will leave on 1st May 2013 from Islamabad. Contact us if you're interested to join.

Email: info@hunzaexplorers.com, hunzaexplorers@gmail.com

The people of the Hunza valley drink alkaline and ionized water that naturally occurs

Hunza Valley is located at 7,999' in northern Pakistan and is the home of the longest lived people on the planet. The high mountain valley is surrounded by the Himalayan mountains with the mountain in the photo to the left rising to 25,551'. Northern Pakistan is blessed with the greatest mass of high mountains on earth where the Himalaya, Karakoram, Pamir's, and Hindukush all meet! As much as the valley is famous for its beauty, the people of Hunza are noted for their friendliness and hospitality. The local language is Brushuski but most people understand Urdu and English. The literacy rate of the Hunza valley is believed to be above 90%, virtually every child of the new generation studies up to at least high school. Many pursue higher studies from prestigious colleges and Universities of Pakistan and abroad.

The Hunza People are uniquely healthy and free of disease. Many studies have been done and it is believed that their simple healthy diet of carefully grown organic food and the glacial, living water is their secret to health and long life. Hunza drink directly from glacial streams in the high Himalayas. It is fresh, invigorating, life enhancing, free radical scavenging and delicious. The Hunza have the longest lifespan in the world and this has been traced as related to the water that they drink and their natural diet. Hunza water is an example of perfect natural water. Hunza has people who routinely live to 120-140 years, in good health with virtually no cancer, degenerative disease, dental caries or bone decay. Hunza people remain robust and strong and are also able to bear children even in old age. Research has proven conclusively that the major common denominator of the healthy long-living people is their local water.

Dr. Henri Coanda, the Romanian father of fluid dynamics and a Nobel Prize winner at 78 yrs old, spent six decades studying the Hunza water trying to determine what it was in this water that caused such beneficial effects for the body. He discovered that it had a different viscosity and surface tension. Dr. Patrick Flanagan and others continued the research. They found Hunza water had a high alkaline pH and an extraordinary amount of active hydrogen (hydrogen with an extra electron), with a negative Redox Potential and a high colloidal mineral content. The water is living and provides health benefits that other types of drinking water cannot. Similar natural water properties and longevity are found in other remote unpolluted places such as the Shin-Chan areas of China, the Caucasus in Azerbaijan, and in the Andes Mountains.

What kind of exotic, ill-tasting grub do these Hunza people eat, you are wondering. Strange as it may sound, virtually everything the Hunzakut eat is delectable to the western palate, and is readily available in the United States - at least if your shopping horizons do not begin and end at the supermarket.

Not only is the Hunza diet not exotic, but there's really nothing terribly mysterious about its health-promoting qualities, Everything we know about food and health, gathered both from clinical studies and the observation of scientists who have traveled throughout the world observing dietary practices and their relationship to health, tells us that it is to be expected that the Hunza diet will go a long way towards improving the total health of anyone, anywhere. The Hunza story is only on of the more dramatic examples of the miraculous health produced by a diet of fresh, natural unprocessed and unadulterated food.

Maybe you're wondering: are the Hunzas really all that healthy? That was the question on the mind of cardiologists Dr. Paul D. White and Dr. Edward G. Toomey, who made the difficult trip up the mountain paths to Hunza, toting along with them a portable, battery-operated electrocardiograph. In the American Heart Journal for December, 1964, the doctors say they used the equipment to study 25 Hunza men, who were, "on fairly good evidence, between 90 and 110 years old." Blood pressure and cholesterol levels were also tested. He reported that not one of these men showed a single sign of coronary heart disease, high blood pressure or high cholesterol.

An optometrist, Dr. Allen E. Banik, also made the journey to Hunza to see for himself if the people were as healthy as they were reputed to be, and published his report in Hunza Land (Whitehorn Publishing Co., 1960). "It wasn't long before I discovered that everything that I had read about perpetual life and health in this tiny country is true," Dr. Banik declared. "I examined the eyes of some of Hunza's oldest citizens and found them to be perfect."

Beyond more freedom from disease, many observers have been startled by the positive side of Hunza health. Dr. Banik, for example, relates that "many Hunza people are so strong that in the winter they exercise by breaking holes in the ice-covered streams and take a swim down under the ice." Other intrepid visitors who have been there report their amazement at seeing men 80, 90, and 100 years old repairing the always-crumbling rocky roads, and lifting large stones and boulders to repair the retaining walls around their terrace gardens. The oldsters think nothing of playing a competitive game of volleyball in the hot sun against men 50 years their junior, and even take part in wild games of polo that are so violent they would make an ice hockey fan shudder.

Apricots Are Hunza Gold
Of all their organically-grown food, perhaps their favorite, and one of their dietary mainstays, is the apricot. Apricot orchards are seen everywhere in Hunza, and a family's economic stability is measured by the number of trees they have under cultivation.  They eat their apricots fresh in season, and dry a great deal more in the sun for eating throughout the long cold winter. They puree the dried apricots and mix them with snow to make ice cream. Like their apricot jam, this ice cream needs no sugar because the apricots are so sweet naturally. But that is only the beginning. The Hunza cut the pits from the fruits, crack them, and remove the almond-like nuts. The women hand grind these kernels with stone mortars, then squeeze the meal between a hand stone and a flat rock to express the oil. The oil is used in cooking, for fuel, as a salad dressing on fresh garden greens, and even as a facial lotion ( Renee Taylor says Hunza women have beautiful complexions).

Besides apricots, the Hunzakut also grow and enjoy apples, pears, peaches, mulberries, black and red cherries, and grapes. From these fruits, the Hunzakut get all the vitamin C they need, as well as the other nutritional richness of fresh fruit, including energy from the fruit sugars. From the grapes, they also make a light red wine that helps make their simple fare into more of a real "meal". Observe the apricots drying in the sun in the photo to the left.

Hunza Chapatti Bread typically is made fresh each day from stone ground grains, primarily, wheat, barley, buckwheat and millet. These delicious flat unleavened breads are an important part of a nutritious diet of grains, fruits, dried fruits, and veggies. They drink substantial amounts of "Glacial Milk" which is milky colored water fresh melted from base of glaciers, rich in rock flour and minerals.

Another great Hunza health secret concerns the considerable amount of time each day devoted to physical exercise. Most exercise is done outdoors in order to take advantage of the pure mountain air, which in itself has a beneficial effect on health. Although a large part of their day is spent outdoors, working the fields, the Hunzakut do a lot more than that. For one thing, they take regular walks and a 15 or 20 kilometer hike is considered quite normal. Of course they don’t walk that distance every day, but doing so does not require any special effort.

You should also keep in mind that hiking along mountain trails is a lot more demanding than walking over flat terrain.Of course we’re not suggesting that you move to the mountains and become a farmer to stay fit and add years to your life! You don’t have to change your way of life completely in order to stay healthy and live longer. But one thing the Hunza life-style does prove is that exercise is very important for health and longevity.

Walking for an hour each day, something most people can manage, is excellent for both your body and your mind. In fact, walking is the simplest, least costly and most accessible form of exercise there is. And contrary to what you may think, it also provides you with a complete workout. So get in step with the Hunzakut and start walking!

Documentary – Journey to Khunjerab

A documentary made by Malang Films. It is a story of a motorcycle journey from Islamabad to Gilgit-Baltistan, passing through Khanpur, Swabi, Abbottabad, Mansehra, Kohistan, Naran, Kaghan and Babusar.

This 50 minutes documentary is full of natural emotoins and reflections, real incidents, thrill, adventure and many surprises.

We are sure that you will like the journey like we did 

Join Malang Films on Facebook and stay in touch.

To The Khunjerab - A Journey Through Northern Pakistan from MalangFilms on Vimeo.

Fixed Departure for Fairy Meadows and Hunza valley 2013

 Join our fixed departure tour to Fairy Meadows and Hunza valley tour

Tour duration: 12 Days

Tour start from: Islamabad

Tour end in: Islamabad

Departure date from Islamabad: 16 June 2013

Trip will end in Islamabad on: 27 June 2013

Price per person: $875 (USD)

For more information please send an email to: info@hunzaexplorers.com  or call 0092 -321-4364658

BROAD PEAK

BROAD PEAK 

Broad Peak also known as K3, is the 12th highest mountain on Earth, with an elevation of 8,051 meters (26,414 ft). 

Broad Peak is part of the Gasherbrum massif on the border of Pakistan and China. It is located about 8 kilometres (5.0 mi) from K2. It has a summit over 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) long, thus "Broad Peak”.

Climbing History:

The first ascent of Broad Peak was made on June 9, 1957 by Fritz Wintersteller, Marcus Schmuck, Kurt Diemberger, andHermann Buhl of an Austrian expedition led by Marcus Schmuck. A first attempt by the team was made on May 29 where Fritz Wintersteller and Kurt Diemberger reached the forepeak (8,030 m). This was also accomplished without the aid of supplemental oxygen or high altitude porters and without base camp support.

On the same expedition, Marcus Schmuck and Fritz Wintersteller made a flash first ascent of Skil Brum peak (7,360 m) on June 19, 1957 in pure Alpine style in 53 hours.

Hermann Buhl fell to his death when he and Diemberger attempted to climb nearby Chogolisa peak (7,654 m) on June 27, 1957.

The summit of Broad Peak has been descended on skis [citation needed].

In July 2007 an Austrian mountaineering team climbed Broad Peak with the aim of retrieving the corpse of Markus Kronthaler, who had died on the mountain one year before, from over 8,000 metres.

In the winter and summer of 2009 there were no summits. There was one winter expedition by a Polish-Canadian team. In the summer there was one fatality, Cristina Castagna.

In summer 2012, 5 members of "Koroška 8000" - Slovenian team (led by Gregor Lačen) summited the mountain (without supplementary oxygen and without high altitude porters). They tracked the way in deep snow from camp 4 to the summit and opened the summit to 7 more individuals from other expeditions. They all summited on July 31st 2012. The mountain was also summited by a Lithuanian climber in a solo ascent.

For more information or enquire please send email to info@hunzaexplorers.com
or visit www.hunzaexplorers.com

HUNZA EXPLORERS

P.O.Box 433, G9 Markaz Islamabad Pakistan

Mobile: 0092-321-4364658

Email. info@hunzaexplorers.com

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