Around Nanga Parbat Trek

Around Nanga Parbat trek actually does not go all the way around the Nanga Parba. It goes halfway around Nanga Parbat at the beginning on the south side of Nanga Parbat from Tarashing in the Rupal Valley. The route heads west up to the Rupal Valley and turns north to Mazeno La via the Mazeno La we trek to Fairy Meadows.

Nanga Parbat 8126 m the westernmost peak of the Himalayan range is one of five 8000 m peaks in Pakistan and is the 9^th highest peak in the world. The 20 km long series of peaks and ridges form a huge massif. Its solitary white appearance visible from the south for at least 100 km the name Nanga Parbat means The Naked Mountain and the Killer Mountain because of the difficulties level of reaching the summit. The first ascent was solo ascent without oxygen in 1953 by the German Herman Buhl. Its sheer south face called the Rupal face rises over 5000m from the valley floor to the summit and offers trekkers breathtaking close-up views. The north Raikot face plunges over 7000m from the summit to the Indus river forming one of the world’s deepest dramatic gorges.

The Rupal Valley on the south side of Nanga Parbat is accessed via the Astore Valley which leaves the Karakoram highway at Jaglot 60 km south of Gilgit. Rupal Valley offers short easy treks with incredible views.

Beside the glaciers, there are pine and fir forests, sparkling streams, and open grasslands that have enchanted visitors and prompted the name, Fairy Meadows. The view of Nanga Parbat from Indus The river is one of the most awesome sights in Gilgit Baltistan. This largest land escarpment in the world consists of a rise of about 7000m from the base camp of the mountain to its summit. On the other side of Nanga Parbat, we have the famous Rupal Face the highest wall in the world with a sheer 4500m cliff. Nanga Parbat has three main faces known as Rupal face, Diamer face, and Raikot face which are totally different in appearance and shape and their routes start from different valleys.

Rupal Face journey starts from Gilgit or Karakoram Highway to Tarashing, a green alpine village at the head of the jeep track. It takes two days to reach Rupal base camp. Diamer base camp the trek is the most lengthy as it required three days to reach. Raikot where we go up to Raikot Bridge on Karakoram Highway to switch over to mountain jeeps for Tato Valley at the foot of Fairy Meadows. The trek includes a visit to all three faces crossing high passes en route making it around the Nanga Parbat.

Around Nanga, Parbat trek goes through the enchanting lands of the western finger of the great Himalayas replete with alpine meadows, lofty pinnacles, dense forests, and strangely fantastic forms of the landscape that qualify it as the best trekking route in Pakistan. This Three weeks adventure makes a circuit of the Nanga Parbat. This only Himalayan peak in Pakistan offers the grandest spectacle from distance but we will have breathtaking close-ups of its ‘hundred faces’ during the trek.

Starting with an easy to moderate hiking of two to four hours each day along the lateral moraines and flat green pastures we will cross the Mazeno Pass which is the strenuous and sensational climax of this adventure as it is a technical endeavor here ropes are fixed on steep pitches we end up in Rama Valley.