Issue link: https://bluemagazine.uberflip.com/i/25037
Western visitors-northern Pakistan is 30 years behind Nepal as a trekking and climbing paradise. Still, there are already warning signs that industrial tourism has begun to forever alter the ecological and cultural landscape. Several years ago, the Pakistani gov ernment banned woodcutting for expeditions and trekking at Paiyu (our campsite) in an attempt to slow the deforestation that is the inevitable byprod uct of 8,000 porters per year cooking courba on wood fires. Two shepherds, whose ancestors had been tending yaks for some six centuries in the val ley and were unaware of the new rule, gathered some wood for their fire. They were arrested. We arrive at Paiyu with two goats we've been herding. It's the Shiite porters' on-the-hoof protein ration. They sharpen knives on rocks, turn the goats' heads towards Mecca, cut their throats and drain all the blood out according to Islamic tradition-in the name of Allah, the merciful, the beneficent. With amazing dispatch, they take the animals from bleat to meat in a half hour. After eating we gather more cans and paper, igniting them in a garbage-fueled bonfire using kerosene. Another irony for our environmentally friendly group: along with paper wrappers, we burn plastic and all manner of unmention ables that wouldn't pass EPA regulations. The porters begin drum ming and dancing around the fire, spurring it on with spurts of kerosene, and Brent just smiles. The next day, Brent and Greg tackle the bathroom problem. The first couple of camps have government-built concrete latrines but none of the porters use them. It turns out that they believe the latrines are only for the Angresi, the foreigners. The porters complain that they spend hours building rock walls for protection against the wind on the glacier only to find the next group using the space as a toilet. They also repeat that they need water to wash themselves, but agree in principle that they could carry water to a latrine rather than going near a stream. Greg says he'll look into funding for porter toilets. Avalanche land We start up the Baltoro Glacier, the longest glacier system in the world. After a short day, Brent and Kris head up the Younghusband Glacier, where the wild-eyed Brit, Sir Francis Young husband, came over from China a hundred years ago wearing sheepskin boots. Brent and Kris scout for an unclimbed peak. They return, reporting a hazardous icefall en route, and decide to head over the Ghondogoro Pass to look for peaks on the other side in the Hushe Valley. The Ghondogoro Pass is about 19,000 feet high and the next day Liesbeth, Greg and I leave the two climbers with their guide Zakhir and two porters in a snowstorm at 14,500 feet. As it turns out, we are lucky to see them again. The storm kept up intermittently, and Brent's small group slogged several days towards the high camp before the pass. The day broke reasonably clear, but they had to wade through waist-deep snow. With Brent leading the way, they heard the sound of a rumble that