Monday, April 27, 2015

Snow Trek - Siri Pai


In March 2009, a few friends from my MBA batch at LUMS, went on a winter (snow) trek to assail the peaks of Siri and Paye (9,500 feet above sea level). Located 8 kms from Shogran (atop mountains in Mansehra District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa), slight detour from the Mansehra to Naran road (goes onto Gilgit and into Southern China. The trip was conducted through the services of Adventure Foundation Pakistan who arrange some spectacular trips to various places in Pakistan. This one, Winter Survival, was no exception. No one stays in these hills over the winter as there are only basic facilities possible and the snowfall is very heavy. We were to be the first one traversing these peaks that year. :)

From Lahore we went to Abbottabad, where we were given training on various aspects of the trek as well as provided with the necessary equipment and gear to manage the journey properly. They had trained instructors and nice facilities for our preparatory training there. From there we went via Balakot to Shogran to begin our trek.

Training time

okay, it was a bit boring
Charpai Restaurant at Kewai (image taken from the web)

The team!

Our attire was awesome

The excitement mixed with nervousness was very apparent

so was the humourous mood to hide the fear perhaps!

Team spirit was strong to start-off

We all had quite the load to carry

Night before the start
it was fun!

Had a heavy junk food meal @ the start

Pine Park Hotel and Lodge - Trek start point
Sleeping bag test

Training tips

Tent building practice

It wasnt that simple

Dostana

Tent Nirvana

Brotherhood

Amazing yaadein
Some monkey-ind around
Ready to rumble
After getting the required training (theoretical and practical) we were all set for the adventure

Here is a nice blog by someone else about Siri Paye
https://wondersofpakistan.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/168/

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