Itinerary:

Islamabad – Gilgit – Hunza – Gulmit – Sost – Khunjerab Pass – Passu – Hunza Valley- Hoper –

Hunza – Rest Day – Gilgit – Naltar – Gilgit – Islamabad.

Overview

Karakorum is a Turkish language it means ‘crumbling rock’ is an incredible feat of engineering.

The original track started from Xian inChina, Karakoram highway, connecting the Northern

Areas of Pakistan to the ancientSilk Road, runs approximately 1,300 km from Kashgar, to

Havelian, located in the Abbottabad District of Pakistan.

As it became popular, the route was used by the invaders, raiders, explorers, hunters,

missionaries and philosophers. Buddhism, Islam and Christianity came to this region through

theSilk Route. The road has also given mountaineers and trekkers easier access to the many

high mountains in the area. High mountain ranges and glaciers are visible from the road, which

also passes through green valleys of great natural beauty. Rock art and petroglyphs are found

all along the road.

The Silk Road construction started from 1966 and completed in 1978(20 years)During

construction 810 Pakistani and 82 Chinese workers lost their lives, mostly in landslides and

falls, while building the Karakoram Highway.

The Karakorum Highway (KKH) follows one of the principal Silk Road routes and is the

backbone of this stunning mountain bike holiday. The KKH is a remarkable engineering

achievement. Pakistanis proudly refer to the road as the Eighth Wonder of the World. Built in

conjunction with the Chinese, the KKH was carved into the Indus Valley above the furious

torrent of the Indus River, right up through the Hunza Valley and over the mighty Karakoram

Mountains via Khunjerab Pass into China.

The Hunza Valley offers a wide variety of mountain scenery, peaks above seven thousand

meters including such giant as Ultar, Spantik, Diran and 7,788 meter Rakaposhi. The Valley

embraces enormous glaciers that tumble down to the roadsides, and tiny villages with their

carefully terraced and irrigated fields clinging precariously to the valley slopes. The barren

upland plateau of the Pamirs that is straddled by the Khunjerab Pass eventually gives way to

the fertile fields and apricot orchards that made the Valley world famous. This incredible

diversity of landscape is this mountain bike tour’s great appeal, and the reason why the upper

KKH offers perhaps the most rewarding biking anywhere in the world. Himalayan Range.