Visiting Baltistan in Winter (January)

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rmair
rmair

Hey

I have read alot about Baltistan these past few days. I plan to go for a 10 day honeymoon in the first week of january. I know it is not advisable in winter, but us Karachites long to see such winters as it is a very different experience for us.

  1. Can someone recommend the route i must take from islamabad or murree/nathiagali to get to gilgit or hunza, doing sight seeing along the way (by road). i was interested in short 3 to 5 hour treks as well, but i cant find any info about such short treks. the shortest treks seem to take two to three days. How many days will it take me to get to gilgit/hunza? any other places worth going beyond?

  2. Also i was interested in going to kashmir. Will it be possible to cover Kashmir and Baltistan in 9 to 10 days? What are the places worth visiting.

  3. I heard about some ski resorts in Kalabagh. should i book these from now or only when i get there? Booking from now seems like a rip off.

  4. are there any other winter activities that i can do?

  5. where is the best place to buy winter clothes etc? I mean things to get us by in this below freezing temperature.

  6. What else will i need for this trip.

Plan to do most of this trip by road. i read that flying from islamabad to gilgit is also not a good option as the flights are often delayed. Otherwise i was thinking to take a one way ticket from gilgit back to islamabad to save time.

Thank you.

Hope someone can answer my quires.

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k2_heights
k2_heights

Who told you that there is a ski resort in Kalabagh & how do you know that it snows there???Although there is one in Naltar valley which is about 2 hours from Gilgit.

However,you don't need to go to Nathiagali in order to go Gilgit,just take the route from ISB to Abbottabad,Mansehra,Besham,Chilas and onwards to Skardu.Its about 20 hrs drive so it 'd be better if you take a break in Besham.

You could buy the warm cloths in Islamabad & Rawalpindi.

There is almost no activity in winter (in the mountains like Skardu,Hunza & Gilgit) life gets quite boring there.

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rmair
rmair

Thank you....i have been doing online research mostly...so that is how i read about it. Well i know i don't need to go to nathia-gali...its just that it is such a beautiful place that i would like to make a stop there. I wanna make a route with as much sightseeing as possible. I mean in places which are worth sightseeing. Any other suggestions would be welcome.

The Ski resort you are talking about, is it open for tourists?

Is skardu going to be open in this time of the year? What about Rakaposhi and Karimabad?

Is it possible to go to fairy medows in this season. I understand that I must go to Raikot bridge from Gilgit, and from there to Tatto, and a further 4 hour trek to get to Fairy Meadows.

Sorry for so many questions...Thanks in advance

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k2_heights
k2_heights

Depend when in winter you re going to Fairy Meadow,the huts at Fairy Meadow close from the end of October because the it gets too cold plus the road closes if snows & open in the beginning of April.
Yes its about 3 hrs trek from Tatto village to the Meadows and yes you do have to go to Raikot bridge in order to go to Fairy meadows.

Well,the Sky Resort in Naltar is open only air force & army personnel but there is one in Swat valley (in Malam Jaba) which is open for general public & they conduct sky competition every year in January.

The roads to Karimaba (Hunza) and Skardu is very open open all year round so no worries.

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rmair
rmair

Hey...Thanks a lot for the info.
Since I plan to travel in January, I don't think there is any Fairy Meadows for me. :(

Thanks a lot for the help...anything else that you think I must know would be very kind. :)

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