TRAVERSE 11
There’ s a particular kind of stillness that comes when a road unspools beneath you at 3,000 metres and the horizon is nothing but a jagged row of teeth: the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush, the Himalaya. On a motorcycle the mountains are no longer a painting on a wall, they are a weather system you smell, a valley you hear in the river, and a political border you feel in the change of license plates. Riding Pakistan with a company like M8 Moto is equal parts geometry, hospitality, and gritty adventure: long, empty tarmac; villages that appear like stage sets; wheat fields that become glaciers in a day; and the red of the tea everyone pours for you in roadside guesthouses. If you want the abridged version: bring stamina, respect, a good kit list, and someone who knows the passes. M8 Moto run guided adventures that stitch these places together.
Most foreign riders fly into Islamabad and either overnight or catch the internal flight to Skardu when schedules permit. Alternately, an overland transit up the classic route; Islamabad to Besham to Chilas and on to Skardu, turns the approach itself into an overture. Visas are required for most nationalities; travel insurance, motorcycle shipping or hire, and local permits for remote border valleys are best arranged in advance. Many expedition operators, including M8 Moto, will manage permits and logistics for you, which is worth its weight when you’ re threading into lands that sit within fragile ecosystems and complex political boundaries.
Practical reality: the weather is political here. The same rivers that carve the valleys are fed by glaciers whose behaviour is changing season to season; exceptional monsoon events and glacier-lake outbursts have made the high north unpredictably dangerous in recent years, with flash floods and landslides affecting
TRAVERSE 11