TRAVERSE 12
roads and communities. Check local conditions, travel advisories, and recent news before departure, and when in doubt, follow the advice of local guides.
The Karakoram Highway, built along ancient trade routes and often called the Eighth Wonder of the World for the engineering that placed a highway on the flank of the world’ s loftiest ranges, is the spine of nearly every northern ride. It’ s alternately broad and forgiving, hair-raising where it clings to cliff faces, and infinitely photogenic where it allows you to see passes like Khunjerab rise like concrete snow-capped teeth against the sky. Riding it is to follow history: Silk Road traders, Soviet-era caravan routes, Chinese-made development projects, and local farms all share the same thin ribbon of asphalt. Expect towns like Chilas to be rough nodal points, dusty, practical places, and the passes to be the weatherexposed punctuation marks of the day.
Skardu serves as a basecamp for much of Baltistan’ s exploration. From here you can easily swing into Shigar Valley, a soft, orchard-scented approach to the Karakoram’ s higher drama, or detour off-road to smaller hamlets. One local gem is Shigarthang, a high-altitude human settlement famed for its stone houses and resilience at nearly 4,000 metres. Places like these are reminders: people have lived and thrived in these altitudes for generations, and their hospitality, hot butter tea, shared plates, an insistence that you rest before you ride on, is as essential as a chain lube. Ride slowly when villages appear; stops will be filled with conversations, curiosity and offers of fresh apricot or chai.
Shigar Valley is the doorway to the Baltoro and high-mountain approaches that point to K2; Gilgit is the administrative heart, a city of bazaars, motorcycle
TRAVERSE 12