Skardu - Getting There

On June 11, 17 people had the pleasure of boarding a bus in the early morning twilight to make the long drive from Islamabad to Skardu. The drive along the spectacular Karakoram Highway is a 28 hour drive when things are going really well. With the continued military conflict in Swat and road closures due to construction and landslides, it often lasts longer. Last we heard they were waiting for the road to open at least ten hours away from Skardu.

For the last couple days no one has been able to fly, supposedly because Pakistani Generals were using Pakistan Airline jets to move around the country. The funny thing is that while everyone else got on the bus yesterday, Adam and I stayed behind with Fabrizio (K2 leader) and Chris Szymiec (Broad Peak leader) to do some filming. Then, come this morning, we got up, went to the airport and got right on a plane. We had a spectacular view of Nanga Parbat on the flight in.

Fabrizio remarked that in 19 trips to and from Skardu he's only gotten to fly once, and that was on the way out. Looks like Chris is our lucky charm. Fabrizio was so happy. I, however, had been secretly looking forward to driving the Karakoram Highway. I will get to do it on the way out though. It's much faster downhill, unless your brakes catch on fire, which happens... really.