Gulmit is a centuries-old town, with mountains, peaks and glaciers, located in Gojal valley in the upper Hunza region of the Northern Areas of Pakistan, in the deep Karakoram Mountain range. At an altitude of 2500 meters above sea level, eight kilometers past Shishkot bridge on the KKH, it is a fertile plateau with irrigated fields on either side of the road. Halfway between Gilgit and the Khunjerab Pass, it is a good place to spend a night or two, with plenty of well furnished hotels, shops and various places of interest. People in the valley have Central Asian ancestral backgrounds and speak Wakhi, a dialect of Turkish origin.
Before 1974, when Hunza was a state, Gulmit used to be its summer capital. After the abolition of the state it became an administrative headquarter. The oldest intact house in Gulmit is more than six centuries old. Over the years, many families have migrated from nearby Bagrot and Chaprot to this peaceful high altitude village, which takes its name from a Turkish word meaning “the valley of flowers” .
The old Summer Palace of Mir of Hunza stands at the northern edge of Gulmit’s historic Polo ground. Old mosques, now used as libraries, can also be found. The small museum belonging to the ex-ruler, Raja Bahadur Khan, is full of interesting ethnic artefacts – wooden bowls, spoons and farm implements, woollen coats and embroidered hats and shawls. The Raja shows you round with charm and enthusiasm.
There are many walks along irrigation channels in the area, and the people are known to be very friendly. One recommended walk is across Ghulkin Glacier to Borit Lake, then across Passu Glacier and down to Passu village. For a longer walk continue from Passu Glacier across the Husseini Ridge to Yunzbin, at the bottom of Batura Glacier.
The Ghulkin Glacier, covered in gravel and rocks, comes right down to the road about one kilometer past Gulmit. The road crosses the snout of the glacier at the very edge of the river, then climbs up onto the lateral moraine, a great grey slag heap. The glacier, Borit Lake are up a track to the left.
About five kilometers further on, one turns round a corner to find Passu Glacier straight ahead. It is white, shining, deeply crevassed, and looks exactly what you expect a glacier to look like; most other glaciers in the area are covered in rocks and gravel. The glacier flows down to the east, so the morning sun glints off the ice. Above the glacier to the left the jagged line of the Passu and Batura peaks, seven of them over 7500 meters, shine clean and white and hostile. Some of these peaks are still unclimbed and are referred to by number, not name, on the map. Behind, on the opposite side of the river, a semicircle of saw-toothed summits – also known as Cathedral Peaks - hems in the valley. Their rugged beauty catches the evening light at sunset, and grey alluvial fans slide down their flanks to the river.
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