Why Pakistan?

Photos

By Darin McQuoid

There were a myriad of reasons to choose another destination. Pakistan almost exactly half way around the world from California, and coupled with a high priced ticket was my loathing for sitting in planes. This journey would require three flights adding up twenty-two hours in the air, followed by two days of driving. The previous year in Newfoundland I swore that my yearly international pilgrimage would never again be to a cold destination.

If you believe the news in America, it is suicidal to travel to Pakistan. The seemingly endless struggle with India over Kashmir continues, and international "War on Terror" continues Afghanistan, with the US launching unsanctioned drone attacks into Pakistan.

The Mariott bombing happened weeks before our flight, so this is what everyone was thinking about the situation in Pakistan.

I was on the fence about the trip, leaning away from it, until I received this compelling letter from Roland Stevenson, who had lived in Islamabad for three years while his father worked in the embassy.

"Without getting too philosophical, this is a critical time in Pakistan’s history. They’re on the brink of Talebanization, dealing with a bad economy, etc. It sounds like a war-zone when you watch CNN or read about it in the papers, but I hope the trip will be able to show a large number of people that most people in Pakistan are peaceful, friendly, and caught between extreme political forces from both Afghanistan and the US. At the end of the day, the trip’s about taking the opportunity to relate to people as normal human beings and share stories of Americans and Pakistanis having fun together with the world. We could go in and take a bunch of pictures at the arms market in Dera-Adem-Khel, dress up in shalwar kameez and turbans, and talk about how extreme we are because we’re on the front line in Pakistan…. but I don’t buy that angle at all. If we succeed at anything, I hope it is to run a safe expedition and draw some attention to the beauty and power of the Karakoram and Himalayan drainages. In my opinion, the story isn’t about war, guns, and insurgency, its’ huge mountains, epic rivers, and good relationships"

I couldn’t resist and bought my ticket, as did Ben Stookesberry, Chris Korbulic, Rafa Ortiz and Phil Boyer. Roland was already working a rafting trip in India and would meet us in Islamabad. We would fly into Islamabad, drive twelve hours to Chilas, and then another nine to Skardu. Despite being sandwiched between Afghanistan and India, the people of the Northern Areas known for being peace loving and friendly.

Unusual to our international expeditions, this one wasn’t about a first descent. We were looking at the Indus River from Skardu to the confluence near Gilgit. It was a hundred and seventy kilometer section that had been run before, with the first descent done in 1989. A German team also claimed the first descent in 2007 and 2008. We shared many a laugh because of the Adidas write-up which talks incessantly about "taming", "mastering" and "no mistakes".

Note the two photos of the same portage, one obviously a few years earlier J The first expedition was led by David Allerdice ’89 and Nazir Sabir said they completed the whole run in a long expedition.

Phil and I had the fastest flights possible, with no layovers. It took us about thirty hours door to door, arriving in Islamabad early in the morning. We were glad to be met by Roland, who quickly took us to Mr. Zakaria’s house where we organized our gear into two vans, got breakfast and hit the road.

We drove through the day and into the night, finally stopping in Chilas, got up early again the next morning and hit the road. While still on the Karakoram Highway we stopped to enjoy Nanga Parbat.

It seemed like we were in the middle of nowhere, then our driver Rashid pulled out his cell and called home, in sight of Naga Parbat but hours from any significant towns.

While back in the states Ben and I had ourselves convinced that in November the river would be low…between 5,000 and 10,000cfs. At the confluence it looked like 15,000cfs.

One factor that helped me motivation was the thought of being in the Karakoram and Himalaya, so I had too get lots of pictures of the mighty mountains. The Karakoram will make you feel small….

Look for Phil Boyer in the black and white photo, he is the tiny figure down by the river.
The driving was honestly the most dangerous part of the whole trip. It was all on poorly maintained narrow windy roads with lots of traffic and big cliffs.

The restaurants aren’t boring either. We stopped in for lunch halfway to Skardu and while getting lunch, tried to ignore a goat being slaughtered next door.

Once in Skardu we secured enough food and some fuel we went back to the hotel and crashed out, still not sure of our exact plan for the following day, put on the Indus or secure a jeep to drive us to Askole, and run the Braldu down into the Indus?

To be continued…

Darin