Perhaps best known as the approach to the Rupal face of Nanga Parbat (7th highest peak) Astore valley in the Gilgit Baltistan region is a less visited part of the area, but it is home to rugged beauty and many adventure adventures. I was in the area for a week in November 2024, the winter had started to set in and most of the tourist traffic had died out. Since it was a teaching workshop, I had the pleasure of hanging out with teachers from the area and also visited some of their villages,
As mentioned I was in Astore for some math workshops for school teachers, this was in Eidgah the main town in the valley. The town itself is a typical mountain town in Gilgit Baltistan (GB), with shops lining the main street and basic housing units surrounding it. I had a wonderful time working with talented young teachers from the area, we even had one of the session up in the mountain pastures. There are a few hotels in the area, including a few in Eidgah, they are rather basic and the cleanliness leaves much to be wanted. I stayed at Wazeers Mahal Hotel about a 30 min drive from Eidgah, the place has been designed with a lot of love and care, with beautiful woodwork and decor, but again the cleanliness unfortunately left a little to be desired, on the plus side the staff specially Mr. Salahuddin were wonderful and despite the bitter cold were always there to help. I spent many a cold evening huddled around the space heater having a good hearty meal here.
About an hors drive away from Eidgah lies the beautiful Tarishing Valley, wich leads to the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat. Tarishing village situated on the banks of the Rupal river provides a jump off point for the trek to the base camp. The views here are simple breathtaking the year around. In winter when I was visiting the place was transformed into a winter wonderland.
Starting in Eidgah travelling in the opposite direction from Tarishing is the Parishing Valley. A few of the teachers in the workshop were form the area and they invited us to their village. There is a beautiful lake called ‘Allah Wali Lake’ here, named for the fact that its shape spells out the word ‘Allah’ (God in Arabic). It had frozen over when we visited and the scenery was surreal. The hospitality of the people in the area is overwhelming and we had many cups of tea at different villages that day, it is customary to have tea with salt in the area! Another popular tourist spot is the Rama lake, the access to the lake was already snowed in and we had to hike an hour to get to the lake proper.
The valleys of Astore and Skardu are connect via the Deosai plains with a travel time of around 6 hours. The road past the town of Chilam is closed from October to June, but it is definitely trip to be put on ones bucket list. We took this route past ‘Gudai‘ to visit a village on the mountains where one of the teachers at the workshop was from. The road up the mountain to the village was icy and a little challenging but the views very worth the drive. We were treated to local snacks and tea at their village before making it back to the hotel.
The week in Astore passed quickly and despite the rather cold evenings and insufficient heating it was an adventure I remember with great fondness. The people of the area are amazing and welcoming and I hope to visit again in the summer and maybe even make the trek the the Nanga Parbat base camp!
The Open Roads 