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Khunjerab Top (4730m)
A steady trickle of horseback commerce
crossed the Khunjerab until the 1950s, when China-Pakistan hostility
closed the border. By the mid-1960s the two countries had made
amends and set to work on a road over the pass. The Khunjerab
Top was opened to official traffic and trade in 1982, and to tourists
in 1986. The pass itself is long and flat. At the summit is a
plaque commerorating the opening. At this point, one is about
400km from Kashgar and 880km from Rawalpindi
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Mountains
with razor-edge summits and bare walls drop sheer to the river,
and the wind drives up the valleys even on brilliant days. The highest
point of the 'cathedral' ridge across the river is 6106m Tupopdan
(Wakhi for 'hot rock', because in winter its slopes shed the snow
quickly). On lower slopes are messages, spelled out with painted
rocks dating from the Aga Khan's 1987 visit to Gojal. |
