Overview

Little has been written about the beautiful route across the nonglaciated Lupgar Pir Pass (5190m). Following a route parallel to and south Chapursan Valley, this trek links Yishkuk in upper Chapursan Valley with Raminj in the picturesque and rugged Lupgar Valley. People don’t traditionally use the pass, but graze their livestock in the valleys on both sides of it. Renowned mountaineer Nazir Sabir, who is from Raminj, concurred that this book’s authors’ crossing in 1994 was probably the first since Schomberg’s initial crossing in 1934. Since the 1994 ‘reopening’ of the route, its popularity has been growing every year.

The trek can be done in either direction, but the description below is from west to east starting in Yishkuk, which allows for more gradual acclimatization. This direction entails less ascending, since Yishkuk is 300m higher than Raminj, and the west side of the pass is shorter with less scree than the east side. The route involves two nontechnical glacier traverses.