trad on loose dirty rock or bouldering...mmn

So we had a complicated journey to Skardu, that took about 10 hours, becasue of all the check points along the way. when we got to Skardu, we couldnt see the bouldering area which is supposedly obvious, so everyone thought we should continue to Kaplu where there is a 13 pitch trad route with 6b grade pitches. i wanted to stay in Skardu and spend a bit longer looking for the boulders. but we swapped taxis after they tried to rip us off, and we evetually made it to Kaplu at about midnight. we camped in a nice hotel and the rock is a couple of minutes walk away, through apricot farms. however we soon discovered the rock was very dirty and loose. it was hard to find any gear placements you could actually trust. on the second day, i started up a route but backed off at an awkward move. Jill took over the lead and just as she stepped up, the foothold broke, and she fell, ripping out what we both thought was good gear. she hit the ground, but luckily just had a painful shoulder that evening- nothing serious. it was scary though as it reminded me of my accident and seeing her on the ground. it was not nice. So after that i thought i would give the trad climbing here a miss! When a couple of the guys said they were going back to Skardu early to find the bouldering- i jumped at the chance. It has been me and the 2 mexicans, so its been frustrating when they speak in Spanish all the time, but the bouldering has been great. we have camped in the boulderfield- very dusty, and a long way from water or food! but the stars at night have been amazing! today we have come back to Skardu for a nice meal, and becasue we ran out of food. then we are going to another area the other side of the town that looked like it had good bouldering potential. hopefully we will then meet up with the rest of the group on their way through Skardu, to Passu.
Kaplu and here have both been really freindly. i have started wearing a head scarf and covering my shoulders as is expected here. we met a lot of friendly people in the town, who would ask if we wanted a cup of tea or needed help. i got my head scarf for free when the shop keeper said i was beautiful and could have it! i was a bit worried accepting it would mean i was accepting a marriage proposal! but luckily not!!We had some visitors to our camp site here and when we were climbing- people stop by the side of the road and come over for a chat! a lot of them just came to chekc we were ok- we must be a strange site, a couple of westerners in the middle of nowhere, when there are so few tourists here anyway! i find the men less threatening than India too, they still stare but keep their distance more. so all in all, im enjoying Pakistan!
time to go and get a luxury chicken burger i think!

written by  Clairesj on July 26, 2009 from Skardu, Pakistan
from the travel blog: Clairesj's Travel Blog
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