Porter Abbas rests after crossing the Gonogoro pass early that morning.

The Balti - people of the Karakorum mountains.

“ I have borne respect because of their intense devotion to what they believed to be their duty …..And for Wali I entertain a regard such as I do for few other men - No one could have more loyally carried out his compact and but for him we should never have crossed the Mustagh pass. He went to work in a steady, self reliant way which gave everyone confidence, the men looked up to him and obeyed him implicitly. The more I see men like him the more convinced I am that if once these Baltis are given responsibility shown trust, and left to work out their own salvation, they may develop latent qualities which probably neither they nor anybody else believed to be in them”

Sir Francis Younghusband wrote these words in 1887 at the end of one of the most daring explorations of the 19th century across Asia starting in Easternmost China and finally crossing the Mustagh pass near K2 into Baltistan. Younghusband was one of the first foreigners (meaning Westerner at the time) to experience the good services of the Baltis in early explorations in the Karakorum range and most lavished praise on them. Not all though - a few notably the famous woman explorer Fanny Workman, notorious all over the Himalaya for the mismanaging and contempt of her laborers poured scorn and derision all over Balti porters and even resorted to hurling stones at them when she felt it was needed!

Until the 1930’s most explorers went lightweight and were on intimate terms with their mountain crews and even the few larger expeditions rarely had problems. The European explorers of the time were of the well educated middle class who would go to great lengths to treat the “natives” civilly and many regarded their physical powers in the high mountains as a virtue to be preserved - much like the 18th century Liberals had painted the idea of the noble savage these mountain peoples , Sherpa’s, Bhotia’s and Balti’s were the noble mountaineer races.

Rising national aspirations in the great mountains of the world during the 1930’s saw a big change in the values bought to the great peaks - that of national conquest. To the despair of purest like Shipton - who had done some of the best exploration in the Karakorum in the 1930’s that spirit of conquest bought massive expeditions to the highest mountains and consequently a loss of intimacy with many of the locals in the Himalayan regions. . After the Second World War new armies were raised - these to climb the big peaks and the largest of all, an Italian expedition went to K2 in 1954 with almost 700 porters carrying many tons of food and equipment. Obviously the age of intimacy was over - well not quite , once the fervor of climbing the highest peaks especially the 8000 meter peaks had passed most expeditions became smaller again. In the last 30 years the rise of commercial mountaineering has seen in the Karakorum as elsewhere in the Himalaya the scene of large scale commercial expeditions much in the mold of the national expeditions of the past but these are tempered with generally much smaller trekking and lightweight mountaineering groups.

The Balti’s like the other mountain peoples of the great ranges have seen their lives change immensely with the presence of first the explorers , than the mountaineers and nowadays the tourists to their regions. Isolated in remote valleys for centuries the Balti’s descended from the Tibetans had little or no contact with the outside world. Their value to the early explorer’s saw the introduction of money and ever since the main cash in the economy has been from expeditions in the mountains. In recent years , much like their distant cousins far to the east the Sherpa’s , the Balti’s have developed their own company’s too deliver tourism packages to their mountains and the qualities Younghusband observed almost 140 years ago in them is borne out in the excellent services they provide.

The Sirdar of our group or porter chief sings to the mountains (K2 and Broad Peak)

Porters relaxing with a fire on the moraines of the Baltoro after a day of heavy carrying but they remain still full of laughter and life.

Leaving Concordia it’s hard work where the glaciers meet turning them into hilly country - porters (on left) are in a jumbled world.

Abbass, Ali Cautiva (cook) Hassan Balama and Sher Muhammed - the core of the pass group.

Ali caught with chapatti in midair . This local flat bread is a staple of the local diet.

Guide Ejaz in orange surrounded by jovial porters.

Karim , our chef at Bondit peak has amazing capabilities of putting together great food every day from limited supplies always with a smile!!

The Gonogoro pass at 5650 m and high point of trek is just hours away. These are the young guys - 17 to 20 years in age. For some this will be their first crossing of the pass - an initiation into the really tough side of the job. Most aspire to other things in life, becoming teachers, doctor’s, lawyer’s or joining the army and portering is a summer job to raise money for schooling.

Watching the porters climb the pass in the night with their heavy loads was the highlight of the trek.

We offered but the porters wanted nothing of our boots and jackets - only they asked for socks which they put over their shoes and called Balti crampons.

Abbass taking a break on a flat spot on the long upwards grind.

Sher Muhammad,27 years old was the strong man of the porters and a role model for the younger ones carrying over 40 kilos on his back with ease. He hopes to be a Sirdar one day.

With the appearance of green the trip is drawing to an end.

Part of the porters job is to set up camp which they do with remarkable speed and efficiency.

Hurrahs from the porters at Bondit base camp.

Kandi village at just over 3000 m in the Hushe valley.

High above Kandi during the summer many women, children and older men will come up to these type of small stone hut’s to tend the flocks of goats and herd’s of cows and yak’s In Autumn they will be used as the storage for firewood before transportin… — High above Kandi during the summer many women, children and older men will come up to these type of small stone hut’s to tend the flocks of goats and herd’s of cows and yak’s In Autumn they will be used as the storage for firewood before transporting it over 1000 meters down valley to the village.

A female shepherdess in the mountains. In summer whilst the men are away earning cash the women folk do all the hard work maintaining the village and also pastoral work like this high in the mountains. They are incredibly fit and we watched them fro… — A female shepherdess in the mountains. In summer whilst the men are away earning cash the women folk do all the hard work maintaining the village and also pastoral work like this high in the mountains. They are incredibly fit and we watched them from Bondit Base Camp running after flock’s and herd’s for sometimes over 10 hours at altitudes above 4500 m in all weathers with a diet of consisting of little more than chapattis!!

A crowd of boys formed up as I was flying the drone.

Interviewing Nalia , headmistress of the local privately funded local primary school in Kandi. With the Government schools only providing a budget education that covers about half the primary school children in Pakistan schools like this one are the… — Interviewing Nalia , headmistress of the local privately funded local primary school in Kandi. With the Government schools only providing a budget education that covers about half the primary school children in Pakistan schools like this one are the only way for the other half to get a basic education. Kandi has hundred per cent of it’s primary age children in school.

Resources are meager but the local’s are happy all the same.

Abbas , 55 years old and oldest porter we meet plans to march on till 70. Here he rest’s (see first photo) after crossing the Gonogoro pass for the 4th time in that season.

The Balti's