Karakoram Highway

The Karakoram Highway was built between the 1960s and 1979 by Pakistani and Chinese crews at a heavy cost in lives, and it remains an astonishing piece of engineering: a paved road threading the gorges of the Indus and Hunza rivers through the highest concentration of big mountains on earth. From it, without leaving the tarmac, travellers see Nanga Parbat across the Indus, Rakaposhi towering above the valley at one famous viewpoint, the spires of the Passu Cathedral, and finally the tundra of Khunjerab. The road passes the junction point where the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush ranges meet, marked beside the Indus. Along the way are the terraces and forts of Hunza, the lake at Attabad formed by a 2010 landslide and now crossed by tunnels, and suspension bridges to villages across the river. Conditions change with slides and roadworks, and sections are regularly reduced to single lane.

History

The highway was built jointly by China and Pakistan, started in 1962, completed in 1979 and opened to the public in 1986. About 810 Pakistani and about 200 Chinese workers died building it, mostly in landslides and falls, and it runs for 1,300 kilometres from Hasan Abdal to the Khunjerab Pass, reaching 4,714 metres near the border (Wikipedia, Karakoram Highway).

The main sights

• Rakaposhi viewpoint - the full rise of the mountain from the roadside.
• Attabad Lake - the turquoise landslide lake and its tunnels.
• Passu cones - the serrated Cathedral ridge above the highway.
• Three-ranges junction - the marked meeting point of Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush.

When to go

April to October for the full length; the Babusar approach opens only in summer, and Khunjerab closes in winter. Spring brings blossom to Hunza, autumn turns the valleys gold, and both beat the summer haze for photography. Landslides can close sections at any time of year.

Things to know

This is a working national artery, not a park road: trucks, checkpoints, roadworks and slide delays are constant, and journey times are unpredictable. Fuel and cash points are far apart. Some lower sections require foreigners to check in at posts, and rules change; a local driver simplifies everything. Distances that look short take whole days.

Nearby

Hunza, Passu, Naltar and Khunjerab all lie along it; Gilgit is the hub.

Key facts