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Biafo Hisper
Hisper Valley is the last village of Nagar
Valley in Pakistan,
and is about 28km from the main town of Nagar Valley.
It is the camping site for the adventurers who are interested in trekking over
the Biafo Glacier, from Nagar to [Skardu] and if you wants to climb Pumari
Chhish or Kunyang Chhish you will go through this village.This village consist
of 150 houses and you can see the Hisper Glacier from this village also.
The Biafo Glacier is a 63 km long glacier in the Karakoram
Mountains of the Northern Areas, Pakistan which meets the 49 km long Hispar
Glacier at an altitude of 5,128 m (16,824 feet) at Hispar La (Pass) to create
the world's longest glacial system outside the polar regions. This highway of
ice connects two ancient mountain kingdoms, Nagar (immediately south of Hunza)
in the west with Baltistan in the east. The traverse uses 51 of the Biafo
Glacier's 63 km and all of the Hispar Glacier to form a 100 km glacial route.
The Biafo Glacier presents a trekker with several days of
very strenuous, often hectic boulder hopping, with spectacular views throughout
and Snow Lake
near the high point.
Snow Lake, consisting of parts of the upper
Biafo Glacier and its tributary glacier Sim Gang, is one of the world's largest
basins of snow or ice in the world outside of the polar regions, up to 1,600 m
(one mile) in depth.
The Biafo Glacier is the world's third longest glacier
outside of the polar regions, second only to the 70 km Siachen Glacier disputed
between Pakistan and India and Tajikistan's 77 km long Fedchenko Glacier.
Campsites along the Biafo are located off of the glacier,
adjacent to the lateral moraines and steep mountainsides. The first three
(heading up from the last village before the glacier, the thousand-year-old
Askole village) are beautiful sites with flowing water nearby. Mango and Namla,
the first two campsites, are often covered in flowers and Namla has an amazing
waterfall very near the camping area. Baintha, the third camp site, is often
used as a rest day. A large green meadow, it has a few running streams near the
camp and many places to spend the day rock climbing or rappelling.
Evidence of wildlife can be seen throughout the trek. The
Ibex and the Markhor Mountain Goat can be found and the area is famous for
brown bears and snow leopards,although sightings are rare.
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