Valid ASB Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 i have heard that since 9-11 there has been a big decrease in the number of american climbers going to pakistan for security reasons. is this true ? anyone have a first hand knowledge of the security situation there ? Quote
wfinley Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 Do you get the AAC news? In the last issue there was a story about climbing in Pakistan and the AAC's involvement with misc. projects over there. I've tossed mine so I can't recall exactly who to contact. Find an old copy or ask the AAC for contacts. Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted December 26, 2006 Posted December 26, 2006 I recently stayed with a guy in Squamish that spent two months there climbing GII and he said that there were no problems whatsoever. He had photos of a Bush protest in Islamabad where there was a woping 50-100 people (read: very small). The people there are extremely gracious to any foreigners, given that they are the main means of income for the locals. Of course, they were Canadian though. I would pack the American flag deep in my rucksack and only get it out on summit day. :tup: Quote
sobo Posted December 27, 2006 Posted December 27, 2006 A little bit off-topic, but I just finished a great book by Greg Mortensen, a former climber who now builds schools in the way-backs of Pakistan and Afghanistan, to provide girls and boys of Islamist belief a secular education, as opposed to the education that they might get from a fundamentalist madrassa. It's a promise he made to a village chief after being rescued following his failed K2 attempt in 1993, and his own way of waging the War on Terror - one school at a time. Three Cups of Tea, a really good book, and it reads fast. Not yet out in paperback. Pair this book with Mark Bowden's Guests of the Ayatollah and Ahmed Rashid's Taliban and you get a pretty good picture of why the Middle East hates us so much. Quote
coug4 Posted December 28, 2006 Posted December 28, 2006 A long shot, but at the Bozeman Ice Festival I believe it was Mark Wilford that gave a slide show including his experience in Pakistan. Not sure how to track him down however - possibly through ArcTeryx. Quote
coug4 Posted December 28, 2006 Posted December 28, 2006 Oops. Ian Parnel - ArcTeryx; Mark Willford - Patagonia. It was one of them... Quote
IPY Posted December 28, 2006 Posted December 28, 2006 I was in Pakistan for about a month this past summer. I flew into Islamabad with several other americans and we drove the Karakoram Highway to Gilgit and then hiked/climbed. We had no issues although I might suggest you avoid things like Kentucky Fried Chicken or other western establishments in Islamabad and just be heads up in general. Pakistan continues to get a lot of trekking action from western Europe. I didn't get the impression that too many people knew we were from the US. I would but just be heads up. Quote
sobo Posted December 28, 2006 Posted December 28, 2006 war on terror???????? Your point being???????? It's a well-known fact in the world today that the United States is "leading" a largely unsuccessful "war on terror", much like we tried, and largely failed, to conduct and win a similar "war on drugs" some 20-odd years ago. I use the expression simply because it's well understood by most people the world over, even if it has become hackneyed. Quit reading my drivel and go read the books. Quote
cj001f Posted March 19, 2007 Posted March 19, 2007 Anyone got any other insights? How about Xinjiang? Hows everything relative to Indian Kashmir? Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted March 19, 2007 Posted March 19, 2007 My plan is to grow a beard and lay low. You can grow a beard? Quote
cj001f Posted March 19, 2007 Posted March 19, 2007 My plan is to grow a beard and lay low. You can grow a beard? I can't. There are women who can grow better beards than me. Quote
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