Babusar Pass Road (167 km)

Naran to Chilas · one way, about 167 km back to the start

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Why this ride

The stops in between: Lulusar Lake and Babusar Pass. The highest point is about 4,150 m. Babusar Pass is open in summer only - check it is open before you set off. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.

Roadbook

1. Naran start

   Naran is a mountain town in the Kaghan valley of northern Pakistan, at about 2,400 metres, and it is the last substantial settlement before the road climbs to the Babusar Pass. The valley is long, green and steep, with the Kunhar river rushing through it and pine forest on the slopes, and snow peaks closing the horizon. The town itself is a long strip of hotels, bazaars and restaurants along the river, busy in summer with Pakistani families escaping the heat of the plains. Lake Saif ul Malook, a turquoise lake beneath Malika Parbat, the Queen of the Mountains, lies about ten kilometres away and can be reached by a rough jeep track.

   Legend says that a prince, Saif ul Malook, fell in love with a fairy, and the lake is the place where they met, a story told in many versions across the Kaghan valley. The mountains above Naran are part of the western Himalaya, and Malika Parbat, at about 5,290 metres, is the highest in the area. The people of the valley are Gujjars and Kohistanis, who keep cattle and goats, and in summer, they move to high pastures.

   The Babusar Pass road, which leaves Naran, climbs to about 4,170 metres, then descends to Chilas in the Indus valley. It is a spectacular, high-altitude road, with steep hairpins, rough surface, and sections of gravel and washout, and it is open only in summer, from about June to October, depending on snow. Landslides are common, and the road can be closed for days. Weather changes fast, with cold wind, rain or snow, even in July. Altitude can be a problem, so ride slowly.

   Naran has fuel stations and workshops, but supplies can run short in the busy season, so top up when you can. Food is simple and hearty: trout from the river, dal, rice and naan, with sweet tea. Hotels range from basic to comfortable, and in July and August, they fill up. Check the road conditions with local police before the pass, and set off early to avoid afternoon storms. The air in the morning is cold and clear, and the mountains glow in the sunrise.

2. Lulusar Lake scenic

   Lulusar sits in a cup of high mountains at the head of the Kaghan Valley, at somewhere around 3,400 metres, and when you first see it the colour looks wrong: a deep, cold blue lying against grey scree and snowfields as if someone had spilled ink between the peaks. The lake is the source of the Kunhar River, which runs down through Naran and eventually joins the Jhelum, and the road to Babusar Pass runs right along its shore. It is one of those places where you are glad to have a stop planned, because the surface is usually mirror-calm in the early morning and full of reflected mountains.

   Riding this far up the valley is an adventure in itself. From Naran the road climbs past Besal through wide meadows, then up into a barren high country where trees disappear and the wind tastes of snow. The tarmac is patchy, mostly paved but with sections broken by meltwater and landslides, and the way is shared with jeeps, buses and herders moving flocks. Oxygen is thinner than you expect, so go slowly, drink water, and do not rush: a rider who feels dizzy at this height should stop and rest rather than push on.

   Lulusar belongs to the season. The road and the pass beyond are generally open only in summer, roughly from June into the autumn, and snow can close it early or late. In July and August the grass is green and the shepherds' huts are occupied, and in September the light turns clear and sharp. Weather changes fast; a morning of blue sky can turn to sleet by afternoon, so carry warm layers and waterproofs even in high summer. Local people are generally welcoming, and tea at a roadside shack is a better idea than it sounds when your fingers are cold.

   Naran, behind you, is the place to fill the tank and buy supplies, and you should carry spare fuel if you plan to cross over toward Chilas on the other side. Simple food and hot tea are available at small stalls in the warmer months, but do not rely on them. The silence at the water, broken only by wind and the occasional bell on a goat, is the real attraction, and it is worth ten minutes of just standing still.

3. Babusar Pass scenic · 4173 m

   At around 4,173 metres, Babusar is one of the great high crossings of the Pakistani north, and the satisfaction of reaching it is slightly out of proportion to the hardware you find at the top: a gate, a few tea stalls, some prayer flags and rocks, and a wind that could take your hat to the next valley. The pass links the Kaghan Valley with the Indus gorge at Chilas, on the Karakoram Highway, and it has served as a shortcut between the two for centuries. Traders, herders and later military patrols all used the crossing, and its name is tied to that older traffic.

   The road up from the Kaghan side comes through the bleak, open uplands past Lulusar Lake, a gradual climb with the occasional steep section, and you feel the air thin as you go. The other side is the dramatic one. The descent toward Chilas drops in a long series of hairpins down a bare, brown mountainside, with huge views over the valley and, when the haze permits, Nanga Parbat, the ninth highest mountain in the world, standing far off to the north. The surface is paved but battered by snow and rockfall, so keep your speed down, stay wide of the drops, and expect to meet buses, jeeps and trucks coming around the bends.

   The pass is a summer road, usually open from about June to October, and it can close suddenly after snow. Always check locally before committing to it, since conditions vary from season to season and from one week to the next. Late summer mornings tend to be clearest. Weather at 4,000 metres is not forgiving: a sunny start can end in cold rain, and headaches and breathlessness are real, so take your time and spend a few minutes at the top acclimatising before pushing on.

   Fill at Naran before you climb, or at Chilas if you are coming from the other side, and carry a spare can because the distance between pumps is long on rough roads. Tea, noodles and biscuits can be had from stalls at the summit when the season is on. It is a basic stop, but the combination of altitude and open mountains makes it a place riders remember long after the details of the road have faded.

4. Chilas finish

   Chilas is a hot, dry town on the upper Indus, where the Karakoram Highway runs through one of the most dramatic gorges on earth. Here three of the world's great mountain ranges, the Himalaya, the Karakoram and the Hindu Kush, meet within a few dozen kilometres, and the Indus carves a trench between them that is deeper than the Grand Canyon in places. The stony hillsides above the town are bare and brown, which makes the snowy bulk of Nanga Parbat, at 8,126 metres the ninth highest mountain in the world, seem even more unlikely when it appears over the ridge.

   The town is also a trading and crossing point, and the hills around it are covered with petroglyphs. Thousands of carvings and inscriptions, in Sogdian, Kharoshthi, Brahmi and Chinese as well as other scripts, were left by travellers on the old Silk Road branch that ran through here, and many of them are Buddhist stupas, ibex and hunters pecked into dark rock faces by the river. The sites at Chilas and nearby Thalpan are the best known; many are being drowned or moved as dams rise upstream on the Indus.

   For riders, Chilas is the gate to the Babusar Pass road, which climbs from the Indus up to the pass at about 4,170 metres and then drops into the green Kaghan valley toward Naran. The road is steep and in places rough, with hairpins, loose gravel, unfenced drops and sudden weather, and it is usually open only from early summer to autumn; snow can close it, and landslides can too. Check locally before you set out. The Karakoram Highway itself is a feat of engineering but is regularly cut by rockfalls and floods, and heavy trucks make the narrow sections slow.

   Fuel is available in Chilas, which is the last reliable stop before the pass, and basic hotels and roadside restaurants serve lentils, chapati, grilled meat and strong sweet tea. Summer days are fierce, with temperatures over forty degrees in the gorge, while the pass above is cold even in July.

   Start early, because afternoon wind and weather build, and give yourself time to drive the descent in daylight.

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