When we were on our way back from Khunjerab there was a land sliding. Rocks fell on us. We thought it was the end for us, we are not going back. It felt like the end of the world,” Guliafshaan Tariq recalls her journey to Khunjerab Pass.
On 20 September 2015, two girls, Guliafshan Tariq, and Samar Khan broke the norm when they cycled from Islamabad to Khunjerab Pass, the highest border in the world, completing a journey of more than 1000 km in about 9 days; a very rare move for Pakistani girls.
A NUST graduate and a computer engineer by profession, Guliafshaan Tariq has been in the sports field for six years, “I was basically a rock and wall climber. Then, I trained as a paraglider from Pakistan Army School of Physical Training (ASPT) Kakul, Abbottabad. I am also a certified pilot.”
Guliafshan started cycling two and a half years ago after returning from Dubai with a complete course in parasailing.
She realized that cycling is her game after she participated in the National Competition Championship for women and won a silver medal in a scratch race for the Islamabad team, “I started exploring the Margilla Hills, Daamn-e-Koh, Monal on a bicycle. That is when I met Samar at ASPT Kakul during my paragliding course. That is where the idea of riding together initiated.”
A cycling trip that started as merely a fun activity eventually turned into a venture. Samar, who had never ridden on a bicycle before, rented one and rode to the mountains. “That is when we decided that we should go to Abbottabad,” Guliafshan added.
They rode from Islamabad to Abbottabad twice where they met some officers and shared their harassment stories with them during the tour. The officers invited them to visit Gilgit and Hunza, considering the fact that harassment isn’t an issue in those areas.
Guliafshan was already fond of the northern areas and Samar joined in. They downloaded the maps, decided their path and thought they should travel further.
“While reading the maps we found that Karakorum Highway (KKH) is the 8th wonder of the world and that its end is Khunjerab Pass. We thought that since we are going up to Gilgit, why don’t we attempt something that nobody has done before?!”
The girls prepared for 3.5 months. They trained for mixed martial arts, learned puncture repairing and also took first aid training.
After borrowing bikes from friends, the two girls left for the journey fully trained and totally equipped. “We had a full meal plan. We carried chocolates, almonds, pistachio etc which we had to throw later to reduce weight. We carried spare parts for the cycles with us (tubes, tyres, chains). Everything one could think of. We even carried camps with us, even though we didn’t know if we would reach the destination on time or not.”
“Our target was 120-125 km/day but when reached the hills, there it would become 80km per day. On our way back our speed increased.”
Although the journey was more than a 1,000 km, only a 1,000km was covered on a bicycle, “Kohistan area was exempted due to the condition of the road. We rode all the way from KKH and there was a new road, inaugurated by Chinese government, which was really good,
They spent Eid-ul-Adha and Chaand Raat at Hunza, Karimabad, “We camped there. The weather, the view, the valley, the people, everything was amazing! The food was not very spicy and people put salt in their tea instead of sugar. They have a totally different culture.”
They had to manage with the food until they found the PTDC spot, “At PTDC we finally got some tasty food. They were really cooperative and when they came to know that we were coming and gave us complimentary rooms. We asked them to cook some spicy chicken tikka for us since it was Eid.”
The journey wasn’t a piece of cake, “The weather kept changing. It was raining at one point, then there was snow and suddenly the temperature increases and it became hot.”