A Layover in Shimshal Before the Expedition

PC: Muhammad Maaz Kamal

After the Ice Climbing Competition we went to Shimshal Village where we rested for a day and organized logistics. Shimshal is a beautiful and peaceful village, located just a few days trek from the border of China.

On my way to Hunza the week previously I was able to drive parallel to the old Silk Road of ancient trade that connects to China. The pass now consists of routes where the villagers of Shimshal take their yaks, sheep and goats to a cycle of pastures.

I would wake up and walk outside to find the village children skating on pools of ice outside their homes. Women and children were chopping apricot tree wood to keep their wood stoves burning throughout the day to both warm their homes and cook their food. A typical meal would include yak meat, eggs, flat bread, and tea. Or even just bread and honey with tea. The life in Shimshal is hard working. Their winters are harsh. Days consist of doing the tasks needed to survive and support your livestock. Women would trek a few hours to get to natural hot springs to wash their laundry, or go down to the glacial river to get fresh water to drink or boil for food. There are no showers or bathrooms. The goats eat any trash (or the trash is burned) so there is no litter anywhere to be found. The goats or sheep also eat the human waste, eliminating any need for an irrigation or plumbing system. It is efficient and natural.

Women and children would wake up in the morning and also trek to other pastures or down the valley to gather straw and other food for their livestock. Many members of the community are sent out for several months into the harsh winter to trek through the passes with their yaks and stay confined in tiny huts, away from their families, until the spring begins to return. These routes and traditions have been apart of their culture for many many years. Their roots all entail a very simple, hard working, lifestyle very connected to the Earth. The main professions are teaching or agriculture.

Shimshal is part of a region where the literacy rate is almost 100%, equal for both boys and girls (in a country where 55% of the people are literate and many girls don’t have the opportunity to go to school). The village comes together as a family to raise independent and strong women who know the definition of hard work and perseverance – having been raised in a village of harsh winters, land to be tended after, and herds to be lead over mountain passes.

I walked over to the house next door to me and would share a cup of tea with two village women. With my knowledge of farsi, and Wakhi (their village tongue) being an archaic version of Farsi, there were SOME words we would figure out were similar and we would connect over laughter and playing charades. The children were also something else. I teared up having to say goodbye because of how full of love they were and how freely they gave it to me the moment I arrived.