Rakaposhi


‘Which day is it?’
‘It’s today,’ squeaked Piglet.
‘My favourite day,’ smiled Pooh.
I keep climbing
for a taste of fresher air.
Somewhere halfway I’ve lost track
of what it is I’m looking for.
My lungs crave a beach somewhere
but my heart refuses to skip a beat.
Did the mountain beat me
or is it the other way around?
Some people find contentment in the ordinary, but not me.
My biggest fear is mediocrity.
To be stuck in an alternate reality
from the one that holds my destiny
escaping from which
is like going camping under the stars
even on a cloudy night.
Only for the sake of doing so.
Sometimes I’d like to be a cow
somewhere in a meadow.
Blissfully unaware
of a world gone by in the blink of an eye.
Nowhere to be, except here and now.
Yet everywhere to go and so little time.
So my feet keep dragging me forward.
But my mind lingers.
Eventually I’ll have to turn around
‘cause what goes up, must come down.
And when everything does come crashing down
in that split second
when the world reveals its bigger picture
the only silver lining I can truly hope for
is to find the morning’s beauty also
in the evening’s sky.
And tomorrow
well tomorrow is really only just
the next today.








Practical
- Karakoram Bikers is a travel company based in Gilgit and Lahore. They rent out motorbikes for 2000PKR / day, no license needed. Get in touch through their website or social media. www.karakorambikers.com
- The trek to K2 basecamp takes between 14 and 18 days and can be arranged online. Permits are necessary, so inform yourself well beforehand. In my opinion it would be better to arrange the trek starting from Skardu instead of Islamabad. Prices vary, I’ve read everything between 1000 and 3000$.
- If you do get a permit, which you can request in Skardu, you can drive from Dassu to Askole. I’ve been told the 40km take 3 hours by motorbike, so time your trip well if you don’t want to get stuck in the dark. Askole has a camping ground mostly used by mountaineers as the starting point of their trek but I’m fairly certain you can camp there for a night before returning back to Dassu as well.
- To do this trip I needed 3 passport copies, one for each of the police / army checkpoints along the way.