Cycling
the Biafo Glacier
Samar Khan became the 1st woman to have biked on 3rd largest non-polar glaciers, Biafo in Karakoram range in Aug 2016.
The Biafo Glacier (Urdu: بیافو گلیشیر) is a 67 km (42 mi)-long glacier situated in the Karakoram mountain range in Shigar district, Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan.
The Biafo Glacier is the world’s third longest glacier outside the polar regions, second only to the 70 km (43 mi) Siachen Glacier, India and Tajikistan’s 77 km (48 mi) long Fedchenko Glacier. It took Samar 15 days to paddle till Shigar(Skardu), then she teamed up with the local climbers who knew the glacier well. After the 2nd Campsite, Namla, Samar found glacier to be flat enough to start biking until she reaches 4500m+ elevation towards the Snow-Lake.
She set out from Islamabad on 24th July, 2016 and took the route of Abbotabad, Naran, Kaghan and Babusar Top towards her destination. By covering the distance of almost 800km till the last remote village of GB; called Askoli, which is the entrance point to glaciers, she had trek for 3-4 days and found herself on icy-rock surface(flat glacier) where she had attempted her record.
But it was not only the single challenge to attempt, she also wanted to summit the virgin peak for which she reached Latok Base Camp with her porters and high altitude climber Mr. Asghar Hussan (G1, G2 and Broad Peak summiteer). And she got successful in reaching upto camp2, but could not make the summit due to bad weather conditions.
It was a 15 days’ expedition, which started just out of her curiosity to see if cycling was possible on glaciers as she used to see international athletes attempting such feats but youth was not engaging in action sports in Pakistan, despite being a country with majestic mountains and adventure sports destinations.
Many domestic and international tourists have met her along the way and really appreciated her courage and determination of promoting a healthy activity like cycling among the youth. The fears and insecurities of international tourists were also removed by the practical example of solo rider Samar Khan.
She has played her part in uplifting the name of Pakistan; not nationally but also internationally. And proved that Pakistan is the safest place to pursue adventure sports and promoting tourism.
The Biafo Glacier (Urdu: بیافو گلیشیر) is a 67 km (42 mi)-long glacier situated in the Karakoram mountain range in Shigar district, Gilgit−Baltistan, Pakistan.
The Biafo Glacier is the world’s third longest glacier outside the polar regions, second only to the 70 km (43 mi) Siachen Glacier, India and Tajikistan’s 77 km (48 mi) long Fedchenko Glacier. It took Samar 15 days to paddle till Shigar(Skardu), then she teamed up with the local climbers who knew the glacier well. After the 2nd Campsite, Namla, Samar found glacier to be flat enough to start biking until she reaches 4500m+ elevation towards the Snow-Lake.
She set out from Islamabad on 24th July, 2016 and took the route of Abbotabad, Naran, Kaghan and Babusar Top towards her destination. By covering the distance of almost 800km till the last remote village of GB; called Askoli, which is the entrance point to glaciers, she had trek for 3-4 days and found herself on icy-rock surface(flat glacier) where she had attempted her record.
But it was not only the single challenge to attempt, she also wanted to summit the virgin peak for which she reached Latok Base Camp with her porters and high altitude climber Mr. Asghar Hussan (G1, G2 and Broad Peak summiteer). And she got successful in reaching upto camp2, but could not make the summit due to bad weather conditions.
It was a 15 days’ expedition, which started just out of her curiosity to see if cycling was possible on glaciers as she used to see international athletes attempting such feats but youth was not engaging in action sports in Pakistan, despite being a country with majestic mountains and adventure sports destinations.
Many domestic and international tourists have met her along the way and really appreciated her courage and determination of promoting a healthy activity like cycling among the youth. The fears and insecurities of international tourists were also removed by the practical example of solo rider Samar Khan.
She has played her part in uplifting the name of Pakistan; not nationally but also internationally. And proved that Pakistan is the safest place to pursue adventure sports and promoting tourism.
