Porters are the backbone of most climbing expeditions, trekking, and adventurous exploration into the mountains all over the world. The agile, tireless, hardworking people, primarily from local communities, ferry massive loads of gear on their backs.
Like the more familiar Sherpa people of the Himalaya, the Pakistani porters are respected among the fraternity of mountain lovers as some of the best porters in the world.
They are dedicated and know where the crevasses and icefalls are, how to acclimatize, how much food and fuel to haul up the hill, when to push on, and when to rest. They are unsung heroes of high-altitude mountaineering. Without their labour, many a base camps would never have been established and many a summit would never have been conquered.
As a coordinator, I have lived some of my life in the base camps of majestic mountains in Northern Pakistan with mountaineers, explorers, and adventurers from all over the world and porters from Pakistan. During my to-ing and fro-ing in mountain areas, I have befriended many local porters. Some are still on my contact list, but I have had the fortune to know Pinion Shah, best in his trade, a little better.
Pinion Shah is sturdy and knows the mountains inside out. His forefathers migrated to Baltistan over six hundred years ago. Originally Buddhist, they, along with other Balti people, converted to Islam during the Moghul period in the sixteenth century. While some of the Baltis adapted to a trading economy, many are still largely pastoralists.
I first met Pinion Shah during my assignment as a facilitator with a multinational climbing expedition to Nanga Parbat from Rupal side in 1993. That is when our friendship started by chance. I was to accompany the expedition only up to the forward base camp. The hike to base camp and the extended stay there brought every kind of weather imaginable — scorching sun, blinding sandstorms, and white-out blizzards.
Article comments
1 - Jamal Panhwar
The Year of K2 and this year 2006 both did not bring enough to even cover 4 months of the porters. the war on terrorism seems to be a war on tourism in Pakistan.
Year 2007 is the visit Pakistan yet no signs of visitors. The porters have found refuge in metropolis like Islamabad and Karachi and do construction work now.
Jamal
2 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is being featured in the Culture Focus today, August 15.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
3 - Mark
Yes, that is true, I can tell by my own expeience.
4 - S A J Shirazi
Diana Hartman: Thanks.