SkyscraperPage Forum - Kashmir Kush

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Time for stop VIII of the Asian Saga, Kashmir. Previously I was in Delhi where I experienced the heat of the Indian summer before the monsoons arrived. Two days of 100+ degree heat was enough for me so I traveled north to the cool comforts of the Himalayas. I had no idea what to expect but soon booked a 4 day trek into the mountains. I stayed in the city of Srinagar for a few days which had some really cool architecture and sights. I only had one day to tour the city and the stores were all closed so it looks a little dead. Once I traveled into the mountains I stayed at an area that is at the base of Haramukh mountain and is inhabited by villagers from the lower elevations during the summer. They live in huts dug into the hill sides and raise their livestock. When the weather turns cold they return to the lower elevations where there isn't as much snow.

As for the title, marijuana grows like a weed there, huge bushes lining streets and the banks of rivers. Some local kids showed me how to make hash by rubbing the leaves of hundreds of plants with your hands. Eventually, enough resin accumulates on your palms that you can clean it off, collect it and smoke it. Crazy stuff.

I could go on with details but I think I keep it short this time.

• Video Link

That's me in the hat.

Pretty much every plant except the trees in this shot is marijuana.

Next up, keeping it high and dry in Ladakh.

Thank you for posting these. Every photo is stunning. The scenery and culture both look fascinating. I am inspired to use my new hiking boots I got for Christmas.

Easily your best thread yet. It's been incredible to see you grow as a photographer over the past year or so.

Fantastic photos. I must say, while i knew Kashmir was mountainous i didn't expect it to look quite so much like Montana.

Also one day, this is gonna be restored and dolled up into a Venice of sorts

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8481/...c46ab07b_b.jpg

you found shangri-la.

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Awesome photography...you're getting very good at this

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fresh (Post 5957402)

Fantastic photos. I must say, while i knew Kashmir was mountainous i didn't expect it to look quite so much like Montana.

I thought the same thing when I saw the photos, only about Colorado. Photo's like these two look like they could have been taken somewhere near Keystone or Vail.

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8486/...606e4fc8_b.jpg

http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8057/...13fe4328_b.jpg

What a way to start the new year. Even better than you usual good stuff.

Amazing! did it feel safe being there? Definitely starting to look a lot more like central Asia than India. Beautiful scenery.

Fresh & mr 1138, Kashmir reminded much of the Mountain West here in the US. It has a very similar climate to Colorado, maybe more snow. I camped around 12,000 ft and the peaks nearby were in the 16-17,000 ft range.

Muppet, those are some of my favorite shots too. The men were building a new ranger station. They had now power tools, all the wood was hand cut and carved, the cement hand mixed, the foundation stones carried and cut by hand. An incredible amount of work.

As for the city of Srinagar, I was shocked how off the radar it is. The town itself has narrow streets full of character and life, the architecture looks like something out of northern Europe, truly a unique place. The famous Dal lake is in the center of town which I regrettably didn't have time to see. Steve McCurry has some unbelievable shots of the region:

http://www.magnumphotos.com/Catalogu...-NN134132.html

I'd love to make it back, very high on my return to list.

For anyone interested in some trivia:
http://farm9.static.flickr.com/8483/...45de225b_b.jpg

I stayed at the base of Haramukh, a mountain with a summit at 16,872 ft, shown in the shot above. My local guide kept telling me it was the tallest mountain in the world. When I would counter, stating Everest is generally regarded as the tallest mountain, he would angrily state that no one has ever made it to the top of Haramukh, therefore making it taller than Everest. Despite his flaw in logic, I couldn't dispute his claim that no one had ever made it to the summit.

After I arrived home, I checked his statement about no one summiting Mt. Haramukh. According to Wikikpedia, the mountain was first climbed in 1856 as part of the Great Trigonometric Survey to map the Karakoram range 130 miles to the North. The two most prominent peaks were sketched and labeled K1 and K2. K1 was determined to be the 22nd tallest mountain in the world, Masherbrum, as it was known by the locals. K2, however, couldn't be seen from lower elevations and was unknown by the local population. Therefore, it didn’t have a local name so the survey mark, K2 became the mountain’s official title. While Haramukh isn’t taller than Everest, it is the mountain from which the second tallest peak in the world, K2, was revealed to the Western World.

Gasp!!..Looks like 2013 on SSP is another O.K.U year...great
people/urban/landscape photography from you all the time.

Great pictures! The scenery is stunning! I too thought that the mountain scenes looked a little like the Rockies, or maybe the Alps.

What ColDayMan said.