glaciers and apricots

Along drive along the KKH and we arrived at Pasu, a small village surrounded my mountains. we are staying in a campsite with a nice restaurant attached to it, and a friendly owner. Hot Rock previously developed 3 sports routes on a crag nearby the campsite, which is the only developed climbing in the area. they are slab climbs that are plesant. others in the group have now put up 3 more routes, well they all have anchors at least, but the drilling has been taking 45 mins per bolt hole, and after that the battery dies, so it is slow progress. there is also only electricity every other night here so recharging is difficult! a nice 6c has been put up with bouldery moves, which im working. its a shock to be getting pumped again as its been such a long time since i climbed a route!
we have received more newbies, hannahs mum (who is officially called 'mum' becasue her name is also Clare!) and her partner Daj are on the trip and Daj is an experienced mountaineer. so a group of us went up to the glacier so he could teach us cravass rescue and the basics. 5 of us then thought we would go higher up the glacier to join a path for a longer way back. it turned into a bit of an epic, taking all day and the glacier got more steep and cravassy! daj got a rope out for me when we had to cross vertical walls, and learning how to front point on crampons, feeling like i was almost ice climbing! it was exciting and scary having big drops below us! then we had to go up a steep scree slope to join a path. the glacier was amazing- it was huge and dramatic- like what you see in national geographic! lots of fun.
I think i am jinxed though, as the next trad route i do after Jill fell off- i climb with Hannah and we find a nice easy looking V Diff. Hannah leads and gets over half way up then pulls a block (about 25cm squared ish!) off and takes a fall onto her gear, and this block whistles past me! we were both a little shaky! I seem to be being a bit unlucky at the moment as far as trad goes! its like im being tested. For the rest of the days i am going to do a river walk- crossing a couple of scary looking bridges, some more sport climbing.
In 5 days we are going into the next country which i have been warned not to use its name as they control internet and can block webpages if you use specific names! im not sure on the details yet. we also may not be able to access the internet becasue in Kashgar they have cut all internet off to clamp down, and currently have a strong police pressence in the town. it all seems quite strict. we are going to Shiptons arch- which is taller than the empire state building, but is a natural arch. its apparently climbable but is very loose conglomerate rock, and sounds quite sketchy so im not sure how many people will climb it.

glaciers and apricots

Pasu, Pakistan