Rakaposhi Base Camp

Rakaposhi (7788m) and Diran (7266m) are mountains in the Karakoram mountain range in the Nagar district, Gilgit-Baltistan.
Our trek to the base camps of the peaks is easy, extremely scenic hike, recommended for beginners. During we will see summer settlements of local people from Minapin with few fields of barley and potatoes, doge-rose bushes, juniper, willow, thorn, there we will sit for a cup of tea cooked at shelters of locals.

Base camp of Rakaposi (Tagafari) is on 3400m above see level. It looks like a big long, narrow, banana-shaped field (that was once a lake: ‘taga fari’ means muddy lake) between lateral moraine. A long shepherd’s hut with two rooms and a leaky roof is occupied by about five men from Minapin, who tend about 500 goats and 100 head of cattle. You can watch them milk and make butter, ghee, lassi and cheese. Now there are 2 toilets by 5 meters high (because almost all year the base is full of high snow!!!) ad ‘decent building’ – kitchen.

Minapin Glacier. Crossing the glacier that takes you to Diran base camp is really dangerous as the glacier is composed of crevasses 30m deep. Falling and remaining forgotten in one of those holes is lethal. For this reason, it’s not recommended to go alone, unless you have plenty of experience in crossing glaciers.

Kacheli, also known as Diran Base Camp, is another grassy meadow with flowers, its about 3650 m. There its possible to watch pictures sunsets.
Kacheli lake is around 4000 m, a steep 2 hours climb. ‘Kacheli’ is a name of flowers that’s spread everywhere here.