Chumar Bakor Road
Chumar Bakor is a high mountain town at an elevation of 4.418m (14,494ft) located in the Hunza Valley, in Gilgit-Baltistan, in the state of Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistan. It's one of the highest roads of the country.
The village, also known as Chomarbakoor, Chumarbakor, Chumar Bakor or Chumar Bakoor, consists of 90 or so small huts. The town is famous for a mine (called Own Mines) for acquire of gemstone. It’s house of huge deposits of high quality gems, Aquamarine, Quartz, Topaz, Tourmaline, Garnet.
The road to the town is extreme. Only 4x4 vehicles. The last part is almost a hiking path, very narrow. Drive with care as this is a mountain road with hairpin curves and dangerous dropoffs. It runs along the Mamubar River. The jeep trail has been constructed by the locals who own the mines using the money that has been generated by the aquamarine mining, but is often blocked by landslides.
The road has 35 hairpin turns and is totally nightmarish due its steepness. Starting from the Mamubar Road at 2.623m (8,605ft), the ascent is 10.0 km long. Over this distance, the elevation gain is 1.795 meters and the average gradient is 17.95%. The track is only accessible for 4 months during summer. At all other times of the year, the road is a frozen wasteland that is beyond the reach of humans. The last part of the road, a very steep section up to the mine settlement, it’s only a footpath.The mine is only accessible by foot.
Road suggested by: Hugh Wilson
Pic: Zair Hussain Nagri