Pamir Highway Cycle, Tajikistan

Overview

The Pamir Highway — the M41 — is the world's second-highest international road, crossing the Wakhan Corridor and the high Pamir plateau between Dushanbe and Osh. Cycling it is a self-supported expedition through one of the least-visited and most geopolitically complex corners of the planet: the intersection of the Silk Road, the Afghan border, and the Chinese frontier, at an average altitude above 3,500m. The route from Dushanbe to Osh is 1,500km and typically takes 21 days by bicycle. The key stages are the Wakhan Corridor — a narrow valley running along the Afghan border, where the river is the border and Afghani villages are visible across the water — and the Pamir plateau itself, beginning at Murghab (3,618m) where the road reaches the high steppe and the landscape simplifies to brown grass, blue sky, and no people for 200km at a stretch. The Karakul Lake descent is the route's emotional peak: the saline lake sits at 3,914m in a volcanic crater, surrounded by the Muztagh Ata massif (7,546m) across the Chinese border. The colours at altitude — the deep blue of the lake against the pale brown of the steppe and the white of the glacier — are unreproducible in photograph. Self-sufficiency is essential. Between Ishkashim and Murghab, the closest resupply point is 200km away. The Pamiri homestay network compensates: families in even the smallest settlements will feed and house a cyclist for a modest contribution.

Book This Trip

Location

0 Comments

Sign in to leave a comment.

No comments yet. Be the first to share your experience.