Chitral Hindu Kush travel depends on roads hit by rockslides and snow
NPR’s Betsy Joles reports Chitral has no current flights, leaving residents reliant on mountain roads vulnerable to slides and avalanches.
By Daniel Okafor · Business Editor
2 min read
Chitral Hindu Kush travel depends on road access through one of northern Pakistan’s most isolated mountain districts, NPR’s Betsy Joles reported. The district borders Afghanistan, has no flights operating to it now and can become difficult to move through when winter snow closes in.
Joles described Chitral as a place where striking mountain views come with a constant risk of disruption. Roads through Pakistan’s high country can be blocked for hours by rockslides, forcing buses and jeeps to wait while crews clear the way.
On one mountain trip, Joles reported, travelers had to stop at a safe distance while workers used dynamite to break apart a boulder obstructing the road. The same conditions that draw adventure travelers also make daily movement uncertain for people who live there.
Where is Chitral in the Hindu Kush?
Chitral is a district in northern Pakistan’s Hindu Kush range, near the Afghan border. Its remoteness means that when roads are blocked by rockfalls, avalanches or heavy snow, residents and visitors have few alternatives for getting in or out.
Joles reported from the area earlier this summer with local reporting partner Siraj Uddin. She said people she met in Chitral spoke in practical terms about floods, landslides and avalanches, treating the hazards as part of life in the mountains rather than rare events.
The region’s rough access has also become part of its appeal for adventure travel accounts online, according to Joles. High mountain passes and difficult roads appear on social media pages that promote journeys through Pakistan’s mountain regions.
That attention highlights a tension in the area: the same raw terrain that brings visitors can interrupt transport and complicate everyday life. With no air service available, the condition of the roads determines whether travel is possible.
In Upper Chitral, Joles paused during a long day on the road to photograph the mountain setting for NPR’s Far-Flung Postcards series. Her dispatch emphasized that residents continue to manage the region’s hazards while carrying on with ordinary life in a place shaped by severe weather and fragile routes.
Read the full postcard at NPR.
This story draws on original reporting from NPR.