Pamir Trail Trip Report

Pamir Trail Trip Report

I have not done the Pamir Trail in one continuous thru-hike. But I have done most sections, and those sections that I have not done, I have done a route parallel to the official route. I’ve been hiking in Tajikistan since 2009, but my section reports are all post-2020.

Some reports are comprehensive, some are brief. Some are reports on a single pass, as those can be serious obstacles. In some instances I’m just linking to a non-narrated video. In most instances I’ve passed on information to the Pamir Trail team for inclusion in their guide online, so it doesn’t need to be repeated here. The result is a fragmented report split between here and the Pamir Trail website.

  1. Trip Reports (sections, parts of sections, and passes)

  2. Videos highlights only

  3. Gear, Clothing, Health and Food Advice

  4. Resupply guide

  5. General Advice

I’ve ordered my reports from west to east.

Detailed Trip Reports

Section 1, Stage 8: Chimtarga Pass

Section 1, Stage 13: Zombar (Mura) Pass

Section 3, Stage 28: Rost/Ghuzn Pass

Section 4, Stage 34: Pakshif-Ghorif Pass

Section 4, Stages 35, 36, 37: Beob Pass

Section 7, Stages 60, 61, 62: Odudi Pass

Videos Only Highlights

Section 1, Stage 2: Padrud to Hazorchashma Lake, from 3:55

Section 2, Stages 12-17: Saratoq to Hushyori, in reverse

Section 3, Stages 25-31: Margheb to Langar

Section 3, Stages 30-31 and Section 4, Stage 32: Marghashak to Pakshif

Section 3, Stage 31 and Section 4, Stages 32-37: Revut to Navobod

Section 7, Stages 60, 61, 62: Motravn to Rushon, in reverse

Section 7, Stage 63: Rushon to Siponj

Section 7, Stages 64-65: Bartang Riverside trails (in different directions on different dates)

Section 8, Stages 69-71 and Bardara Diversion: Baradara to Bachor, in reverse

Gear Guide

My specialized gear, clothing, health and food advice for hiking in Tajikistan’s mountains is intended to be advice for long high routes that will take more time and require more gear and more food than Pamir Trail sections, but there should still be some useful info in there. Read it here.

Resupply Guide

Refer to the Pamir Trail website. I don’t pay for resupply deliveries, but I do manage to get what I need in the village shops. My experience is not so helpful as I speak multiple local languages and that allows me to scrounge up supplies where you may not be able to.

General Advice on Tajikistan’s Mountains

For advice and warnings on weather, elevation, shepherds, flocks & sheep dogs, stinging plants, crevasses, rockfall, food poisoning and drinking water, rivers, wild animals & vermin, taxis, who to call in an emergency, placenames, dress code and gear replacement, read my guide here. For advice on maps and map apps, read this article.

A comparison…

Hiking the Pamir Trail includes sections that would be like doing the hardest alternate routes on the Continental Divide Trail: Knapsack Col and the Wind River High Route, and parts of the Teton Crest (I’m thinking the ascent/descent in/out of Lake Solitude). Add to this 1000 meters of elevation. After considering this is the issue of glacier travel and the travel on mixed rock and ice next to glaciers. The Pamir Trail is harder than the hardest alternate routes on the CDT.

A more favorable comparison can be made to the Hayduke Trail. The Pamir Trail has way, way more opportunities to fill up on water than in southern Utah. I did southern Utah without caching water ahead of time, at the edge of summer, and it was scary. Tajikistan in contrast has lots of water.

If you do long off-trail hikes or scrambles in the Coast Mountains of British Columbia or in the Northern Cascades in Washington State you will find, after making an account for the much higher elevation, the terrain of the Pamir Trail not so bad at all (zero bushwhacking, no getting funneled down the wrong gorge, no going up or down and finding yourself stuck and unable to go any direction).

Nepal: the Pamir Trail is closer in terms of difficulty to the Great Himalaya Trail High Route than to popular treks such as the Annapurna Circuit. However, unlike the comparisons above I have not hiked in Nepal, my Nepal comparisons are based on video reports.