13-20 Aug 2013: Astore Valley & Baltistan Trip - Introducing Riat Valley & Riat Lakes

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Rest frequency increasing as it was almost 4 hours since we started and angle of climb was increasing gradually

0881 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Riat Lake stream near the basecamp

0882 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Approaching basecamp

0883 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Basecamp Riat Lake

Met this herd enjoying grazing here

We all regrouped at this point and started the final climb

0884 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Starting climb towards first slope

0885 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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The slope which was looking small from distance now growing bigger with every ascending step

0886 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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A mix of rock climbing and beautiful grassy patches with on and off rain. We faced a heavy rain session during the climb.

0887 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Almost there and some gap in between the rainy patches

0888 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Heavy rain and then light came out all of sudden

Look back at basecamp after half hour

0889 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Half way into the second climb when slope got a bit better to take out camera. Again it was raining so very few shots during this most difficult climb

0890 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Look back at basecamp near the top

Now this rocky slope on my left runs from top to bottom till basecamp so if someone prefers rock climbing over high angle grass slopes then this is the route to use. Otherwise climb first slope (plain ground visible in middle right of pic) then turn left to reach near the exit point of water stream and then climb up to the lake.

0891 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Our host from Riat Village

He was the only one moving with us and other 3 from the village had already disappeared running on their own

0892 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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All straight from now on till the lake and mountains around the lake are also visible now in the background

0893 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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One of the smaller ponds on our way to the main lake

0894 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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And this is the second pond on right side with the mountains

0895 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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A look back to the downhill side of valley

0896 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Another view of right side pond ... very much reminded me of Dudipat trek

0897 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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First ever view and probably a photograph taken of Riat Lake

0898 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Riat Lake - full view

0899 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr

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Villagers sitting on stones on far right and enjoying the amazing views of Riat Lake

0900 by Mobeen Mazhar, on Flickr