Thui Pass

I wanted to combine Shah Jinali pass trek with another trek to make full use of the vacations. After scrolling through trekking guide books, Thui came as the most feasible option and so I locked it down.

Thui Pass connects Yarkhun valley with Yasin valley. Books generally describe the route from East to West starting from Yasin side. However, as we were coming from the other side, we started from the other side i.e. Gazin in Yarkhun.

Porters can be arranged from Gazin or Das/Nialthi depending upon where to start. It’s a 4 stage trek that can be done in 3 days. Porters must be paid for 4 days with the agreed amount per day. Compared to Rua porters who helped us crossing Shah Jinali, Gazin porters were very helpful, flexible and hospitable. Gazin can also be reached directly from Chitral on a hired jeep. Regular public jeeps only run twice between Chitral and Gazin however.

Day1: Gazin to Kacheli

Trek starts at the Gazin valley, and passes gently through last village houses in about 30 minutes. It then climbs very gently along lateral moraine of Gazin glacier till it reaches a stony ablation valley. After crossing the ablation valley, trek passes through a little grassy patch after which there is a fresh water stream available. Fill up your water supplies here as further ahead the water is muddy till base of Thui. Gazin glacier is crossable in about 30 minutes. Further ahead of the glacier is Kacheli, a grassy campsite near some big boulders. Porters use spaces under these boulders to spend night. There is no fresh water stream here and silty water needs to be fetched from near the river. This is the last possible campsite before Thui Pass. Total trek time from Gazin to Kacheli is 5-6 hours. Some books have referred Kacheli campsite as Galpigal which according to our porters is another name of the same site.

Day2: Kacheli to Gachuchi over Thui Pass

This is the pass day and as with every pass day requires few hundred meters of strenuous climbing involving some serious scree traversing. Pass stands at around 4500m with some stone cairns marking the top. From the top, descend to Gachuchi takes around a couple of hours. Gachuchi is surrounded by wild onion leaves. There is no proper campsite till after crossing Hagosht Bar glacier thus making Gachuci a good spot to spend night. Clear water stream runs nearby. Porters even managed to bring in some dry wood from nearby which wasn’t seem anywhere otherwise. It took us a total of around 5 hours to reach Gachuchi from Kacheli.

Day3: Gachuchi to Ramanch

Soon after leaving Gachuchi, one needs to descend into the Hagosht Bar glacier and traverse it. Glacier walk is a mix of ice and bolders walking. Total glacier traversing time is around 3 hours. One doesn’t need to rope up unless it is crossed in a season with fresh snow and hidden cravesses. After crossing glacier, there is another walk of 30-60 mins to Shotlang which is a possible campsite. Continuing for another hour till Ramanch is however another possible option.

Day4: Ramanch to Nialthi

The last stretch of trek, mainly a gentle walk on a well marked trail. It passes through small settlements of Lasht and Mushk. Villagers from Nialthi and Das come with their livestock here and grow wheat mainly. A couple of hours from Lasht lies Das and Nialti villages which mark the end of trail. From Nialthi, daily vans leave for Gakuch and Gilgit early in the morning.