Fairy Meadows

Grassland at 3,300 m under the Rakhiot face of Nanga Parbat

A sweep of grassland called Joot by the people who live below it, at about 3,300 m beside one of the base camps of Nanga Parbat in Gilgit-Baltistan. It is the starting point for climbers taking the mountain by the Rakhiot face, and it lies in the Rakhiot valley at the foot of the Rakhiot glacier that pours off the peak. The government made it a national park in 1995, and since 2021 it has been part of Nanga Parbat National Park. The view is the reason most people come, with one twist: the summit you are staring at is the North Peak, 7,816 m, and the true top, 8,126 m, hides behind it and the Silver Saddle. Getting there is half the adventure. A fifteen-kilometre jeep track climbs from Raikot Bridge on the Karakoram Highway to the village of Tato, a narrow gravel road open only to local drivers, who take visitors up; the World Health Organization named it the second deadliest road on the planet in 2013. From Tato it is a hike of three to four hours, about 5 km, to the meadow.