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Karakorum Highway

The Amazing drive in Northern Pakistan

By Ade Summers

January 27^th, 2017

The KKH

The N-35 or National Highway 35 (Urdu: قومی شاہراہ 35‎).

Known more popularly as the Karakoram Highway (Urdu: شاہراہ قراقرم‎) or China-Pakistan Friendship Highway, is a 1300 km national highway in Pakistan which extends from Hasan Abdal in Punjab province of Pakistan to the Khunjerab Pass in Gilgit-Baltistan, where it crosses into China and becomes China National Highway 314.

The highway connects the Pakistani provinces of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan with China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region.

The highway is a popular tourist attraction, and is one of the highest paved roads in the world, passing through the Karakoram mountain range, at an elevation of 4,693 metres (15,397 ft).

Due to its high elevation and the difficult conditions in which it was constructed, it is referred to as the Eighth Wonder of the World. The highway is also a part of the Asian Highway AH4.

VIEWS OF RAKAPOSHI PEAK (7,778M)

The KKH replaced the Silk Road Trade Route to China

KKH requires constant repair from rock fall and landslides

In January 2010 after a major landslide the valley was blocked by rock fall and created a huge 21 km lake. The lake flooded the KKH and cut off villages higher up the valley also the road to China.