Tirich Valley
Tirich valley is a gateway to the major mountaineering, trekking and hiking area in Chitral district with high peaks and long glaciers of the central Hindukush. The real attraction of this valley is the 7 highest massifs of Hindukush peaks and the glaciers, including, Tirich Mir Main 7708m, Tirich Mir East 7690m, Noshaq Main 7492mm, Noshaq East 7480m, Istor o Nal 7403m, Saraghrar 7349m and Shingeik Zom 7290m.
Tirich valley is populated with several small villages separated by groves of apricot and apple trees. The valley is very fertile land and offers beautiful views of high mountains and glaciers. After driving up to Zani Pass 3840m the walking trek descends down to the last human settlement of the region, Shagrom which has a small guesthouse and camping site for the night stay. At the crest of Zani Pass there are excellent views of the Peaks of Hindukush and Hindu Raj ranges. Trekking route to Tirich Mir basecamp pass through the summer pastures of Athak, Bandok and Sheniak – Jungle of birch and willow trees at the foot of lower Tirich Glacier.
Mostly local people of this area depend on subsistence farming. In the past decades the people of this valley used to get good summer jobs on the arrival of mountaineering and trekking expeditions. There used to be around a dozen or more adventure tourist parties to climb the high peaks
approaching through this valley. Evidently they needed services of porters, guides and cooks etc. which locals used to provide. But now unfortunately the number of foreign trekking and climbing teams has declined because of the emergence of safety and security issues as a result of war against terrorism in Pakistan and adjacent Afghanistan which has badly effected foreign adventure tourism in Chitral district.