High in Pakistan's Karakoram mountains, in the Gilgit-Baltistan territory, a grassy meadow beside a glacier has become an unlikely cricket pitch. Trekkers on the Nangma Valley route — a hiking trail that barely existed three years ago — finish the day's walk and join their porters for a match at around 4,000 metres, no phone signal, just snow-capped peaks and a shared love of Pakistan's national sport.
The cricket is charming, but the real story is what's happening on the ground. The Nangma Valley trek was pioneered in 2023 by Umer Latif, a Lahore-based hiker who founded the local operator Beyond the Valley, now Intrepid Travel's partner on its Trek Pakistan's Nangma Valley and Karakoram Mountains trip. Porter work in Pakistan is notoriously tough — low pay, thin gear, no insurance — so the company set new standards: porters get proper food, shelter, insurance and wages above the government minimum of roughly PKR 1,700 (about USD 6.10) a day, plus regular training on their rights. Those porters are now pushing for better standards across other trekking regions of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is home to five of the world's 14 peaks above 8,000 metres.
The trek also means porters can work close to home instead of travelling two days to Askole for the grueling K2 base camp season, which runs June to September. The Nangma route is a gentler, few-hours-a-day hike, leaving time and energy for those impromptu games with travellers. The wider effect is visible in the village of Kanday at the valley's base: transport providers, guesthouses, host families and farmers all earn from tour groups, and the village has formed conservation committees, introduced small trekking fees and written its own guidelines for trekkers and porters.
Growth has been fast. In 2022 there wasn't a single hiking group in the valley; last year there were more than 50. Beyond the Valley's own staff is half women — a notable signal in a country ranked last of 148 in the World Economic Forum's 2025 Gender Gap Index. The route's rising profile landed Gilgit-Baltistan on Intrepid's 2025 Not Hot List, with coverage in the New York Times and TIME.
For travellers, this is a rare chance to see one of the world's most misunderstood countries at a moment when tourism is genuinely improving local livelihoods. The trip starts in Islamabad and climbs into the Karakoram over two days to that high meadow — where, for the record, a Canadian tourist reportedly stole the show with a few enormous sixes. You don't need to be a cricket player to join in; the bowlers go easy on beginners. And if you'd rather extend the mountain fix, the Hunza Valley, home of Intrepid's trip leader, is one of the region's other standout areas.