A journey to the Shimshal Valley, Pakistan, and the people who call it home.
Some places exist at the very edge of the map. The Shimshal Valley, deep in Pakistan’s
Karakoram range, is one of them. To reach it, you drive 60 kilometres along a narrow track cut into steep cliff faces, a road widely regarded as one of the most challenging in the world.
Beyond it lies a valley ringed by 6,000-metre peaks and home to a close-knit mountain
community who have lived here for generations.
It was filmmaker and photographer duo Cecilia and Peter, long-time wearers of kora, who
first brought Shimshal to our attention. They were planning a trip to Pakistan and had a
simple proposal: they would carry a donation of kora garments in with them and distribute the pieces among the people of the valley. Would we like to be part of it?
We put together a large suitcase of garments from our archive, pieces built for cold,
altitude, and sustained time outdoors, and sent them overseas to Cecilia and Peter. What
followed was the kind of trip that stays with you.
“Reaching Shimshal had been a long-time dream. I’ve always been drawn to these truly
off-the-map places — and it made the journey even more meaningful that we could
arrive with something to give.”
— Cecilia, @cilus_wanderlust
The people of Shimshal maintain a deep and practical connection to the mountains that
surround them. Their lives are shaped by altitude, season, and landscape — a self-
sufficiency that is increasingly rare, and all the more striking for it. Visiting, even briefly, is a reminder of what it looks like to live genuinely close to the land.
For Cecilia and Peter, even the journey in was an experience in its own right. The hours
spent along that cliff-edge track left a strong impression before the valley itself had even
come into view. What they found on the other side was a place of extraordinary calm and
quiet beauty.
The donation was a small gesture, but a genuine one. kora garments are made for exactly
this kind of environment; high altitude, variable weather, real use in the mountains.
Seeing them passed on to people who would wear them in the hills felt like exactly the right outcome for pieces from our archive.
“Next time, we’ll definitely add a proper hike. Shimshal deserves more than a few days.”
— Cecilia, @cilus_wanderlust
We are grateful to Cecilia and Peter for making this happen, for carrying the garments in, for documenting the trip with such care, and for sharing a corner of the world that most of us will only ever glimpse through a lens. Their photographs tell this story far better than words.
Shimshal is now firmly part of the kora family.
