Further North in the district of Nagar, this young boy from the village of Minapin allows me to take a close look at his prized possession. Built tough for tough surroundings, it gave its owner every bit as much pleasure as our fancy plastic alternatives do to our Western kids back home

Three Nagarkut women approach, all wearing the colourful clothing and, in one case, the round embroidered hat, that typifies their particular style of dress

Minapin and the Karakoram Highway, as seen from across the river at Hindi

This mischievous little band of merry Moslems gathered as I was taking pictures of Minapin, which provides an impressive backdrop

Rakaposhi (7,788 m), viewed from a chi shop on the Karakoram Highway

Walking up from Minapin to Rakaposhi base camp initially takes you along the side of Minapin glacier. Further up, the trail leaves the moraine for a time, passing through lush mountain pastures and then up this steep incline, before rejoining the moraine. The gleaming ice of Minapin glacier is seen clearly here as a bright white line. The glacier is very steep and fast moving, leaving little chance for debris to build up on its surface

A closer inspection reveals dramatic house-sized ice pinnacles crowded into the narrow neck of Minapin glacier. Towering above and feeding the glacier is the snow and ice covered 7,279 metre Diran Peak

Taking it easy in the 4,500 metre meadow of Rakaposhi base camp was this fine specimen of a Yak. Although a magnificent beast, larger than life with his thick coat of chocolate brown hair, he still appears tiny before the indomitable bulk of Rakaposhi

Time to reflect on the magnificence of my surroundings from the moraine of Minapin glacier, Rakaposhi (7,788 m) behind

By climbing a further two hundred metres up the moraine I was rewarded with this awesome view back towards Diran. Before me lay a sea of fractured ice, slowly descending from an icy wall stretching some 30 kilometres between Diran and Rakaposhi (outside and above this picture to the right)  > On to Hon Ridge