Diana Australis' videos

Fairy Meadows is at 3,300 m and is a huge grassy meadow. It is on the way to a base camp for the 8,0000+ meter Nanga Parbat ( The Killer Mountain). The huge Raikot Glacier feeds into it, and one has superb panoramas of this and of Nanga Parbat. It is very difficult to access. First, a jeepable track of 15km only driven by locals, and named by the WHO the second most dangerous road in the world. This ends at a village where there is a 5 km trek on a hair raising track which ascends 800 meters. As I am still recovering from a torn meniscus in my knee, I ended up on a horse…ascending, and descending. I have never been so scared in my life. The horse slipped occasionally and generally walked right at the edge of the precipices. All I had to hold onto was the saddle… Was it worth it? Yes…..and I will share some shots at a later stage. For now enjoy seeing me being terrified , taken by dear Sher Baz!

Crossing one of the more user friendly footbridges over an icy and torrential glacier melt river. I always cover up fully against the sun, as being a fair skinned person, have had my share of sun induced skin cancers, and up at these altitudes the air is thin, the sun strong. I wanted to prove I could go unflinchingly across….. Maybe it will make you laugh..,

To make you laugh, perhaps. I have fear of heights, so in North Pakistan, decided to confront it by zip lining across a high ravine. My gorgeous Pakistani friend Sher Baz videoed it. If I look terrified, I am at the start, but as I zipped along I started to really enjoy it and went back later to do it again!

Shimshal is a very remote valley in far North Pakistan. It is at 3500meters in the high Pamirs, near the border with China. It saw its first car in 2003 when the locals built a 57 km road to connect with the Karakoram Highway. Prior to that all goods were portered in via a perilous Silk Route track high on the cliffs, with terrifying river crossings. My husband hiked in along that track in 1989 so we wanted to check out the valley today…where he met some people he first encountered then. Then road here has a drop into a raging river on one side, and rock overhangs on the other. We did it in, and out again.