Issue No:21 & 22

The Club on Internet :

We are pleased to mention that by the growth of the Club and to stay in touch with members with ease, the Club is now accessible through its website and electronic mail on the following address,

URL: http://www.travel.web.pk/adventureclub Email: adventure@sat.net.pk

The website has been designed to provide all the information about the Club and its activities with a section for news and updates. The picture gallery includes some beautiful pictures of the activities and landscape. A tour to the site will be self explanatory and please feel free to send your valuable comments and healthy suggestions to improve the site.

Moreover, all the members are requested to contribute in shape of reports of their individual activities, interesting relevant news, write ups or articles and quality pictures to be added in the site. Now, we are confidant the by this easy link, the number of members will increase and frequency of our activities will also grow in the near future.

The Club on Yahoo Groups :

It will be interesting for the members that to cater to the increased volume of correspondence and to give all the members' timely and up to date information, we have also set up a group on the yahoo group's site on following address,

URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/adventureclubpak/

This will help the members to keep in touch and to participate in the Club activities more actively. All the members are requested to kindly send their email addresses, enabling us to send an invitation for the membership of the online group as all future correspondence shall be taking place through the group. In case you do not have an email address please get one, as soon as possible ( preferably on yahoo) and communicate the same to us via email or snail mail.

Please feel free to recommend other friends to the membership of the Club as a student or associate and for the group as a regular or guest member.

Mustansar Hussain Tarar accepts honorary membership of the Club

This is to announce with great pride and pleasure that the celebrity who has the credit to write the maximum books on north of Pakistan, Mr. Tarar has kindly accepted the honorary membership of the Club.

As the members know that the famous climber Mr. Nazir Sabir is also an honorary member of the Club so now we have the most famous climber and the most popular travel writer in our Club.

Mount Everest 1953 – 2003:

Mount Everest was conquered in 1953 by Edmund Hillary and Sherpa Tenzing. The event was celebrated in a grand manner and several international organizations, climbers and veterans participated in the celebrations.

Nanga Parbat Golden Jubilee Celebrations ( 1953 – 2003 )

Unfortunately it seems that government authorities are not making any plan to celebrate the said event. It has been planned for a couple of times and high profile committees were established but till the last moment there is no outcome in practical.

Mountain Biking Adventure

An interesting program organized by Khalid Sajjad was cycling from Rawalpindi to Murree. His fellow cyclists were Imran Arshad, Usman Sakhi and Shakeel Raza. It took 9 hrs to reach Murree from Rawalpindi while on return the time was only three hrs.

Rock Climbing at Chenab Rocks

An introductory session of rock climbing was organized on 25th. May 2003 for a group of 10 members from UET – Lahore. Mr. Sajjad supervised the session as Mr. Tahir Imran Khan also joined in the program. The program proved very successful as four local members also participated in the training session. In the winter, the Club has planned to hold introductory and training sessions for Rock Climbing on regular basis.

Makra Peak

Wasif made a plan with his friend to visit Shogran & Sari. From Sari, he made a solo hike to the top of Makra Peak and returned to Paya in the afternoon. The account of his trekking will soon appear on website of the Club.

Kaghan Valley – Family Trip

Five members of the Club made a private trip to Kaghan Valley, where the young members of the Club Saba, Danish and Khaula made a hike to lake Saif-ul-Muluk. An introductory training on glacier walk was also performed on the snow and glacier tails around the lake. The other places visited were Shogran, Sari and Paya.

Biafo / Hispar Glaciers Traverse

The longest glacier trekking route is successfully completed by Farah & Nasir’s team. Saba as a regular member also did the trek while Wasif was the trekking leader. Noman & Rehan, ( two new members from Karachi ) also completed this adventure. For both of them, this was their first ever trekking and very first night in tents as well. We congratulate the whole team and especially Noman & Rehan for their maiden success.

Farah & Nasir get the credit of being first couple to complete three of Pakistan’s most challenging and demanding treks i.e. Mazino Pass, Ghondoghoro La and Biafo / Hispar. Similarly Saba & Farah are the only sisters to achieve this unique record. We expect a lot from this adventurous family in future.

Wasif – on a new trail

Our active member Wasif surprised us with the news of his marriage. On his honeymoon he has been reported to make few day hikes alongwith his spouse, who is a dentist. Let’s see what happens in future, will she strengthen his adventures or Wasif will prove himself as an obedient house-husband only?

We expect the best and pray for their happy, successful and prosperous life.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Wasif, Congratulations from the Club!

27th. September - World Tourism Day

The day was celebrated formally in Rawalpindi where the federal minister for tourism presided over the ceremony. The managing director, PTDC and the joint secretary from ministry of tourism were also guests of honour. The program was mostly participated by school and college students and a very small number of tour operators participated the occasion. Provincial ministries also celebrated the day locally.

New Memberships

AC – 188/H Mr. Mustansar Hussain Tarar Lahore

Mr. Tarar is a real adventure enthusiast and a vagabond. In Pakistan, he has several famous and challenging treks to his credit. As a general visitor / tourist, he has almost visited whole of the country and has written his travel accounts which are the bestsellers in Pakistan. We hope that his kind patronage will boost up the youth and he will be a source of guidance for the Club.

( Introduced by Mr. Tahir Imran Khan – AC - 101 )

AC – 189 Ms. Saba Mahmood Lahore

Saba is participating in Club’s activities for the last couple of years and finally has joined the Club. On completing trekking of technical passes of Mazino & Ghondoghoro La, she might be the only Pakistani female after her elder sister Farah Mahmood to achieve this distinction in trekking circles. Apart from these treks, she has widely visited northern areas and has done a lot of trekking in different valleys.

With a master’s degree in business administration, she has a good knowledge of computer as well. We welcome her in our team and expect her skills and experience will prove a great asset for the Club.

( Introduced by Mrs. Farah Mahmood – AC -157 )

AC – 190 Ms. Ayesha Qadir Islamabad

Ayesha Qadir, from Bahawalpur, currently residing in Islamabad has joined the Club with great interest in adventure and outdoor activities. She works for an NGO and with a good working experience we expect that she will undertake Club’s responsibilities in a professional manner. Ayesha, you are welcome!!!

( Introduced by Mr. Faiz Alam Khan – AC - 132 )

AC – 191 Ms. Sarosh Hina Islamabad

Sarosh is another MBA working for an NGO in Islamabad. We hope that her participation will strengthen our team, especially the females group.

Saorsh has a good experience of hiking and skating and has been participating in various games. At the moment she is ready to take part in any thrilling adventure with special enthusiasm.

( Introduced by Mr. Faiz Alam Khan – AC - 132 )

AC – 192 Mr. Khalid Rasheed Rawalpindi

Khalid an artist by nature, by brain and by education is a youth from Rawalpindi. With a command on computer graphics, he works for a leading publisher as an art designer.

Khalid has a great interest in history and in historical places and photography is his passion. For the sake of his interest, he has travelled to several places and has been participating in different kinds of adventures. We expect his active participation in Club’s activities in the future.

( Introduced by Mr. Tahir Imran Khan – AC - 101 )

AC – 193 Mr. Mumtaz-ul-Hasan Rawalpindi

Mr. Mumtaz also works for a publishing house and takes care of the Urdu books. His special interest is poetry and international novels. He has a translation of an international best seller on his credit and working on other projects.

In outdoor activities, he has already visited the places around Islamabad on motor bikes and has done some hiking as well.

( Introduced by Mr. Tahir Imran Khan – AC - 101 )

AC – 194 Mr. Ahmed Nadeem Iqbal Rawalpindi Mr. Nadeem is holding the post of manager in the same publishing house where Khalid and Mumtaz work. Apart from his responsible and serious profession, he has a great interest in outdoor activities and has travelled a lot as a hobby.

He has already participated in a rock climbing training session and has performed well as a novice. In future, he will prove an active member of Club, we hope optimistically.

( Introduced by Mr. Tahir Imran Khan – AC - 101 )

AC – 195 Mr. Muhammad Abduhu Faisalabad

Mr. Abduhu is a real adventure soul. He has a diploma in tourism & hotel management from TDCP and has been working as a free lance adventure guide.

Abduhu has done several treks with Ghondoghoro La as the highest so far. His experience is well supported by his knowledge as he keeps on searching for information and books on mountains and travel.

( Introduced by Mr. Tahir Imran Khan – AC - 101)