Eddie Colfox Himalayan Adventures
The team:
Eddie Colfox, John Silvester, Alun Hughes, Mansoor

The intention:
Axis provided a lightweight Vega II for Eddie to fly during the expedition, the first stage of which takes the duo from Islamabad up the Kunhar river and over the .4145m Babusar Pass.
From the pass they may fly up the Indus valley from Chillas (alleged birthplace of the Taliban) towards Gilgit and then up the Karakorum highway via Mt Rakaposhi (7788m) towards Hunza and beyond. Alternatively from the Babusar pass they may head onto the Flanks of Nanga Parbat (8125m and respectfully known as Killer Mountain) and then onto Rakaposhi and up to Hunza. A straight line distance of 320km - though little of it is likely to be in a straight line!
.The result:
Eddie has just returned from the epic high altitude adventure in the Karakorum.

Extracts from Eddies journals follow :
During the first days the weather continued to play havoc with our flying plans....
Despite all of that, we soon recognised that it was possible to fly. You had to watch the clouds oscillate in intensity between the snowfalls - where one cloud - say the one over Ultar would dump its snow, whilst the one over Rakaposhi would shrink. We would take off when both were shrinking which might not be until 3pm. Of course we also had to consider what the clouds towards Passu, Spantic and Shispar were doing, so it was not as easy as it sounds and not necessarily something that we would recommend to others....
On these days, only short flights were managed, but these “short flights” were incredible voyages up over Hon Pass (4600m), past Bublimotin (6000m), a rock needle with vertical elevations of 600m above a near sheer ice couloir, to Hunza Peak (6275m) and back to Karimabad via the huge bowl beneath Ultar 1 and 2 above the incredibly steep and jagged Ultar Glacier. This is a spectacular tour that would probably be impossible to achieve on foot in any season. Many have died trying just one of those peaks. Most helicopters do not operate at those altitudes. We, meanwhile, would simply land at the cemetery or down by the beach beside the river and then nip back to hotel for a cup of chai.

I was finding the altitude an issue, so was doing lower flights (not much above 6000m), exploring the areas to the west and searching for guidable routes and Ibex and Marco Polo sheep towards Chitral. It was an amazing solitary time with flights of over 5 hours, landing back at the beach in twilight. It was lonely, but my Axispara Vega II and I formed a loving and lasting relationship. Manzoor was even calling her sweet lips because of her red leading edge. The joke was, when was she going to kiss me?  Thank God, she never did! It’s testament to what an upright glider she is, whilst still exciting and provocative to fly.