ISLAMABAD – An eleven-member team of world’s top skiers arrived at Gilgit-Baltistan on Sunday to chip in a weeklong Heliski event “Pakistan Pure Discovery”. Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) is organising the event in collaboration with walkabout films, the only film production company of the country focused on extreme sports events, wildlife and natural heritage.
It is a unique event, as the international Heli-skiers from across the globe would be skiing in the Karakoram mountain range, an area where no one has ever skied before.
Director General ISPR Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told this scribe that the purpose of the event was to showcase the spectacular beauty, challenging peaks and potential of extreme sports in northern areas of the country. “Spinoff for the event is to restore mountain tourism for international tourists in Pakistan and also bring peace and stability,” he said.
He said Pakistan Army had taken the initiative to promote trekking and mountaineering and skiing in the country. “These skiers belong to six different countries including France, Canada, Russia, Serbia, Ireland and Switzerland and most of them have volunteered themselves to come to Pakistan and feature in the event,” he added. In an otherwise all male team, the only woman is Samyra Rashid of Pakistan. She is not only among the first skiers to ever ski this territory, but would be the first woman to do so. She would also be the only Pakistani skier with the team