The last time the mountain ranges encircling Kashmir were meticulously mapped on foot was between 1822-23 by William Moorcroft, a British veterinarian working for the East India Company. Cut to 2025, Mahmood A Shah, a passionate trekker in his early fifties, has become the first local to measure the Great Himalayas and Lesser Himalayas by circumambulating the ranges on foot. His coffee table book, Valleys of Jammu & Kashmir, released in July this year is a peak-by-peak, pass-by-pass, meadow-by-meadow and lake-by-lake account of what is hidden up in the mysterious and imposing mountain ranges of Kashmir.
“When I was a school-going kid. I would always stare out from the school bus window at the peaks and ranges following us in a distance. I was always curious to know what was hidden up in these mighty peaks and the layers of mountain ranges. I wondered how the world looked from these towering peaks. It took me 25 years of trekking to realise the dream,” says Shah, a bureaucrat currently working as Managing Director, Kashmir Power Distribution Corporation Limited (KPDCL). He travelled anti-clockwise from the Pir Panchal range of lower Himalayas to the higher Himalayas.
The author, Mahmood Ahmad Shah at different high attitude points in Kashmir during his treks.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The book has 114 pictures of high-altitude and untouched passes, serene and bewitching meadows and jewel-like lakes perched above 3,000 meters above the sea level. “I have featured 54 high altitude lakes, many rarely-travelled and unknown to even locals. I have been to 112 alpine lakes. There is mystery attached with the higher glaciated reaches, as new lakes emerge and many vanish,” says Shah, who did his schooling from missionary Tyndale Biscoe School in Srinagar.
He had to trek the Tulian Lake, an alpine lake above 3,684 meters the Anantnag-Pahalgam axis, thrice to take pictures. “Overcast skies and foggy weather did not allow me to capture the grandeur of the lake,” says Shah. The little-known lakes covered in the book include Bodh Sar, Tri Sar, Laksukh Sar, Bhag Sar, and Katori Sar.
With the dream to demystify the mountains, Shah’s book provides the longitude and latitude of destinations recorded on Global Positioning System (GPS) and the hours required to scale a peak or high-altitude lake. “This information will make it easier for prospective trekkers to reach these destinations now,” says Shah. The book is interspersed with anecdotes and musings about the destination to bring the district flavour to readers.
Mahmood Ahmad Shah’s Valleys of Jammu & Kashmir
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One of his memorable and picturesque treks is from Kishtwar in J&K into Kargil in Ladakh. This trans-Himalayan trek route covers more than 85 kilometres and is home to tough passes and peaks full of rugged and slipping stones. Zorawar Singh, a Dogra general, chose the same route to conquer Ladakh in 1834. “This trek has rare passes like Batkul Pass. It requires crossing glaciers, which is relatively easy, and rubble walking, very difficult. It is dotted with lakes, a blue colour spectacle when the skies are clear,” says Shah.
An avid trekker, Shah first tried his hands at scaling mountains in 1988 during his college days. “I went up to the Amarnath shrine for the first time. It gave me life lessons. Never go ill-prepared into the mountains, as they throw risks. One bumps into the unknown. Weather is mercurial in the mountains. It gets hostile when you expect it least. A sunny day can end up in a snow blizzard. There is something unique about people living in the upper reaches. They live in narrow gorges with big hearts. They readily offer you tea as you knock on their door for shelter during inclement weather,” says Shah.
What makes the book remarkable is also for the fact that Shah trekked into mountains at the peak of militancy, when gunmen would equally find it safe to stay in the upper reaches of mountains. This precisely was the reason that trekking came to a grinding halt in Kashmir, especially after militants kidnapped six foreign tourists and their two guides in the Lidderwat area of Pahalgam, Anantnag, on July 4, 1995. “I have been lucky to survive all kinds of threats during my mountain escapades,” he says.
The author, Mahmood Ahmad Shah at different high attitude points in Kashmir during his treks.
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
The author is sad for also being witness to changing flora and fauna of meadows, depleting sights of hangul and markhor in upper reaches. “Overgrazing and human interference has started disturbing the landscape and animal sights too. Forest cover has disappeared, deforestation has increased, excessive grazing and regeneration is not happening. It’s sad to witness the decline,” says Shah. “Footfall needs to be controlled if these meadows, passes and lakes have to survive in the long run,” he adds.
Animal presence and flower spread have always been parameters of the health of mountains in Kashmir. The 360-degree panoramic view provided by the author in the book is fast becoming a bible for trekkers in Kashmir. Garry Weare, an Australian trekker and author of books like A Long Walk in the Himalaya: A Trek from the Ganges to Kashmir, says the images captured by Shah were only possible “when the Gods were in complete alignment with of vantage points”. He said the images reflect the raw, untamed beauty of these ancient peaks, passes, and lakes, steeped in legends almost as ancient as the mountains themselves, says Weare.
He says Shah’s photography constantly reminds us that Kashmir is not a wilderness area. “Pilgrims, armies, and traders have crossed the high passes Kashmir for centuries,” Weare adds.
As the book takes us away from the traditional flower beds and snow-laden slopes of Pahalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg, Shah says there is reason to be on top of mountains: to get high. “I don’t drink or smoke. I only high I get is from the mountains. The more I go into the mountains the more happy I feel,” he adds.
Valleys of Jammu & Kashmir is available on Amazon and prominent book stores, like Gulshan Book Store, in Srinagar. It is priced at ₹3,500.
Published – September 05, 2025 02:33 pm IST
