Mapping the Afghan Pamir Project

Studio D has visited Afghanistan's Wakhan Corridor a number of times as part of an ongoing project to map trekking and bike-packing routes. Our long-term goal is to support socio-economic development of remote mountainous communities through adventure tourism.

The Wakhan Corridor is nestled between Tajikistan, China and Pakistan and includes parts of the Big Pamir, Little Pamir, Hindu Kush, and the Karakoram mountain ranges. It some ways it's a quirk of geo-politics, set up as a buffer zone between Russian and British empires. When there, most of the time is spent between 4,000 and 5,000 meters, surrounded by peaks peaks rising to 7,492m (for Mount Norshaq).

As part of this multi-year project Studio D is working with Gyula Simonyi (cartographer), Sam Kellogg (researcher) and many other volunteers to produce an interim map of the area, shown above. Ground data is collected during expedition season—late June through September—by our teams. 

Once sufficient trail data is collected we will publish a two-sided trail map, and make other assets available to the adventure tourism community.

Read the 2023 and 2024 trip reports.

Joining an expedition

If you’re interested in joining an expedition, or are curious about the skills, process and mental models required—so that you an apply them to your workplace challenges—we now offer the Expedition Mindset Course.