The season is the whole story
Deosai is a plateau at just over four thousand metres, and it is under snow for most of the year. It opens when the crossings clear, usually late June, sometimes the first week of July, and closes with the first heavy snow, which can arrive in early October without much warning.
That is roughly ten to fourteen weeks. Every year someone books a Deosai trip for late May because a website sold it to them, and every year that trip ends at a snowbank below Ali Malik Mar. We would rather refuse the booking than take it.
What the drive is actually like
Sixty kilometres from Skardu and three hours each way. The first forty minutes to Sadpara lake are paved. After that it is an unpaved track, climbing steadily, with river crossings that vary with the snowmelt.
It is a genuine 4x4 route. A Prado or a Land Cruiser with a driver who has done it, not a crossover and not a car. The track is not technical in July; it is simply long, rough and remote.
Altitude, plainly
You go from 2,230 m in Skardu to about 4,100 m on the plateau in three hours. If you flew into Skardu the previous day you have not acclimatised, and some people get a headache at the top.
Nothing dramatic usually happens, but plan for it: water, no heavy lunch before the climb, and no hike planned for the same afternoon. If someone in the vehicle feels genuinely unwell, the treatment is to drive down, and your captain will not argue with you about it.
Plateau or lake: decide before you leave
The Deosai gate and Bara Pani are three hours from Skardu. Sheosar lake is a further two hours west across the plateau, so about five hours each way.
Do the plateau and you are back in Skardu for dinner. Do Sheosar and it is a twelve hour day starting at first light. Trying to decide at Bara Pani at two in the afternoon is how people end up driving off the plateau in the dark, which is the one part of this trip that genuinely deserves the word dangerous.
What you will see
That last line is the reason to care who is driving. Our captains carry a jerry can and a spare on this route as a condition of taking it.
- ·Marmots, in numbers, mostly around Bara Pani.
- ·Wildflowers through July, which is what the plateau is famous for locally.
- ·Himalayan brown bear, if you are extremely lucky and quiet. Most captains have seen one a handful of times in years of driving.
- ·Nothing else. No fuel, no signal, no shops, no help.
Cost
The plateau crossing to Astore is, for our money, the best single day of driving in Baltistan. It only exists for about two months of the year.
- ·Skardu–Deosai day trip, Land Cruiser with driver and fuel: PKR 18,000.
- ·Adding Sheosar lake: PKR 24,000.
- ·Crossing to Astore over the plateau, one way: PKR 32,000, summer only.
- ·Camping drop and collect: quoted by dates.
Questions
When does Deosai open?
Usually late June, occasionally early July, and it closes with the first heavy snow in October. The exact dates change every year with the snowpack.
How much is a jeep to Deosai from Skardu?
PKR 18,000 for a Land Cruiser day trip with driver and fuel. PKR 24,000 if you add Sheosar lake.
Can you visit Deosai in a car?
No. Past Sadpara it is an unpaved track with river crossings that needs a high-clearance 4x4.
Is Deosai a hard trip with children?
It is a long day at altitude on a rough road. Children usually manage the plateau trip; Sheosar in the same day is too much.