Editing Shimshal (section)

== Shimshal Pass ==
[[File:Map India and Pakistan 1-250,000 Tile NJ 43-15 Shimshal.jpg|thumb|right|Map including Shimshāl ([[Army Map Service|AMS]], 1955)]]
[[File:NJ-43-15 Shimshal, Pakistan.jpg|thumb|left|Map including Shimshāl ([[Aeronautical Chart and Information Center|ACIC]], 1969)]]
[[File:YakRace.jpg|thumb|[[Yak racing]]]]

Shimshal Pass ({{cvt|4735|m|disp=sqbr}}) {{coord|36|26|0|N|75|41|15|E|display=inline}} rises above the village. It lies on the watershed between the [[Indus River]] and [[Tarim River]] basins, and leads to the valley of the Shimshal Braldu River, a tributary of the [[Shaksgam River]] on the border with China.

[[Francis Younghusband]] was probably the first Englishman to reach the pass (1889).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hussain |first1=Shafqat |title=Remoteness and Modernity: Transformation and Continuity in Northern Pakistan |journal=Yale Agrarian Studies Series |date=2015 |pages=1–20 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1bh4cs8 |access-date=4 June 2024 |publisher=Yale University Press|jstor=j.ctt1bh4cs8 |isbn=978-0-300-20555-8 }}</ref> At the time it was used by raiders from [[Hunza (princely state)|Hunza]] to attack caravans traveling between [[Leh]] and [[Yarkant (town)|Yarkand]].{{citation needed|date=August 2023}}

The pass is not part of Khunjerab National Park, but the Shimshal community has set up an organization called SNT (Shimshal Nature Trust) which oversees the entire region and takes care of its own land. It is a community-based organization and is registered with the Government of Pakistan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Abidi-Habib |first1=Mehjabeen |last2=Lawrence |first2=Anna |title=Revolt and Remember: How the Shimshal Nature Trust Develops and Sustains Social-Ecological Resilience in Northern Pakistan |journal=Ecology and Society |date=2007 |volume=12 |issue=2 |doi=10.5751/ES-02246-120235 |jstor=26267888 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26267888 |access-date=4 June 2024 |language=en |issn=1708-3087|hdl=10535/3032 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

Annually, in the last week of July or the first week of August, there is a festival at Shimshal Pass where locals partake in a [[yak race]], followed by singing and dancing. In Wakhi language it is called Woolyo. This yak race is the only one of its kind, and is a unique event organised at high mountain settlements of Pakistan.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Shafiq |first1=Nadeem |title=The Wakhi Community Settlements in Northern Pakistan |journal=Journal of Political Studies |pages=64–77 |url=https://pu.edu.pk/images/journal/pols/Currentissue-pdf/THE%20WAKHI%20COMMUNITY%20PAKISTAN.pdf |access-date=4 June 2024 |publisher=Punjab University |location=Islamabad |language=en}}</ref>