Pamir Highway M41 High Altitude Drive
Drive the most spectacular section of the legendary M41 Pamir Highway around Murghab, traversing the highest international road in the world across the roof of the world through landscapes of extraordinary scale and beauty.
- 1
Murghab Highway Junction
Begin at the Murghab junction where the M41 Pamir Highway continues north toward Kyrgyzstan and the Ak-Baital Pass, and south toward Khorog, the road surface ranging from good asphalt to deeply rutted dirt depending on the recent season.
- 2
Ak-Baital Pass Summit
Climb to Ak-Baital, the highest paved road pass in the former Soviet Union at 4,655 meters, where a simple marker indicates the elevation and most vehicles struggle with the thin air as their engines fight oxygen deprivation.
- 3
Border Control Point
Pass through the remote road checkpoint where Tajik border guards in their isolated post check documents and register travelers on this rarely traveled international route connecting Tajikistan to Kyrgyzstan across the Pamir.
- 4
High Plateau Straight
Drive the long straight sections of highway crossing the absolutely flat plateau floor where the road disappears to a point on the horizon and yaks, the only animals visible, graze on the sparse tundra grass far from the road.
- 5
Alichur Valley
Descend into the Alichur Valley where a Kyrgyz community maintains its existence in relative isolation, the village a scattering of buildings against the vast mountain backdrop with no services for hundreds of kilometers in any direction.
- 6
River Crossing
Navigate one of the unmaintained river crossings where glacial melt creates seasonal fords, the water level changing daily with temperature, requiring local knowledge and sometimes vehicles to be partially dismantled to reduce weight.