I was struggling up a mountain pass of the Chumar Bakur range in Gilgit-Baltistan, about 4,200 metres above sea level, trying to find my footing through a metre of fresh snow on icy ground and causing mini-avalanches with every move. The plan was to cross the Sumayar pass and get to Hoper, and that wasn’t working out as well as I had hoped.

A little while later I found myself holding a plate of steaming daal and sitting in one of the stone huts where the workers of the Chumar Bakur gem mine spend their evenings; I had been lucky enough to find this resting spot and the miners were hospitable enough to invite me to share a meal and some warmth.

Seven miners live in each of the 52 huts from June to September. Each hut is about 12 square metres, a space that also contains a kitchen consisting of two gas cookers and a few pots.

Food supplies hang from the ceiling in order to protect them from mice. Of course, the few square metres serve as a prayer room as well.