Hindu Kush

The Hindu Kush rises between the Kabul region and the lands draining north toward the Oxus. Its high ridges are crossed by difficult passes, whose snow and steep approaches have long shaped travel between the two sides. Babur listed several routes over the range in his memoirs, describing the mountains north of Kabul that separated his Indian dominions from the lands of Central Asia. Valleys cut into the range offer the approaches by which travellers could climb toward these crossings.