Biafo-Hispar and Snow Lake

The Biafo And Hispar Glaciers, Joined At The Hispar La, Often Described As The Longest Glacial Route Outside The Polar Regions; Snow Lake Is The Ice Basin At Their Head · Askole, Gilgit-Baltistan

The Biafo and Hispar glaciers meet at the Hispar La pass, at over 5,100 metres, to form a single highway of ice more than a hundred kilometres long, often described as the longest glacial route outside the polar regions. Walking it end to end, from Askole in Baltistan to Hispar village in Nagar, is one of the great treks on earth and one of the most serious. At the head of the Biafo lies Snow Lake, which is not a lake but a vast basin of snow and ice ringed by granite spires, among the most remote places in the Karakoram. Above the Biafo rise some of the hardest mountains in the world to climb, the Ogre and the Latok peaks, and brown bears have been tracked crossing the ice. There are no villages for two weeks. The route needs roped glacier travel across crevassed ice, mountaineering skills, porters and a licensed operator, and it runs only in high summer. Very few people do it each year. It is in tier 2 rather than tier 1 because its audience is small and specialist, but those people travel from every continent for it.

Biafo and Hispar glaciers, from Askole (Shigar District) to Hispar (Nagar District), Askole, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Seasonal. The traverse is done roughly June to August. Foreigners trek through a licensed Pakistani operator who arranges permits, guides and porters; rules change, so confirm. The route starts at Askole, a rough jeep day from Skardu, and ends at Hispar, from where jeeps reach Nagar and the Karakoram Highway. Allow two to three weeks.

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