K2 and the Baltoro Glacier

K2 (8,611 M), The Second Highest Mountain On Earth, Inside Central Karakoram National Park; Trekking Beyond Askole Is Regulated For Foreigners · Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan

K2 is the second-highest mountain on earth at 8,611 metres, and by most measures the hardest of the big ones to climb; it was first summited by an Italian team in 1954 and not in winter until 2021. Very few people who come here climb it. They come to walk to it: a week up the Baltoro, one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions, from the last village at Askole to Concordia, where the Baltoro and the Godwin-Austen glaciers meet. Standing at Concordia you can see K2, Broad Peak, the Gasherbrums and Mitre Peak together - an amphitheatre with four 8,000-metre peaks in reach of the eye, which no other place on earth has. On the way the Trango Towers and the Cathedral spires rise above the moraine. This is a serious expedition, not a hike: two to three weeks from Skardu, days on rubble-covered ice, camps above 4,500 metres, porters carrying everything, and permits arranged through a licensed Pakistani operator. It runs roughly June to August and nowhere else in the Karakoram rewards the effort as completely.

Baltoro Glacier, Central Karakoram National Park, via Askole, Shigar District, Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Seasonal. The trekking season runs roughly June to August, with early September possible; outside it the approach is snowbound and the porters are not working. Foreigners trek beyond Askole on a permit arranged through a licensed Pakistani tour operator, and park fees for Central Karakoram National Park are payable - rules have changed repeatedly, so confirm with the operator. Skardu is reached by flight from Islamabad, which is weather dependent, or by a long road journey. Skardu to Askole is a rough jeep day, and Concordia is about a week's walk from there.

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