21 days · Islamabad to Islamabad
There is nowhere else like Concordia. Four of the world's fourteen 8,000 metre peaks stand within fifteen kilometres of it, and the walk to get there runs up the Baltoro glacier between the Trango Towers, the Cathedral spires and Muztagh Tower — a procession of granite that has no equal anywhere. Then the valley opens, and K2 is simply there at the head of the Godwin-Austen, 3,600 metres of it above you, unmistakable and much bigger than photographs prepare anyone for. This is the classic Karakoram trek and it is a serious undertaking rather than a hard one. There is no climbing, no rope work and no pass to cross; what there is instead is eight days of walking in on glacier moraine, altitude to 5,150 metres at base camp, river crossings, and camps on ice. Days are long and the surface underfoot is rubble on moving ice for most of them. Anyone who walks regularly in the hills and is prepared to keep doing it for three weeks can complete this trek. It is not a holiday with views attached. We drive north from Islamabad rather than depending on the Skardu flight, which is cancelled often enough that a fixed-date trek should not be built on it. From Skardu jeeps run up the Braldu gorge to Askole, the last village, and from there it is on foot: Jhola, Paiyu, Khoburtse, Urdukas on its grass shelf above the ice, Goro II, and Concordia at 4,600 metres. Base camp day is out and back along the Godwin-Austen to the Gilkey Memorial, where the plates carry the names of climbers who did not come back from K2. What is included is a full camping expedition: permits and park fees, a licensed guide, cook and crew, porters for all group loads, tents, all meals from Islamabad to Islamabad, and hotels either end. You carry a day pack. Read the practical notes before booking — this trek asks more of people than its lack of technical difficulty suggests.
The confluence of the Baltoro and the Godwin-Austen, with four eight-thousanders standing round it. There is nowhere else on earth like it.
A thousand metres of vertical granite on both sides of the glacier for two full days of walking.
5,150 m on the Godwin-Austen, at the foot of the Abruzzi Spur, where the plates carry the names.
Cook, kitchen crew and porters for every camp. There is no infrastructure on the Baltoro at all.
The road as it runs, numbered in travel order. Driving times are in the day-by-day below.
Met at Islamabad International and transferred to the hotel. The afternoon is yours. In the evening your guide runs the kit check — this is the last point at which anything missing can be bought or hired in the city.
North on the Karakoram Highway. A long day at the wheel, but the road climbs out of the Punjab plains and into the gorges, and by the afternoon you are travelling between walls of rock with the Indus below.
Past the confluence where the Karakoram, Himalaya and Hindu Kush meet, then up the gorge to Skardu at 2,230 m. Nanga Parbat is visible from the viewpoint on the way if the haze allows.
Jeeps up the Braldu gorge to Askole, the last village on the route and the end of the road in every sense. Porters are engaged here and loads are weighed and distributed this evening.
The walk begins. Six or seven hours down the Braldu valley on stony ground, crossing the Biafo glacier snout on the way. Little height is gained today; the distance is the work.
Five or six hours up the valley, hot and dusty, with the Trango group appearing ahead. Paiyu has trees and running water, which is why it is the staging camp for the glacier.
Onto the Baltoro proper. The glacier snout is a wall of grey ice and rubble, and the first hour is the steepest ground of the whole trek. After that the route runs along the ablation valley.
A short day, and deliberately so — it is the first camp above 4,000 m. Urdukas sits on grass terraces on the valley side with the Trango Towers directly opposite. The view is the reason the camp is here.
Out onto the middle of the glacier for six or seven hours of moraine walking, with Masherbrum ahead and Muztagh Tower behind. Camp at Goro II is on the ice, with tents pitched on gravel spread over it.
Three to four hours, and the day the trek exists for. K2 stands at the head of the Godwin-Austen glacier as you come round the corner — 3,611 m of it, from base to summit, in one view. Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums are on the other side.
The big day. Seven to nine hours out and back up the Godwin-Austen to base camp at 5,150 m, at the foot of the Abruzzi Spur. The Gilkey Memorial is on the rock spur above — plates and names carrying the names of more than eighty people who died on this mountain. A sobering hour, and a necessary part of the day.
Turning round. Four to five hours back down the glacier, with the light going the other way across the same peaks and the walking noticeably easier now the height is coming off.
Six to seven hours back to the grass at Urdukas. After four nights on ice, a camp with soil under the tent pegs feels like a considerable luxury.
A long day, seven to eight hours, back down the ablation valley and off the glacier snout to Paiyu — trees, running water and the first wash in ten days.
Five to six hours down the Braldu valley, warm and dusty, with the river running high with afternoon meltwater.
Six to seven hours back to Askole. The last walking day. Settle up with the porters in the evening, which is when the trek is properly celebrated — the crew have carried your loads for twelve days.
Jeeps back down the Braldu gorge to Skardu. Hot shower, a bed and a meal at a table. The afternoon is free for Shangrila Fort above the Indus or the bazaar.
Back down the Indus gorge to the Karakoram Highway. A long driving day, broken wherever the tea is good.
The last leg on the highway, south into the plains. A dinner that has not been cooked on a glacier.
Held deliberately empty. The Karakoram Highway closes for landslides, the Braldu jeep road washes out, and glacier weather takes days when it wants them — all of it comes out of this day rather than out of your flight home. If it is free: the Faisal Mosque, the Margalla trails, Saidpur village, or Rawalpindi's bazaars with a guide.
Transfer to Islamabad International for your flight home.
Hotels either end, tents between
Strenuous, but not technical. There is no climbing, no rope and no pass — the difficulty is thirteen nights camping, days of six to eight hours on glacier moraine, and a high point of 5,150 metres. If you regularly walk full days on rough ground and can do it for three weeks in a row, you can do this trek. Gym fitness is not the same thing.
It helps but it is not required. The itinerary acclimatises deliberately — a short day into Urdukas, two nights at Concordia — and the guide checks the group each evening with a pulse oximeter. Previous time above 4,000 metres tells you how your own body responds, which is genuinely useful information to have before committing three weeks to it.
Yes, and from two places. It appears at Concordia on day ten, at the head of the Godwin-Austen, and you spend two nights looking at it. Base camp day takes you to the foot of the Abruzzi Spur at about 5,150 metres. Cloud can hide it for a day; two nights at Concordia and the base camp walk give you three chances.
Yes, and it is worth knowing what you would and would not be giving up. Concordia at 4,600 metres is where the four eight-thousanders stand around you — K2 at the head of the Godwin-Austen, Broad Peak on one side, the Gasherbrums up the valley — and this itinerary spends two nights there. So a Concordia trek gets the view that the trip is famous for. What the base camp day on day 11 adds is the seven to nine hour walk up the Godwin-Austen to 5,150 metres, standing at the foot of the Abruzzi Spur, and the Gilkey Memorial on the spur above it, which is the part most people find they remember. Dropping it shortens the trip by a day and we will requote accordingly — tell us at the enquiry stage. We do not sell it as a separate trip, because it is this trip minus one day, and pretending otherwise would just make you choose between two pages describing the same walk.
Because the flight is cancelled often, and a group trek with fixed dates cannot depend on it. Driving costs two days each way and removes the single biggest risk to the itinerary. If your group would rather fly and accept that risk, ask us and we will price it.
Hotels in Islamabad, Chilas and Skardu, and two-person dome tents for thirteen nights with a dining tent and a toilet tent in every camp. Four of those nights are on the glacier itself, with tents pitched on gravel over ice. There is no lodge, teahouse or building of any kind between Askole and Concordia.
A day pack — water, layers, camera, snacks. Porters carry your duffel up to 15 kg along with all group equipment, food and fuel. If you need more than 15 kg we will arrange an extra porter at cost.
Your guide carries a satellite phone and a first aid kit, and descent is the first treatment for anything altitude-related — which on this route means walking down, because there is no road. Helicopter evacuation exists in Baltistan but depends on weather, altitude and clearance, and your insurance must cover it explicitly. Nobody can promise it will be available on the day.
Yes — that is a separate trek on this site. It follows this route to Concordia and then crosses the 5,585 metre Gondogoro La into the Hushe valley instead of walking back down the Baltoro. It needs rope, crampons and a harness, adds two days, and is a genuine step up in seriousness.
US$ 2,590 per person for 2027, twin-sharing, down from US$ 4,100. That covers everything from arrival in Islamabad to departure: the trekking permit, Central Karakoram National Park entry and waste fees, a licensed guide, cook and support crew, porters for all group loads and a personal duffel up to 15 kg, all camping equipment, every meal, all road transport including the jeeps up the Braldu gorge, and hotels in Islamabad, Chilas and Skardu. What sits on top of it is the international airfare, the Pakistan visa, your travel and medical insurance with evacuation cover, your own boots, sleeping bag and mat, any single supplements, and tips for the drivers, porters, guide and kitchen crew at the end. On a three-week trek with a full camp staff the tipping is worth budgeting for properly rather than working out on the last morning.
Between the middle of June and the end of August, which is why the three 2027 departures run 19 June to 9 July, 10 July to 30 July, and 31 July to 20 August. The window is set by the glacier and the weather rather than by preference — outside it the Baltoro is not a reasonable place to be walking, and the nights at Concordia and base camp are already cold enough inside it. If you are trying to fit the trek around a wider trip through the country, our guide to the best time to visit Pakistan covers how the seasons work elsewhere, which is not the same picture as the high Karakoram.
By jeep, and then on foot. From Skardu the jeeps run up the Braldu gorge to Askole, the last village and the end of the road; that section is included in the trek. From Askole everything is walking — Jhola, Paiyu, Khoburtse, Urdukas on its grass shelf above the ice, Goro II, and then Concordia at 4,600 metres. Base camp day is out and back along the Godwin-Austen glacier to 5,150 m and the Gilkey Memorial. Eight days in, a day at base camp, six days out. There is no road beyond Askole, no lodge anywhere on the glacier, and no shortcut.
Walk, on rough ground, for full days, repeatedly. That is the only training that transfers. The trek is six to eight hours a day on glacier moraine for a fortnight, and moraine is loose rubble sitting on moving ice — it is nothing like a path. Gym fitness on its own does not prepare anyone for that surface or for doing it again the next morning, and the day after that. We have written the whole thing up separately in our guide to training for the K2 base camp trek, including how far ahead to start.
Yes, and it is not included in the trek price. Most nationalities apply online. Start it early rather than in the month before departure — a fixed-date trek is a bad thing to be waiting on a visa for. Our Pakistan tourist visa guide covers the current requirements and what the application asks for.
The mountain risk on this route is low, because there is no climbing, no rope work and no pass to cross. The real exposure is altitude and distance from a road. That is what the daily pulse oximeter checks, the group first aid kit and the satellite phone the guide carries are there for, and why the itinerary gains height at the pace it does. Helicopter evacuation exists and your insurance has to cover it, but weather does not always permit flying, and that is worth understanding before you book rather than halfway up the Baltoro. On the broader question of travelling in Pakistan as a visitor, we answer it properly in our guide to whether Pakistan is safe for tourists.
From $2,500 /person
The direct route to the Killer Mountain: Karakoram Highway, Fairy Meadows and the walk to base camp.
From $2,855$4,100 /person
Concordia, K2 Base Camp and out over the 5,585 m Gondogoro La into the Hushe Valley — the full Karakoram traverse.
From $2,800$4,100 /person
The 'Yosemite of Pakistan' — granite big walls, meadow camps and the Amin Brakk amphitheatre above Kanday.
Tell us who is travelling and roughly when. A trip planner — not a call centre — replies personally with a day-by-day itinerary and the full price per person, with nothing hidden underneath it.
We can run this trip on your own dates, or build something different around your plans.