Five Eight Thousand Metre Base Camps

Your guide meets you at the airport, holding the company sign, and takes you to the hotel. The rest of the day is yours to recover from the flight and sort kit. The capital sits at the foot of the Margalla Hills and is a gentle place to start.

Night at Hotel, 540 m.

The morning flight to Skardu is one of the great mountain flights, with Nanga Parbat standing clear of the cloud on a good day. You land at the head of the Indus valley in the heart of Baltistan. The afternoon is free to walk the bazaar and settle in.

Night at Hotel, 2,228 m.

A free day in Skardu. Walk up to Kharpocho fort for the view over the Indus and the town, or take a short trip to Sadpara lake. Your team handles the last permits and checks the porter loads while you browse the bazaar for anything you still need.

Night at Hotel, 2,228 m.

The jeeps follow the Shigar valley and then the Braldu river through Daso to Askole, the last village on the route. Orchards and stone houses line the lanes, and the porters gather here for the walk ahead. Jeeps stop where the road ends and the walking begins.

Night at Askole, 3,015 m.

The trail runs beside the Braldu, crosses the snout of the Biafo glacier and drops to a lunch stop by the Korofon river. Jhola is a green camp where the Braldu and Dumordo rivers meet, the gateway to the glacier country.

6 hours on foot. Night at Jhola, 3,103 m.

A long day along the Braldu gorge with the rock spires of Trango Tower and Cathedral Peak coming into view. Paiju is a grove of trees at the very last of the greenery, and the last camp before the glacier.

7 hours on foot. Night at Paiju, 3,418 m.

A day to rest and let the body adjust. The porters bake bread for the week ahead, and you can walk up towards the base of Paiju Peak for a first look at the ice. The camp has good water and shade.

Night at Paiju, 3,418 m.

You step onto the snout of the Baltoro glacier and follow the moraine up and down towards Khoburtse. Trango Tower and Uli Biaho show their full height on this stage, and the walking is steady, with the rhythm of a long day in the mountains.

7 hours on foot. Night at Khoburtse, 3,788 m.

Two small side glaciers lead to Urdukas, a grassy terrace about 100 m above the main glacier. The Trango Towers rise directly across the ice, and the camp has one of the best views on the whole trek.

5 hours on foot. Night at Urdukas, 3,905 m.

Today you walk out onto the middle of the Baltoro and follow its central moraine past enormous ice seracs. Masherbrum (7,821 m) fills the southern sky. Goro II is the first night camped on the glacier itself, at the junction with the Younghusband glacier.

7 hours on foot. Night at Goro II, 4,285 m.

A climb up the moraine brings the great peaks into sight one after another. Then K2 appears, and the whole amphitheatre of Concordia opens in front of you, with Broad Peak, Mitre Peak, the Gasherbrums and Sia Kangri all around. This is the throne room of the Karakoram.

6 hours on foot. Night at Concordia, 4,512 m.

An early start takes you up the Godwin-Austen glacier on a faint trail towards K2, which seems to grow with every hour. You pass Broad Peak base camp and reach the memorial to Art Gilkey and the climbers lost on K2, then continue to K2 base camp at the foot of the pyramid. It is the day the whole trek is built around.

8 hours on foot. Night at K2 base camp, 5,125 m.

You retrace the glacier to Concordia with K2 behind you and the Gasherbrums ahead. A short day with a long rest in camp, and the evening light on Mitre Peak is worth waiting for.

6 hours on foot. Night at Concordia, 4,512 m.

A two hour walk on the moraine of the upper Baltoro brings you to the camp at Shaghring. Chogolisa, the Snow Dome peaks and Baltoro Kangri stand over the glacier.

3 hours on foot. Night at Shaghring, 4,650 m.

You reach the base camps of Gasherbrum I (Hidden Peak) and Gasherbrum II, in the quietest corner of the glacier. Expedition teams are often in residence, and sharing a cup of tea with them is one of the pleasures of the day.

6 hours on foot. Night at Gasherbrum base camp, 5,150 m.

A relaxed walk back down the glacier to Concordia for a rest day in camp. Four base camps are done and one is still to come.

6 hours on foot. Night at Concordia, 4,512 m.

A less travelled route leaves Concordia and winds across the ice towards the foot of the Gondogoro La, with short detours to keep the walking on solid glacier. Ropes and crampons are shared out as needed. Ali Camp is a high base below the pass.

6 hours on foot. Night at Ali Camp, 4,800 m.

The day starts about 2 am, with headlamps and a roped team climbing to the pass in around three hours. At 5,585 m the whole Baltoro lies behind you, with K2, Gasherbrum I, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum II in one sweep. The descent to Khuispang on the Hushe side is steep and spectacular.

11 hours on foot. Night at Khuispang, 4,590 m.

Ropes and crampons are packed away and the walking turns easy. You drop off the Gondogoro glacier onto grass, wildflowers and the first juniper, with Laila Peak above. The green of the Hushe valley after days of ice is a joy.

7 hours on foot. Night at Saicho, 3,348 m.

A short morning walk brings you into Hushe, the highest village in the valley, with its two storey stone houses (animals below, family above) and fields of barley and potatoes. Jeeps then take you down the Hushe valley and across the Shyok to Skardu, where a hot shower waits.

4 hours on foot. Night at Hotel, 2,228 m.

A long and scenic drive from Skardu down the Indus valley, joining the Karakoram Highway and following the river through the great gorge to Chilas. You pass the meeting point of the Himalaya, Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges, and Nanga Parbat comes into view for the first time.

Night at Hotel, 1,250 m.

From Raikot bridge a jeep track climbs to the village of Tato, and from there a walk of about two hours through pine forest leads to Fairy Meadows. The meadow opens suddenly, with the Rakhiot face of Nanga Parbat above it, and the cabins and tents look straight up at the ice.

2 hours on foot. Night at Fairy Meadows, 3,300 m.

The trail follows the edge of the meadow and climbs to the shepherds' camp at Beyal, at the foot of the Raikot glacier. The walk is gentle, with wildflowers and the peak filling the sky ahead.

3 hours on foot. Night at Beyal, 3,500 m.

A day on the moraine to Nanga Parbat base camp and the Mummery memorial, with the 4,600 m Rakhiot face rising directly overhead. This is the fifth base camp. You walk back to Beyal for the night.

7 hours on foot. Night at Beyal, 3,500 m.

An easy return to the meadow, with the afternoon free to rest, read or wander. The view of Nanga Parbat at sunset is the reward.

3 hours on foot. Night at Fairy Meadows, 3,300 m.

You walk down through the pines to Tato, take the jeeps along the famous track to Raikot bridge, and drive on to Chilas on the Karakoram Highway.

2 hours on foot. Night at Hotel, 1,250 m.

An early start for the long drive south, over the Babusar Pass when it is open or down the Karakoram Highway through Besham. The mountains give way to the plains by afternoon, and the evening is free in Islamabad.

Night at Hotel, 540 m.

Your guide transfers you to Islamabad airport for your flight home.

540 m.