Travel deep dive
K2 and the Karakoram: Pakistan's Great Peaks
Three of the world's great mountain systems — the Karakoram, the Hindu Kush and the western Himalaya — converge in the far north of Pakistan, and nowhere on Earth carries so many high peaks in so small a space. Five of the fourteen eight-thousand-metre summits stand here, crowned by K2, and the glaciers that drain them are among the longest outside the poles. For trekkers and climbers alike, this is one of the ultimate destinations, and its centrepiece is the great pyramid of K2 itself.
Updated 2026-08-20
Why K2 Is Harder Than Everest
K2, at 8,611 metres the world's second-highest mountain, has a reputation among mountaineers that Everest does not: it is widely considered the hardest and most dangerous of all the eight-thousanders to climb. The reasons are the mountain's consistently steep, technical terrain, its exposed ridgelines, the notorious Bottleneck — a traverse beneath overhanging ice cliffs high on the route — and weather windows that are shorter and less forgiving than on Everest's more commercialised slopes.
The result is that K2 has never been the guided, high-traffic climb that Everest has become. Its remoteness is part of the character: there is no road to its foot and no easy way in, and reaching even its base camp is a serious multi-day expedition across glaciers. For most visitors the ambition is not to climb it but to stand beneath it — which is achievement enough.
The Baltoro, Concordia and the Eight-Thousanders
The heart of the range is the Baltoro glacier, a highway of ice running deep into the mountains, and at its far end lies Concordia — the confluence of great glaciers that climbers have called the throne room of the mountain gods. From this single spot the view takes in K2, Broad Peak and the twin Gasherbrums, four eight-thousanders visible at once, ringed by the granite spires of the Trango Towers and the great peak of Masherbrum. There are few mountain panoramas anywhere to rival it.
Beyond the Baltoro, the Karakoram holds still more: the Hispar and Biafo glaciers meet at Snow Lake to form the longest glacial system outside the polar regions, and to the west, standing apart in the Himalaya, rises Nanga Parbat, the ninth-highest mountain on Earth and one whose reputation among climbers is fearsome. Its accessible northern side, reached from the Raikot bridge, is where trekkers walk up to Fairy Meadows for one of the most famous mountain views in Asia.
Skardu and the Way In
Almost every expedition and high trek begins at Skardu, the Baltistan town that is the staging post for the Karakoram: the last place to gather supplies, arrange porters and jeeps, and acclimatise before the roadhead at Askole, where the Baltoro trek proper starts. Italy has had a long bond with these mountains ever since its climbers made the first ascent of K2 in 1954, and the high glaciers remain a focus of international scientific research to this day.
Skardu itself, with its fort, its river valley and the side-trips to Shigar and Khaplu, and the whole living world of the northern valleys — Hunza and its forts, the high lakes and pastures — belong to the province of Gilgit-Baltistan, which is where a trip here is actually based. This page is about the summits; the valleys below them are the province's own story.
Trekking and the Permit System
Not all of this demands a mountaineering background. Established treks on set routes — the walk up to Fairy Meadows and Nanga Parbat base camp, day walks around the valleys — are within reach of any fit hiker with a good local guide, while the Baltoro and K2 base camp trek, around a fortnight on the ice, is a serious undertaking that rewards proper preparation and acclimatisation. The season is short: the trekking and climbing window runs roughly from June to early October, and the high passes are snowbound the rest of the year.
The rule worth knowing is the permit system. Standard trekking on open routes generally needs nothing beyond your ordinary tourist status, but any climbing above 6,500 metres, and travel in restricted zones, is arranged through the Alpine Club of Pakistan and the Gilgit-Baltistan tourism authorities rather than as part of a visa — a separate, mountaineering-specific process that expedition operators handle as a matter of course.