Trekking in the Karakoram Mountains

“Karakoram is like a time machine. When I go there it reminds me of how my father and grandfather used to live, what a simple life looks like.” Umer Latif is the co-founder of our Pakistan trekking partner Beyond the Valley. On a holiday in the Karakoram Mountains and wanting to trek, he and his wife, Hina, struggled to find a suitable tour operator. So, being entrepreneurial types, they resolved to create their own and in doing so make one of the world’s great adventure travel destinations accessible to more people.

And what a place it is. Pakistan’s Karakoram Mountains boast 18 peaks over 7,500m, and four over 8,000m, including K2 which is second in height only to Mount Everest, as well as vast glaciers up to 76km long. The cirque of Concordia, where the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen glaciers converge, is known as ‘the throne room of the mountain gods’. Pop open your tent flaps on a Concordia trekking holiday, and if it’s a clear morning you’ll be taking in some of the most awe-inspiring scenery on Earth. Scenery, by the way, that not many other international tourists have seen.

“Before the 1970s and the Karakoram Highway these mountains were almost cut off from the rest of the country,” says Umer, whose enthusiasm for the region is profound. “The only way to access them was by flying. The valleys still have an agricultural economy and most income comes from bartering, trading. When I visit places like Zermatt or Chamonix, I love how they are so accessible to people, but you go to 3,000m and there’s a pub waiting for you. In the Karakoram valleys you’ll be walking in villages where the children will be going to school and the women will be working in the fields and they’re not expecting to encounter tourists, so you come back with some real stories to tell. It will change, of course, sooner or later. That’s why we want to lead by example on responsible principles.”

What does ‘responsible principles’ mean in practice when trekking in Pakistan? Respect for the landscapes, certainly, by ensuring that no waste is left behind, and that rivers and streams aren’t polluted. Seeking out locally run accommodation that uses water carefully in an area where glacier retreat is a real and present threat. But most of all, cultural immersion. The inhospitability of these jagged peaks is in direct contrast to the warmth of the reception you’ll get as you pass through remote Karakoram communities, travelling with a local guide, with friendly greetings at all times, and even the occasional invitation for tea.

“Cultural exchange is integral to adventure tourism, but I feel that a lot of the time it’s a curated experience,” says Umer. “For example, if you go to a homestay in a village the host family may cook for you, but they will likely have been told in advance what to prepare, and you have limited interaction time with your hosts. In my view real cultural exchange requires time, and trekking is the natural way for that to happen.”

People here speak very good English, and most guides even speak the basics of other languages because international climbers have been coming here for decades. As you walk your guides and porters will share their lives with you, and their knowledge about the mountains’ history, wildlife and botany. They’ll also ask about you and your life back home as well, with genuine enthusiasm. That’s because there is no ‘tourism fatigue’ in the Karakoram Mountains yet, says Umer – what we here at Responsible Travel would call overtourism. “Too many tourists make tourism feel like just another job. People coming to Pakistan now are seeing it before this fatigue sinks in.”

For our more challenging treks you can expect daily distances up to around 17km, with elevation gains up to 450m – the trek to K2 basecamp and Concordia, however, is extremely demanding and should only be undertaken by experienced trekkers prepared for the isolation and altitude involved.

On easier routes, such as our trek to Masherbrum basecamp, the daily distances can be as low as 10km. Although the pace stays relaxed throughout, you will still want to be an experienced and fit walker, and a few long-distance walks before your holiday will be useful practise.

This region does not have tea house culture like Nepal; you are not walking hut to hut. Irrespective of the trek you choose, you’ll be camping expedition-style, so you’ll have local porters, guides, and a cook, all from the valleys you’re walking in. Porters carry everything in that you’ll need, and carry it out again afterwards – our holidays leave no waste whatsoever, to help keep these magnificent landscapes pristine. “The porters are superhumans,” says Umer, “going ahead and setting up the sleeping tents, the toilet tents, the kitchen tent, the mess tent, even the shower tent.”

And if you’re picturing tins of beans cooked over a tiny stove, you couldn’t be more wrong. Groups have their own expedition camps with them, and even at 5,000m they can whip up an excellent biryani as well as pizzas and pasta. You get a proper, freshly cooked meal every day – sometimes groups will carry their own chickens with them. “Even in lower parts of Pakistan such as Lahore, when you eat a very good meal the chef will often be Balti; that’s how good they are,” says Umer. “Back in the day the ‘hard’ adventurers, the Italians, the British, came here to climb huge peaks, and that requires lots of calories. You can’t do it on sandwiches.”