K2 Expedition 8,611 m
- 60 days, Islamabad to Islamabad
- 8,611 m by the Abruzzi Spur
- Technical — previous 8,000 m experience
- Minimum seven climbers
- Baltoro Glacier and the Godwin-Austen
- Hotels either end, tents between
- Summer, mid-June to mid-August
- 60-day itinerary
About this tour
K2 is not a mountain you arrive at by accumulating summits. At 8,611 metres it is the second-highest peak on earth and, by a distance, the hardest of the fourteen to climb: steeper than Everest from the first day above base camp, with no easy line anywhere on it, no fixed commercial infrastructure to fall back on, and weather that shuts the mountain down for weeks at a time. It has been climbed a small fraction as often as Everest, and the people who go are people who have already been high.
This is a sixty-day programme from Islamabad and back, run on the Abruzzi Spur — the southeast ridge first attempted by the Duke of the Abruzzi in 1909 and finally climbed by Lacedelli and Compagnoni in 1954. Roughly a fortnight of it is the approach: the flight to Skardu, the jeep road up the Shigar and Braldu valleys to Askole, and then eight days on foot up the Baltoro Glacier past the Trango Towers and Masherbrum to Concordia, where K2 comes into view at the head of the Godwin-Austen and you understand, finally, what you have come for. Base camp sits at 5,155 metres beside the Gilkey Memorial.
Four weeks are then given to the mountain itself. That is not generous, it is realistic: the Abruzzi is climbed in rotations rather than in one push, and the summit is reached — when it is reached — inside a weather window that may last two days and may not come at all. Above advanced base camp the route alternates ice fields, rock ribs and snow slopes through House's Chimney and the Black Pyramid to the Shoulder, and then to the Bottleneck, a narrow couloir running directly beneath a wall of hanging seracs. Everything about the upper mountain is a matter of timing.
We run it with a Nepali climbing leader and a Sherpa rope-fixing team, a full base camp with dining, shower and toilet tents, solar power, European weather forecasting and satellite communications, and a Pakistani cook and kitchen crew who have done Baltoro seasons for years. The descent is by the Gondogoro La rather than back down the Baltoro — a 5,585 metre pass with four 8,000 metre peaks visible from the top, and a far better way to leave the range than the way you came in.
Route
- 1 Start
- 2 Stop in order
- 7 Finish
- Route travelled
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Dates & availability
| Departs | Returns | Length | Price | Deposit | Places |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 19 Jun 2027Summer | 17 Aug 2027 | 60 days | US$ 29,900 | US$ 15,000 | Availablemin 7 |
| 29 Dec 2027Winter | 18 Feb 2028 | 52 days | US$ 39,900 | US$ 20,000 | Availablemin 5 |
Dates not working? Every trip here also runs as a private departure — tell us your window and we will build it around you.
At a glance
- 60 days, Islamabad to IslamabadAbout a fortnight in and out, and four full weeks on the mountain for rotations and a weather window.
- 8,611 m by the Abruzzi SpurThe southeast ridge — House's Chimney, the Black Pyramid, the Shoulder and the Bottleneck.
- Technical — previous 8,000 m experienceWe ask for a prior 8,000 m summit or serious 7,000 m ground. This is not a first high-altitude peak.
- Minimum seven climbersSeven in summer, five in winter. The rope-fixing team scales with the size of the group.
- Baltoro Glacier and the Godwin-AustenAskole, Paiju, Urdukas, Concordia and base camp at 5,155 m beside the Gilkey Memorial.
- Hotels either end, tents betweenIslamabad and Skardu in hotels; dome tents on the trek, a serviced base camp, and high camps above it.
- Summer, mid-June to mid-AugustWinter departures are possible by arrangement, at a lower royalty fee and a far higher cost in every other sense.
Day by day
Day 1Arrival in Islamabad
Your guide meets you at Islamabad International Airport and transfers you to the hotel at 540 metres, which is the lowest you will be for two months. The afternoon is for sleeping off the flight. In the evening we sit down at the office for the expedition briefing and to settle the outstanding balance and paperwork, and we eat together afterwards. Bring your insurance certificate and your climbing CV to this meeting.
Day 2Islamabad — the tourism department briefing
The formal briefing at the Department of Tourism, which every permitted expedition in Pakistan attends before it travels north. It is a couple of hours and largely procedural, covering the permit conditions, the liaison officer's role and the waste and environmental rules on the Baltoro. The rest of the day is free. Islamabad is a green, deliberate, unusually calm capital laid out beneath the Margalla Hills, and the last easy day you will have for a while — most people use it to eat properly and check gear one final time.
Day 3Fly to Skardu
The morning flight north to Skardu at 2,498 metres, forty minutes over the Himalaya that passes Nanga Parbat close enough to pick out the Rupal face if the weather allows, and worth every effort to get a window seat. Skardu sits in a wide sandy bowl above the Indus and is the staging town for everything that happens in the Karakoram. The afternoon is free for rest and for the last of the shopping. If the flight is cancelled we drive instead, which takes the best part of two days by way of Chilas.
Day 4Skardu — permits, loads and a rest day
Our staff spend the day completing government documentation while you do very little, which is the correct use of a day at 2,500 metres. There is a walk up to Kharpocho Fort above the town for the view along the Indus, an optional run out to Sadpara Lake, and the Skardu bazaar for anything still missing from the barrel. Loads are weighed and distributed today: 65 kilos of personal baggage goes to base camp, and everything else stays behind in the hotel store until you come back down.
Day 5Jeep to Askole — the last village
The expedition proper begins. Jeeps carry us through the Shigar Valley and then up the Braldu on a road cut into the gorge wall — six to eight hours of it, rough, exposed and driven by men who have done nothing else for twenty years. Askole at 3,015 metres is the final settlement on this side of the range; beyond it there is nothing but glacier and rock until Concordia. This is where the porter train assembles, where the last mobile signal dies, and where we camp for the first time in twin-sharing dome tents.
Day 6Askole to Jhola — onto the moraine
Twenty kilometres and five to eight hours, gaining almost nothing in height but a great deal in character. The trail crosses the snout of the Biafo Glacier, a fifty-kilometre river of ice running down from the Hispar La, and gives you your first proper day of moraine walking — loose, uneven and slower than the distance suggests. A bridge takes us over the river and we follow the bank of the Braldu to camp at Jhola, 3,103 metres, on a terrace above the water.
Day 7Jhola to Paiju
Six to seven hours and just under twenty kilometres along the Braldu gorge, with the walls closing in and the first of the great rock spires appearing ahead — Trango Tower and Cathedral Peak come into view today. Several glacier-fed side streams have to be crossed and their depth depends on the hour and the heat, which is why we start early. A climb away from the river brings us to Paiju at 3,418 metres, the last trees you will see for a month and, for that reason alone, a camp people remember.
Day 8Paiju — acclimatisation and bread
A rest day, and a working one for everybody else: the porters spend it baking bread for the glacier section ahead, which is a long and sociable process and worth watching. For you there is an optional acclimatisation walk toward Paiju Peak base camp, taking a few hundred metres of height and giving them back before evening. The principle from here on is the one that decides expeditions: gain height during the day, sleep low, and do not shortcut the schedule because you feel strong.
Day 9Paiju to Khoburtse — onto the Baltoro
Fourteen and a half kilometres, five to seven hours, and the day the ground changes for good. We climb onto the Baltoro Glacier and begin the relentless up-and-down of glacial moraine — safe enough, but tiring in a way that flat distance never conveys. The compensation is the view: Trango Tower and Uli Biaho stand directly above the trail for most of the morning. We cross to Liligo and follow the rocky edge of the glacier to camp at Khoburtse, 3,788 metres.
Day 10Khoburtse to Urdukas
A short day by design — six and a half kilometres in four to six hours — because the height is starting to matter. Two small glaciers are crossed on the way, and the Trango group swings round behind you into the classic view that ends up on everyone's camera. Urdukas at 3,905 metres sits on a grassy shelf a hundred metres above the glacier near the army post, and after four nights on rock and ice, grass is a genuine luxury. This is the last vegetation of the approach.
Day 11Urdukas to Goro II — the first night on the ice
Twelve kilometres and six to eight hours out into the middle of the Baltoro, following the medial moraine between the ice streams. Masherbrum, 7,821 metres, stands over the whole day to the south, and the seracs alongside the trail are the size of buildings. Camp at Goro II is at 4,285 metres on the glacier itself, and the temperature drops the moment the sun leaves the valley — this is the night people put on everything they brought. Muztagh Tower comes into view from here.
Day 12Goro II to Concordia — K2 in sight
Just under twelve kilometres and five to seven hours of moraine to the confluence of the Baltoro and Godwin-Austen glaciers, at 4,512 metres. Somewhere along the way K2 appears at the head of the northern branch and does not go away again, and no photograph anybody has taken of it prepares you for the scale. Concordia is ringed by Broad Peak, Gasherbrum IV, Mitre Peak and Sia Kangri, and it is the finest campsite in the range by a margin that is not seriously argued about.
Day 13Concordia to K2 Base Camp
Ten kilometres and about six hours up the Godwin-Austen Glacier, following a faint rocky line across the ice, with K2 growing in front of you the entire way. We pass Broad Peak base camp at roughly the three-hour mark and stop there for lunch. Above it the trail reaches the Art Gilkey Memorial, a rocky outcrop hung with plaques and engraved tin plates for the climbers this mountain has kept — it is the last thing you pass before camp, and it is not a place people talk much. Base camp is at 5,155 metres, and the tents go up today.
Days 14–51The climb — rotations, high camps and the summit window
Five and a half weeks on the mountain. The first task is to establish base camp properly and then work the route: advanced base camp at 5,400 metres, and the fixed camps above it placed by the Sherpa rope-fixing team as conditions allow.
The Abruzzi Spur alternates ice fields, rock ribs and snow slopes. House's Chimney and the Black Pyramid are the technical rock sections and they are climbed on fixed rope with a heavy pack; above them the ground opens onto exposed, poorly defined slopes that lead to the Shoulder. The final obstacle is the Bottleneck, a narrow couloir that runs directly beneath a wall of hanging seracs — the most dangerous ground on the mountain, and the reason summit days start in the middle of the night and turn round on a schedule rather than on how good you feel.
You will go up and come down several times before any summit attempt: carrying loads, sleeping progressively higher, and returning to base camp to recover. Between rotations there is a great deal of waiting, and the European forecasts we receive at base camp are what everything turns on. Contingency days are built into these four weeks for exactly one purpose, which is to let a genuine window be used and a bad one be refused.
The decision to go up, and the decision to turn round, belongs to the climbing leader. On K2 that is not a courtesy — it is the whole basis on which we run the expedition.
Day 52K2 Base Camp to Concordia
Camp comes down and the loads go back onto the porters. Just under twelve kilometres and five to seven hours retracing the Godwin-Austen to Concordia at 4,512 metres, which after a month at 5,155 feels like descending into a greenhouse. Most teams are very quiet on this day and then very talkative in the evening. Whatever happened up there, this is the night it gets talked about.
Day 53Concordia to Ali Camp
We leave the Baltoro rather than walk back down it. Fifteen kilometres and five to six hours south toward the Gondogoro La, on a less-travelled and rougher line with short detours around crevasses; where there is snow we put on crampons and rope together. Ali Camp at around 4,500 metres is named for the porter who first crossed the pass above it, and we make an early night of it — tomorrow starts in the dark.
Day 54Over the Gondogoro La to Khuispang
Up at around two in the morning for the pass. Three hours of climbing on fixed rope, placed and managed by our crew, brings you to the Gondogoro La at 5,585 metres at first light, and to the finest single view in the Karakoram: K2, Broad Peak, Gasherbrum I and Gasherbrum II all visible at once, with Laila Peak and the Trinity peaks to the south. The descent is the serious half — crampons on throughout, fixed rope again, and a watch kept for stonefall as the sun loosens the slope. We drop onto the moraine and camp at Khuispang, around 4,600 metres, where the Gondogoro and Trinity glaciers meet.
Day 55Khuispang to Saicho — down into the Hushe Valley
Twenty kilometres and five to seven hours, almost all of it downhill, and the day the world turns green again. The climbing hardware is packed away for good after breakfast. The trail follows the edge of the Gondogoro Glacier and then finds a way through rhubarb and rough grass into the Hushe Valley, past stone herders' huts and the first grazing animals in six weeks. Your guide picks between two lines depending on what the porters report. Camp at Saicho, 3,350 metres, on sand beside the meltwater streams — and the air feels absurdly thick.
Day 56Trek to Hushe, then drive to Skardu
Three or four hours down through the braided outflows of the Charakusa, Aling, Masherbrum and Gondogoro glaciers to Hushe village, where the houses are built two storeys with the animals below and the family above. There is time to sit with people before we go. Then the drive: 127 kilometres by way of Khaplu, crossing the suspension bridge over the Shyok — a river that comes out of Ladakh, and that people were crossing on inflated goat skins within living memory — and down to the Indus confluence on tarmac. Skardu by evening, and a hot shower for the first time since day five.
Day 57Skardu — the debriefing
The Department of Tourism debriefing, which closes out the permit formally and, if there is a summit to report, records it. Otherwise the day is genuinely empty and that is the point of it. Eat, sleep, sort gear, and walk into town in the afternoon if you feel like it.
Day 58Fly to Islamabad
The morning flight back over the mountains to Islamabad, weather permitting, and a hotel with a laundry service. If the flight is cancelled we drive to Chilas today and complete the journey tomorrow, which is what the next day is held in reserve for.
Day 59Contingency day in Islamabad
Held for the flight. If yesterday's flight went, today is free for paperwork, a farewell dinner and whatever sightseeing you have the appetite for — the Faisal Mosque beneath the Margalla Hills, the Pakistan Monument, or a very long lunch. If the flight was cancelled, we leave Chilas early and drive up to ten hours into Islamabad.
Day 60Departure from Islamabad
Breakfast, checkout at midday, and a transfer to the airport for your international flight. Extra nights, a day room or an onward extension are easy to arrange — after two months in the Karakoram a number of people decide they would like to see Lahore before they go home.
What’s included
- Climbing permit and the government royalty fee for the season booked
- Nepali high-altitude climbing leader and a Sherpa rope-fixing team, sized to the group
- Liaison officer's allowance and equipment fee, as required by the permit
- Six nights' hotel accommodation in Islamabad — four on arrival, two on return — on bed and breakfast
- Hotels in Skardu on the way in and out, twin-sharing
- All meals on the trek, at base camp and above it, including high-altitude rations
- Full serviced base camp: dining, shower and toilet tents, hot water, solar power and a generator
- Single-tent occupancy at base camp
- Group climbing equipment — tents, rope, snow anchors, stoves, gas and cooking kit
- Lodging in the high camps above base camp
- All domestic flights and all internal road transport
- Porters for every load, an experienced Pakistani cook and kitchen staff
- Insurance for the Pakistani crew — guides, cook, kitchen staff and porters
- European weather forecasting throughout the summit period
- Satellite phone and radio for group emergencies, and base-camp Wi-Fi where the network reaches
- 65 kg personal baggage allowance to base camp
Not included
- International flights to and from Islamabad, and cargo for personal equipment
- Pakistan visa and any associated fees
- Mountain rescue, evacuation and medical insurance — mandatory, and checked before departure
- A personal climbing Sherpa, quoted separately per climber
- Supplemental oxygen, masks and regulators, quoted separately by the cylinder
- Summit bonus for a personal Sherpa
- Personal climbing equipment, clothing and sleeping gear
- Meals in Islamabad other than those stated, and hotel nights beyond the programme
- Tips for the crew — a pooled contribution is customary and we will suggest a figure
- Costs arising from an early departure from the expedition, or from delays outside our control
Good to know
Apply early, and not for our convenience. The Pakistani government requires a climbing permit application at least 55 days before you arrive, complete with passport copies and photographs. Rope-fixing crews, high-altitude porters, oxygen and food are all reserved months ahead, and the Islamabad–Skardu flights sell out in the peak weeks. A team assembled in a hurry is a worse team, and on this mountain that matters more than it does anywhere else.
We will ask about your climbing history before we accept a booking. A prior 8,000 metre summit is the usual standard; serious 7,000 metre ground with fixed-rope and crampon technique in condition may be enough. This is a judgement about the safety of the whole rope, not a formality, and we would rather have the conversation now than at Concordia.
Four weeks on the mountain is a schedule with contingency built in, not a guarantee. Rotations up to the high camps come first, then the wait — and the summit window either arrives or it does not. Teams have sat at base camp through an entire season without a single safe day above the Shoulder. Come with the mountain in mind rather than the summit, and you will have a better expedition either way.
The royalty fee tracks the season: highest in spring and summer, lower in autumn, lowest in winter. Winter K2 is a different undertaking altogether and we run it only for small, self-sufficient teams we already know.
Flights to Skardu are spectacular and entirely weather-dependent. When one is cancelled we drive — eight to ten hours to Chilas and on the next day — which is why there is a contingency day near the end of the programme. Build a day or two of slack into your onward booking as well.
The walk out over the Gondogoro La is a real pass, not a formality: a 2am start, three hours of fixed rope to 5,585 metres, and a careful descent on crampons with stonefall below. It is optional. If the pass is out of condition, or you have had enough by then, we return down the Baltoro instead.
Questions about this trip
What does the K2 price include?
Unlike our other Karakoram expeditions, this one is full service and priced accordingly. It includes the permit and royalty, a Nepali high-altitude climbing leader and a Sherpa rope-fixing team, the liaison officer, hotels, a fully serviced base camp with single-tent occupancy, all meals including high-altitude rations, group climbing equipment, and lodging in the high camps above base camp.
What experience do I need to attempt K2?
Previous 8,000 metre experience, and we mean it. K2 is 8,611 metres by the Abruzzi Spur — sustained technical ground at extreme altitude with objective danger that cannot be managed away. This is not a mountain to arrive at without having been high before, and we would rather turn away a booking than take someone who is not ready.
How long is the expedition?
Sixty days, Islamabad to Islamabad. Most of that is acclimatisation rotations and waiting: K2's summit windows are few and short, and a season can pass without one opening at all.
Is there a minimum team size?
Yes, seven climbers. Rope fixing on the Abruzzi is a shared undertaking and the economics and the safety both depend on the team being a real one.
How does the permit work?
The Pakistani government requires the climbing permit application at least 55 days before you arrive, with passport copies and photographs. A licensed operator has to apply on your behalf — you cannot do it yourself — and the liaison officer who must accompany every expedition is assigned through that licence. Rope-fixing crews, high-altitude porters and oxygen are reserved months ahead, so book early.
Do I need insurance?
Not included, and required. It must cover the maximum altitude on your itinerary and include helicopter evacuation and repatriation. We may ask to see the policy before departure. A helicopter off the Baltoro is billed to the person it lifts, and this is the most common gap we find in a climber's paperwork.
When does it run?
June to August. The Karakoram has a short season and the summit windows inside it are shorter still — a matter of days, sometimes hours. That is why the itinerary is as long as it is: most of those weeks are acclimatisation rotations and waiting for weather, not climbing.
What are the odds of summiting?
Lower than any other 8,000er in Pakistan, and honest operators do not quote a figure as though it were a product feature. Some seasons nobody summits. Book this expedition to climb well and come home, not because the itinerary implies an outcome.
You might also consider
Gasherbrum I Expedition 8,080 mHidden Peak — the highest of the Gasherbrum group, reached by the same great Baltoro approach.Price on request
Nanga Parbat Rupal Face 8,126 mThe Rupal face — 4,600 metres of mountain in one wall, and the biggest objective in Pakistan.Price on request
Gasherbrum I & II Double HeaderTwo 8,000 m summits from one base camp — Gasherbrum II first, then Hidden Peak, in a single season.Price on request
Enquire about this trip
Tell us who is travelling and roughly when. A trip planner — not a call centre — replies within three hours between 9am and 11pm Pakistan time with a day-by-day itinerary and the full price, per person, with nothing hidden underneath it.
- Every itinerary written from scratch around your dates.
- Licensed operator, running these routes since 2014.
- A full costing up front — no deposit to see one.
- +92 310 5344471
- info@elhamasia.com
- 9am – 11pm PKT, seven days a week
- Office No. 227, Rohtas Road, G-9/1, Islamabad, Pakistan