Laila Peak Expedition 6,096 m

Trip highlights

• One of the great faces of the Karakoram

  A 1,500 metre sweep of ice at a consistent 55 degrees, finishing on a summit with room for two people.

• Three days from the road to the face

  One of the shortest approaches to a serious objective anywhere in the range — no week on a glacier first.

• The Hushe valley

  Baltistan's climbing valley, and the home village of a great many of Pakistan's high-altitude porters.

• Charakusa and Gondogoro on the doorstep

  K6, K7, Link Sar and the Gondogoro La are all within a day or two of base camp.

Dates & availability

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

• 23 days, Islamabad to IslamabadTwo days in from Hushe, eleven on the mountain, and the rest getting there and home.
• 6,096 m by the northwest faceAbout 1,500 m of sustained ice and mixed ground from advanced base camp, at angles around 55 degrees.
• Technical — an alpine team's peakNo walking finish and no easy retreat. You should be leading steep ice and moving fast with your partners.
• Small teams, self-led above base campLicensed guide, cook and full camp to base camp. Support on the face is quoted separately, if at all.
• Hushe and the Gondogoro GlacierKhaplu into the Hushe valley, then Saicho and base camp at 4,535 m under the face.
• Hotels either end, tents betweenIslamabad and Skardu in hotels; dome tents on the walk in, with dining, toilet and shower tents at base camp.
• Late June to mid-AugustTwo departures a summer, when the face is in condition and the Hushe road is open.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrival in Islamabad

   Your guide meets you at Islamabad International Airport and transfers you to the hotel at 540 metres. There is time in the afternoon for the Faisal Mosque under the Margalla Hills and the Pakistan Monument if your flight lands early. In the evening we run the expedition briefing, check documentation and insurance, and go through the plan for the face.

2. 2Day 2Islamabad to Skardu

   The morning flight to Skardu, with Nanga Parbat off the wing and the Indus below — spectacular when it goes and cancelled often. If the weather closes it we drive up the Karakoram Highway instead, which takes two days, and that is what the contingency day at the end of the trip is for. Night in Skardu at 2,500 metres.

3. 3Day 3Skardu — permits, loads and gear check

   A working day. The liaison officer joins the team, permit paperwork is completed, and loads are weighed and split. Your guide goes through technical gear with you properly today, because Laila Peak is the sort of objective where an equipment gap discovered at advanced base camp ends the trip. Walk up to Kharpocho Fort in the afternoon for the view over the Indus.

4. 4Day 4Skardu to Hushe

   Six hours east, following the Shyok through Khaplu and then south into the Hushe valley on a narrowing jeep road. Hushe at 3,170 metres is the last village, and it is worth understanding where you are: a disproportionate number of Pakistan's best high-altitude porters come from these few houses. Camp at the village and engage porters for the morning.

5. 5Day 5Hushe to Saicho

   An easy first walking day up the valley to Saicho at 3,330 metres, through juniper and birch with the walls rising on both sides. Short by design — it is the acclimatisation day, and the height gain is deliberately small. Camp among the trees.

6. 6Day 6Saicho to Laila Peak Base Camp

   Onto the Gondogoro glacier and up to base camp at 4,535 metres, directly beneath the face. The first proper sight of the northwest face from below is the moment the trip becomes real for most teams — it is considerably steeper in person than in the photographs. Camp goes up properly: sleeping tents, dining tent, kitchen, toilet and shower tents and the generator.

7. 7Days 7–17The climb — acclimatisation, advanced base camp and the face

   Eleven days for the mountain. The first of them are spent acclimatising rather than climbing: walks up the glacier to gain height and come back down, a look at the bottom of the face and the approach to it, and load carries up to advanced base camp at 5,765 metres.

   The climb itself is made from advanced base camp — about 1,500 metres of sustained ice and mixed ground at angles around fifty-five degrees, climbed in a single long push by a team moving together. There is no easy ground on it and no walking finish; the summit is a point. Descent is by the same line, which is the part that concentrates the mind, and it is the reason we look for teams who can abseil competently and quickly while tired.

   The remaining days are the ones that matter most and look like the least: waiting at base camp for the face to come into condition and for a settled forecast. Laila Peak turns teams away more often than it lets them up. Your guide will say when the face is not on, and that judgement is final.

8. 18Day 18Base Camp to Saicho

   Camp comes down and the porters arrive. Back down the glacier and into the trees at Saicho — thicker air, running water and the first shade in a fortnight.

9. 19Day 19Saicho to Hushe

   The last walking day, down the valley to Hushe. Settle up with the porters and spend the evening in the village; if there is a team of climbing porters at home between trips, this is where the trip's best conversations happen.

10. 20Day 20Hushe to Skardu

    The jeep road back out through Khaplu to Skardu. Hotel, hot shower, a proper bed and a meal that somebody else has planned. The liaison officer files the expedition report.

11. 21Day 21Skardu to Islamabad

    The flight south, weather permitting; the drive through Chilas if not. Night in Islamabad.

12. 22Day 22Islamabad — contingency and a day in the capital

    Held deliberately empty, because the Skardu flight and the mountain both take their days from here rather than from your flight home. If it is free, there are the Saidpur restaurants, the Margalla trails, or Rawalpindi's bazaars with a guide.

13. 23Day 23Departure

    Transfer to Islamabad International for your flight home.

Good to know

Be honest with yourself about this one. Laila Peak is only 6,096 metres and it is a harder climb than several 8,000 metre routes; the face is sustained, the descent is by abseil down what you climbed, and there is no point on it where the ground gets easier. We look for a team who already climb steep alpine ice together — leading grade III–IV ice, comfortable abseiling from threads and screws, and used to making retreat decisions in bad weather. If you want a 6,000 metre summit in Pakistan and this is your first big peak, ask us about Spantik instead. That is not a sales answer; it is the right advice.

The price covers everything to base camp and nothing above it. Load carries to advanced base camp, fixed rope if your team wants it, and any support on the face are quoted separately, and on a peak of this shape they often are not appropriate at all. Tell us what your team looks like at the enquiry stage and we will build the quote around that rather than sell you a package.

Success rates on Laila Peak are low and we would rather say so on the page than in an email afterwards. Eleven days on the mountain is a real window, but the face needs cold, settled conditions and it does not provide them on request. Come for the valley, the approach and the attempt, and treat the summit as the bonus it is.

Hushe is the reason the price includes porters rather than helicopters. It is the home village of many of the high-altitude porters who work on K2 and the Gasherbrums, the economy of the valley runs on expeditions like this one, and the crew you walk in with are neighbours rather than contractors. Tips are not included and are genuinely expected; ask your guide what is normal this season rather than guessing.

Questions about this trip

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