Snow Lake – Hispar La Trek

Trip highlights

• Snow Lake

  Lukpe Lawo — a snow basin several kilometres wide, ringed by unclimbed granite, and utterly silent.

• The Ogre and the Latoks

  Some of the hardest granite in the world along the northern rim of the Biafo, seen by very few people.

• Baintha

  A real meadow in the middle of the glacier, with marmots and running water. The rest day is here.

• A traverse of the whole range

  Twelve days without leaving the ice, finishing in the apricot orchards of the Hispar valley.

Dates & availability

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At a glance

• 24 days, Islamabad to IslamabadTwelve days on the ice from Askole to Hispar, then out through Hunza. Three contingency days at the end.
• Snow Lake and the Hispar La, 5,151 mLukpe Lawo, a snow basin kilometres across, and a col linking Baltistan to Hunza.
• Roped glacier travelCrevassed snow ground in the upper basin. Harness and rope are used, and the crew route-finds daily.
• Small groups, maximum 10Licensed guide, cook, kitchen crew, and porters who know this traverse specifically.
• Baltistan to Hunza, on footIn at Askole, out at Hispar village — one of the great point-to-point walks anywhere.
• Hotels either end, tents betweenIslamabad, Chilas, Skardu and Karimabad in hotels; sixteen nights in tents, twelve of them on glacier.
• Late June to early AugustTwo departures. The upper basin needs enough snow cover to bridge the crevasses and a reliable freeze.

Day by day

1. 1Day 1Arrival in Islamabad

   Met at the airport and transferred to the hotel. Trek briefing and kit check in the evening — on this route the sleeping bag and the boots get looked at properly. Dinner together.

2. 2Day 2Islamabad to Chilas

   A full day north on the Karakoram Highway, about 460 kilometres. Night in Chilas.

3. 3Day 3Chilas to Skardu

   East along the Indus past the confluence of the three ranges and up the gorge to Skardu at 2,500 metres. Night in a hotel; final permit paperwork here.

4. 4Day 4Skardu to Askole

   Jeeps up the Shigar and the Braldu gorge, six to seven hours, to Askole at about 3,050 metres. Camp beside the fields; porters engaged this evening. This is the last village until Hispar, twelve days away.

5. 5Day 5Askole to Namla

   Down the Braldu and onto the snout of the Biafo — a wall of grey ice and rubble that takes an hour to get established on. Six to seven hours along the glacier's edge to camp at Namla at about 3,900 metres.

6. 6Day 6Namla to Mango

   Five to six hours on moraine and dry ice, working up the glacier with the Latok peaks beginning to show on the north side. Camp at Mango at about 4,100 metres.

7. 7Day 7Mango to Baintha

   Four to five hours to Baintha, a grass meadow on the north side of the Biafo at about 4,000 metres, with springs, flowers and marmots. After three days on ice it is a startling place to arrive at.

8. 8Day 8Baintha — rest and acclimatisation

   A full day here, and not a spare one: it is the acclimatisation stop before the upper glacier and the only comfortable camp on the traverse. Walk up the moraine behind camp for the view of the Ogre and the Latoks, or do nothing at all.

9. 9Day 9Baintha to Karphogoro

   Six to seven hours back onto the glacier and up the centre of it, the surface changing from moraine to bare ice and then to patchy snow. Camp at Karphogoro at about 4,400 metres.

10. 10Day 10Karphogoro to Napina

    Five to six hours of steady gain on snow-covered ice. From here on the group travels roped — the crevasses are bridged rather than absent, and the crew probes and route-finds. Camp at Napina at about 4,600 metres.

11. 11Day 11Napina to Snow Lake

    Four to five hours up into Lukpe Lawo — Snow Lake — and a camp at about 4,900 metres in the middle of it. A basin of snow kilometres across with granite spires standing round the rim and no sign of anybody. This is the camp people come back for.

12. 12Day 12Snow Lake to the foot of the Hispar La

    A short day, three to four hours across the basin to a camp below the col at about 5,000 metres. Early to bed: the crossing starts before dawn while the snow is still hard.

13. 13Day 13Over the Hispar La to Khiang

    An early start onto the col at 5,151 metres — not technically difficult, but a long pull at altitude on roped snow, with the whole Biafo behind and the Hispar glacier running west in front. Then the descent, which is the work of the day: hours down broken glacier on the Hispar side to camp at Khiang at about 4,600 metres. Nine to eleven hours in total.

14. 14Day 14Khiang to Yutmaru

    Six to seven hours down the Hispar glacier, weaving between ice and moraine along the southern side. The peaks change character here — Kanjut Sar and the Hispar wall on the north. Camp at Yutmaru at about 4,200 metres.

15. 15Day 15Yutmaru to Bitanmal

    Five to six hours on, and the first grass in a week appears on the ablation slopes. Camp at Bitanmal at about 4,000 metres, where Nagar herders bring their animals up for the summer.

16. 16Day 16Bitanmal to Hispar

    Off the glacier at last — five to six hours down to Hispar village at about 3,100 metres, through fields and irrigation channels with apricot trees in them. The end of the trek. Settle up with the porters and camp or stay at the village guesthouse.

17. 17Day 17Hispar to Karimabad

    Jeeps down the Hispar valley to Nagar and on to Karimabad in Hunza, three to four hours on a rough road. Hotel, hot shower and a bed. Rakaposhi is opposite the window.

18. 18Day 18Karimabad — a day in Hunza

    A free day and a good one. Baltit Fort, the 700-year-old seat of the Mirs of Hunza, and Altit Fort below it, older still at around 1,100 years; Attabad Lake up the valley; or the Duikar viewpoint above Eagle's Nest for sunset over Rakaposhi, Ultar Sar, Diran and Golden Peak.

19. 19Day 19Karimabad to Chilas

    South on the Karakoram Highway along the Hunza river and the Indus, stopping at the confluence viewpoint. Night in Chilas.

20. 20Day 20Chilas to Islamabad

    The last day on the highway, south through the gorge and into the plains. Night in Islamabad.

21. 21Days 21–23Islamabad — contingency days

    Three days held in reserve, and on this traverse they are the least optional in the collection. There is no road out of the middle of the Biafo–Hispar: if the upper basin is not crossable, or weather pins the group below the col, or somebody has to be walked down, the schedule absorbs it here. The Karakoram Highway also closes for landslides.

    Whatever is not needed is a free day or three in Islamabad — the Faisal Mosque, the Margalla trails, Saidpur village, the Gandhara collections at Taxila, or Rawalpindi's bazaars with a guide. The point is that these days come out of the itinerary and not out of your flight home.

22. 24Day 24Departure

    Transfer to Islamabad International for your flight home.

Good to know

This is the most committing trek we run. For twelve days there is no road, no village, no lodge and usually no other party, and the only ways out are on foot or by a helicopter that weather may not permit. That remoteness is the reason to come and it is also the thing to be honest with yourself about. Anyone on this trek should be able to walk six to seven hours a day on bad ground for a fortnight and be genuinely comfortable with being a long way from help.

The upper Biafo and Snow Lake are crevassed snow ground and the group travels roped across them. You do not need to be a mountaineer — the crew probes and route-finds and the guide teaches what you need — but you must be willing to walk roped, in line, at the pace set, for hours, which some people find harder than the climbing itself. Boots stiff enough for a strap-on crampon are required, and a sleeping bag rated to minus fifteen is not an exaggeration: the Snow Lake camp is at about 4,900 metres on snow.

Snow cover decides the season. Too little and the crevasses in the upper basin are unbridged and the traverse is off; too much and the going becomes exhausting. That is why there are only two departures and why the three contingency days exist. If the col cannot be crossed we come back down the Biafo, which is a long walk and not a refundable one.

The two lists above are what we commit to. Confirm anything that matters to your decision with us in writing when you book.

Questions about this trip

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