Spantik Expedition 7,027 m

Trip highlights

• The most achievable 7,000er in the range

  A broad snow ridge rather than a technical problem — the standard proving ground before an 8,000 metre peak.

• Four days up the Chogo Lungma

  One of the Karakoram's great glacier approaches, and a valley that sees a fraction of the Baltoro's traffic.

• A summit view across two ranges

  Rakaposhi and Diran west, the Hispar below, and the Baltoro giants along the eastern skyline.

• Acclimatisation built into the plan

  Sixteen days on the mountain: load carries, two rotations and time held back for a settled summit window.

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

• 31 days, Islamabad to IslamabadFour days in up the Chogo Lungma, sixteen on the mountain, and the rest getting there and home.
• 7,027 m by the southeast ridgeThe normal route: 2,700 m of ascent spread over seven kilometres of broad snow ridge, mostly under thirty degrees.
• High but not technicalNo crux to train for. Crampons, a rope and the fitness to carry loads for a fortnight at altitude.
• Small teams, self-led above base campLicensed guide, cook and full camp to base camp. High-altitude porters and oxygen are quoted separately.
• Arandu and the Chogo LungmaSkardu, Shigar and the Basha valley to the roadhead at Arandu, then Bukhum, Khurumal and Bolocho.
• Hotels either end, tents betweenIslamabad and Skardu in hotels; dome tents on the glacier, with dining, toilet and shower tents at base camp.
• Late June to early AugustTwo departures a summer. This is the window when the ridge is in condition and the Basha 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. If your flight lands early there is time to see the capital: the white marble of the Faisal Mosque under the Margalla Hills, the granite petals of the Pakistan Monument, and the Lok Virsa museum for the crafts and music of the northern valleys. In the evening we run the expedition briefing, check documentation and insurance, and eat together.

2. 2Day 2Islamabad to Skardu

   The morning flight to Skardu is one of the great scheduled flights anywhere — Nanga Parbat off the wing, and the Indus threading between the Himalaya and the Karakoram. It is also entirely at the mercy of the weather, and the honest planning assumption is that it may not go. If it does not, we drive: two days up the Karakoram Highway through Chilas, which is why the itinerary carries contingency at the end rather than in the middle. Night in Skardu at 2,500 metres.

3. 3Day 3Skardu — permits, loads and the last shopping

   A working day. The liaison officer joins the team, the permit paperwork is completed, and expedition loads are weighed and split into porter loads. There is time to buy anything you have decided you want after all, and to walk up to Kharpocho Fort above the town for the view over the Indus. This is the last day with reliable telephone signal and hot water.

4. 4Day 4Skardu to Arandu

   North through Shigar, past the restored fort and the apricot orchards, and then up the Basha valley on a rough jeep road that narrows as the walls close in. Arandu at 2,950 metres is the last village and the roadhead: a scatter of houses, irrigated fields and the snout of the Chogo Lungma glacier a short way above. We camp here and the porters are engaged in the morning.

5. 5Day 5Arandu to Bukhum

   The walk begins properly. A steady day along the flank of the Chogo Lungma, on moraine and grass slopes above the ice, with the valley opening behind you as you gain height. Camp at Bukhum. Four days of this is what acclimatisation looks like when it is done on foot rather than in a vehicle, and it is the reason the summit rotations later go as smoothly as they do.

6. 6Day 6Bukhum to Khurumal

   Onto the glacier itself for stretches today, following the ablation valley where it exists and the moraine where it does not. The peaks of the Spantik–Sosbun group come into view ahead. Camp at Khurumal on a grassy shelf above the ice — the last real grass on the walk in.

7. 7Day 7Khurumal to Bolocho

   A shorter day up the glacier to Bolocho at about 3,900 metres, where the Chogo Lungma turns and the southeast ridge of Spantik shows itself in full for the first time. From here the shape of the climb is obvious: the long ridge on the left skyline, and the golden pillar of the northwest face hidden round the other side of the mountain.

8. 8Day 8Bolocho to Base Camp

   A half day up to base camp on the moraine below the ridge. The camp goes up properly today — sleeping tents, the dining tent, the kitchen, toilet and shower tents and the generator. This is home for the next two weeks, and it is worth spending the afternoon making your tent somewhere you can actually rest.

9. 9Days 9–24The climb — rotations, high camps and the summit window

   Sixteen days on the mountain, and they are not sixteen days of climbing. The route is worked in rotations: loads carried up to Camp 1 at 4,500 metres on the glacier shelf, then Camp 2 at 5,500 on the ridge proper, then a rotation to Camp 3 at 6,550 metres and a night slept there before coming back down to base camp to recover. That pattern — climb high, sleep low, rest — is what makes a summit possible, and skipping it is what makes people ill.

   When the team is acclimatised and the forecast settles, the summit push goes back up through the camps over three or four days. From Camp 3 the ridge continues broad and unrelenting to the summit dome, and the day is long: an early start, a great deal of steady walking on snow at altitude, and a top that arrives gradually rather than dramatically.

   The rest of the time is spent waiting well, which is a skill of its own. Base camp has a dining tent, a cook, and a generator for charging; bring a book, cards and patience. Weather here is less predictable than in the Himalaya and the mountain does not care about anyone's return flight. Your guide will call it when the forecast is against you, and that call is not negotiable.

10. 25Day 25Base Camp to Bolocho

    Camp comes down, loads are made up and the porters arrive. Walking out is faster and, at least on the first day, stranger than expected — after two weeks at one altitude the body notices thick air immediately. Camp at Bolocho.

11. 26Day 26Bolocho to Khurumal

    Back down the glacier to the grass at Khurumal. Two days of walking out from here, and the appetite that arrives at about this point on every expedition is something the cook has been expecting.

12. 27Day 27Khurumal to Arandu

    The last walking day, down the flank of the Chogo Lungma to the fields and apricot trees at Arandu. Camp at the village, and settle up with the porters — this is the evening the walk out is celebrated properly.

13. 28Day 28Arandu to Skardu

    The jeep road back down the Basha valley to Shigar and on to Skardu. Hotel, hot shower and a proper bed. The liaison officer files the expedition report and the permit paperwork is closed out.

14. 29Day 29Skardu to Islamabad

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

15. 30Day 30Islamabad — contingency and a day in the capital

    Held deliberately empty. Mountain weather, a closed road or a cancelled Skardu flight all take their toll from this day rather than from your international flight. If it is not needed, it is a free day for the Saidpur village restaurants, the Margalla trails, or the bazaars of Rawalpindi with a guide.

16. 31Day 31Departure

    Transfer to Islamabad International for your flight home.

Good to know

The price covers everything to base camp and nothing above it. That is the standard way the Karakoram is sold and it suits self-sufficient teams, but be clear what it means: high camps, fixed rope above base camp, high-altitude porters to carry loads on the mountain and supplementary oxygen are separate lines on the quote. Tell us at the enquiry stage what you actually want and we will price the whole expedition properly, rather than leave you to discover the gaps in Skardu.

Spantik is the gentlest 7,000 metre route in Pakistan and it is still 7,027 metres in the Karakoram. There is no technical crux, so what we look for is different from what an 8,000 metre peak asks: real hill fitness, competence on crampons and with a rope on glaciated ground, and enough previous time above 5,000 metres that you know how your own body handles thin air. If Spantik is your first big mountain, say so — it is a reasonable place to start, and we would rather plan around it than find out at Camp 2.

The Skardu flight is the single biggest variable in the whole itinerary. It is spectacular when it goes and it is cancelled often, particularly in poor weather, and the alternative is two days on the Karakoram Highway each way. The contingency day at the end of the trip exists for exactly this. Do not book an international flight that leaves the day after you are due back in Islamabad.

Base camp altitude on the Chogo Lungma is quoted differently by different operators and we would rather give you the camps we actually use by name than a number we cannot stand behind: Bukhum, Khurumal and Bolocho at about 3,900 metres on the way in, then base camp on the moraine, with Camp 1 at 4,500, Camp 2 at 5,500 and Camp 3 at 6,550 metres on the ridge. Ask us for the current figures when you enquire and we will confirm them from this season's team.

Questions about this trip

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