Trango Tower Expedition

On arrival at Islamabad International Airport, your senior expedition leaders meet you. After the transfer to the hotel, we give a full Trango Tower technical briefing. If your arrival time allows, we look at the mid-century modern architecture of Pakistan’s purpose-built capital.

Stay: Hotel in Islamabad · Meals: Welcome dinner included

We fly the mountain route to Skardu. On a clear day the aircraft passes Nanga Parbat (8,126m), the Killer Mountain, with the high Karakoram opening beyond.

Stay: Hotel in Skardu

We focus on acclimatization and cultural heritage, hiking to Kharpocho Fort, a 17th-century fort above the Indus River, and visiting the Manthal Buddha Rock, a reminder of the Buddhist communities who lived in this valley in the 8th century.

We leave Skardu by jeep and follow the Braldu River gorge to Askole (3,100m), the last settlement before the wild country. Here you meet the Balti porters who carry the expedition. We then cross the snout of the Biafo Glacier and camp at Jhola.

This six-hour walk gives the first clear views of Paiju Peak. We cross glacial streams and camp at Paiju, a green sanctuary beside the Baltoro Glacier.

The ground changes from soil to ice. We move onto the rubble of the Baltoro Glacier, a shifting maze of stone and ice. At the fork we turn left into the Trango amphitheatre, under Uli Biaho and the granite walls of Great Trango Tower.

These 25 days are for the vertical objective. The Base Camp team stays on site, with high-altitude meals and logistical support. On the Eternal Flame or the Norwegian Route, the team looks after the lower third so you can concentrate on the granite.

We retrace the Baltoro, descending from the high cold to Paiju and then Jhola. It is a chance to celebrate with the porter team and the friends made in the high camps.

Four-wheel-drive vehicles collect us at Jhola for the drive through the fertile Shigar Valley. Back in Skardu, a hot shower and a bed close the wilderness phase.

We return to the capital, with one extra day in case mountain weather holds the Skardu flight. There is time for a final meal in Islamabad, and for the rug markets, before the international departure.