Baltoro Glacier

Interesting facts

Concordia got its name in 1902 from Aleister Crowley, during the Eckenstein–Crowley attempt on K2, after the Konkordiaplatz glacier junction in the Swiss Alps.

The German explorer Adolf Schlagintweit was probably the first European to reach the Baltoro, in August 1856.

Measurements in 2004 showed the glacier's snout had retreated only about 65 metres since 1904, a striking contrast with most Alpine glaciers.

The glacier is remarkably gentle, with an average gradient of just 3.9 percent; south of Concordia it falls only 21 metres over two kilometres.

About 45 percent of the ice at the snout comes from the Trango Glacier, which joins only five kilometres above the glacier's end.

The Baltoro averages about 2.1 kilometres across and reaches its greatest width, some 3.1 kilometres, near the Goro camp.

Vittorio Sella hauled large 30-by-40-centimetre glass plates up the Baltoro with the Duke of the Abruzzi's 1909 expedition to photograph K2 and its neighbours.

On the same 1909 expedition the Duke of the Abruzzi reached about 7,498 metres on Chogolisa, a world altitude record at the time.

Above the glacier's north bank, the granite Nameless Tower in the Trango group juts about 1,000 metres out of its ridge.

At its head the glacier system rises to the Conway Saddle, which separates it from the Siachen Glacier to the northeast.

Why it is worth it

The Baltoro is the great highway of ice into the heart of the Karakoram. About 63 kilometres long and draining a basin of some 1,500 square kilometres in Gilgit-Baltistan, it is one of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions, a broad, rubble-covered river of ice set in a trough with walls scored by the ice. For most of its length the surface is a grey chaos of moraine, meltwater streams and ice towers; only higher up does it turn white. Its snout feeds the Braldu river, which flows on to join the Indus system.

What makes the Baltoro unique is its setting. No other valley on Earth gathers so many giants in one view. The lower glacier runs past the Trango Towers, granite spires whose walls count among the tallest cliffs in the world, and past Masherbrum at 7,821 m. At its head, at around 4,600 metres, lies Concordia, the junction with the Godwin-Austen Glacier, where K2 (8,611 m), Broad Peak (8,047 m), Gasherbrum IV and the other Gasherbrum summits, Mitre Peak and Chogolisa stand around a single amphitheatre of ice. Four of the world's fourteen 8,000-metre peaks stand around the upper glacier.

The glacier is also the walking route. Treks set out from the village of Askole and follow the Braldu to Paiju, the last green camp at about 3,400 m, then climb onto the ice through camps such as Urdukas, on the moraine above the ice, and Goro, before reaching Concordia after five to seven days. From there it is a few more hours up the Godwin-Austen Glacier to K2 Base Camp at about 5,150 m. Unusually for the Himalaya and Karakoram, the Baltoro has not been in steady retreat but behaves as a surging glacier, and the heavy traffic of expeditions has made waste on the route a real concern.

Getting there

The gateway is Skardu, served by Skardu International Airport (KDU) with flights from Islamabad. From Skardu a rough jeep track of about 100 km runs up the Shigar and Braldu valleys to Askole, the roadhead, in some four to seven hours; the glacier's snout lies about two days' walk beyond. A trek to Concordia and K2 Base Camp and back usually takes two to three weeks and is organised with local guides and porters.

Baltoro Glacier

Interesting facts

Why it is worth it

Getting there

Plan your visit

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