Karakoram
Snow Lake and the Biafo–Hispar traverse
Two of the longest glaciers outside the polar regions, joined by an ice basin at 4,900 metres. The loneliest of the great Karakoram routes.
Author: Vasiq Eqbal, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Duration
- 19 days
- Difficulty
- Expedition
- Highest point
- 5,151 m
- Distance
- 120 km
- Best season
- Jul – Sep
- Budget on the ground
- 110–180 € per day
- Group size
- 4–8
Overview
The loneliest of the big routes
On the Baltoro you meet other groups. On the Biafo–Hispar traverse you can go days without seeing anyone. That is why I like this route, and equally why it deserves more respect: if something goes wrong here, help is a very long way off.
Around a hundred kilometres run continuously on glacier. There are no villages in between, no resupply, no bail-out. Everything you need walks in with you.
Snow Lake
The name misleads. It is not a lake but a vast firn basin at roughly 4,900 metres where the Biafo and Hispar meet. Early expeditions took it for the remains of an undiscovered ice stream. Standing in the middle of it, you understand the mistake immediately: white in every direction, and the mountains at the edge looking pasted on.
What you need
Roped glacier experience is mandatory and crevasse rescue should not be a new idea. If you do alpine glacier tours, you already have exactly that. Two weeks in a tent should also not put you off.
Day by day
1–4
Travel to Askole
Islamabad, Skardu, jeep to Askole.
5–8
Up the Biafo Glacier
Upward from the snout. The Biafo runs 63 kilometres; the first days are moraine, then it becomes ice and firn.
9–10
Snow Lake
The basin opens and your sense of scale collapses. Granite spires all around, firn to the horizon below. This is where early explorers suspected another, undiscovered glacier lay hidden.
Day 11
Hispar La, 5,151 m
The crossing point. From here the ice flows the other way.
12–16
Down the Hispar Glacier
Five days descending the 49-kilometre Hispar. Side glaciers arrive left and right like tributaries.
17–19
Hispar village, Karimabad, return
Out of the ice and into the Hunza valley. The change is abrupt and wonderful.
Practical details
- Permits
- National park registration; an experienced local team is non-negotiable for the traverse.
- Visa
- E-visa with booking confirmation.
- Acclimatisation
- The climb to the Hispar La is spread over ten days, which is very forgiving.
- Getting there
- Start at Askole as for the K2 trek, finish in the Hunza valley, so two different valley exits.
Photos
