The Karakoram Range: Where It Is, What's In It, and How to See It

A working guide to the world's most concentrated cluster of high peaks: where the Karakoram actually sits, the four 8,000ers inside it, its great glaciers, and where to stand to see them.

By Hiba Ali · August 29, 2026 · 9 min read · Reviewed by Javeed Iqbal, Founder

People come to us asking for "the Himalayas in Pakistan" and mean the Karakoram. It is a fair mistake. The two ranges touch, they look alike from a plane window, and the maps in most guidebooks blur the line between them. But they are different mountains with a different character, and if you are planning a trip it helps to know which one you are actually going to.

This is the range that holds K2. It is smaller than the Himalaya, steeper, drier, and far more heavily glaciated.

Where is the Karakoram Range?

The Karakoram runs roughly 500 km from northwest to southeast along the watershed between Central and South Asia. Its territory is split between Pakistan, China and India, with the far western tail brushing Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Five borders converge inside the range, which is part of why it stayed unmapped for so long.

The southern boundary is the useful one to remember, because it is drawn by rivers rather than by a line on a map. The Gilgit, Indus and Shyok rivers mark where the Karakoram ends and the Himalaya begins. To the west is the Hindu Kush, to the north the Pamirs, to the northeast the Kunlun.

For a traveller, though, only one answer matters: the accessible Karakoram is in Gilgit-Baltistan, northern Pakistan. Gilgit and Skardu are the two gateway towns, both reachable by air from Islamabad or by road up the Karakoram Highway. Everything in this article is within a few days of one of them.

Karakoram, Himalaya or Hindu Kush?

The confusion is worth clearing up properly, because it changes what you book.

• K2 is in the Karakoram, not the Himalaya. So are Broad Peak and both Gasherbrums.
• Nanga Parbat is Himalayan. It anchors the western end of the Himalaya and is cut off from the Karakoram by the Indus. Two of Pakistan's five 8,000ers therefore sit in different ranges. If Nanga Parbat is what you are after, our Nanga Parbat guide covers it separately.
• The Hindu Kush is further west, around Chitral, and is lower and gentler.

The practical difference: Himalayan valleys are green and monsoon-fed. The Karakoram is high desert with ice on top of it. You can be walking on bare grey scree in blazing sun with a 7,000-metre wall of snow directly above you, and that contrast is the thing people remember.

The four eight-thousanders

Fourteen mountains on Earth rise above 8,000 m. Four of them are in the Karakoram, and all four stand within about 20 km of one another at the head of a single glacier system. There is no other cluster like it anywhere.

Beyond those four, the range carries eighteen summits above 7,500 m and something in the region of 570 named peaks. K2 alone has a shelf of nicknames: Godwin-Austen, after the surveyor who first mapped it, and the Savage Mountain, after the death rate on its slopes. The plain surveyor's label is the one that stuck.

The Trango Towers, Masherbrum and Muztagh Tower are not 8,000ers and are in some ways more striking. Trango's Nameless Tower is close to a vertical kilometre of clean granite, and climbers rate it among the hardest big-wall objectives in the world.

The glaciers: more ice than anywhere outside the poles

Somewhere between 28 and 50 percent of the Karakoram is under permanent ice, covering more than 15,000 square kilometres. Four of the longest non-polar glaciers on the planet are here, and three of them are walkable.

Two notes on those numbers. Siachen's length depends on where you start measuring, which is why you see both 70 and 76 km quoted. And Biafo is given as 63 km in some sources and 67 km in others, depending on whether the measurement follows the longest branch.

The Baltoro is the one most visitors meet. It drains into the Braldu, then the Shigar, then the Indus, and about halfway up it meets the Godwin-Austen Glacier at a wide flat junction called Concordia, at roughly 4,600 m. Four 8,000ers are visible from that one spot on a clear morning. No other viewpoint on Earth puts that many of them in one frame, which is the whole reason the Baltoro trek exists.

The Karakoram anomaly

Almost every glaciated range on Earth is losing ice. The Karakoram, or at least its central and western parts, largely is not. Glaciers here have held steady or advanced slightly while the Himalaya, the Alps and the Andes retreat. Researchers call it the Karakoram anomaly, and the leading explanations involve heavy winter snowfall from westerly systems and thick debris cover insulating the ice.

It is not a climate reprieve and the eastern Karakoram is retreating like everywhere else. But it does mean the ice you walk on today looks much as it did when the first survey parties came through, which is not something you can say about most of the world's great glaciers.

How to actually see the Karakoram

This is where most articles stop. You do not need to be a mountaineer, and you do not need three weeks. There are three tiers of access, and the first requires nothing more than a car.

From the road

The Karakoram Highway runs straight through the range, and several of the best views are roadside. Rakaposhi (7,788 m) rises almost six vertical kilometres above the highway at Ghulmet, and there is a viewpoint with a tea shop directly beneath it. The Passu Cones are visible from the tarmac in upper Hunza. Khunjerab Pass tops out at 4,693 m on the Chinese border. For a full route breakdown, our Karakoram Highway guide covers the drive stage by stage.

You can see genuine Karakoram giants this way in a week, on sealed road, sleeping in hotels. Most of our first-time visitors do exactly that.

From Skardu

Skardu is the staging town for the Baltoro side and worth days in its own right. The Shigar and Khaplu valleys have restored forts, apricot orchards and cold-desert dunes sitting under 7,000-metre walls. Flights from Islamabad take about an hour when the weather cooperates, which is the caveat every local will give you.

On foot

The Baltoro trek to Concordia and K2 base camp is the classic, and it is a serious undertaking: three weeks door to door, glacier travel, altitude to 5,000 m and above, porters and permits. Shorter options reach real Karakoram viewpoints in two to four days, and for most travellers those are the better trip.

When to go

The high Karakoram has a genuinely short window. Late June to early September is the trekking season on the Baltoro, when the passes are open and the glaciers are crossable. Outside it, snow closes the high routes.

The road-based Karakoram is far more forgiving. April to October works along the Karakoram Highway, with blossom in Hunza through late March and April and the poplars turning gold in October. Khunjerab Pass usually opens around April and closes with the first heavy snows in late November or December. Winter travel to Hunza is possible and increasingly popular, but the high passes are shut.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Karakoram range located?

The Karakoram lies on the borders of Pakistan, China and India, extending about 500 km along the divide between Central and South Asia. The part open to travellers is in Gilgit-Baltistan in northern Pakistan, reached from Gilgit or Skardu.

Which countries does the Karakoram span?

Pakistan, China and India, with the western end touching Afghanistan and Tajikistan. Pakistan holds the largest share and all four of the range's 8,000-metre peaks.

How many 8,000 m peaks are in the Karakoram?

Four: K2 at 8,611 m, Gasherbrum I at 8,080 m, Broad Peak at 8,051 m and Gasherbrum II at 8,034 m. All four stand within roughly 20 km of each other around the head of the Baltoro Glacier.

Is K2 in the Karakoram or the Himalaya?

K2 is in the Karakoram. The two ranges are separated by the Indus river system. Nanga Parbat, Pakistan's other famous giant, is Himalayan rather than Karakoram.

What is the difference between the Karakoram and the Himalaya?

The Karakoram is shorter, higher on average, far drier and much more heavily glaciated. The Himalaya catches the monsoon and has green valleys; the Karakoram is high desert with enormous glaciers running through it. The Gilgit, Indus and Shyok rivers form the boundary.

Can you see the Karakoram without trekking?

Yes. The Karakoram Highway runs through the range, and peaks including Rakaposhi and the Passu Cones are visible from the road. A week-long road trip from Islamabad to Khunjerab Pass needs no trekking at all.

What does Karakoram mean?

It is a Turkic name meaning black gravel or black rock, thought to refer to the dark scree and moraine that covers much of the range below the snowline.

What is the longest glacier in the Karakoram?

The Siachen Glacier, at 70 to 76 km depending on the measurement, is the longest in the range and the second longest outside the polar regions. It sits in a militarised zone and is closed to visitors. The Baltoro, at 63 km, is the longest one you can walk.

Planning a trip

We run road trips, valley tours and treks through the Karakoram from Gilgit and Skardu, and we live here. If you are weighing a first visit, the Gilgit-Baltistan travel guide is the place to start, and you can tell us what you have in mind and we will map a route to it.