Laila Peak Expedition

Laila Peak is the sharp white spire that every trekker on the Gondogoro La route photographs on the way down to Hushe. It stands 6,096 metres above the Gondogoro glacier in the Hushe valley of Baltistan, and from the base camp meadow it looks almost impossibly steep: one long, smooth face of snow and ice running up to a needle point. That face is the normal route. There is no peak royalty, the base camp is two days' walk from the road, and the climb itself is a serious, sustained ice route rather than a trekking peak. This page sets out what the mountain is, how the climb works, what the real dangers are and how we run a Laila Peak expedition.

Where is Laila Peak?

Laila Peak is in the Masherbrum Mountains of the Karakoram, in Ghanche district of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan. It rises on the west side of the Gondogoro glacier, a few hours above Dalsampa, the meadow camp most groups use on the Hushe side of the Gondogoro La. The nearest village is Hushe, at about 3,050 m, the last settlement in the valley and the roadhead for Masherbrum, K6, K7 and the Gondogoro route.

Be careful with the name. Pakistan has at least three mountains called Laila. The one on this page is the 6,096 m Hushe valley peak. A different Laila Peak of about 6,985 m stands above the Chogolungma glacier in the Haramosh range, and a third "Laila" in the Rupal valley below Nanga Parbat is really Toshain II. Reports of a 1997 "first ascent" of Laila Peak usually refer to that Rupal mountain, which is one reason the history of this peak is so often garbled online.

How high is Laila Peak?

The accepted height is 6,096 m, or 20,000 ft, the figure used by the American Alpine Journal and taken from the Japanese survey map of the Hushe area. In 2025 many news reports gave 6,069 m. That number came from a press release after Laura Dahlmeier's accident and is a transposition of the same digits; no survey supports it. You may also see 6,200 m or more on old operator pages, and those figures have no source either. Plan for 6,096 m.

How hard is Laila Peak?

Harder than its height suggests. The normal route climbs the northwest face, between 1,500 and 1,800 m of continuous snow and ice at 45 to 55 degrees, steepening near the top. In a lean year the snow melts back to hard blue ice, and one Italian team in 2016 met a section of black ice close to 70 degrees. There is no published official grade; in typical summer conditions it climbs like an alpine D, a long day of front-pointing with an abseil descent. It is far more technical than Khosar Gang, the usual first 6000er in Baltistan, and by angle steeper than the normal route on Spantik, although much lower.

Reinhold Messner, asked about it in 2025, called Laila "a very steep mountain, complicated to climb and full of pitfalls." That is a fair summary. You need to be comfortable on steep ice with two tools, able to abseil on ice threads, and fit enough for an 8 to 10 hour summit push above 5,600 m.

The normal route: the northwest face

Base camp is at about 4,200 m near Dalsampa, on the edge of the Gondogoro glacier, with a small lake and a stone herders' hut. From there the route crosses crevassed ground below the First Gondogoro Cwm to Camp 1 at roughly 5,100 to 5,200 m. A high camp at about 5,600 m on the col of the west ridge puts you at the foot of the upper face. Summit day usually starts in the small hours and takes 8 to 10 hours to the top, then 3 to 5 hours back down, mostly by abseil on Abalakov threads or on rope our team fixes on the steepest ground.

Other lines exist. The first winter ascent in 2013 followed a line on the right side of the west face, and in 2025 two Polish climbers made the first ascent of the much harder southeast face. For almost everyone, though, Laila means the northwest face.

Getting to Laila Peak base camp

Most teams fly from Islamabad to Skardu, which takes about an hour when the weather allows; if flights are cancelled the road takes one and a half to two days (our Islamabad to Skardu guide covers both). From Skardu a jeep runs east along the Shyok through Khaplu and up the Hushe valley to Hushe village, about 120 km and 5 to 7 hours. The walk in takes two days: Hushe to Saicho at roughly 3,300 m, where the Charakusa and Gondogoro valleys meet, then up the Gondogoro to base camp near Dalsampa, about 20 to 25 km in all.

Best time to climb Laila Peak

Most expeditions go between June and August, when the Gondogoro route is busy with trekkers. Climbers who know the face prefer late May to early July, and September. Every complete ski descent so far has been made in May, on firm snow. From mid-July the warmth softens the snow on the face by late morning and loosens rock on the bands near the top, and many parties have turned back in soft, sugary snow over ice. The first winter ascent, in February 2013, was made at about minus 35°C, so winter is possible but extreme. We build two or three spare days into every Laila trip so the summit push can wait for a cold, clear night.

The dangers: rockfall, soft snow and seracs

Laila's hazards are objective ones. Crevasses guard the lower glacier, serac fall threatens parts of the first half of the face, slabs can avalanche in fresh snow, and the rock bands high on the mountain shed stones as the day warms. Two deaths have been publicly reported. In June 2016 the Italian ski mountaineer Leonardo Comelli fell while skiing the face at about 5,350 m. In July 2025 Laura Dahlmeier was killed by rockfall at about 5,700 m. No official register exists for 6,000 m peaks in Pakistan, so any "death rate" quoted for Laila Peak is a guess.

What happened to Laura Dahlmeier on Laila Peak?

Laura Dahlmeier, the German double Olympic biathlon champion, was climbing Laila Peak with her partner Marina Krauss in July 2025. On 28 July, around midday, the two had turned back below the summit because the snow was getting softer, and were abseiling down on ice threads. On the third abseil, with Krauss already below, rockfall began and a large stone struck Dahlmeier at about 5,700 m. Krauss could not reach her and raised the alarm. A Pakistani army helicopter saw no sign of life the next morning, and an international team led by Thomas Huber, with Tad McCrea, Jackson Marvell and Alan Rousseau, confirmed her death. She had left written instructions that no one should risk their life to recover her, and her body remains on the mountain, as her family asked. Her accident is the reason Laila Peak is now searched for so often in Germany, and it is a reminder of why we time summit pushes for cold conditions and keep the descent fast.

Ski descents of Laila Peak

The northwest face is a famous ski line. Fredrik Ericsson and Jörgen Aamot skied it in 2005 from a little below the summit. The first complete ski descent from the top was made on 11 May 2018 by Carole Chambaret, Tiphaine Duperier and Boris Langenstein of France, about 1,800 m of skiing at up to 55 degrees, and an Italian, Swiss and Austrian team followed two weeks later. Andrzej Bargiel and Jędrzej Baranowski of Poland climbed the face in May 2021 and skied from 150 m below the top.

A 22-day Laila Peak expedition plan

Permits and cost

Pakistan charges no peak royalty below 6,500 m, so there is no climbing fee for Laila Peak itself. The approach is a different matter. The Gondogoro glacier lies in a restricted zone, the same one as the Gondogoro La trek, so foreign climbers need a trekking permit arranged through a licensed operator, a licensed guide, insurance for the whole team and the Central Karakoram National Park fee, and a liaison officer can be assigned. Because the Gondogoro route is on NADRA's list of restricted treks, apply for a mountaineering and trekking visa with our sponsorship letter rather than a tourist visa. Our Laila Peak expedition starts at $2,750 per person, Islamabad to Islamabad, with permits, guides, porters, base camp and all meals on the mountain included.

What it takes, and who it suits

Laila Peak suits climbers who have already done steep snow and ice routes in the Alps or similar, who can move confidently on 50 degree ice for hours, and who have been to at least 5,000 to 6,000 m before. If your experience is glacier walking and a fixed-rope trekking peak, climb Khosar Gang or Gondogoro Peak first. Climb Laila well and you will have stood on one of the most beautiful summits in the Karakoram, with Masherbrum, Chogolisa and the Charakusa spires laid out around you.