Spantik Base Camp Trek: Golden Peak & Chogolungma Glacier

Spantik, the 7,027 m Golden Peak of the central Karakoram, is the mountain climbers use to prepare for their first 8,000er. This trek takes you to its base camp without the climb: three days up the Chogolungma Glacier from Arandu, the last village above Skardu, to a grassy shelf at about 4,350 m below the southeast ridge.

It is one of the emptiest big glacier walks in Pakistan. There are no lodges or teahouses beyond Arandu and, outside the short climbing season, often no other trekkers on the ice. In return you get one of the longest glaciers in the range, the side glaciers pouring off the Haramosh and Malubiting massif, and Golden Peak turning gold above camp at sunrise.

Our trip is 13 days from Islamabad. We fly to Skardu, sort the permits on a spare day, drive the Basha valley to Arandu, and walk in over three stages with a rest day at base camp before two days back out. A local guide, a cook and porters from Arandu carry the camp, so you walk with a day pack.

No ropes or climbing skills are needed, but this is a strenuous trek with crevassed ice on the last day and real altitude, so we run it with small groups and guides who know this year's line across the glacier. Read our full Spantik Base Camp trek guide

From Skardu a jeep runs north through Shigar and turns up the Basha valley through Tisar, Chutran, Dogoro and Bisil to Arandu, five to seven hours on a road that becomes a rough track near the top. Arandu sits at roughly 2,800 to 2,900 m, right against the snout of the Chogolungma Glacier.

The walk follows the ablation valley on the north side of the glacier. Day one reaches Chogo Brangsa at about 3,350 m. Day two is the long one, six to eight hours across two side glaciers to Bolocho at about 3,800 m, a small camp with clean water.

Day three goes onto the glacier itself: bare ice with open crevasses, then a steep rocky climb to the grassy shelf of Spantik Base Camp at about 4,350 m. The way out takes two days, and roughly 40 km each way is spent on moraine and ice.

It is strenuous but non-technical. You need no ropes, crampons or climbing experience to reach base camp in a normal summer. The days run five to eight hours on loose moraine and boulder fields, and the third day crosses bare, crevassed glacier ice where a guide who knows this year's line is essential.

Base camp at about 4,350 m is real altitude, and from Arandu you gain about 1,500 m in three days. That is why we keep a full rest day at the top. If you have trekked above 4,000 m before you have the right base; if not, train for two months with long days carrying a pack.

July and August. The snow has gone from the moraine, the side streams are crossable in the morning, and climbing teams are at base camp. Mid-July to mid-August is the most reliable window, though a bad week in mid-August is possible.

Recent Junes have brought heavy snow and wind, so we don't run trekking departures before the first week of July. Late August to mid-September is quieter and crisper with colder nights. From October to May the upper Basha valley is effectively closed.

The base camp trek is not on the list of routes that need Pakistan's trekking visa, so most nationalities trek on a standard tourist visa. In Skardu we arrange the Gilgit-Baltistan trekking permit and the Central Karakoram National Park environment fee, which are included in the price. Climbing Spantik itself needs a mountaineering visa and royalty.

There is no mobile signal beyond the Basha valley, so the guide carries a satellite phone. Helicopter rescue in Gilgit-Baltistan needs a guarantee arranged in advance, so your insurance must cover evacuation up to 6,000 m. Porters from Arandu carry the camp, with loads capped at 25 kg under park rules.

Spantik (7,027 m) stands in the Spantik-Sosbun range of the central Karakoram, in Shigar District of Gilgit-Baltistan. Base camp is at about 4,350 m on a shelf above the Chogolungma Glacier. Published figures range from 4,160 to 4,374 m, and most careful sources sit between 4,300 and 4,370 m. Arandu, the trailhead, is at roughly 2,800 to 2,900 m.

The Chogolungma runs for roughly 45 to 50 km from the Haramosh and Malubiting massif down to Arandu, and the trek follows most of its upper half, with side glaciers pouring in from both walls. At base camp Spantik's southeast ridge, the 1955 first-ascent line, rises straight above you. Its northwest face holds the Golden Pillar, the marble band that gives Golden Peak its name, climbed by Mick Fowler and Victor Saunders in 1987.

We are based in Gilgit-Baltistan and run the Chogolungma with guides and porters who walk it every summer, which matters on a glacier where the safe line moves from one year to the next. We build in a rest day at base camp and a buffer day for the Skardu flight instead of squeezing the trip, we keep groups small, and we tell you plainly that this is a hard walk before you book it.