Kutwal Lake Trek

Kutwal is a turquoise lake at about 3,300 m in the Haramosh Valley, sitting directly under the north side of Haramosh Peak. It is one of the most accessible serious mountain settings in Gilgit-Baltistan: the turn-off is barely two hours from Gilgit, there is no permit to arrange, and the walking is measured in days rather than weeks.

Where the trek goes

The valley runs south off the Indus, roughly 65 km east of Gilgit. You leave the Gilgit-Skardu road at Sassi, about 53 km out, and swap to a jeep for the track that climbs through pine forest and side streams. From wherever the jeep can reach, you walk up to the summer settlement and the lake beside it, then back the same way.

The mountain above the lake

Haramosh Peak is 7,409 m, the high point of the Rakaposhi-Haramosh subrange, with 2,277 m of prominence. From the meadow you are looking straight at its northern flank. Dobani closes the valley to the west, and a peak called Laila rises above the lake. It is not the famous Laila Peak, which is in the Hushe Valley near Masherbrum; the two get confused constantly.

Haramosh has been summited only a handful of times. It is better known for 1957, when an Oxford party was caught below the Haramosh La and two climbers died. Ralph Barker's account, The Last Blue Mountain, is still widely read. The Austrians Heinrich Roiss, Stefan Pauer and Franz Mandl made the first ascent on 4 August 1958.

No permit required

The valley is open. There is no No Objection Certificate to obtain and no trekking permit, which is a real difference from the Baltoro side where K2 Base Camp and Concordia need both plus a per-person fee. We need your passport details for the checkposts along the Gilgit-Skardu road and enough notice to arrange guides, porters and the jeep.

Who this suits

Fit walkers, including first-timers in the Karakoram. There is no technical ground, no glacier travel and no dangerous altitude. The honest caveat is the climb out of the valley floor: it is steep and sustained, on loose trail, often hot lower down. If you are comfortable on a two-day Hunza trek, this is within reach.

When to go

Late June to mid-September, with July and August the most reliable. Before June there is snow on the upper approach and the side streams run high with meltwater. By late September the herders bring their stock down and the nights turn hard.

Combining Kutwal with the rest of the north

Kutwal fits neatly either side of a Skardu trip, since the trailhead is on the way. It also works as an acclimatisation leg. For the full background on the valley, see our Kutwal Lake and Haramosh Valley guide, or pair it with a few days in the Rakaposhi-Haramosh area.