This was my fourth time has leading this trek that I pioneered 20 years ago. Despite the growing popularity of the main Hunza valley with domestic and international tourists there are still almost no other trekkers in the wild landscapes at the Eastern end of the Barpu glacier.

The terrain is very varied with high altitude pastures and heavily wooded valleys. A big plus is that all the campsites are in grassy meadows. However the access is guarded by a number of glaciers, and crossing these is the hardest part of the trek. In total we navigated a total of 7 glacier passages, each between 1 and 2 km long. Crossing the ice sections was mostly straightforward but the moraine banks at the start and end to the glaciers were more challenging, being composed mainly of dried mud and rubble with few obvious paths.

The 2023 trip was lucky to see no rain at all except for the final day. This year the weather was more unsettled. The main disadvantage of this was that the views of the high peaks were often obscured by clouds. For the first 2 days of the trek the skies were clear and the temperatures uncomfortably high. With the arrival of the clouds on day 3 the temperatures dropped and this made the walking more pleasant. Fortunately almost all the rainfall happened at night, so we rarely needed to wear waterproofs during the day while walking.

After trekking to foot of Spantik’s ‘golden pillar’ we turned westwards and followed the north bank of the Barpu glacier back towards our starting point in the village of Hopar. Along the way we made a 3 day excursion to visit Rush Lake (4660m) and climb Rush Pk (5098m). This required a sizable ascent over 2 days, but the team was all well aclimatised by this point and managed well.

As we enjoyed an end of trek dinner in the Hunza capital, Karimabad, everyone remarked that a lot had happened in the 10 days since we first saw the panoramic views of the Hunza valley from the same spot. The trip concluded with a 2 day journey down the Karakoram Highway, crossing the 4173m Babusar pass and driving through the scenic Kaghan valley before arriving at Islamabad.

For anyone wanting to experience the variety of cultures landscapes on offer in the Karakoram this 2 week trip has it all: dramatic mountain landscapes, challenging trekking, and ascent of a 5000m peak and a roadtrip on the Karakoram Highway.

David Hamilton, Skardu, 24/08/2024