Concordia & K2

• 6 nights hotels and 14 nights full-service camping
• 13 days point-to-point walking with full porterage
• Optional base camp treks
• Previous altitude experience necessary
• Group normally 6 to 16, plus UK leader, local guide and other appropriate local staff. Min age 18 yrs

All breakfasts, 17 lunches and 17 dinners included. All food is provided throughout apart from lunches and dinners in Islamabad, we suggest you allow around £50 for these meals. Food on trek is simple but wholesome. Breakfasts will consist of porridge and cereal, eggs and chapatti or toast. Lunches are a picnic usually with soup, tinned meat and fish, sweets and nuts, cheese and crackers or chapattis. Dinner is 3 courses; soup, main course which is rice, dhal, vegetables, meat or pasta based. Dessert is usually jelly, cold custard, fruit, rice pudding or trifle. Snacks are provided upon arrival at camp; samosas, pakhora, tea and coffee. If you have any special dietary requirements we recommend you take along some of your own snacks or food. Pakistan is a meat-eating country (mainly goat and chicken) and does not cater as well as India for vegetarians, vegans or gluten free diets. Drinking Water Staying hydrated is important when undertaking any physical activity but particularly so at altitude where it is generally recommended to drink at least 3-4 litres per person per day. Drinking water will be provided on the trek but you need to treat it with purification tablets or another form of treatment. Handheld UV filters such as a ‘SteriPEN’ are very effective, can treat 1 litre of water in a couple of minutes and the water is ready immediately – look for lightweight lithium battery models and remember that you will need to bring a wide-mouthed bottle (e.g. Nalgene) for use with these devices. There are also an array of water filter and purifier bottles on the market but be wary of their weight, bottles with a small capacity and the product's performance in freezing conditions. Exodus has partnered with Water-to-Go, a filtration system that eliminates over 99.99% of all microbiological contaminants from any non-salt water source – please visit Water-to-Go for more information. Exodus customers can claim 15% off your first order, and better still, 15% of the purchase value will be donated to the Exodus Travels Foundation. Please note that if the water freezes it will clog up the filter – in this event, defrost before use by sitting the filter in lukewarm water for 10-15 minutes.

The weather in northern Pakistan is very hot during the summer. Maximum daytime temperatures will depend on the altitude, but will mainly lie in the range 25 to 40°C. Most days will be hot and sunny, although the occasional severe storm and bad weather cannot be ruled out. If the days are sunny on trek with no cloud cover it can be extremely hot and make the walking quite hard as there is often no shade at all, especially on the glacier. The nights will be cooler and the night time temperatures can drop to well below freezing when higher than 3500m. Islamabad and the lower Indus valley will be very hot and humid, while Skardu, although hot, will be less oppressive.

The trek is graded 'Tough' (Activity Level 7) with 13 days walking to a maximum altitude of 4,500m at Concordia (5,120m Gilkey Memorial just below K2 Base Camp - optional) and an average of 3,650m. Previous altitude experience is necessary and you must be prepared physically (see fitness guide below). The walking on the Baltoro glacier is fairly tough and is definitely not recommended for those who have not previously been walking at a strenuous level in high mountain regions in recent years. It can also be extremely hot in the early stages of the trek and on the glacier during the day, so please also bear this in mind. There are river crossings, and if the rivers are too high we may have to use alternative trails. Although there is a trail on the glacier nowadays, the moraine is constantly moving and sometimes new crevasses open up, so we often have to find an alternative route. Given this, the walk distances and hours given in the Trip Notes will not always be accurate and sometimes you will walk considerably further than is stated. What makes this trip particularly hard, is the often rocky and uneven terrain underfoot, which requires great concentration and balance - you must be sure-footed and wear walking boots with ankle support. There is a lot of walking on glacial moraine (rocky, boulder-strewn terrain) and at the upper reaches of the trek around Concordia and Gilkey Memorial, there is usually considerable time walking on snow or ice. We do not advise inexperienced walkers to attempt this trek. There is no habitation, except a couple of military posts, after leaving Askole, so conditions are more basic and remote than elsewhere. It also means that it is extremely difficult to leave the trek should you be struggling with this level of activity. We highly recommend that you work on your fitness to prepare yourself for this trek. You may find our Fitness Training Guide a useful reference. As this trip spends considerable time at altitude, we ask you to refer to the altitude warning in the trip notes. Skardu Flight Delays Due to the mountainous conditions, it is not uncommon for flights between Skardu and Islamabad to be delayed or cancelled at the last minute. In this event, we will endeavour to get the group on the next available flight. If bad weather persists and flights are not scheduled to operate in the following day or two, or if the flights are fully booked, Exodus may (as a last resort only) consider going by road along the Karakorum Highway (KKH) to get our passengers to Skardu to begin the trek, or to get passengers back to Islamabad after the trek to meet onward international flights. However, this is only an option so long as the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office advice remains okay for travel along the KKH, and (with your safety in mind) if we are able to hire transport with working seatbelts for all passengers at short notice (sourcing vehicles with seatbelts in Skardu for travel back to Islamabad is particularly difficult). It is a 24-hour journey (with an overnight stay in Chilas) and the last 270km of road from Jaglot to Skardu is in poor condition.