Mountain tours
Baskochi meadow, the Patundas plateau, two glaciers and the Passu suspension bridge, all within reach of Ghulkin village. Guided by people born in this valley.
Ghulkin sits in Gojal, Upper Hunza, on the Karakoram Highway between Gulmit and Passu. It is an unusually good base for trekking: three of the valley's best-known routes begin within a short drive or a walk from the house, so you can trek hard all day and still sleep in a real bed with a hot dinner waiting.
Our guiding is done by Ali, who was born and raised in Ghulkin. That matters more than it sounds. Glacier routes here change between seasons, the safe crossing points move, and the weather turns fast at altitude. A guide who has walked these slopes since childhood reads them differently from someone who arrived last summer.
Half a day, basic fitness
The gentle one, and the one almost everybody can do. Baskochi is a high meadow above the village with a wide view down the valley, and it is typically a one to two hour climb needing no more than basic fitness. It is the walk we suggest on your first full day, both because it is beautiful and because it tells us how you handle the altitude before anything harder.
A full day, moderate
A moderate day hike takes you across the Ghulkin glacier and on toward Borith Lake, with the Passu glacier and the Batura massif filling the skyline. This is glacier walking rather than technical mountaineering, but it is genuinely a glacier: loose moraine, meltwater channels, and ice that has to be read. Not a route to do unguided.
Three days, two nights, moderate to hard
The big one. Patundas is a high alpine meadow sitting between the Passu and Batura glaciers, and the view from the top is the reason people come back to Hunza. It is usually walked as a three day, two night trek from Borith Lake, roughly 30 km round trip with something close to 2,000 m of ascent. Difficulty is moderate to hard: the glacier crossing and the final zigzag climb are the demanding parts. You want a few easier days in the valley behind you before you start.
Half a day each, easy
Both are short trips from the house and both are why people photograph this valley. The Hussaini and Passu suspension bridges are a half day; Attabad Lake and the Passu Cones viewpoints fit into a day out along the Karakoram Highway, often combined with a boat on the lake.
The trekking season in Upper Hunza runs broadly from May to October, with September and early October giving the clearest skies and the autumn colour. Late March into April is cherry and apricot blossom, which is spectacular in the villages but too early for the high routes. Winter is quiet, cold and beautiful, and the high treks are closed.
Staying with us while you trek is the simplest way to do it. Most guests take a room in the homestay or a bed in the backpacker hostel and walk from there.
Glacier and Patundas photographs by Hassan Hafiz and Nazimullahbaig, cropped, and reused here under CC BY-SA 4.0. Every other photograph on this site is our own.
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