Pakistan
Askole
Civilisation's last outpost before the glaciers, where porters load supplies for the walk to K2.
The village smells of baking bread and apricot wood. Stone houses cling to the hillside above the Braldu River, and on their rooftops apricots dry in the sun — the last fresh food for eight days. Beyond the final field, the gorge narrows and the granite closes in. Ahead is only glacier.
Askole is the last inhabited settlement before the Baltoro Glacier — the mandatory starting point for every K2, Broad Peak and Gasherbrum expedition. The village of roughly five hundred people sits where the Braldu gorge narrows, at the mouth of one of the Karakoram's deepest canyons. Balti porters — some of the most experienced in the Karakoram — are hired directly from village families, and the bakeries turn out the dense round bread trekkers carry for up to two weeks — no resupply exists beyond this point. Karakoram mountaineering has launched from here since the Duke of Abruzzi passed through in 1909.
Solo
Every serious trekker passes through Askole — solo travellers join expedition groups or hire porters directly, and the village is practised at assembling teams for the journey ahead.
Friends
The shared ritual of stocking supplies, hiring porters and baking bread turns Askole into a threshold moment — everything after this point is earned together.
- Every expedition bound for K2, Broad Peak or the Gasherbrums passes through Askole — the last supply point before the ice.
- The Braldu gorge narrows immediately beyond the village — the mouth of the Karakoram's deepest canyon country.
- Balti porters with generations of expedition experience are hired straight from the village families.
- The bakeries make the dense round bread trekkers carry for two weeks — nothing else exists beyond this point.
Village bread baked in clay ovens — stock up; there's nothing ahead but glacier.
Apricots dried on the rooftops, shared freely with passing trekkers as trail fuel.
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