Every season we get the same questions from people preparing for their first Karakoram trek: what do I bring, what do I leave at home, what can I rent in Skardu, and what will the porters actually carry? Imran, Sara and Hamid on our team have walked the Baltoro and the Hushe drainages enough times to have answered these by trial and error. This is the working list — written for a self-sufficient trekker on a 14-to-16 day Baltoro itinerary, but applicable to any high-altitude route inside the Central Karakoram National Park.
The non-negotiables
If you forget any of these, the trek either does not happen or stops being safe. Pack them, then check again the night before you fly to Islamabad.
- Passport with at least 6 months validity + Pakistan visa. Two photocopies of both for the CKNP trekking permit.
- Travel insurance that explicitly covers helicopter rescue at altitude in Pakistan. Generic trekking cover usually does not. Specialised mountaineering insurers (Global Rescue, Ripcord, BMC, DAV) cover Pakistan correctly. Read the small print before you fly.
- Cash in PKR or USD. ATMs exist in Skardu but not past it. A 16-day trek with porter tips, jeep extras and food top-ups will need around USD 600–800 in cash beyond what your operator already covers.
- Acclimatisation discipline. Diamox prophylaxis is fine; descend if you stop urinating, develop a wet cough, or can’t walk straight. Bring the medication; the trail is not the place to ration it.
Footwear
The Baltoro corridor is moraine — uneven rock-on-ice, often loose, sometimes wet. Footwear is the single most important item on this list.
- Mid-weight hiking boots with stiff ankle support and a vibram-style sole. Broken in. New boots on the Baltoro are a guaranteed disaster.
- Camp shoes — trail runners or sandals for evenings at camp. Your boots will be wet by day three.
- Trekking gaiters — non-negotiable for the glacier sections. Keeps moraine dust and meltwater out of your boots.
- Two pairs of merino socks per leg, three pairs of liner socks. Wash and rotate.
- Crampons (only if you’re going over Gondogoro La or doing a glacier-traverse like Biafo–Hispar). C2 strap-on or hybrid models work fine. Most operators rent these in Skardu.
Clothing — layered, not bulky
July and August daytime temperatures at Concordia run 5–15 °C; nights drop below freezing. Plan for both.
- Base layer top × 2 — merino wool or synthetic, long-sleeve, hooded or roll-neck.
- Base layer bottom × 1 — for nights only.
- Mid layer fleece or light synthetic insulated top.
- Down jacket — 700+ fill, hooded. Critical for evenings at Concordia and Goro II.
- Soft-shell trekking pants × 1 + quick-dry trekking pants × 1. The lower trail is hot.
- Hard-shell waterproof jacket and trousers. The Karakoram is dry compared to the Himalaya, but storms above Paju can be sudden and savage.
- Sun hat with brim, warm beanie, buff or neck gaiter, liner gloves, insulated gloves.
- Underwear — 4 pairs synthetic, no cotton.
Sleeping
- Sleeping bag rated to −10 °C comfort. Down preferred for weight. The campsite at Concordia is on ice; thin bags become a survival problem fast.
- Inflatable sleeping pad with R-value of 4 or higher. The ground at Goro II and Concordia is frozen even in midsummer.
- Liner — silk or merino, adds 5 °C and keeps the bag cleaner across 16 days.
- Pillow — small inflatable or stuffed dry-bag. Optional, but lifts the trip.
Backpack and dry-bags
- Day pack 30–35 litres with hip belt and chest strap. This is what you carry every day on the trail.
- Duffel bag 80–100 litres — what the porter carries. Soft-sided, no hard frame, weighing under the 25 kg porter limit.
- Three dry-bags — one for sleeping bag, one for clothes, one for electronics. Pakistani-Karakoram weather is mostly dry but the meltwater streams along the trail aren’t.
- Pack cover for the day pack.
Hydration and food
- Two 1-litre water bottles + a 2-litre hydration bladder. You will drink 4–5 litres a day at altitude.
- Water filter / purification. Glacier streams need filtering or boiling — physically clean but loaded with fine glacial silt that ruins filters fast. Iodine tablets, SteriPEN, or a Sawyer Squeeze all work. We recommend the SteriPEN with backup tablets.
- Personal trail snacks — the operator’s food is fine, but bring 100–150 g of high-calorie snacks per day for between-meal energy. Dried fruit, nuts, energy bars, instant coffee, your favourite electrolyte mix.
- A spoon and a metal mug — sometimes the operator-provided plasticware breaks at altitude.
Sun, ice and altitude protection
- Glacier sunglasses, Category 4. Cat 3 sunglasses fail at this altitude and on this much reflective ice. Side shields help.
- Spare sunglasses. Replacement is impossible.
- SPF 50+ sunscreen — 100 ml minimum. Apply to underside of nose and earlobes.
- SPF 50+ lip balm.
- Headlamp with two sets of batteries. Pre-dawn starts and pit-toilet trips.
First aid and personal medical
Your operator carries a basic group kit. You also need:
- Diamox (acetazolamide) for altitude prophylaxis.
- Ibuprofen, paracetamol, anti-diarrhoeal (loperamide), antihistamine, broad-spectrum antibiotic (typically ciprofloxacin) — get a letter from your GP and bring courses, not single tablets.
- Blister kit (Compeed, moleskin, leukotape).
- Personal prescriptions, in original packaging, with a doctor’s note.
- A small zinc-oxide tape and a few safety pins. They fix everything.
Documents and electronics
- Passport, visa, two photocopies of each.
- Permit and operator authorisation letter.
- Insurance documents printed and digital.
- Emergency contacts written on paper, in your wallet.
- Phone with offline maps (maps.me or Gaia GPS pre-downloaded for the Baltoro).
- Power bank, 20,000 mAh minimum. There is no power past Skardu.
- Solar charger optional — works at altitude but slowly.
- Camera, ideally with a wide-angle lens (16–35 mm equivalent) for the Concordia panoramas. Two batteries and four memory cards.
Trekking poles — non-negotiable
One pair, telescopic, with carbide tips and snow baskets. The lower Baltoro is uneven moraine; the upper sections demand pole work for stability. Trekkers who skip poles often regret it by day five.
What to leave at home
- Cotton anything. Dries slowly, holds smell, dangerous when wet at altitude.
- Heavy paperback books. Bring a Kindle.
- Hairdryer / electric razor. No power.
- Drone — technically requires a research permit and you will lose it on the wind.
- Alcohol — legal but not welcome in the buffer-zone villages, and dehydrates you at altitude.
- Heavy tripod — bring a small Joby or skip it.
What you can rent or buy in Skardu
Skardu has gone from three guesthouses in 2010 to a working tourism economy in 2026. Several operators rent gear on the main bazaar:
- Sleeping bags rated to −10 °C — PKR 600–1,000 per day.
- Down jackets — PKR 400–700 per day.
- Crampons, ice axes, harnesses for Gondogoro La — PKR 800–1,500 per day.
- Trekking poles, gaiters, day packs.
Quality is variable and condition is variable. We recommend bringing your own boots, sleeping bag and waterproofs at minimum, and renting only the bulky technical kit if you don’t already own it.
The 25 kg porter rule
The porters’ associations in Askole and Hushe set the maximum porter load at 25 kg. That is one porter for one trekker’s duffel and a share of the group kit (tent, kitchen). Plan your packing to fit one porter per person. If you over-pack, you’ll be paying for a second porter, and the village will know.
Final pre-departure check
The night before you fly, lay everything out on the floor. Pack the duffel for the porter. Pack the day pack with everything you need for one day of walking plus whatever you cannot afford to lose (passport, insurance, camera, medical kit). Weigh both. If the duffel is over 18 kg you have over-packed; the porter rate already includes 7 kg of group kit on top of yours.
For the actual route, day-by-day, see our K2 Base Camp Trek guide. For permits, season and the helicopter rescue arrangements, our Visiting CKNP page. For the wildlife you may meet on the way, the Karakoram wildlife guide.
