Concordia, Pakistan: Where the Glaciers Meet Beneath K2

Concordia is a vast flat of ice and moraine where several glaciers meet: the Baltoro from the west, the Godwin-Austen flowing down from K2 to the north, and the upper Baltoro and Vigne glaciers from the east and south. It lies at about 4,600 m (published figures run from 4,550 to 4,650 m), inside Central Karakoram National Park, and it is the base camp for treks and expeditions to K2, Broad Peak and the Gasherbrums.

K2 stands about 16 km due north, framed at the head of the Godwin-Austen Glacier, after hiding for most of the walk up. Broad Peak rises 9 km to the north-east. To the east, Gasherbrum IV's west face, the Shining Wall, towers 10 km away, and Gasherbrum II just shows beside it. Mitre Peak stands almost directly above the camp, and Chogolisa and Baltoro Kangri, the Golden Throne, fill the south and south-east.

You'll often read that four 8,000-metre peaks are visible from Concordia. All four are close, but Gasherbrum I, the Hidden Peak, lives up to its name: nearer ridges block it from the camp, as climbers' accounts confirm. Three 8,000ers and the Shining Wall are view enough.

Martin Conway's expedition reached the junction in August 1892. In his book he called it "the great crossing, or Place de la Concorde (as a similar place at the head of the Aletsch glacier is called)", after the Konkordiaplatz, where glaciers meet on Switzerland's Aletsch Glacier, and wrote of "Concordia Camp" days later. The name has stuck ever since.

Concordia is about seven days' walk from Askole up the Baltoro, through Paiju, Urdukas and Goro II, with a rest day on the way; the trek is in a restricted zone, so you need a permit and a licensed guide. From Concordia, Broad Peak Base Camp is about 7 km up the Godwin-Austen Glacier and K2 Base Camp about 10 km in a straight line; most trekkers sleep at Broad Peak Base Camp and visit K2 Base Camp as a day trip. Ali Camp, for the night crossing of the Gondogoro La into Hushe, is about 8.5 km to the south across the Vigne Glacier.

Nights here fall to around −10 °C even in summer, and the weather turns fast: a clear evening can bring snow by morning. Our itinerary spends two nights here, partly to allow for cloud, because K2 at sunrise from Concordia is the view the whole trek is built around. Concordia is also a landing site for rescue helicopters, which can't land much higher on the Baltoro.